cocobinay

Comparisons to Season 1 are nonsensical. Season 1 was an original concept that stood and succeeded on its own, which cannot be the case for subsequent seasons.

The best thing about Season 2 is the acting. The cast is absolutely great! Where Squid Game 2 feels lacking, is in its refusal to resolve ANY of the multiple threads in this season. There are many ways to build suspense, but the laziest one is where you just refuse to answer any questions you raised for an entire seasons, leaving it to be addressed in Season 3. It is quite evident that the show is now a lot less interested in telling a satisfying story and more invested in stretching the franchise into a multi-season subscription-retention machine.

I avoided this show until Season 2 was out.

I figured it's just another Disney+ show trying to capitalize on the SM & MS's legacy, with SG thrown in for the young audience.

I was honestly surprised by how funny the writing easy, and engrossed by the whole mystery. It's clear that the trio actors are having a blast doing the show!

The intergenerational friendship dimension is rather touching and very welcome, especially their shared concern that they haven't lived up to their potential.

Season 3 is stream of Hollywood's who's-who that, at first, threatens to reduce the season to a string of cameos; BUT this season packs a lot more genuine emotions (curtesy of Meryl Streep).

This is honestly one of the best written shows around, and as someone who's a fan of SM and MS, this easily ranks among their best work for me.

Overall, I like this series for being a nod to the fans who watched the animated series (Filloni's revenge!!). Rosario Dawson's Asohka remains the same tenacious capable Jedi dropout we all love. That's the reason I'm sticking with it.

But, in so many ways, this series also feels like a stepdown from the narrative impact Rebels had, and the maturity or authority these characters developed over it's run.

In SW Rebels, Sabine Wren matures over the course of the series to a responsible formidable adult, who could hold her own with Gar Saxon. But in this new series, she's a petulant impulsive teenager shirking responsibilities and unaware of consequences.

The same goes for Ryder Azadi, the Governor of Lothal, who is here taken from an imposing seasoned leader and reduced to a Jeff Goldblum Grandmaster knockoff. These changes didn't need to happen, but they come off as grating since the show is intended to be a nod to the fan who'd know these characters, and presumably be fond of them.