“A Test of Strength” is the second part in Young Jedi arc, and sees one of the most fascinating aspects of Jedi mythology that we’ve never seen: the construction of a lightsaber. Through the classic films, Luke is either given a lightsaber or builds a new one off screen, and none of the prequels address the issue whatsoever. This episode brought much mysticism to the process of building the weapon of a Jedi knight and introduced a fascinating new character: Professor Huyang, voiced brilliantly by the tenth Doctor Who, David Tennant. Huyang is a droid whose been living on a ship for a thousand years and has been helping young padawans build their lightsabers for longer than even Master Yoda has been alive. Can we presume he helped build Yoda’s saber?
Huyang is basically the Ollivander of lightsabers, helping the students tap into the force to tell them what materials and parts they need, much like John Hurt in Harry Potter testing wands for each new student at Hogwarts.
This would have been an ordinary milk run, had Hondo Ohnaka not set his sights on stealing a number of Kyber crystals from the younglings since they’re priceless on the black market. The younglings, led by Ahsoka, must repel the pirates if they’re to get back home to Coruscant safely.
I do have one question about this episode, and maybe I missed it, but I thought Yoda was with them on Illum and presumably needed a ride back with them. Maybe he took off in his own ship? I don’t know. In any case, I’m glad he wasn’t there, because watching Ahsoka, Huyang, and Artoo lead the younglings was so much more rewarding. It followed the patterns of all the best swashbucklers when a ship of defenseless innocents are boarded by pirates, but with the added elements and dangers of being in deep space. It was funny, tense, and adventurous.
The younglings are adorable and I want more episodes with them. Hell, they could do an entire show of youngling training and them getting chosen by their masters in a time that’s not during The Clone Wars.
This episode leaves off on a hell of a cliffhanger. In order to save the younglings, Ahsoka accidentally finds herself trapped aboard Hondo’s ship while the Jedi take off into hyperspace. Since she cost Hondo his fortune in Kyber crystals, he’s content to make a fortune selling her to the highest bidder. My guess is that we’ll get to see the band of younglings (and hopefully Huyang) going back to rescue her for the next episode.
This is my favorite sort of mid-arc episode. It has enough going on to stand on its own two feet, it’s not overly plodding to pay service to the larger arc, and it ends with raised stakes to begin the next episode with.
This might easily be one of my favorite episodes of the season, and we’re only 2 parts into the arc. That’s always a good sign.