Part Six: Far, Far Away

This episode certainly had its great moments that captured my expectation as well as those i have been waiting for!

Yes this episode sees the return of Thrawn and I am glad its not just at the end of the episode as I feared! His introduction is well done as you get this slow build up with a lot of dark atmosphere! Lars Mikkelsen is just as good in live action as he was in the animated show! He just has such qn intimidating voice and a commanding presence!

I also really loved the set pices and design as it created a darker and mystical vibe! This show has familiar elements but is not affraid to go deeper into the mystical elements of Star Wars! Especially when Baylon starts talking about "The beginning"!

This episode also focuses more on Sabine which I don't mind, even if it gets a bit slow at times!

I expect the last two episodes to go HARD!

The main problem with this episode is that Sabine just isn't fun. She hasn't had any major growth arc. She gets ambushed in this episode and even though she's not wearing a mandalorian helmet and takes a bunch of direct shots she basically just shrugs it off. Nothing involving her feels like it has any stakes, despite every character insisting that all of her decisions have terribly weighty stakes. It's very ham-fisted and distracting the way every character tries to make her feel bad about her choice in an earlier episode, even though nagging her about it makes 0 sense for their characters.

Ray Stevenson does alright with his lines, and Lars is fine too. But the real star of this episode is rat-horse, which is almost immediately charming despite it having no plausible reason to act as nicely to Sabine as it does.

The problem this series runs into is I don't care about Ahsoka and I don't care about Sabine. It's not like this episode on its own is jarringly bad, but it was this episode where I finally decided this series really just is too dull to even enjoy for the spectacle.

This show continues to surprise me each week, giving us great episodes with great visuals, a great soundtrack, great action, great characters, and a great story & script. But where this series excels the most... Is the fan service!

It's turning-out to be one of the best pieces of Star Wars media that we've gotten in a long time, being great from a technical perspective, while appealing to the fans of the franchise, and the stories and characters inside of it. And one of the best things about it is that it all feels natural. A lot of attempted fan service in recent movies and shows (looking at cinema and TV on the whole here) features actors or characters that feel unnecessary and forced-in. But, the Ahsoka series manages to properly execute the fan service, while having it feel natural with the story.

It's just such an incredible way to take the journey set-up by the finale of Rebels, half a decade ago!

Star Wars has always been more fantasy than Science fiction. Something that is almost forgotten after the sequels were made and up until now with Ahsoka.

Ahsoka series feels like a direct continuation from the prequel and original movies. (Though, It could be an advantage to have seen at least Rebels to get the finer nuisances of the story telling. Maybe Also Clone wars series).

Though I liked Andor, Rogue one and even Obi-wan Kenobi series, they did not have the fantasy aesthetics as the originals Somehow more sterile and more towards science fiction(with primarily humans) than fantasy. They were missing mystery, occult-like scenarios, magic ...and they had a serious lack fantasy steeds, creatures and beings.

They barely touched the realm of Knights, Princesses, Evil rulers, Slaves and people/creatures with strange powers and sinister fortresses.

All this was remedied by the arrival of Ahsoka.

If you liked the original movies and the prequels, then it is a must to see Ahsoka.

This episode may appear relatively laid back in comparison, but it sets up the ultimate conflict that no doubt will resonate in the last two episodes of season one.

The theme is all creatures great and small. In a hostile world where there are a few who amass power, and others who desperately predate to survive, there are still others who use guile and wisdom to endure.

A great many other strategic questions are answered, including how the Purrgils would know to jump to this galaxy and for what purpose. Turns out, one person's purgatory may well be another's reverent sanctuary.

There is also sadly, at work here, a cabal of people who deliberately write reviews designed with prejudice to denigrate. It would be nice if such people would find a life more productive.