Ahsoka - SPOILERS

[pukunui]

I don't blame the creators so much as the Disney+ corporate vision. The lesson they seemed to take from the MCU's astonishing initial run, up to End Game, is that as long as you add easter eggs and tie-ins, the audience will keep coming back, eager for the next thing.

But the initial phases of the MCU worked because they were ultimately built around complete character arcs for Iron Man and Captain America. Each movie told its own story while advancing that meta-story in meaningful ways, or the arc of an important supporting character. So the while first 20 films built up to End Game, each was meaningful in its own right. They weren't mere prequels.

But the Disney+ model is that everything is a prequel. I think the only reason that Andor works as well as it does is that everyone knows the main character dies in the end, so the writers had a lot more freedom to explore his character arc without needed to get him to a certain place for the next thing to happen.

Most of these series are just...basically pointless. Set-up for the next blockbuster "event," but with no compelling reason to engage with what we are currently watching. It's all just becoming self-referential, corporate pablum. Content for the sake of content. They treat the audience with no respect; they are just serving paint by numbers art that eschews risk. They treat us like we will freak out if confronted by a new idea (which, to be fair, is kind of what happened with The Last Jedi).

The is one reason why I think the first two seasons of The Mandalorian are so good. They do tell a complete story with a few tie-ins for future stories. They form a complete arc from when Din first meets Grogu to when he hands him over to Luke.

I think part of the issue with season 3 was that they couldn't bare to remove Grogu from the equation (and they also didn't want to risk having him be killed by Kylo Ren), so they had to have him come back to Din, and it only kind of worked.

As fun as it was seeing Din, Bo-Katan, and Grogu playing happy families, I'm not sure it was worth it. I think I would have preferred it if Grogu had stayed with Luke and Bo-Katan had gotten her own spin-off series about the reclaiming of Mandalore, rather than having her slowly and subtly take over as the titular Mandalorian. But whatevs. The cat's out of the bag on that one. (I think my biggest beefs with season 3 were pacing/editing and bad writing [e.g. combat-trained soldiers employing idiotic tactics].)

Erm there was a combat scene every episode iirc. Andor was very slow paced.

Yeah, but even the combat scenes were kinda slow ... I wish you could speed up Disney+ shows. I think Ahsoka would probably be improved by watching it on 1.5x speed.

Last season of Rebels had 3 seasons of world building leading up to it. They just had to tie things up.

Season one of Rebels generally regarded as the weakest one picked up half way through.

I think the whole show, all four seasons, is some of the best Star Wars out there. And the pacing is tight all the way through because it was primarily targeted at kids with short attention spans. I feel like Ahsoka was targeted at middle aged people with creaky backs. (Reminds me of the newer Crowded House albums. You can tell they were getting old because the songs were slower and milder and softer and yeah ...)

Pacing may have been deliberate I was chomping at the bit for Thrawn reveal episode 6. Waited 30 years for live action Thrawn a few weeks either way won't hurt.

They had a 13 year gap to fill in.

Meh. I never read the old Thrawn novels. I've only been waiting for Thrawn's return since Rebels ended. And this was just the prologue to his return. It felt too easy in a way. Finding and rescuing Ezra felt a little too easy as well. And Sabine and Ezra are still separated! A pair of star-crossed (not quite) lovers if ever there were any.

 

[Rabulias]

A strange thought that came to me and I present as a Hot Take: Anakin is the new Father. Ahsoka will be the new Daughter, and Baylan will be the new Son.

 

[Zardnaar]

A strange thought that came to me and I present as a Hot Take: Anakin is the new Father. Ahsoka will be the new Daughter, and Baylan will be the new Son.

That's no so hot. That theory been kicking around early in the season.

 

[Hussar]

What the heck did he do for 10 years? Because it doesn't look like much, I think that was the point.

I think the point is we don’t know. Which gives lots of room in season two for flashbacks.

I can see that as a story telling device. Ezra’s flashbacks to his time on the planet linking up with Ahsoka’s current story all with Thrawn’s return backdropped in between.

Although I did find the whole Ezra reveal at the end really cheesy and totally unnecessary. Why would Ezra be wearing a Stormtrooper helmet? That’s just dumb.

 

[pukunui]

Although I did find the whole Ezra reveal at the end really cheesy and totally unnecessary. Why would Ezra be wearing a Stormtrooper helmet? That’s just dumb.

It's a narrative imperative. Any time someone dons a disguise, they aren't allowed to take it off without giving their allies a chance to think they might be an enemy first.

Plus, that whole sequence was a callback the numerous times Ezra (and other members of the Ghost crew) donned stormtrooper disguises during the Rebels cartoon. His thank you to Zeb after impersonating the dead stormtrooper over the comms channel was another cartoon callback.

 

[Zardnaar]

It's a narrative imperative. Any time someone dons a disguise, they aren't allowed to take it off without giving their allies a chance to think they might be an enemy first.

Plus, that whole sequence was a callback the numerous times Ezra (and other members of the Ghost crew) donned stormtrooper disguises during the Rebels cartoon. His thank you to Zeb after impersonating the dead stormtrooper over the comms channel was another cartoon callback.

Call back to ANH was my first thought. It's a trope lol.

 

[pukunui]

Call back to ANH was my first thought. It's a trope lol.

Yeah, that too, I guess.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, that too, I guess.

It's not even that unrealistic.

 

[pukunui]

It's not even that unrealistic.

Well, I guess the unrealistic part is that Ezra didn't take off the helmet (or the entire suit) before exiting the shuttle. That would have been sensible. But in terms of the narrative, they had to leave Hera et al (and us, the viewers) in suspense so that we had to wonder whether it was Ezra or a zombie stormtrooper ... and since none of us viewers can understand what Chopper is saying, we can only assume that he's saying, "It's Ezra!" rather than "It's a zombie!"

Yes, Ezra could have walked out of that shuttle in his normal clothes and said, "I'm home" and all that, and it probably would have been fine. But At least this way, Chopper actually got to do something!

 

[Zardnaar]

Well, I guess the unrealistic part is that Ezra didn't take off the helmet (or the entire suit) before exiting the shuttle. That would have been sensible. But in terms of the narrative, they had to leave Hera et al (and us, the viewers) in suspense so that we had to wonder whether it was Ezra or a zombie stormtrooper ... and since none of us viewers can understand what Chopper is saying, we can only assume that he's saying, "It's Ezra!" rather than "It's a zombie!"

Yes, Ezra could have walked out of that shuttle in his normal clothes and said, "I'm home" and all that, and it probably would have been fine. But At least this way, Chopper actually got to do something!

Wife loves chopper lol so do I. He's a psychopath though.

Would put Chopper on the Star Wars droud Mount Rushmore along with R2/C3P0 and HK-47.