Ahsoka
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In reviewing Ahsoka, it's important to say at the outset that at the start of the season, I had not watched any of the animated Star Wars shows, and doing so is almost a pre-requisite for Ahsoka. I started watching Clone Wars part-way through the season ( my notes), and it allowed me to recognise some elements of Ahsoka, and recognising things is at the heart of enjoying Star Wars. Maybe by the time I watch and finish Rebels, I will care about Sabine finding Ezra. Ahsoka is a strange show, unsatisfying for now as we wait for either a season 2 or a film that completes the story, but nevertheless having a fun and entertaining core.
From worst to best:
- One of the first scenes was a straight remake of the Vader scene in Rogue One. A truly dire lack of creativity.
- You can get stabbed with a lightsaber and with a bit of bacta be as good as new by the morning.
- If I had watched Rebels, would I have found the scene where Sabine found Ezra meaningful? It fell completely emotionally flat for me.
- Sabine wasn't forced to reckon with allowing Thrawn to return, which seems like an odd omission.
- In episode 5, Force-ghost(?) Anakin brushes off being Darth Vader, which might be in keeping with his Clone Wars character, but is inconsistent with the momentousness of his change of heart at the end of ROTJ. But I'm not sure how to interpret all of that sequence, including his transitions into Vader.
- My memory of episode 6, which may be exaggerated, is that it was mostly the characters going for a walk in the countryside, made slightly more interesting by the music that played. I really felt they could have cut some of that down.
- I want to see Thrawn demonstrate his great military skill, rather than just talking as though it's true. Successfully taking off in a Star Destroyer when there are three enemy soldiers on the planet is a low bar.
- Sabine successfully gaining some Force powers, despite what is evidently a very low midichlorian count, thanks to training and belief from Ahsoka was unsatisfying to me.
- Ahsoka putting on a spacesuit and taking out a TIE fighter with a lightsaber while spacewalking: this was cartoon-level silly, but they really try to sell it and it's fun and I can live with it.
- Space whales that can travel through hyperspace? Sure, whatever, this is what Star Wars is now.
- More than in any other Star Wars show or film, I felt that the characters, including Chopper, wanted to swear.
- The Nightsisters turning dead troopers into zombies is similar to an episode of Clone Wars, so it didn't come out of nowhere.
- My initial instinct was that a planet in another galaxy should look very different from the planets in the main galaxy, but physics is the same, so I don't mind it being just another planet.
- "You have no power!" while Shin fought Sabine was a fun line, in a rare lightsaber duel in which one combatant was apparently not Force sensitive.
- Baylan had a good presence in his scenes, though ultimately we didn't learn what his deal was.
- One of the first scenes in the first episode was made to look like Star Trek, right? That was funny.
- Hera, Huyang good.
- "Got 'em."
- Episode 4 was the best of the moving-plot-forward episodes.
- Episode 5 was fantastic, and the creators were apparently aware of this, since they gave it a theatrical release. By this time I had watched a bit of Clone Wars, which may have helped my enjoyment of it. It's a bit strange that the show peaked mid-season with something akin to the cave scene in ESB or TLJ, and I'm not sure if there was any substance to it, as opposed to just being texturally suspenseful and dramatic. But the texture was very good.
Overall, that was unsatisfying but intriguing, somehow more good than bad in spite of all the problems. I rank it above Obi Wan, Boba Fett, and season 3 of the Mandalorian.