"Star Wars: Ahsoka" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Fone Bone]

Ahsoka "Part Eight: The Jedi, The Witch, And The Warlord"

The dead have risen and they're voting Sith!

Not a fan of the unfinished ending (although it DOES point to a second season) but everything else was decent. Morgan sort of proved her bonafides for sure.

The coolest and scariest thing about Thrawn is how understated he is. He describes them getting on the ship as... "problematic". And I love him calling Ahsoka a worthy a opponent he wishes he could have met, and then he threw the shade that hey, your old Master was in the ol' Empire Clubhouse. Whaddaya think? And he doesn't YELL "Love live the Empire." He WHISPERS it. Oh, yeah, he's cool. My pick for best Star Wars villain. And nobody else is really close.

I think some people will think Thrawn is coldblooded for saying Morgan served her purpose after finding out she died. Considering how sucky the rest of Star Wars villains are, I see it differently. If a loyal soldier had died on Vader or Palpatine's watch they would consider them weak and that the Empire was better off without them. Which is why the Empire sucked. But Thrawn giving a loyal soldier who died for him her due, while perhaps not as emotional and sadly delivered as a death of a soldier should be considered in OUR Universe, was still important and distinct from other Star Wars villains. Because he venerated what she did, instead of taking a posthumous crap on her. Which is why he's not just the best Star Wars villain, but probably the only one I actually like.

The thing about Thrawn that drives me crazy is he always does the exact opposite of what I want him to do. It's like Ahsoka, Ezra, and Sabine's only option left it a frontal assault... so he tell the troopers to prepare for a frontal assault! Argh! It's nice having the first ever competent Star Wars villain, but it can be frustrating for the opposite reasons as the vulgar, basic ones.

One reason I'm glad Ahsoka and Sabine didn't make the ship taking off, is if they had, Huyang would have been stranded. I don't like the ending too much, but with them there, at least they and Huyang have a fighting chance of getting back.

I can't believe I like Ezra Bridger now. What a world. The jumping trick was neat.

Chopper just knows. He's like a dog that way.

Have you noticed modern Star Wars does pop culture puns in the episode titles now? Not sure how I feel about that.

The light saber fights with the zombie troopers were pretty damn cool too. I was also shocked Morgan actually took out one of Ahsoka's light sabers. The pair of those were iconic.

Question: What will happen to Baylan's arc now that Ray Stevenson has died? Do they recast? Or kill him off off-screen? It looked like it would have been interesting.

It was solid, but I wasn't pleased that it looks like this is a continuing series instead of a miniseries. Especially with everything still up in the air because of the strikes. The writers settled, but the actors are still in negotiations. We'll see what happens. ***1/2.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

"The Jedi, The Witch, And The Wardrobe" - You know I think I said last week 'oh yeah it's pretty obvious they're going to take out Thrawn and stop him from returning to the galaxy because there's no way this would end on a cliffhanger" because I assumed the show runners for this season were smart enough to realize "you know with something like Mandalorian they were able to gague people wanted more and though didn't wrap the first season up completely closed knit also didn't dangle a huge plot line that would require a second season but were open to one" since there shouldn't be any guarantee of another season of these kind of shows off the bat. Even Marvel only did that with What If (which most animated seasons you need to do unless you are making a one off) and Loki, and Loki had the beloved Tom Hiddleston take on the character. But I guess the studio was really banking on Rosario Dawson's one episode appearance in Mandalorian season 2 to really get people talking that yeah they at least planned this to be a two season show thus leaving on a pretty massive cliff hanger which... doesn't really work for me.

Okay let me go over the things I do like in this episode. I am glad they at least tried giving Sabine a bit more justification for her whole angst most of the rest of the season tying it to the loss of a lot of Mandalore talked about from what I heard in Mandalorian which I guess is also more of a reason why she may have been super gung ho on trying to save Ezra. I mean based on what Fone Bone and others have said it doesn't totally fix the massive alteration made from her character from Rebels but is one of those small bandage "we are at least trying a bit to cover this mistake" sort of things. I also do like how that connects more to the reason Ahoska was hesitant on wanting to further train Sabine you know the whole "don't let your hate give into darkness" thing. Do wish they had Thrawn drop the bombshell to Ahsoka mre he knew about the "anakin was Darth" connection instead of hinting at it but I will give credit Thrawn is one of the few people in this series who realizes "you know the empire keeps making the mistake of underestimating one jedi and that keeps dooming them and even I did that before" thus him constantly just playing delay tactics. Knowing that the TIE Fighters or zombie storm troopers or heck even Night Sister Morgan wouldn't really take on our heroes so just wanting them away enough to get out of the galaxy which hey he accomplished... granted with Ezra tagging along which eh felt like it should have been more of a thing then a "oh look he escaped and reuinted with Hera isn't that a nice moment" but hey I do appreciate the strategy on his end. Plus the actual battle with the zombie storm troopers and Morgan was good (honeslty feels like Ahsoka should have admitted to herself "you know if I had killed Morgan the first time we wouldn't be in this situation' or something like that) so in terms of fighting this one was find but... yeah then there's the whole this ends on a cliffhanger thing that bothers me.

For starters we don't really get anything with Shin and Baylan. They took up quite a lot of this season and it feels like we end on no good note with them. Shin just... I guess takes charge of the group of stormtroopers still around on the planet while Baylan goes... somewhere in a cavern. And this is a major problem since this wasn't really announced as just the first part of a story but a story on it's own so leaving things without any answers is super annoying. You know when JJ did that in Force Awakens at least it was under the assumption this was a trilogy so there would obviously be time for answers in the other parts but that' not how they advertised this story so not having answers is lame. I mean Loki season 1 ended with at least the mysterious figure there revealing what their end goal is so it was a cool surprise seeing what happened but here... we have no idea what Baylan is doing. And that show especially poor planning on the Disney Star Wars team here is because whatever their plans were they have to change because of the loss of Ray Stevenson. Granted you can always recast Skoll but it does show them mapping out this idea but not really showing enough of it to the fans to really jusitfy a lot of further plans. Not even a mid credits stinger of any kind since yeah this just doesn't reveal what this guy's full plan is which does feel totally bunk.

Speaking of totally bunk though Sabine offers a half hearted apology... feels like that's the most she is going to get for her now totally screwing over the rest of the galaxy but it being okay because "they got Ezra home". Again I do feel this may track better for those fans who saw Rebels and care more seeing the guy and I admit even here his talks with Huywang on making a light saber or trying to force throw one another potentially to the ship with Sabine were fine but honestly for that ending to mean something you needed really something in THIS series. This isn't the MCU that made sure to have a lot of solid base lines with the films before interconnecting other series especially since there's a big difference between going from Rebels to this series. Also still hate the whole vagueness of "oh look Anakin is a force ghost that maybe Sabine sense what could that mean" that just feels like SW again hates direct answers no matter how stupid it is to ask these sort of questions. Maybe this will work more in retrospect for a second season especially since if Ahsoka and Sabine discover something on this planet it would make more sense to have them stranded here for S2 but as is feels like an empty way to end this.

I think what bothers me is that even by the end though there is the return of Thrawn nothing so much ahppens with him either that I guess is also waiting for a season 2 so most of this felt like build up but without too much interesting payoff which you really need for a finale that leads to the next season so yeah not really a fan of htis one. This may hit people different more stoked for a second season but not for me though I guess I'll still check out a season 2 whenever it does come out.

 

[Yojimbo]

Granted you can always recast Skoll but it does show them mapping out this idea but not really showing enough of it to the fans to really jusitfy a lot of further plans. Not even a mid credits stinger of any kind since yeah this just doesn't reveal what this guy's full plan is which does feel totally bunk.

They definitely went the less is more approach with Baylan's plans. Just left us to dissect his dialogue and dropped in the Mortis god statues at the end.

Speaking of totally bunk though Sabine offers a half hearted apology... feels like that's the most she is going to get for her now totally screwing over the rest of the galaxy but it being okay because "they got Ezra home". Again I do feel this may track better for those fans who saw Rebels and care more seeing the guy and I admit even here his talks with Huywang on making a light saber or trying to force throw one another potentially to the ship with Sabine were fine but honestly for that ending to mean something you needed really something in THIS series. This isn't the MCU that made sure to have a lot of solid base lines with the films before interconnecting other series especially since there's a big difference between going from Rebels to this series.

I gave up on anyone calling Sabine out unless she has to testify to some senators down the line.

Also still hate the whole vagueness of "oh look Anakin is a force ghost that maybe Sabine sense what could that mean" that just feels like SW again hates direct answers no matter how stupid it is to ask these sort of questions. Maybe this will work more in retrospect for a second season especially since if Ahsoka and Sabine discover something on this planet it would make more sense to have them stranded here for S2 but as is feels like an empty way to end this.

Well if you saw my post, I already think there's a greater reason they're stranded. Plus, just read what the white owl connection was with the Mortis gods. Seen some theories it could be the Mother calling out to Baylan, potentially another Legends character made canon. Other than recasting, they might just quickly off him in season 2 using a stand-in and CGI and i.e. having Mother/whatever it is possess Baylan and transform in appearance. This could potentially then give Shin reason to work with Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang to put her former master to rest.

I think what bothers me is that even by the end though there is the return of Thrawn nothing so much happens with him either that I guess is also waiting for a season 2 so most of this felt like build up but without too much interesting payoff which you really need for a finale that leads to the next season so yeah not really a fan of htis one. This may hit people different more stoked for a second season but not for me though I guess I'll still check out a season 2 whenever it does come out.

Once they announced Filoni was directing a finale movie, I knew the Ahsoka season finale wouldn't go too far just get Thrawn from point A to point B and end it there. Though the thing is it will be a long time before we see more Thrawn, the Imperial Remnants etc. because the next 2 shows will be pretty stand alone. Skeleton Crew will be Outer Rims/unexplored territory I think. Acolyte will be back in time between High Republic and Phantom Menace. Once Ahsoka gets greenlit for a season 2, we probably won't see it until 2025.

 

[Magmaster12]

I am so annoyed they brought in the Death Troopers, one of the most annoying aspects of the old EU and now they are cannon and left wondering why Snoke or Palpatine resorted to kidnapping children for Stormtroopers instead.

 

[Yojimbo]

I am so annoyed they brought in the Death Troopers, one of the most annoying aspects of the old EU and now they are cannon and left wondering why Snoke or Palpatine resorted to kidnapping children for Stormtroopers instead.

On second thought, I bet it would be a inane reason like Palpatine just wasn't into Force magick and thus, never utilized it.