tjstarr-99199

Why is Vader's Theme Playing With Redeem/Light-Side Anakin?....Filoni Had to Remind His Audience "THIS GUY WAS DARTH VADER." Hera is Officially A Traitor Who Endangered Her Son & Got Pilots Killed. Sabine.... Starting Another Imperial War < Locating Ezra Who She Has No Proof Of Life. Stop With The ONLY NR PILOT GUY (Carson) For Any Scene Involving X-Wings. Better Than Previous Episodes But STALE Writing Remains.

Why aren't Luke and Leia intervening into this matter? Fallen Jedi, threats of Thrawn returning, Sith Inquisitors, possible 2nd Imperial War. Luke and Leia would be brought in, or at the very least mentioned. Just like when Marvel has to justify not using the Avengers during high levels of threat. Something the show should address and simply will not, or forgot.

Honestly, some positives, the pacing of this episode was better. An element of George Lucas's directing which was one of his strengths was, "Make it bigger and make it faster." This episode had this. The less Filoni dialogue spoken, the better. The editing back-and-forth between fight sequences worked and had me engaged. The less scenes with absolutely nothing happening to drive the plot or the characters, even better. The direction was slightly better, but unfortunately even a new director cannot help fix the lifeless performances. Ray Stevenson is officially the most and only interesting character in Ahsoka. Like his previous line regarding how few Jedi are left and pity to kill one, his line of losing faith a long time ago is something I'm more interested in. He's the character we should be following. Not Ahsoka, Sabine, or Hera....they're boring and terrible in this.

A tiny unimpressive victory, FINALLY, in an X-Wing pilot FINALLY said, "Lock s-foils in attack position." I simple command line said in most pre-Disney SW. However, Disney SW constantly forgets to have it's X-Wing pilots say this. No one in the sequel trilogy, Rogue One, Mando, Boba Fett, no one. Until now.

Then we have Anakin Skywalker. Vader's theme would never be played with a redeemed and light-side Anakin, and any SW fan would know this. This was Rings of Power level of bad to play Vader's theme in order to let the target audience know...THIS WAS DARTH VADER. Honestly, this is Dave's poor attempt to simply have live-action imposter Anakin and Ahsoka fight for no logical narrative reason in the next episode. If you absolutely loved this episode because of this predictable reveal and you think Dave Filoni is the savior of SW or the best thing about SW since Lucas left.....get some real help.

Hera might officially be the worst character in the show. None of her actions or words are that of a military general. In this episode she tries to send a small team to investigate Ashoka's location. The very thing she should've done in the previous episode instead of requesting senators to send an entire fleet. Her actions and poor choice of words in the previous episode put her on lock down. She breaks orders from her superiors, takes her son with her into possibly dangerous territory, and get several X-Wing pilots killed. She also freezes up when she should've order her ships to get out of the path of the ship about to enter hyperspace. She is a traitor, and any logical written narrative would have her character punished for her actions.

Sabine is faced with a choice. Prevent a 2nd Imperial War, or hand over the map for the unknown possibility of finding Ezra who she has no proof of life. Sabine selfishly chooses THE THREAT OF WAR putting the lives of many at great risk for the life of one who may or may not be alive. How are these characters protagonists?

Ahsoka, use your FORCE PULL on the map! Stop trying to physically grab the map. The map is destroyed, but no fear. Just like Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ahsoka has it burned onto her hand. I'm sure another Filoni-Indiana Jonesl rip-off will have a payoff somehow.

STOP having Carson in all scenes involving X-Wings in Mando seasons 2 and 3, Book of Boba Fett, and now Ahsoka. I like the actor, but he is legit the ONLY NR PILOT GUY we ever see. He's not Wedge level awesome, he's just Carson...that one and ONLY NR PILOT GUY. Is the NR that short on pilots that is only has this one dude and like 10 others?

As for the rest of the episode, the action is not fully dull, but it's nothing remarkable or as entertaining as the fight sequences in the OT and Prequels. Especially when the budget for these shows is capable of achieving this level of action. Shin is officially not an intimating character. Her one look is a cross between a that of a wondering cat or a deer in the headlights 24/7. Even when she speaks, "You have no power." You cannot help but laugh at how ridiculous she looks and sounds.

HERE WE GO AGAIN...Hera Is A Useless General Who Is Unable To Send A Few X-Wings or Probes To Investigate, Instead She Wants a Fleet While Acting Like A War Monger. Enemy Fighters Aim For The Tiny Astronaut And Not The Crippled Ship. Sabine Is Defeated By A Cup. And There Be Star Whales Here! In Short, Little Happens. Ahsoka Continues its STALE Run of Weak Writing.

General Hera embarrasses herself before a panel of senators by not acting like a military leader. Her non-logical emotional arguments of personal war mongering are based on little information, and the most compelling evidence she has she doesn't present. A group of Sith fighters stealing a hyperdrive engine and killing the crew of a New Republic cruiser, an assassination attempt on Sabine. Hera skips on what is the most compelling evidence, to instead present what is not enough to support her request for a whole fleet, or her claim of Thrawn being alive and wanting to start another war.

"Anakin, don't let your personal feelings get in the way!" -Kenobi in Attack of The Clones

Hera shows a deep conflicted personal vendetta for Thrawn and is willing to blindly send a fleet without knowing more information, when she should be sending a reconnaissance team. A some group of X-Wings and probe droids to search the area, and assist her friends who are already on they way there. Surely she can send these with her military rank? She does have the power and authority to send a small team without senate approval, but doesn't. Filoni decided to make the entire senate look foolish as hell for absolutely no reason, by accusing Hera of simply wanting to look for Erza. However, this puts Hera in a prime spot to present all her supporting intel from the previous episode, and she doesn't. Instead she allows her personal feelings to interfere with her military leadership. She is not a competent general. Senator Xiono states, as senators their duty is to serve the people, and Hera's request would be a waste of valuable resources which are being used to aid the people of a fragile and still re-building Republic. Senator Xiono is RIGHT. There is no logic in Hera's requests. Again, she should be asking for a reconnaissance team, not a fleet. Also, Hera is not presenting them all the intel information she gathered in the previous episode. She's actually withholding evidence.

Ahsoka and Sabine go investigating alone, but not without a unsettling callback to Luke's training in A New Hope. Again, Filoni thinks his SW audience may not catch the reference. The two characters continue their stiff lifeless acting, with Ahsoka having the same tone of voice the entire episode.

Action ensues when they exit hyperspace early, siting this as a Jedi tactic when it's really a basic investigation tactic.

Within seconds of exiting hyperspace, a distance away from the target, Shin and the weakest enemy fighters quickly jump ascend on. Almost like they read the script and were anticipating them showing up right there and then. Makes sense in the Battle of Endor, not in this episode. No joke, the laser blasts from the enemy fighters are the weakest ever seen in Star Wars. Ahsoka tells Sabine to "man the gunner" and her order comes with no sense of urgency, tension, or danger, but comes off as bored. Sabine, who the episodes have remarked on what a great Mandalorian shot she is struggles tremendously in hitting a single fighter in a 3D space environment. Eventually, she shoots down a fighter and joyfully shouts, "I got one!" just like Luke in A New Hope. However, as seen in Rebels, Sabine has clearly shot down several fighters before. Luke in A New Hope shouts this when it comes was actually his first ever starfighter kill.

The witch, Morgan Elsbeth, has her turbolasers to open fire on Ahsoka's ship. After dozens of deflected shots they hit the ship, and somehow dealt the smallest amount of damage ever seen from a turbolaser. Then, the canons stop firing once the ship is hit. WHAT? They think the ship was destroyed when this Millennium Falcon size ship is visibly disabled and floating in space.

Shin Hati says her fighters will finish the job. Why not just have the canons continue to fire, since Shin is further away? This gave Ahsoka enough time instantaneously suit up and exit the ship into outer space to fight off enemy starships using her lightsabers...THIS EPISODE HAS HIT ROCK BOTTOM. A lightsaber can take off an entire wing of an enemy fighter, but when people like Sabine and Reva (Kenobi show) survive getting stabbed in the gut. Shin and her fighters, instead of targeting and destroying the already crippled giant spaceship, aim for tiny Ahsoka. In a scene which gets dumber by the second, and the Star Whales have not shown up yet. Sabine fixes the ship in the most convenient timing. They're pursued down to the planet where, "ADMIRAL, THERE BE WHALES HERE." Dave Filoni's Star Whales randomly show up and it's simply for showcasing. However, Ahsoka does use these rare and majestic creatures as shields from the laser blasts. A move which feels cruel coming from the protagonist. Positive, Ahsoka actually smiles. There has been so little expression from any of these characters, when the main character first smiles you cannot help but notice.

The episode ends with poor Ray Stevenson looking bored, un-used, and asking himself, "THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE STAR WARS?"

Was there anything good?

-Ahsoka telling Sabine, she intends to not train her to be a Jedi, but to be herself. This is actually in-character for Ahsoka. Glad to see Filoni get at least one thing right.

-SOME of the action was entertaining. WWII callbacks are a welcome, when they make sense unlike in TLJ.

-The sound effects for the enemy fighters were good.

And.... That's it.

Ahsoka already starts off without any praise. It's bland and painfully stale.

A MacGuffin with the location of a supposedly dead high commanding Imperial from the Galactic War, which was learned through whispers of the dead speaking, is sought out. The MacGuffin dagger...I mean ball, leads to the recent location of Thrawn, and was buried in a puzzle chamber of an ancient Jedi temple. Again, a ball which which shows where Thrawn has been hiding in the only the past recent years has clearly been hiding for longer in this ancient Jedi temple.

Sound like The Rise of Skywalker? Well it's also the plot of the first episode of Ahsoka. Not the only JJ Abrams rip off in the episode. We also get a lifeless parody of the young Kirk wrecking his stepdad's car in Star Trek (2009). All that was missing was The Beastie Boys.

Very little happens in this 55 MINUTE episode. The amount of time (over 30 minutes) that passes before someone finally thinks about turning the pieces on the MacGuffin ball was staggering. Scenes drag out with no establishment or setups, very little dialogue, unnecessary exposition recapping events the target SW audience already knows, quick 180 shifts in tone and conversations, at one point Ahsoka walks away to another room to collect a random cup which she never uses, long anti-climactic sequences where people stare at each other. The prequels had similar issues, but they had the luxury of great distracting visuals, Ben Burt sound effects, professional editing, and the legendary John Williams to keep scenes engaging. The acting in Ahsoka is just as wooden and even more stale than the prequels. However, we know with the prequels, George would not allow the actors early access to the script. He would only allow them access to the scenes the day of, and would only allow them 3 takes. What was Dave Filoni's excuse? I doubt he followed the same method as George.

We also get.... Sabine goes back and forth between her place and the city one too many times with nothing happening to justify it. She skips on a speech to speed home, feed her cat, re-watch an old hologram stating nothing new, fall asleep, and then wake up and speed back into the city....time wasted. Non-complexed puzzles take too long to solve in order to drag out the runtime. Unnecessary reminders that the Jedi Order no longer exists. Etc etc etc.

When little happens you start noticing the little stuff, like the actors. Their movements are stiff, lifeless, emotionless, expressionless, and slow as turtles. In fact, the acting feels AI and it is accompanied with weak dialogue. Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clancy Brown, and Ray Stevenson are all great actors, and none of them give even a slightly interesting performance. Not their faults, as they have all been great in prior films/shows. Even, Ray Stevenson, who was an absolute Chad deserved better than this direction in Ahsoka for his finale role. Ray, a really good actor, looks bored as hell in this. Not only Ray, but everyone looks this way.

The lightsaber fights are sequel trilogy dull and lackluster. The choreography is loaded with bad timing, inconsistencies with weapons and droids. Certain droids now have Predator like self-destruct nuclear blasts, which will end up adding to key plot holes, as they should be using this all the time. Certainly would be bad if one was knowingly and willing activated in a CITY HOSPITAL, especially by our protagonists.

Disney and Dave Filoni.... What works in animation does not always transition well in a simply copy and paste live-action. Even the cartoon wall mural of the characters of "Rebels" felt completely out of place. If a mural of Pocahontas was made in real life, it wouldn't be of the Disney cartoon Pocahontas, it would have a real human-like resemblance. The Rebels mural is cringe for live-action and takes you completely out of the SW live-action world. It would've been best served in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Where the world building is a combination of love-action and cartoon characters.

The best thing of Ahsoka so far is the music. However, this is Star Wars, visuals and music are usually the two things you can rely on to be good. Recently with Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mando season 3, it's the writing and directing you cannot rely on. Unfortunately, Tony Gilroy and his Andor team are unable to work or help with writing any of these other shows.

The episode has the great misfortune of having a cheap unearned fake-out death. It's only the first episode and we're already having Sabine's death faked out? We know she's not gonna be killed. Hopefully she'll be in critical condition and in the hospital recovering for days, but this is Filoni/Favreau Star Wars so most likely no. A lightsaber stab use to mean death, now it's treated like a Monty Python joke. Sabine's fake-out death happens before acknowledging the real life death of Ray Stevenson with, "For Our Friend Ray". Again, wrong placement Dave. The "in-memory of" should've came before the Lucasfilm logo at the beginning.

Dave Filoni is incapable of breaking out of his pre-OT animation comfort zone. What the first two episodes of Ahsoka have both proven is that Filoni has no business writing and directing live-action Star Wars. Right now, all Star Wars has going for it, is Andor.