A Soaker Tan'O
Last night's Ahsoka was almost competent and there were a few moments I think were actually good. The editing was a bit better, managing to cover up for some of the weak fight choreography. Some of the special effects were astonishingly bad, though, and the writing wasn't great. It is a little better now, though, because . . .
Dave Filoni now has male characters to drive all the action. He's a little better at writing men and the episode, which turned on the actions of Thrawn, Ezra, Baylon, and a surprise appearance from C3PO, actually has everyone speaking at a natural pace.
We also had another brief appearance from Anakin, the man who remains at the centre of Ahsoka's universe.
I never liked Ezra on Rebels but actor Eman Esfandi is pretty charming. Even though he and Sabine still lack appropriate emotional reactions to circumstances, I thought it was kind of cute when his hair was singed and he said, "Close!"
But the episode began with Hera at a hearing, threatened with court martial.
Are they kidding with this set? It looks like a cut scene from a '90s PC game.
C3PO walked in with a message from Senator Leia Organa to save Hera's bacon. Sadly, this mostly just highlighted the absence of Carrie Fisher. The gratuitous anti-droid comment from the senator framed the conversation again for Disney's ongoing, annoying "droids' rights" subplot. They don't understand, or they don't care, we're supposed to laugh at C3PO, not with him. The result is a scene that earns the word "cringe".
I do like Lars Mikkelson as Thrawn and with his delivery alone he almost makes it seem like leaving Sabine alive was all part of a clever plan. Almost.
Ahoska is available on Disney+.