I am going to rewatch the episode tonight, but I keep seeing clips on TikTok. I love the change-up of Anakin in his fighting styles. At the start, he seemed to be almost playing with Ahsoka. When he busts out the red saber he took on a more aggressive attack style with more purposeful swings. I don't know yet where it ranks as saber fights go, but for me, it was one of the more fun fights to watch.
Yes, I noticed that too! The first fight with Anakin had a lot more flourishes and swordplay and once he switched to Vader it became more simple but brutal, slashing attacks with far less finesse, relying on strength alone.
Not gonna lie. I didn't really 'get' what they were doing with the whole finishing her training bit. I've seen a lot of videos going on about how he helped her let go of her guilt and stuff but it didn't really feel like that was addressed at all...
Yeah, maybe it was him trying to teach her when not to fight, since he said that he trained her to survive the Clone Wars. It wasn't handled all that well, but the flashbacks were great and it was neat having Anakin back while he is still young enough to play the role.
It made the point for me (at least I assume). Anakin said his job was to make her a warrior, which shows his unfortunate but reasonable misunderstanding of both the role of the Jedi and his own purpose as her master. It's generational trauma in action: he was raised in a terrible environment and then - due to circumstances outside his control - had his great power sculpted by conflict. He knew no better. Ahsoka had a loving young childhood, but was brought into the Order very early and again due to the circumstances of the time, had her training accelerated by war. Perhaps a different Master (like Plo Koon) would've managed to help her strike a balance between the higher ideals of the Jedi and the realities of the galactic civil war. But with Anakin as her master, she was going to see almost nothing but a "victory at all cost" mentality.
Having the Order then accuse her of being a traitor, leaving it, and then Anakin's fall would likely only serve to reinforce that trauma. It wasn't until these flashbacks and final duels that Ahsoka (as an adult) could see the damage done and where that leads, and make the decision to break the cycle.
I'll be honest: maybe because I've had some therapy (and could use more honestly), I've been taught to recognize some of this stuff, but I spent most of that whole sequence crying because it seemed really powerful to me. Like, she didn't even stand a chance. Yet, thanks to some other strong figures in her life like Plo and Rex, she's survived and now can maybe also thrive.
