The Fugitives
In both The Clone Wars and The Acolyte, a young woman’s relationship with the Jedi is changed forever when she is falsely accused of a crime against them and becomes a fugitive.
In the episode “The Jedi Who Knew Too Much” (The Clone Wars 5.18), the padawan Ahsoka Tano is framed for a bombing at the Jedi Temple. Even after her name is cleared two episodes later, the lack of trust wounds Ahsoka so deeply that she leaves the Order and her master Anakin Skywalker (“The Wrong Jedi,” The Clone Wars 5.20). In the episode “Lost / Found” (The Acolyte 1.1), Osha Aniseya, who previously left the Order and her master Sol, takes the blame when her twin sister Mae kills a Jedi. In the process of clearing her name over the next seven episodes, Osha learns a terrible truth about Sol that motivates her to become a Sith.
Fittingly, both episodes about fugitives use the 1993 film The Fugitive as a reference, which is doubly appropriate given the protagonist in that film is played by Star Wars legend Harrison Ford.
In The Fugitive, Ford plays the falsely accused Dr. Richard Kimble, who evades authorities while hunting for his wife’s actual murderer. Both “The Jedi Who Knew Too Much” and “Lost / Found” recreate one of the film’s most iconic scenes, in which the marshal Samuel Gerard corners Kimble at the end of a cylindrical tunnel opening onto the side of a huge dam. Kimble, having already received Gerard’s terse reply to his plea of innocence — “I don’t care!” — evades the marshal by jumping into the raging waters below. Likewise, in The Clone Wars, Ahsoka is cornered by Anakin at the end of a cylindrical tunnel opening onto a steep drop-off on Coruscant. After telling Anakin he needs to trust her — and, unlike Gerard, Anakin does trust the fugitive — Ahsoka jumps onto a ship below.
The Acolyte goes further in its appropriation of The Fugitive, both by adapting another iconic scene and by rewriting the ending of the tunnel scene. When Kimble is being transported on a prison bus, the other prisoners hijack it, causing it to crash onto a railroad. Abandoned by both a surviving hijacker and a prison guard, Kimble barely gets himself and a wounded guard to safety before a train crushes the bus. Likewise, when Osha is being transported on a droid-operated prison ship, the other prisoners hack the ship’s computers, causing it to crash out of hyperspace and be pulled into a planet’s orbit. Abandoned by both the saboteurs and a sedated prisoner she rescued, Osha barely secures herself before the ship makes impact. Then, after the crash-landing, Sol corners Osha at the end of a mountain tunnel opening over a cliff. But whereas Kimble and Ahsoka jumped, Osha slips and is rescued by Sol — who, unlike Gerard, cares about the fugitive’s innocence. Whereas Gerard wouldn’t help Kimble and Ahsoka refused Anakin’s help, Sol and Osha work together to hunt down Mae and prove Osha’s innocence.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Ahsoka Tano / Anakin Skywalker / Osha Aniseya / Sol
Shows: The Acolyte / The Clone Wars
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: hunting / teachers and students / treachery / trust
Influences: The Fugitive
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