Episodes 1 and 2 out now (9pm ET, August 22nd.)

I’ve only watched the opening scene so far and it looks amazing.

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/J_1EXWNETiI

Feel free to ask any questions about the characters/backstory - I’ve watched all of the Clone Wars and Rebels multiple times along with all the live action stuff, and read a couple of the new Thrawn novels in addition to the Legends trilogy. I don’t think any of that will be needed but I can already tell there’s a TON of context with what we’re seeing in this show.

Spoilers below obviously.

This was outstanding. Andor has been by FAR the best TV show in the Star Wars canon, but Andor is very different - you could take that story out of the SW universe and make it it's own sci-fi mystery thriller and it would be amazing. Which is wonderful for Star Wars - the universe is big enough that we need to be getting varied stories and genres in it.

But Ahsoka so far is a great STAR WARS show. Again, just so far. Mandalorian is very good with incredible highs, but is also uneven because of the nature of it's storytelling style. Boba Fett and Kenobi were disappointing, and we don't need to get into all of the details why here. But this? Ahsoka so far feels like peak Dave Filoni with all the restraints off. It's like the best of Star Wars Rebels (a show I LOVED, but had to be held back at times because it was literally for kids on Disney XD. Rebels definitely got away with some more adult elements, but the art style and type of humor was always there to remind you that it was on Disney XD.)

So for these first two episodes - REALLY strong storytelling. There was a ton to balance here with all of the characters we already know (but haven't seen in the timeline since before A New Hope) that had to be true to their old characters while showing development. Some backstory had to be explained while leaving mysteries to be explored in the series. And they introduced new characters we saw in the trailers in a great way - I already LOVE Baylan (RIP Ray Stevenson) and Shin, and they even managed to introduce the new Inquisitor.

So many questions going forward...Baylan definitely must be an ex-Jedi based on Huyang (who was in The Clone Wars, a droid who is thousands of years old and has worked with generations of Jedi) knowing of him and his lightsaber. He's also a mercenary - he mentioned that to Morgan. He and Shin use orange red lightsabers (not actual sith red which comes from bled kyber crystals), and use dark side powers, but they are clearly not all darkside - there were several clues to this in these two episodes. First - Shin is wearing a padawan braid like Jedi apprentices. Sith/darksiders never used those. I think she's too young to have been a padawan pre-Order 66. So I think she's being trained very similar to Jedi masters/apprentices and not sith style. Second, note the line Baylan said about it being a shame to kill Ahsoka because there are so few jedi left. I didn't sense any sarcasm in that statement. Lastly, Shin could have easily killed Sabine. She just wanted to get the map, and sparred with her until she saw Ahsoka arriving and then took her down. (I'll say the one annoying thing for me in these two episodes is how much SW is having people get stabbed in the abdomen but that not being a killing blow. I get it medically especially in this universe, but if that's the case Qui-Gon should still be alive.) They also clearly aren't Jedi, he literally says it. In Legends material there was the concept of "gray Jedi", but George Lucas never liked that. George's perspective (and stated in universe through Yoda) was that you can't "dabble" in the darkside - once you go down that path forever it will dominate you destiny and consume you. Filoni is literally George's apprentice, and in the past has really expounded on George's ideas of the Force, so I doubt that he brings the idea of "Gray Jedi" back. But maybe it's the opposite - and Baylan is a "Gray Sith" - someone usiong the dark side but not following the rules or the conventions of the Sith Order, just like Ahsoka is "not a Jedi" because she left the order, but is clearly a light side Force user?

Then you have the questions about Sabine as an apprentice. In Rebels she trained on the Darksaber with Kanan and managed it MUCH better than Mando ever did. She also showed herself as a Manadolorian VERY capable in battle - just as capable as Ezra and Kanan without her using the Force. So I can see how Ahsoka may have trained her in lightsaber combat and then realized that she actually did have some force sensitivity. That force sensitivity may have been repressed through being Mandalorian with their indoctrination of being long time enemies of the Jedi.

I don't think we'll see Thrawn or Ezra much at all in this season. My guess would be the last two episodes. But again - this has been the best two episode start to any of the Star Wars shows so far. Andor was a slow build and a very different type of show. Mando was a smaller story at the beginning, very much episodic. Kenobi could have and should have been great but there were so many issues where it seemed small budget while THIS looks like theater level cinematography.

Couple other quick thoughts: Chopper was amazing. Live action was JUST like his Rebels character. Already committing war crimes in the short screen time he had, wanting Hera to shoot down that ship into the city.

They are being consistent with the fact that money rules everything. (Note the New Republic worker who only cared about his "investors". Saw it in the Clone Wars with the banking cartel, in Andor with the rich people on Coruscant who didn't care if the Empire or Republic were in charge as long as the money flowed, and in the Last Jedi with rich people backing whatever side would keep them paid. That's important because it explains how the Empire could rise, how the First Order could come from the ashes of the Empire, and how the New Republic would have it's own issues with corruption.

Can't wait to see how the rest of the season goes!

That's gotta be Ezra, right? I dont' know who else the dramatic reveal would be that would illicit any sort of reaction beyond him.

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Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

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Not because I’d have a problem with Ezra turning to the dark side. I think that’s a legit possibility that he’s currently a dark side force user, based on how much he was tempted by the dark side (and even used it) during Rebels with Maul calling him his apprentice. Ezra has been gone for a minute, and he was taken with Thrawn, so I could see Thrawn corrupting him somehow and making him his Force using ally similar to what happened in the original Thrawn trilogy.

But no - I have three huge problems with the idea of Marrok being Ezra (and yeah I’ve seen all kinds of people online theorizing that it’s him.

First, it makes no logical sense that Ezrawouls be back in the regular SW galaxy, working with Allie’s of Thrawn, who are trying to build a super hyperspace ring/ship to be able to get back to the separate galaxy where Thrawn currently is. If Ezra is back, he likely would have came back with a Purrgil. And if he’s on Thrawn’s side and came back, why didn’t he bring Thrawn with him? Or why doesn’t he go back on another Purrgil (you can see one in the atmosphere at one point in episode 2) to get Thrawn and bring him back?

Second, even if Ezra turned to the dark side it makes no sense for him to be an Inquisitor. Ezra and the Rebels crew fought against several Inquisitors before he left. And at the time he’d left there weren’t many if any remaining. Inquisitors were lower level dark siders- Ezra was already at or above their level even as a newer Jedi back then. By now he should be far above it - why stoop down to the level of an Inquisitor? Even in that quick fight against Ahsoka you could see that Inquisitor isn’t that skilled - I’d hope Ezra is on a much higher level than that by now.

Third, I think reveals like that would be really cliched. I know folks online are gussing all over the place on who Marrok is (Barris Offee being another popular theory) but I think Marrok is just Marrok. Almost all of the Inquisitors wore masks and had a level of mystery to them. I do think it’s strange that an Inquisitor is still around in this era, post-OT when their purpose was to hunt the Jedi for Vader. I think Marrok is just an old Inquisitor who somehow survived, and is now a mercenary like Baylan.

But gat damn do i love this show so far, brw great review and spot on

mostly because that would just be terrible. if they're whole point is trying to get Thrawn back, how would Ezra have gotten back? doesn't make any sense. mainly i just don't want it to be the case.

another theory i've seen/heard is that it's Cal Kestis but i'm also not buying that.

most likely it's Star Killer (or a clone of him) which i'm only going with because i don't want it to be the other two and the name Marrok is similar to the full name of Galen Marek.

Drop her ass off at Tatooine so she can be a Barista at the canteen. I don't care if there is any redemption story after this....you put the galaxy in peril twice in two weeks, you are fired for life.

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One Hundred.

That being said, I think Ahsoka is actually to blame a good deal here and that will be a character development point. I gave Sabine a HUGE amount of blame in my post below. But for Ahsoka, she's essentially manifesting negative things to happen, in being too protective about the worst possible outcomes. Star Wars CONTSTANTLY has heroes put in a position where a win seems like an incredible long shot, but they are able to overcome the odds through hope. Ahsoka seems to have lost all sense of hope. Justifiably so given everything she's been through:

- ⁠Being accused by the Jedi of treason
- ⁠Deciding to leave the order and figure out her own identity separate from the Jedi
- ⁠Order 66 happening and having her old Jedi family be slaughtered and almost completely wiped out
- ⁠The fact that the Jedi were slaughtered by her friends, the clones, and she had to kill many clones just to survive and escape
- ⁠Finding out that Anakin, her old master, survived Order 66, but that was because HE was also slaughtering Jedi and had become a Sith Lord
- ⁠Helping the Mandalorians take back Mandalore only to have the Empire wipe them out
- ⁠Whatever happened to her in the World between Worlds and going back to Malachor. (At this point we don’t know if when she left the WBW if she returned to the same time that she’d Ben pulled from on Malachor, or if she returned after the Battle of Endor, explaining why she wasn’t part of the OT Galactic Civil War. Or maybe she was stuck on Malachor, or maybe she was off somewhere dealing with all of the above trauma.)

So with all that, it makes sense that she's be stoic, with the spark of hope that she used to have being gone. But I think that will be a character development point for her. She'll learn to fully trust Sabine, without manifesting the worst stuff to happen. "You're going to have to make a choice to let Ezra go - can I trust you???" is a lot to put on Sabine.

You're a Jedi Training Robot, and you are on a hostile planet where you have to go outside to fix the ship so you can escape/leave. You and your Jedi master neglect to use any detection systems (which is understandable if the ship is down) but you are perfectly fine, super sentient Jedi Robot, yet you decide to work outside with your back to a deep dark forest on a hostile planet.......

---you are an experienced rebel commander going AWOl with your squad to attack an empire cell that is attempting to bring back Space Adolph and you fly towards a huge moon sized star ship whose energy signature says its getting ready to jump into hyperspace, but you think the best thing to do is drive with your squad (and your child in the damn passenger seat!!!) right in front of this big ass destroyer class hyperspace jumping craft......


....You are a SUPER jedi, able to fight ships in space with nothing but a light saber, you are able to sense all manner of things with the force, but you can't for the life of you figure out that your Padawan ain't shit, wasn't shit, won't be shit.

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One Hundred.

Blocking the hyperspace path would TYPICALLY be the right move. Because if a ship jumps to hyperspace and has other ships in the path then typically all would be destroyed, S we saw in The Last Jedi with the Holdo Maneuver. So typically that would keep the enemy from getting away.

What Hera didn’t know is that ring had 8 super star destroyer hyperdrives on it for intergalactic distance and speed, which mad it’s jump powerfully enough to blast right through them.

they had what, EIGHT hyperdrives??? That wouldn't look like a normal energy signature....

Its too all over the place for me.

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One Hundred.

were about to jump, but it was too late. After dropping out of hyperspace and hearing from Huyang the plan was to block the path of the hyperspace ring. As soon as they pulled up on it as it was leaving the atmosphere Hera said “Carson are you reading this? They’re gonna jump” but by that point it was too late to give orders to everyone to move out of its path.

which is great! if we're talking it on totality, Ahsoka is on the Mace Windu tier of Jedi. she has to take SOME Ls for the sake of the story, and her record is rather lean on them.

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

I forgot to post last week for part 3, but that episode was essentially setup for this one. Part four was my favorite episode by far. Everything came together in terms of story, character development, and incredible action.

First - I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad that Marrok was just Marrok, and that we didn’t have to wait long to find that out. The fandom on YouTube, Reddit, Star Wars FB groups, etc. was going wild with all the theories of him being Ezra, Cal Kestis, Starkiller, etc. and none of those theories made any sense. I’m sick of mystery box storytelling leading to crazy theories, eventually leading to everyone looking for mystery boxes where there aren’t any. It was perfect that Marrok was just a nightsister magic-controlled being using Inquisitor armor.

The fights in this episode were all great. Everything was really well thought out. All of the stances used, the chess match of the Ahsoka/Balkan fight, the differences in style, the accurate power levels, Sabine learning a bit to be herself while still using her Jedi training, the dialog in between strikes, the stakes felt by each individual, this was all REALLY well done. Credit to Peter Ramsey who directed this.

This episode had some good foreshadowing in it too. You had Ahsoka setting up that at some point Sabine would need to make a choice to either save Ezra or stop Thrawn. I didn’t think that would come until down the road so I was surprised to see it happen in this same episode. Which brings me to …..

A TERRIBLE decision by Sabine. Actually multiple bad decisions. Because the other for shadowing was Huyang telling both of them to stay together before they left to go after the map. And Sabine told Ahsoka to leave while she was fighting Shin - likely because of pride - wanting to get Shin back from their first fight, and wanting to prove herself to Ahsoka. Then Sabine makes the terrible choice of not destroying the map when Ahsoka tells her. Then even after she sees Baylan potentially kill Ahsoka (of course she isn’t dead) Sabine STILL doesn’t destroy the map, and falls for his persuasion in giving it to him and going with them to the other galaxy.

All those decisions are especially bad because the entire reason Ezra is gone is because he chose to sacrifice himself to take Thrawn out of the picture. And now she’s potentially bringing Thrawn back to save him. Ezra would not want this at ALL.

That being said, Sabine’s bad decision(s) are perfect from a story perspective. Ahsoka wakes up in the World Between Worlds. When we were introduced to the WBW in Rebels it was essentially a place where anyone there would be tempted to make bad decisions just like Sabine. Undoing something that would end up having larger consequences. Ahsoka had to stop Ezra from doing this when he tried to go back into the past and save Kanan from dying. He reminded him that Kanan sacrificed himself to save the entire Ghost crew, and if Ezra reversed that then they’d all be dead. Ezra also saved Ahsoka from Vader when he first got there, but we don’t know what the consequences of that was. We don’t know what happened to Ahsoka afterwards, why she wasn’t in the original trilogy helping the Rebellion, why she left Sabine (possibly leading to Sabines family dying in the purge of Mandalore), etc. I’m guessing we’ll start to get SOME answers to that in the next episode with the cliffhanger of Anakin being in the WBW.

Off the rip I’ll tell you though - I don’t think things are what they seem in the WBW. You had the Imperial March start to play at the end. I’ll also have to rewatch (or check out a YouTube breakdown once those come out) but I’m pretty sure that Anakin had Darth Vader’s black lightsaber and not the Anakin saber at his side. He also said something like “didn’t expect to see you so soon”…I’m wondering if she was in the WBW that entire time since Ezra saved her. I also definitely think Ahsoka will be tempted in some way to use the WBW to “save” Anakin from turning to the dark side. Or maybe that’s something they already happened while she was stuck there.

Anyways - back to Sabine’s decision, from a story perspective I think it was perfect to have her make a bad good of the few/many choice that would be seen in the WBW, while being in the real world.

I definitely think Ahsoka will use the WBW to get to the other galaxy. In an earlier episode Morgan mention that they would need to travel across time and space to get to Thrawn. My guess is that because of the distance to another galaxy, there is a difference in how time passes. Like maybe for Ezra and Thrawn they’ve only been gone a year, while it’s been 9-10 years from the main galaxy’s perspective. The WBW could also be used to travel across space and time. Also when Ahsoka grabbed the map and burned herself, she may have gotten the information from the map through the force.

Baylan is absolutely my favorite character of this show so far. Ray’s acting is great, and this fight choreography is just perfect - he fights like a strong gladiator or ancient knight. His moves are so well thought out. The shot when he was precisely blocking Sabine’s blaster shots was incredibly. Also his character has just the right amount of mystery with us getting a little more information/context bit by bit. We know he was a Jedi. The episode title “Fallen Jedi” refers to both him AND Ahsoka. He was reluctant to even fight her (building on earlier when he said it would be a shame to have to kill a Jedi.) He’s teaching Shin as a padawan (with her padawan braid and his whole style of interacting with her being more Jedi master/padawan like vs. Sith/apprentice.) He seduced Sabine to get her to hand over the map, but I actually believe him on his word of her not being harmed (as long as she isn’t fighting them.) But at the same time, we saw him slauter those New Republic soldiers in the first episode. And he’s definitely using some dark side force traits. It is very interesting that he knows Anakin became Vader. How? Was he in the temple like Reva during Order 66? I think that’s the most plausible thing, or maybe he came back to the temple and saw the same security tapes that Yoda and Kenobi saw of Anakin killing younglings. What is Baylan’s motivation? Where was HE during the OT?

I’m really enjoying this show, but I’m also constantly wondering what people think who haven’t watched The Clone Wars and Rebels. Elements like the Purrgil and the WBW have got to be a bit confusing, not to mention all of the character elements from the past that then are impacting their decisions here. For example in Rebels both Ahsoka and Sabine were separately told by Ezra to promise that they’d come get him. Ahsoka when they were both in the WBW, and Sabine at the end before he made his sacrifice. Also the entire feel of these episodes is 100% like Rebels. Definitely felt that in episode 3 and 4 with Hera and Sabine/Ahsoka fighting on separate fronts, just like the Ghost crew in Rebels. I’m glad they aren’t dumbing this stuff down at all (beyond the first episode which HAD to set a few things up through dialog/exposition) but I know some folks gotta be confused. I know some of the fandom complaining about Rosario being to “stoic” where comparing her to young Ahsoka from TCW, and not grown Ahsoka from Rebels who had been through some serious trauma.

Edit: dang I wrote A LOT. Sorry for the long post.

Any of the nonsense theories people wanted. I thought the green smoke coming from him was apparent that its more to do with the night sisters. We prob see a tie in to the sequels later

But I definitely think that’s all there is to him. He may have been an actual inquisitor who was reanimated by Morgan with nightsister magic, or he could have just been pure nightsister magic/smoke contained in old Inquisitor armor as a a vessel. That might also explain the inquisitor from Tales of the Jedi who deflated in a similar way (but without green smoke).

Didn't see the original trilogy until like 2010 and I saw it one time. I could understand why people would have liked it in it's time, but I wasn't a fan. Didn't see the prequel trilogy a part from maybe 30-45 minutes between the 3 when I was flipping channels and it was on television. And I went to see The Force Awakens with a friend who was taking his godson to see it. Meh.

I've always been intrigued by the lore and mythology though and I'm always attracted to stories about rebelling against an empire, but I've always found the writing in Star Wars to be pretty bad. It shows itself to be big and complex, but more often than not, it feels written for children.

Then last year, another friend wouldn't stop going on and on about Andor. So I watched that. It was okay. I enjoyed parts of it, but goddamn, the pacing in the middle was terrible.

As I was discussing Andor with some folks, they started talking about The Mandolorian. So I watched that. And then Boba Fett. I was damn near hate watching them by the end. There's some cool things, but so much fucking nonsense. I could go on and on about the things I don't like about those shows and Star Wars in general.

And I say all that to say, these first 4 episodes of Ahsoka, are my favorite piece of Star Wars media I've seen. And if it keeps this up for the whole season, to me (in my admittedly very limited scope), it will be the very best of Star Wars.

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"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

have shows of different genres and different feel to cast a wide net and have different favorites for everyone. (And honestly that should have been the plan for the Anthology “Star Wars Story” films. Mando started out as a space western. Andor is definitely in that spy thriller/political intrigue genre. Mando started getting way more broad though as it became the center of the Mandoverse. Kenobi felt like it should have been a 2 hour theatrical movie but they extended it, added extra plot story, gave it an TV show budget which impacted the effects, and didn’t quite land the story because of all of this. BOBF felt like it was originally Mando season 3 and they were going TOO far off of where Mando started so they just made it a separate show, and similar to Kenobi added additional “fat” to make a season that weakened the story.

Ahsoka is interesting because to me it feels like Rebels season 5. And it also feels like if you don’t at least know the bulk of the Rebels story you’d be lost. But with the more casual fans I’ve talked to - like my dad, and a couple friends, they are enjoying it as much or more than something like Mando even though they have no clue on any backstory. That to me seems like a huge goal accomplished if that’s the case.

We’ll see if that continues. This episode next week again feels like you’d NEED to understand the World Between Worlds to have any clue what’s going on, but I’ll trust that they have that figured out. It’s supposed to be a longer episode, and they are even showing it in selected theaters.

For one, who cares if they are lol with over 9 movies and 4 tv shows plus 3 cartoons that is their fault. But also when people say “i dont know Ahsoka, Sabbine, and Thrawn are!” I always say “you didnt know who Leia, Luke, Vader or Kenobi are so whats the difference?”. A new hope started in the middle of a story as well.

>A new hope started in the
>middle of a story as well.

And while I knew this - it didn't really HIT me until I watched Dune a couple years ago. I'd never read any of the Dune books, didn't know any backstory, etc. I was blown away by Dune and that was obviously one in which on my first couple watches I was missing a ton of context and backstory as it just drops you into the middle of the story and the middle of a fully established universe.

THAT was when I realized how it must have felt for someone watching A New Hope in 1977. Or someone completely new to Star Wars starting with watching ANH. The implied backstory without knowing everything brings a unique sense of wonder and magic.

Even knowing this though - I default into worrying about what others think who don't know backstory because in my family and in my friend group, I'm the resident person who gets asked all the questions. I remember folks asking me about the timeline thinking Rogue One was after Force Awakens. Or asking me if Mando was supposed to be Boba Fett but from a different time period.

Because Andor takes place after the prequel triology, but before the original trilogy... and Ahsoka/Mandolorian take place like 10-15 years after Andor. But before the sequel triology... and they're all released at more or less the same time... that part is hard to keep straight.

There is way too much media for me (or probably most folks) to figure out the order of and then sit down and watch in order (also I don't care enough, and hate the athestetic of the older stuff). It would have been way better if this shit had been released in anything close to chronological order.

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"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

Mon Mothma being super prevalent in Andor and also showing up here in Ahsoka in a position that might seem very similar, but the entire Rebellion and Original Trilogy films happened in between.

And you still have the timeline right, even though it's confusing.

I have no idea what the world between worlds is (but planes between realms exist in all kinds of media, this isn't something completely foreign by any stretch) and don't know any thing about the Rebels story. I don't feel lost at all. I obviously don't understand all the nuance of it all, or the many of the references they're making, but it's explained well enough as you watch to get the gist of it.

I mean... I've read all the Game of Thrones books and understand the story in ways that people who only watched the show don't. But that doesn't mean they NEED to have read the Dunk and Egg novellas to get the gist of what's going on or to not be lost in the story. It's explained well enough for people to get it. Do they need to know the difference between the Andals and the Rhyonar? No. People don't need to dive all the way in to understand and enjoy the story.

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"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

And that was clearly apparent after episode 5. There was zero need to understand any backstory for the WBW or any of the nerdy context I was thinking about lol...

Wow…

Hayden Christensen was just outstanding in this. This was the best live action Anakin we’ve seen. He had to combine the persona of ROTS Anakin/Vader with The Clone Wars animation Anakin which had voice performance by Matt Lanter. All in the same scenes. And he did it flawlessly both in acting and in lightsaber fighting style. This is also by far the best de-aging I’ve seen in Star Wars.

Rosario should get credit as well. Notice that when she came back she was wearing white robes, as Ahsoka the White. Filoni has talked about comparing Ahsoka to Gandalf the White and I think we’re seeing it here. Her personality is completely changed. She’s gone from super stoic and seeing the risks to being optimistic and seeing the possibilities. There were a lot of people on the SW fandom talking about her personality and saying she was too stoic without regard for everything that character has been through. But now was also see that it’s given Rosario the ability to show character development.

Also - props to Filoni for using the World Between Worlds in a way that didn’t get too heavy into backstory. If you’ve never heard of the WBW you’d still get it right away as we essentially see Anakin take her through the Ghosts of Ahsoka past.

I also have to add that seeing a live action lid playing Ahsoka during The Clone Wars really drove home how wrong the Jedi were in becoming soldiers fighting a war instead of being keepers of the peace.

my only beef was I thought they should have aged up Ahsoka for the Siege of Mandalore scenes. she shows a ton of maturity and self-confidence in the final season of Clone Wars in ways that I don't think the 'Ahsoka" show actress was able to successfully physically convey. was hard for me to imagine that this was the same person going toe to toe with Maul just 30 minutes later.

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"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled, and less than that no man shall have." - TR

By the last season right before ROTS she would have been 17. They did a great job from a costume standpoint of matching the character design changes throughout the show, but they could have done more with her face makeup.

That being said, the most jarring thing to me in the entire episode was how young Ahsoka was at the beginning of TCW, leading troops into battle. In the animated show that impact wasn’t felt as much - first because in any animation age is a tough thing to fully convey. But also the tone of the show in the first season when she was really young was much more light. Likely because it was originally made as a show for kids. Serious concepts absolutely came later, but we didn’t get the introspection in TCW that we saw here with Ahsoka being reluctant to go into the fight. There was a story arc when she made a bad decision that got a bunch of the pilots under her command killed, but it was crazy seeing a live action human actor who is a child comforting that injured Clone Trooper in this episode.

Filoni just continues to add context and depth to the prequel era and the fact that the Jedi Order was incredibly flawed.

I watched it once, need to watch again, but I didn't think episode five really hit me.

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show episode to be shown in theaters. I could see a two part season opener or two part finale. But I guess this was a very limited release.

Episode 4 honestly hit me harder than this one. This episode was great and extremely nostalgic. Definitely the turning point for the season for Ahsoka, along with likely a huge budget to handle all the dealing for Hayden, so that’s likely the reason.

Anything they can get right now.

I think it was worth it due to the Anakin appearance.

I think they only showed 5 as a stand alone.

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"Too weird to live.... too rare to die..."

IG: KnowOne215 | PS+ ID: KnowOne215

but to me it was ghost fights, space whales and flying around.

The Anakin/Vader shadow and voice clips were dope.

THRAWN!

EZRA!
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Keep the crack raps up that shit is double plus what-ever-the-fuck.
Everybody's afraid to say that it just sucks to watch talented motherfuckers pretending they sell drugs - EL-P

I know I'm a huge SW fan so I'm gonna enjoy just about anything that's put out - (with the exception of Rise of Skywalker in which it became obvious that they literally had NO plan for the sequels and just threw together a story without even broad strokes of where it was going.)

But I'm really enjoying this series so far. Mandalorian is a lot of fun, but definitely at times feels literally like Jon and Dave dumping out an old box of Star Wars toys and playing with them. Mando also has a bit of a weird balance between episodic and serialized TV - like it was intended to be a small scale episodic show but once Grogu blew up and the idea of the Mandoverse came into play they had to expand it with an overall story arc. Andor is AMAZING - the best thing Disney SW has put out IMO, but that show feels like a great show even separate from any SW connection.

With Ahsoka though (so far) Dave Filoni has hit a GREAT balance of feeling like Star Wars while bringing completely new ideas and direction into the SW lore. Which makes sense - because he did the same thing in Clone Wars and Rebels. He has a George Lucas spirit of not just retreading what has been done, but pushing forward into new themes, ideas, and making the universe bigger. One of my biggest arguments with fans who will say "that's not how the force works!" when seeing something new is the fact that ALL three of the original trilogy movies introduced new force powers and abilities that we'd never seen. And obviously the prequels expanded the lore into new, fresh directions...even those who hate the prequels typically say it was an issue with execution and dialog writing, but strong from a sense of story/lore.

So this episode gave us familiar elements from the past - nightsisters, Thrawn, Ezra, stormtroopers, the Chimaera, etc., but presented it all in a new, fresh way. We're in another galaxy. (Loved Huyang breaking the fourth wall with his story intro, but that also working perfectly in universe since we've heard that the Jedi told stories at the temple about this galaxy far, far away.) Thrawn is in a different place now than he was when we last saw him. It's been around 10 years that he's been stranded. It appears to me that those stormtroopers are reanimated with nightsister majick (which would be perfect following the Marrok setup). Thrawn in the past was almost a bit of an anti-hero. He was helping the Empire because he wanted to use them as an ally to help save his people the Chiss from the Grysk. (This was all in the prequel era, and in the books - not important to know here.) But this time in exile has changed him it seems - I don't know what his motivations are, or whether he even knows that the Emperor is dead (kind of, SMH sequel trilogy.) We also don't know what the nightsisters are fleeing in this galaxy.

I love how even in this one episode we get a sense of Thrawn's character. We see the layers - he's using Sabine and lets Baylan know that. While also using Baylan and letting Morgan know that. He's willing to leave all of them stranded in this galaxy. That also means that even though it isn't stated here, he's using Morgan and the nightsisters as well. Only he knows his full intentions and plan.

Ezra was great. Perfect casting. He looks different in exactly the right way - aged up, and he's been through some stuff, but his personality feels right. I loved his reunion with Sabine, along with Sabine perfectly playing how happy she is to be reunited with him, but also apprehensive - because she knows that to make that reunion happen she has completely undone his sacrifice. He even asked her "the plan worked, right? right?" Because yeah it worked, until now when Sabine gave Thrawn a way to return to the main galaxy...

Looking at the timing with two episodes left, and at some point a Filoni movie that all this is ramping up towards, I think this season will end with Thrawn winning. They need to show in action why he's such a threat to the galaxy. Maybe he makes it back to the main galaxy and quickly wipes out those three New Republic ships that came to get Hera. Maybe he connects with that Imperial shadow council from Mando season 3 and is named the new emperor. Whatever happens, I think we need to see Thrawn winning at the end of this season.

Since you know Star Wars a bit more than the casual person.....

Source material and names....

It seems like these people study some metaphysical concepts (even if on a surface/entertainment level) when coming up with these stories. I see it in this one more as opposed to in Mando for example. The astrology/astronomy, the dream world Ahsoka, the Nightsisters, Thrawn needing their assistance to succeed, the name Enoch, etc. Have you ever seen any sane discourse on this? Do you yourself acknowledge or see any of this?

I liked this ep. I watched this one and the previous one twice.

what he writes. As well as Lucas himself. I’m not knowledgeable about a lot of it myself except the Biblical references (and I definitely think the name Enoch for example points to him being a character who defys death in some way like the Biblical character who never died, but was “taken” up by God) but I watch Star Wars YouTubers and podcasts where they analyze EVERYTHING. Star Wars Explained is my favorite since he breaks down everything in a very digestible way. But he’s mentioned the names and possible connections of several of the characters on this show - Baylan and Shin, Marrok, etc.

I will look up that Star Wars Explained podcast. Thanks.

The three mothers were named in the closing credits of this last episode. - Klothow, Aktropaw, and Lakesis. Those names are almost the same as the Greek mythological goddesses called “the Fates”. They read and determined destiny by spinning, measuring, and cutting the threads of fate. Their names were Clotho, Atropos, and Lachesis. Also matches what the mothers did in this episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCX0gQmsXEE

Several other connections from both Greek and Norse mythology are mentioned...

but that space whale stir fry be HITTING


Clones be calling him "BIG BLUE"

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One Hundred.

Not all them space whales died of natural causes,

Incredible. So much happened in this episode I’m gonna have to watch it again just to process. Also the wait from one week to the next for the following episode is TOUGH.

But wow…Ezra was representing in this episode. We got 3PO! Loved the hologram recording of Anakin training Ahsoka. Mon Mothma is looking a bit too young since they didn’t age her up at all from Andor, and we know how the original actress looked in ROTJ which is before this in the timeline. Thrawn looked shook for a bit when he head Ahsoka was trained by Anakin. (By the way, he knows that Vader was Anakin.) Rosario is killing this as Ahsoka. I hope she gets credit for clearly showing the character development from being stoic and fearful of the worse to Ahsoka the White and being optimistic, playful like young Clone Wars Ahsoka, etc.

So many questions going into the finale. What is Baylan up to out here? Is Shin going to try to go back to him? What is Ezra going to think about Sabine undoing his sacrifice by giving Thrawn a way to return home? How will the heroes get home with no Star whales and no hyperspace ring?

Okay wild speculation going into the finale, just off the top of my head after watching this episode. I think Thrawn and the mothers will all make the hyperspace jump back to the main galaxy at the beginning of the finale, leaving the heroes along with Baylan and Shin in Peridea. I think Baylan is trying to get to some power like the World Between Worlds with a goal of going back to reset the timeline. I think Ahsoka and the crew will also find the World Between Worlds, and use that to get home. Maybe there’s some kind of conflict between them all in the WBW. Back in the main galaxy I think Thrawn will end the season with some kind of huge victory - showing what a large threat he is along with proving to the New Republic that he’s back. Maybe he manages to destroy those three Capital ships that were sent after Hera (although I’d guess those ships took here back to Coruscant for that hearing.) Whatever it is I think the season ends on a win for Thrawn which is allowing this to build up towards Filoni’s Mandoverse movie.

Speaking of the Mandoverse, we got an indication from Carson Teva in this episode on the timeline, confirming that this season is happening concurrently with Mando season 3. (He arrived at the hearing after he was in that season trying to get the NR to act on Moff Gideon.)

Love the title. This was…okay as a finale. Had some great moments in it. The Nighttrooper fight, Morgan’s ritual with the mothers and then her fight with Ahsoka, live action Ezra is amazing, etc.

I guess my biggest issue with it though is just so much that is unresolved. Part of that is me and the way I watch shows - I give all of the benefit of the doubt during a season because I want to give them time to see how everything resolves. And I didn’t expect them to resolve everything at all - I expected this season to end on a “bad” note, but this is a LOT.

Part of that is knowing Ray Stevenson unfortunately passed away so that isn’t going to resolve the way they planned it. But him just being in this in the middle of a montage, while introducing the Morris Gods into the show (for those who don’t know - he was standing on the hand of the Father, with the Son next to it and a crumbled Daughter on the other side) seems like TOO much of a literal cliffhanger.

That being said, I do need to have patience to see how it will play out as the story continues.

The one scene I flat out didn’t like though was Ezra’s reunion with Hera. It just feels corny to me to have the fake tension of him unnecessarily wearing the Stormtrooper helmet as he got off of the ship. I get what they were trying to do, with that being a bookend from the opening of the series when Baylan and Shin flew that same class of shuttle onto a New Republic ship and slaughtered them. But it took me out of the scene a bit.

We’ll see. I’ll watch this one again when I rewatch the season.

I rewatched this episode this morning. I felt better about it, but still feel like there were some issues. But on second watch I didn't have as much of a problem with the way Baylan was only in it for a quick tease. As I think about it it's possible that they intended to show more of him in this episode, but that would have given too much about where his story goes from here and that is a bit up in the air given Ray Stevenson's death.

Also on second watch I felt more of the theme of the entire season in the relationship between Ahsoka and Sabine. We have resolution of the choice Sabine made, the thought process in Ahsoka on standing behind her apprentice, a resolution on Ahsoka's relationship with Anakin and the fear she had of what he became (I loved this - earlier in the season when Baylan taunted her with what Anakin became that threw her all the way off, while when Thrawn did the same here she took it in stride), and Sabine making a different choice in saving Ahsoka instead of going with Ezra - showing that she wasn't singularly attached to Ezra.

Again I loved the Nighttrooper battle, and the Morgan/Ahsoka fight. I wish we had a little more of Thrawn showing how much of a threat he is to the New Republic. Could have just been a scene thrown into that ending montage of him meeting with the Imperial Shadow Council that was shown in Mando season 3. Actually that would have been a DOPE post credit scene - they did post credit scenes in Mandolorian and Andor before.

I don't think I've mentioned it at all in this thread - but the music has been great all season. Kevin Kiner did this - same composer from The Clone Wars and Rebels, and he did some outstanding developments of the Ahsoka theme throughout, building on what he made for her in TCW.

I'm interested in seeing where all this goes. We know we have the Filoni movie coming up which is a cumulation of all of these Favreau/Filioni shows. Skeleton Crew is up next (I'm wondering if that will have Jude Law and the kids on a ship flying through the new galaxy?) Carson Teva seems like the glue between all the shows. I can see him bringing in Mando to help the NR in the effort against Thrawn, which could eventually bring in the other Mandalorians, working with Hera and Ezra. I think Ezra will train Jacen. I think Ahsoka and Sabine will eventually get back through some type of myscital route - either the World Between Worlds, or through Mortis if the statues of the Mortis Gods is an indication of some sort of nexus point being on that planet.

It seems like she's supposed to be the great fighter, like one of the best around. But then Baylan bodies her twice, and she's losing to Morgan... gets her saber cut in two, before she finally pulls out the W. I wish they would show her just stomp some people and show how great she's implied to be.

This is my favorite piece of Star Wars media I've consumed (which is limited to the first 3 movies, Mandolorian, Book of Boba Fett, Andor, less than an hour of the prequel triology, and half of The Force Awakens). Still features plenty of the silly shit that makes me dislike Star Wars (like how Sabine, goes out to find Ezra, meets some bandits, then some aliens and is like "hey you guys know Ezra?" And they're like -- "yeah he's right here."), but not quite as much. Really liked Rosario as Ahsoka.

I'm confused at what the hell Shin is supposed to be doing. Leading the bandits? For what?

Curious if there will be an Ahsoka season 2 before the big movie.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

I had that same frustration in the Morgan fight - Ahsoka at this point should be able to wet her up EASY regardless of nightsister majik or Talsin's sward.

I think what they were going for was Ahsoka coming to terms with the struggle she had with being trained as a Jedi during the Clone Wars and having fighting be her only purpose. This is part of the Jedi's failing during the Clone Wars - remember Yoda's statement in ESB - "Wars not make one great". This is part of the lesson she learned in the WBW with Anakin, going back through her memories of battles and fighting, and deciding when and when not to fight. In the second Baylan battle when he said she couldn't defeat him and she mentioned that she didn't have to - that was likely supposed to be development beyond just being a fighter. Same with her discussion with Sabine in this episode about training when Sabine defaulted to lightsaber forms, but Ahsoka said training to be a Jedi isn't about the saber and fighting, but connection with that Force. That came to fruition later in the battle when Sabine was finally able to wield the Force.

All that being said - I still wanted Ahsoka to show at some point that she's still that deal with her sabers.

but also, as Kanann once told Ezra, you win by surviving

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

Because as a filthy casual, I've gotta say that whole sequence was more laughable than Ezra's meeting with Hera. That said, as a Trek fan I'm down for some good fan service.

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Love,
Nopayne

The night sisters did it in The Clone Wars using the same green smoke magic, and they did it in Jedi Fallen Order, and in this show they set it up through Marrok’s death with the green smoke showing that he’d been reanimated (along with the setup of Thrawn telling the Mothers that he’d need them to use their dark magik again.)

People were also predicting that the night troopers were already reanimated - because of the name Thrawn called them and because of the red nightsister cloth on them. I thought it was set up well, and also managed to avert expectation by having them get killed in earlier episodes and seem “normal” until this finale setup showing the Mothers actually casting the spells to reanimate them. I totally get why someone would feel that zombies in Star Wars is laughable though.

The thing I don't get is it, seemed like that one unit of troopers volunteered to get killed and reanimated on the spot? I thought that was why Thrawn tried to confirm that they knew what they were volunteering for.

Now that I think about it, I probably misunderstood what was going on. That unit may have been volunteering to stay behind to fight Asohka at that big temple thing.

Anyway it's all good. I'm happy that this show and Andor exist in their own lanes and they are working to push the universe forward. Looking forward to season 2.

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Love,
Nopayne

Was you either die or live and be stranded.

they knew what would happen to them I think they were volunteering knowing that they would be left behind, and that they'd be killed and reanimated. I think the Mothers likely had done this before since Thrawn told them he'd need to use their dark majik "again".

This reminds me of something subtle that I noticed in this episode - Morgan told Thrawn that the volunteers were willing to do anything for him, and Thrawn corrected her and said "for the Empire". I think that during the last ten years, Thrawn had to exploit the loyalty of his troops just to hold things together while in exile - making them like a cult. That isn't really part of Thrawn's typical nature to be worshiped in that type of way, but he's tactical enough to use to his advantage. But now he's about to go back to the main SW galaxy he's resetting and starting to remind them of his main goal of leading the Empire. He specifically said "for the security of the Empire" which could go back to Thrawn's goal from the start of getting ready for an even bigger threat that's coming.

You think they will find someone else to play Baylan Skoll or will they leave that alone?

I think I mentioned up above that they may have purposely cut some of what Ray did just so they have the options open. All depends on what they were originally planning. I’ve seen people online guess that Baylan was trying to get to Mortis and point Ming out that he was looking at a mountain with a shining crystal on it which is like the Father’s castle on Mortis. Maybe that was in this galaxy all along? Maybe he’s trying to get to the Mother?

They could play it like whatever he was going for killed him and Ahsoka or Shin find his cloak to confirm that. Or maybe they’ll recast but the character will have a mask like many Sith characters have had in the past. Or maybe there is some extra footage they cut that could be used to show what he was after? Or maybe he’ll even become one of the Force Gods and will have a different appearance because of that…

but i wasnt sure this merited its own post

so

as of Mandalorian Chapter 13 "Jedi", Filoni and Favreau have completely restored my love of Star Wars. i finished The Clone Wars a few weeks ago after a 15 year hiatus, and by the end i NEEDED more.

banged thru Rebels quick as shit. incredible show with a surprising emotional heft to it that reminded me of the original trilogy, and confirmed that Ahsoka Tano is actually my 2nd favorite character in all of Star Wars.

after Ep 9 i was so disgusted i didnt want anything to do with Star Wars (except for Obi Wan bc hes 1st). turned out to be a blessing bc this shit is fabulous and i have whole ass seasons to devour. and when i say disgusted i meant i avoided it like the plague and I know absolutely nothing about any of it.

i cant fucking wait to get to Ahsoka. in this Mandalorian episode Rosario fuckin nailed it to me and i was just smiling like an idiot for most of it.

anyhoo, be back in a few weeks!

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

And regarding episode 9...I cape for EVERYTHING Star Wars and even I can't say anything to attempt to redeem that trash.

But yeah - Filoni is amazing. I remember when I discovered The Clone Wars years after avoiding it, thinking it was just for kids. Clone Wars spoilers below:














I had seen a few episodes here and there, but I was on a trip for work and threw it on Netflix (this was pre-Disney+ days) and happened to watch the story arc ending with The Lawless - that was the story arc with Maul taking over Mandalore after building a criminal syndicate. And in that one episode The Lawless specifically we see Maul kill Kenobi's past love interest right in front of him, an act so dark they immediately cut to Palpatine on the other side of the galaxy sensing the darkness in the Force like he could taste it in the air. Then Palpatine flies his ship out there and we get one of the BEST lightsaber fights in all of Star Wars - Palpatine vs. Maul and Savage.

That arc and episode completely hooked me. And crazy that that story telling is still going on today - I just watched the three episode premier of the last season of The Bad Batch which came out this week.

thats how long ago this was, then when i watched everything that was out on DVD my plan was to just onboard to the ones airing first run, but i got sidetracked and i was glad of it when i saw that season 6 didnt come out until just a few years ago. i appreciated being able to watch it as soon as i finished 5, and lo and behold, all the seeds were planted.

Obi Wan and Satine was great stuff. Ahsoka and Rex was great stuff. Palpatine coming for Maul was GREAT stuff. Thrawn as the main antagonist in Rebels was awesome as an Heir to the Empire kid.

just that tiny little bit of Obi Wan in Rebels, amazing. what an elegant way to show what hes been up to over the years when he gave Maul the one hitter quitter in their 1.2 second long "duel". and then he holds and comforts Maul as he expires because thats just the kind of guy he is. fucking brilliant.

and while i dont want to go to deep on this because its clearly got a story to be told, when Moff Gideon cut himself out of his TIE fighter with the Darksaber? i literally gasped out loud

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE