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Happy May the 4th! Fresh off the heels of the conclusion of The Bad Batch and a month before the new High Republic era series The Acolyte hits Disney+, Lucasfilm and Dave Filoni have blessed us with a follow up to last year’s Tales Of The Jedi, Tales Of The Empire. Much like the previous installment, the short-form series follows two central characters split up between six episodes. While Tales Of The Jedi followed Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano, Tales Of The Empire follows Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee.
SURVIVAL BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
The first half of the series follows a familiar villain we’ve seen in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, Morgan Elsbeth. From a witch of Dathomir to Thrawn loyalist, we get to fill in the gaps between those two eras in her life… well, sort of. While it does very much fill in the gaps and show why Elsbeth was loyal to Thrawn, the execution feels very rushed and disjointed.
If you’re hoping for a ton of Thrawn and a deeply emotional backstory as to why she took the side of the Empire, you will be ultimately disappointed. Where it lacks there it does deliver some world building for her reign of Corvus that leads up to her first appearance in The Mandalorian Chapter 13: The Jedi. Along with an truly epic opening battle sequence, that really only makes subsequent scenes after feel less than.
THE MEANING OF TRUE EVIL
On the other hand, the second half of the series following Barriss Offee proves to be one of the most interesting stories Star Wars has had to offer in recent memory. For those unfamiliar, Offee framed Ahsoka for the bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar leading to her being cast out of the Jedi Order. So, in short Offee is unintentionally to blame for Anakin becoming Darth Vader.
All jokes aside, we get to see that through-line continue as Offee is selected to become an Inquisitor. The Inquisitors are a group of force sensitive beings used as the Empire’s axe to finalize the eradication of Jedi following Order 66. The evolution to padawan to disillusioned betrayer of the order to now one to hunt down the few remaining Jedi left with ruthless aggression. A true fall to the dark side and an amazing bookend in one of the most pivotal subplots in the Filoni-led Star Wars animation galaxy.
Overall, Tales Of The Empire is a bit of a mixed bag. The Morgan Elsbeth side proves to be a waste of great potential with solid moments, but the big takeaway is the journey of Barriss Offee that is an amazing chapter we get to close from The Clone Wars. Both do display an any means necessary fight to survive, just in two very different cogs of the Empire made machine. Mostly I want so much more from both of these stories, but the shortened runtime allows for the most impeccable looking animation we’ve ever seen from Star Wars.
