Part Four: Fallen Jedi

Oh boy, what can I say about this episode? I don't even know how to start, so I'm gonna call by what it is: art. If the first 3 episodes didn't hooked you up or you thought they were slow burn or even that this show wasn't worth watching it, this episode may be the one to change your mind. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to ending. The stakes have never been higher. I can see they're improving everything from episode to episode, the performances of the main characters feel more natural, the choreography for the action scenes is way better here, even the VFX that was already great in the first 3 episodes look even better here. The highlights of this episode: Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll, wow, just wow, he totally nailed it, I'm completey sold on the character. Natasha Liu Bordizzo's Sabine Wren and Ivanna Sakhno's Shin Hati we're pretty good here too, but the 2 things that made this episode so special were Dave Filoni's writing and Peter Ramsey's directing, brilliant, just brilliant. The ending of the episode was just the icing of the cake of a already great episode and just helped to cement this one as one of the best Star Wars live-action shows episodes. I can't wait for next week, I wish I had a Time Machine so I could go 7 days to the future.

This was definitely one of the best pieces of Star Wars television since the series finale of The Clone Wars. It's got amazing action, awesome performances, a great script, a fantastic soundtrack, and I absolutely love what it's doing with the characters; old and new!

I'm especially loving the character of Baylan! Ray Stevenson was absolutely incredible in the role, and the character is so well written. So far, he's turning-out to be one of my favourite antagonists in the Star Wars Universe

We're also half-way through this series (or at least the season), now, and I'm feeling quite confident about it, which is something I've not said about any Disney+ shows in a while. It's a really great change of pace after a lot of underwhelming Star Wars and Marvel projects on the platform.

This episode is definitely an improvement over the previous episode in terms of plot progression, but the quality of everything else stays the same.

We are halfway through the show and I still don't particularly care about any of these characters, especially the titular character that's supposed to be the protagonist and the main character. More and more, it feels like I'm just watching a Sabine show or just a show about a group of rebels or something and not Ahsoka. I haven't watched her animated show, and I shouldn't have to since it's the live-action's job to make me care about and understand these characters. Which has been doing a pretty bad job in my opinion. Like with the Mandalorian, you'd have no doubt that Din is the main character and the protagonist. Even in the awful Boba Fett show, you still see who's the protagonist and why the show is named after him.

But here? I still have yet to feel that way about Ahoska's character. It feels like the creator left the heavy-lifting part of actually making you care about characters to the animated shows. Which doesn't work since I and I'm sure many others haven't watched.

Like it's a fair demand to expect you will who the main protagonist is and you care about her halfway through the whole thing right? But at least, with the ending scene of this episode, we might get to know more about Ahsoka's past hopefully.

I think the bigger problem is that they gave Sabine a character arc and Ahsoka is just kinda there. I think this is the reason why it feels like she's not the protagonist, she doesn't particularly have a character arc or a conflict to overcome. She had some conflicts about Sabine in the first two episodes but she already overcame them in the same episode.

I also didn't really like the direction and the editing of this episode even more than the previous one. Especially with the first fight scene where you don't even see wtf is happening. It gets better after that and the next lightsaber fight scenes are decently shot and edited at least, but the first one is just atrocious. They should get better directors and editors and someone who actually knows how to shoot fight scenes.

I also hate this trope of characters just waiting and staring at their enemy when they have every opportunity to attack them and do damage to them, even when the enemy has their back to them. Like even if you missed and the enemy anticipated and deflected your bullet, at least try? At least try shooting at their head first when they have their backs to you and don't even know you're there instead of just yelling "stahp!"?

Nevertheless, this is probably the most interesting the show has been so far, but it's not amazing either. I mean yes, compared to Obi-Wan Kenobi this is a masterpiece production-wise alone, but on its own, it just has been meh so far. At least the plot moved forward a lot in this episode and a lot happened here and the ending made me a little more interested to see what happens next. But like I said, the uninspired directing and editing, the half-baked characterization that makes you think you're watching the second season of the show and missed all the characterization, and a lot more problems on the writing part just make this show above mediocre and just meh and way less interesting and exciting as it should be.

This show so far as been a treat. It's worked for the most part, and ultimately feels like it's going to some great heights. This episode kept that going and I'm pretty stoked. But idk, there's just something about it.

I'm caught up on practically everything Star Wars, and have been a fan for all my life. I'm not a sequel hater or prequel hater, or anything like that, I embrace new and old Star Wars, despite knowing the problems with it, and try to keep an open mind. I feel like I need to preface that.

This episode was good. It wasn't great, unfortunately, but it paved the way for a hopeful second half of season 1. The stakes were high but I think this episode needed to take more risk? I feel like there were so many things that happened, and they could've been much better executed, both in terms of writing and in terms of action. What we got isn't bad, but I don't know it just feels kinda plastic?

The action editing sequences, for example. We see the clash, but we don't really see the choreography much. Sure, there's nice lighting, cool colors, great practical effects, but I want to see the fight on a more broad scope. I hope that's not asking too much, but I want to physically see the fight playing out from a wider view. It connects the characters to their environment, and it feels more atmospheric, as well as simply being a showcase of solid fight choreography. This show hasn't really convinced me that the choreography is great. I'm sure it is, but I want to see it.

Last little gripe is just the writing. The characters still don't feel like the characters, but rather impersonations. Ashoka is different, but I still need more convincing for Sabine and Hera. Why is Hera's kid here? Why do some of the conversations feel cut short? It just sounds like statements rather than conscious dialogue. I might be overthinking it though, so definitely keep an open mind and go in with your own expectations.

Ashoka did it. It finally got from okay to really good. The one thing that tells me is that Filoni clearly has a strength for Pay Off but not so much for Setup. You can see that through out all of his work. But this episode was very much a mid-season finale and it worked. Ray Stevensons character is really interesting as always but this time around others like Sabine can shine to and her acting has greatly improved. Even Ahsoka gets to show some emotions, wow show your title character is finally getting interesting Halde way through.

The slow pace is not so mach felt here, which is good. This is no Andor where the writing is so great, that you can allow yourself dialogue heavy episodes and extended scenes. It's no Andor but it's enjoyable and it's improving, finally!!!