Ahsoka Series Discussion *SPOILERS*

[Lord_S_Gray]

Episode 6 was a vast improvement, but highlighted to me the best characters and events of this series are the ones where Ahsoka is not involved. Thrawn, Baylon (notably his point on missing the 'idea of the Jedi Order, not the reality') are interesting and engaging, this version of Ahsoka is just not as engaging to watch, I'm watching it for those characters and genuinely interested in what their plans are - not Ahsoka or Hera or even Sabine who feel flat in comparison to me (though Sabine did better in Episode 6 when she was away from other characters). Sort of like Andor in a way, in many ways Andor himself was far less interesting than the characters around him.

if I had a lore criticism it is sending the Purgils to another galaxy.  That's not necessary, a single galaxy is vastly big and unexplored enough to have a place that is otherwise unreachable and inescapable without very precise directions for an exile (unknown regions, Wild Space, deep core etc.) 300-400 billion systems after all.

[Taegin Roan]

So far I'm enjoying this series!

Although I have to say, the Purgil are a stupid concept, even by SW standards. That's been my feelings since Rebels and is so far my only major criticism of the Ahsoka series.

Ooh, that's a hot take. To me its more of "what's better than whales? SPACE WHALES!" 😅

Episode 6 was a vast improvement, but highlighted to me the best characters and events of this series are the ones where Ahsoka is not involved. Thrawn, Baylon (notably his point on missing the 'idea of the Jedi Order, not the reality') are interesting and engaging, this version of Ahsoka is just not as engaging to watch, I'm watching it for those characters and genuinely interested in what their plans are - not Ahsoka or Hera or even Sabine who feel flat in comparison to me (though Sabine did better in Episode 6 when she was away from other characters). Sort of like Andor in a way, in many ways Andor himself was far less interesting than the characters around him.

if I had a lore criticism it is sending the Purgils to another galaxy.  That's not necessary, a single galaxy is vastly big and unexplored enough to have a place that is otherwise unreachable and inescapable without very precise directions for an exile (unknown regions, Wild Space, deep core etc.) 300-400 billion systems after all.

I hate that I haven't been proven wrong, but I still hold that Rosario Dawson was the wrong choice for Ahsoka. And when she's the "lead" of the show, it doesn't make me want to watch it. Sabine is fine, but I definitely like her animated portrayal better. Thrawn is great. But this is really Baylon's show. Maybe it's just because we in this forum have been writing characters like him for years now, but I feel like I understand him so much better than many of the other, better established characters in this show. And yeah, that "I miss the idea of it" conversation was brilliant. I wish we could see him interact with TCW or Rebels Ahoska.

[Lord_S_Gray]

Maybe it's just because we in this forum have been writing characters like him for years now,

There is probably some element of Truth in that!

And I agree about the casting, it just hasn't worked for Ahsoka so far.  there is an element that people who know TCW are used to the animated versions, but even those unfamiliar with TCW/Rebels that I know find them lacklustre.

Consider a thought experiment.

Scenario A - Imagine if you took Ahsoka out of this series and just had the scenes with Baylon, Thrawn etc. and a 'generic Jedi' to be the Hero. I feel like very little apart from ep 5 would be different and it would still be equally interesting.

Scenario B - Conversely take Baylon/Thrawn out and just have Ahsoka/Hera/Sabine as they currently are and how interested would you be to watch more of it. I suspect interest would be waning very low.

Ahsoka should be an interesting charatcer, but for various reasons, not just the protrayal, but also the scripting for her, she is not.

[TheDutchman]

Maybe it's just because we in this forum have been writing characters like him for years now, but I feel like I understand him so much better than many of the other, better established characters in this show. And yeah, that "I miss the idea of it" conversation was brilliant. I wish we could see him interact with TCW or Rebels Ahoska.

I COMPLETELY agree^^

From TR's "Shadow Of The Outcast" to Karmack's Mak'Tor to LSG's Aethans and TDC's Templars, the "gray" characters are much, MUCH more interesting than anything that Disney has developed (although Baylon IS a stimulating character; the problem is that he has such limited screen time compared to the others).

There is probably some element of Truth in that!

And I agree about the casting, it just hasn't worked for Ahsoka so far.  there is an element that people who know TCW are used to the animated versions, but even those unfamiliar with TCW/Rebels that I know find them lacklustre.

Consider a thought experiment.

Scenario A - Imagine if you took Ahsoka out of this series and just had the scenes with Baylon, Thrawn etc. and a 'generic Jedi' to be the Hero. I feel like very little apart from ep 5 would be different and it would still be equally interesting.

Scenario B - Conversely take Baylon/Thrawn out and just have Ahsoka/Hera/Sabine as they currently are and how interested would you be to watch more of it. I suspect interest would be waning very low.

Ahsoka should be an interesting charatcer, but for various reasons, not just the protrayal, but also the scripting for her, she is not.

Yeah, the casting has been quite Hit-or-Miss.  I don't think that Rosario Dawson is a bad actress per se, just not "right" for Ahsoka but Natasha Liu Bordizzo is...not good.  And LSG's "thought experiment" proves that.
Unfortunately, "Ahsoka" is just exemplary of Disney Era Star Wars: jettisoning an incredible legacy of EU stories with some truly fantastic characters in lieu of mediocre, 2-Dimensional walking cliches/tropes that often times do things because "the plot demands it" and not as an organic response/decision that characters should do as a natural progression of their character arc.

Here's to hoping that Episodes #7 and #8 are an improvement...but I'm not particularly convinced that they'll be anything other than status quo.

...Oh well; at least I can still read good stories here 

[Lord_S_Gray]

So having now finished watching Ahsoka…in my opinion this series was.  Lacklustre.

It felt very slow overall, and the main heroes, I’m sorry to say, all fell really flat, Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka, for many reasons, simply didn’t work, she seemed as lifeless as a cardboard cut out, I think she was trying to do a ‘Mysterious Master’ kind of thig at times (especially after the ‘Ahsoka the White thing…) but it just came off to me as flat. Sabine/Ezra had ok moments but overall were non entities.

The only engaging characters were the villains and they were woefully underserved.  There were genuinely interesting things going on with Baylon (on his own bespoke quest), Shin (seemingly cast adrift at the end not sure where she now belongs without a master to follow), Thrawn, Morgan and the Mothers, but they were not given any meaningful time.

I would’ve loved to have seen a ‘flashback’, or even exposition, on what happened immediately after the Exile for Thrawn to ‘awaken’ and ally with the Mothers, how that changed his Troops who seem to have a dedication to them (ie when Morgan said you have the Great Mothers Blessings to them) and how Thrawn felt about that -practical necessity perhaps but did it rankle his Chiss clinical mind a bit? Massive missed opportunity.

A ’Special’ mention to the last episode.  There were some woeful Plot armour scenes. 

In particular the two TIE fighters barely able to hit Ahsoka’s barely moving ship on the first run, then barely able to hit it when not moving on the second pass…then collided into by Sabine!  No matter what armour that ship had, it was barely moving, it should’ve been slagged.  They certainly should not have been able to repair it in the short time period following.
That the heroes then suddenly appeared at the Temple/Star Destroyer almost instantly (travelling by those conveniently appearing then disappearing mounted animals) after makes me wonder how far they were at all. Then that the full underside of he Star Destroyer opening up didn’t hit them…Force reflexes I’ll buy that.

But inside the temple, the numbers of ‘crack’ storm troopers walking to their deaths against the anaemic display of blocking skills (a lot of the heroes actions, when not performed by stunt doubles looked noticeably bad, Ahsoka especially like she was playing with drum sticks or something)…Those troops should’ve set up defensive position throughout the Temple or concentrated all fire on one target at a time.

Credit where it is due the Necromancy was interesting and could’ve better explained sloppy Trooper tactics, and the latter fight against of Ezra/Sabine the 2 Commando/Death Trooper dude was good. They should’ve cut the larger battle and just had that two on two and it would’ve been vastly improved.  Ahsoka v Morgan one on one was good, but the constant addition of more Troopers to mow down unnecessary.

How Ezra then escaped from the Chimera, obtained a vessel and found his way to Hera was gleefully brushed over….

There are similarities here to Mando Season 3, and not in good ways in terms of dumb enemies and plot armour of characters, weak character interactions and development...here at least they have Jedi reflexes to explain the plot armour.

I can also say, everyone I know who watched this who hadn’t seen TCW or Rebels was absolutely perplexed by Ahsoka/Anakin relationship.  Quite simply to paraphrase one person “It doesn’t make sense, in Revenge of the Sith, he was on the Council but not a Master, that was why he was angry!?”.  It’s hard to argue with that. Star Wars has always had continuity issues, but for many people I suspect Ahsoka is a big orange walking one.

Again there was a lot of potential here, but poor casting/direction for the heroes, uneven action (the Duels were actually good, large set pieces and space combat very poor with baffling displays of ineptitude), and a meandering plot that did little but set up the next series really let it down.  I fell like they are still writing this like it is animated Rebels 5 to the detriment of all.

This won’t be remembered from much but a few memes already circulating notably Anakins ‘Incorrect’.

Anyway sure others will have different opinions.

[Taegin Roan]

So having now finished watching Ahsoka…in my opinion this series was.  Lacklustre.

It felt very slow overall, and the main heroes, I’m sorry to say, all fell really flat, Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka, for many reasons, simply didn’t work, she seemed as lifeless as a cardboard cut out, I think she was trying to do a ‘Mysterious Master’ kind of thig at times (especially after the ‘Ahsoka the White thing…) but it just came off to me as flat. Sabine/Ezra had ok moments but overall were non entities.

The only engaging characters were the villains and they were woefully underserved.  There were genuinely interesting things going on with Baylon (on his own bespoke quest), Shin (seemingly cast adrift at the end not sure where she now belongs without a master to follow), Thrawn, Morgan and the Mothers, but they were not given any meaningful time.

I would’ve loved to have seen a ‘flashback’, or even exposition, on what happened immediately after the Exile for Thrawn to ‘awaken’ and ally with the Mothers, how that changed his Troops who seem to have a dedication to them (ie when Morgan said you have the Great Mothers Blessings to them) and how Thrawn felt about that -practical necessity perhaps but did it rankle his Chiss clinical mind a bit? Massive missed opportunity.

A ’Special’ mention to the last episode.  There were some woeful Plot armour scenes. 

In particular the two TIE fighters barely able to hit Ahsoka’s barely moving ship on the first run, then barely able to hit it when not moving on the second pass…then collided into by Sabine!  No matter what armour that ship had, it was barely moving, it should’ve been slagged.  They certainly should not have been able to repair it in the short time period following.
That the heroes then suddenly appeared at the Temple/Star Destroyer almost instantly (travelling by those conveniently appearing then disappearing mounted animals) after makes me wonder how far they were at all. Then that the full underside of he Star Destroyer opening up didn’t hit them…Force reflexes I’ll buy that.

But inside the temple, the numbers of ‘crack’ storm troopers walking to their deaths against the anaemic display of blocking skills (a lot of the heroes actions, when not performed by stunt doubles looked noticeably bad, Ahsoka especially like she was playing with drum sticks or something)…Those troops should’ve set up defensive position throughout the Temple or concentrated all fire on one target at a time.

Credit where it is due the Necromancy was interesting and could’ve better explained sloppy Trooper tactics, and the latter fight against of Ezra/Sabine the 2 Commando/Death Trooper dude was good. They should’ve cut the larger battle and just had that two on two and it would’ve been vastly improved.  Ahsoka v Morgan one on one was good, but the constant addition of more Troopers to mow down unnecessary.

How Ezra then escaped from the Chimera, obtained a vessel and found his way to Hera was gleefully brushed over….

There are similarities here to Mando Season 3, and not in good ways in terms of dumb enemies and plot armour of characters, weak character interactions and development...here at least they have Jedi reflexes to explain the plot armour.

I can also say, everyone I know who watched this who hadn’t seen TCW or Rebels was absolutely perplexed by Ahsoka/Anakin relationship.  Quite simply to paraphrase one person “It doesn’t make sense, in Revenge of the Sith, he was on the Council but not a Master, that was why he was angry!?”.  It’s hard to argue with that. Star Wars has always had continuity issues, but for many people I suspect Ahsoka is a big orange walking one.

Again there was a lot of potential here, but poor casting/direction for the heroes, uneven action (the Duels were actually good, large set pieces and space combat very poor with baffling displays of ineptitude), and a meandering plot that did little but set up the next series really let it down.  I fell like they are still writing this like it is animated Rebels 5 to the detriment of all.

This won’t be remembered from much but a few memes already circulating notably Anakins ‘Incorrect’.

Anyway sure others will have different opinions.

This is EXACTLY how I feel. I left for 2 weeks right before the final episode aired, so I was waiting to come back and watch the finale. Only to watch it and be disappointed. Ahsoka is a top 3 Star Wars character for me, and this just wasn't her. I'm glad others are agreeing with my assessment that Rosario was the wrong choice for Ahsoka. And yeah, that "blocking" sequence was so bad. I know people on this forum who could do something that looks infinitely better than that (in fact, now I want to get together with a couple people and remake the sequence to where it could look good). Just everything about it was, as you put it, lacklustre.

I really wish we could've seen more of Baylon. By far the most interesting addition to the SW universe.

[TheDutchman]

So having now finished watching Ahsoka…in my opinion this series was.  Lacklustre.

It felt very slow overall, and the main heroes, I’m sorry to say, all fell really flat, Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka, for many reasons, simply didn’t work, she seemed as lifeless as a cardboard cut out, I think she was trying to do a ‘Mysterious Master’ kind of thig at times (especially after the ‘Ahsoka the White thing…) but it just came off to me as flat. Sabine/Ezra had ok moments but overall were non entities.

The only engaging characters were the villains and they were woefully underserved.  There were genuinely interesting things going on with Baylon (on his own bespoke quest), Shin (seemingly cast adrift at the end not sure where she now belongs without a master to follow), Thrawn, Morgan and the Mothers, but they were not given any meaningful time.

I would’ve loved to have seen a ‘flashback’, or even exposition, on what happened immediately after the Exile for Thrawn to ‘awaken’ and ally with the Mothers, how that changed his Troops who seem to have a dedication to them (ie when Morgan said you have the Great Mothers Blessings to them) and how Thrawn felt about that -practical necessity perhaps but did it rankle his Chiss clinical mind a bit? Massive missed opportunity.

A ’Special’ mention to the last episode.  There were some woeful Plot armour scenes. 

In particular the two TIE fighters barely able to hit Ahsoka’s barely moving ship on the first run, then barely able to hit it when not moving on the second pass…then collided into by Sabine!  No matter what armour that ship had, it was barely moving, it should’ve been slagged.  They certainly should not have been able to repair it in the short time period following.
That the heroes then suddenly appeared at the Temple/Star Destroyer almost instantly (travelling by those conveniently appearing then disappearing mounted animals) after makes me wonder how far they were at all. Then that the full underside of he Star Destroyer opening up didn’t hit them…Force reflexes I’ll buy that.

But inside the temple, the numbers of ‘crack’ storm troopers walking to their deaths against the anaemic display of blocking skills (a lot of the heroes actions, when not performed by stunt doubles looked noticeably bad, Ahsoka especially like she was playing with drum sticks or something)…Those troops should’ve set up defensive position throughout the Temple or concentrated all fire on one target at a time.

Credit where it is due the Necromancy was interesting and could’ve better explained sloppy Trooper tactics, and the latter fight against of Ezra/Sabine the 2 Commando/Death Trooper dude was good. They should’ve cut the larger battle and just had that two on two and it would’ve been vastly improved.  Ahsoka v Morgan one on one was good, but the constant addition of more Troopers to mow down unnecessary.

How Ezra then escaped from the Chimera, obtained a vessel and found his way to Hera was gleefully brushed over….

There are similarities here to Mando Season 3, and not in good ways in terms of dumb enemies and plot armour of characters, weak character interactions and development...here at least they have Jedi reflexes to explain the plot armour.

I can also say, everyone I know who watched this who hadn’t seen TCW or Rebels was absolutely perplexed by Ahsoka/Anakin relationship.  Quite simply to paraphrase one person “It doesn’t make sense, in Revenge of the Sith, he was on the Council but not a Master, that was why he was angry!?”.  It’s hard to argue with that. Star Wars has always had continuity issues, but for many people I suspect Ahsoka is a big orange walking one.

Again there was a lot of potential here, but poor casting/direction for the heroes, uneven action (the Duels were actually good, large set pieces and space combat very poor with baffling displays of ineptitude), and a meandering plot that did little but set up the next series really let it down.  I fell like they are still writing this like it is animated Rebels 5 to the detriment of all.

This won’t be remembered from much but a few memes already circulating notably Anakins ‘Incorrect’.

Anyway sure others will have different opinions.

This is EXACTLY how I feel. I left for 2 weeks right before the final episode aired, so I was waiting to come back and watch the finale. Only to watch it and be disappointed. Ahsoka is a top 3 Star Wars character for me, and this just wasn't her. I'm glad others are agreeing with my assessment that Rosario was the wrong choice for Ahsoka. And yeah, that "blocking" sequence was so bad. I know people on this forum who could do something that looks infinitely better than that (in fact, now I want to get together with a couple people and remake the sequence to where it could look good). Just everything about it was, as you put it, lacklustre.

I really wish we could've seen more of Baylon. By far the most interesting addition to the SW universe.

"Lacklustre"

That's precisely how I felt throughout most of the series, almost each episode leaving me with an overwhelming feeling of "MEH"  My wife--bless her soul--would watch it with me (despite not particularly being a Star Wars fan) and had the same comment/observation: were the characters--Ahsoka and Sabine in particular--always that bland?  Assuring her that that was not the case, we agreed that "Ahsoka," much like most of the Disney Star Wars projects, is yet another example of utter mediocrity.

As I've stated before, Baylon (RIP Ray Stevenson ) was a breath of fresh air amongst characters that were ultimately forgettable.  Actually, I'll make one concession: I did like the interaction between Thrawn and the Nightsisters...but it was NOT as good as it could have been.

...Which, really, is my complaint for the entire series.

I really, REALLY hope that "The Acolyte" and "Andor Season 2" are improvements to the Disney status quo.

[Darth Logos]

Alright. Finally got up the courage to watch the first episode. All in all I wasn't disappointed but wasn't entirely thrilled, but what should I expect from Filoni? Here are my pro-cons for the first episode.

1.) The live-action casting. Albeit, I am beyond disgusted with Disney's continued campaign to ruin beloved classics with their woke agenda, I have to say the look-alike factor was uncanny. The 3 mains looked as one would imagine their SWR animated counterparts would look. Added bonus seeing Mrs. McGregor.  
2.) Prosthetics. They did a way more convincing job on Ahsoka's lekku. Still not appropriate for an adult, but looked far less childish. Similarly to Hera's lekku being small for her age. However, I'm not opposed to the parallel to....human female anatomy, in which age is not a determination of size. Some women are simply larger/smaller than others. I also liked the material they used for Ahsoka's lekku. When it moves it wrinkles, giving it a more aged skin appearance. If this was planned, it was genius.
3.) I liked how they got back to Morgan. This left a horrible taste in my mouth from Mando S2. "How TF does some random Imp with a beskar spear able to go toe-toe with a former Jedi?" Now knowing that she is a Nightsister makes a helluva lot more sense.
4.) At first I was very opposed to the new dark apprentice garb...but upon looking closer, I noticed a familiar pattern. And those schooled in concept art will recognize this.....and then I did further research and continued my disappointment. I initially thought that Hati's top was inspired by the original concept art for Asajj Ventress. But then I looked closer and saw that the pattern macthed Skoll's top. I actually liked that neither of them is actually wearing black. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the overt wearing of white, but I'm considering that it may be an allusion to martial arts belt rankings. She is the student (white belt) and the master wears dark (black belt). And although I liked the non-plastoid armor, I felt that hers was poorly fitting and ill-placed in spots; particularly the tasses (hip armor). They just look superfluous. Spaulders, bracers and greaves I get. But that's me.
5.) I absolutely hate Hati's bangs, and hair color.....and what gives with the "padawan" braid? The actress is a pretty girl, so why give her such a wretched hair style?
6.) THE MAP!?!?! I am trying to keep my lunch down over this. HOW TF is there always a map made long ago to a place that is relevant right NOW? Thrawn was taken to God knows where with a light-speed space creature. Who TF knows that they took him anywhere versus leaving him as (most probable) space trash. Also...way to rip off Treasure Planet.
7.) I'm lost on how Ezra got lost. Guess I need to rewatch SWR. But I will welcome any reminders.
8.) I liked the orange light sabers. Anxious to see where they go with this.
9.) I appreciated Hati's ferocity when attacking. It was nice to see that she knows her place as an implement for her master....if they are in fact Sith. Curious to see where this leads.
10.) The New Republic uniforms......are so horrible looking. I'm not even into fashion, and these make me shudder. <bughugh>
11.) I'm very confused about how a group of Nightsisters of Dathomir set up an entire city on Arcana. Wouldn't that by definition make them the Nightsisters of Arcana?
12.) Sabine got dead. WOOHOO! I know she's not dead cuz I've seen enough spots online to know she gets a haircut. But still.
13.) I'm calling BS on how devastating the droid self-destruct are. The whole premise is beyond stupid. More so in that the CIS droid army didn't simply send out waves of suicide bombers to win the war. Ntm, why the hell do the bombs have to be visible to activate? "Well we did this thing one time, so now we have to do it for everything." {Stupid Disney}
14.) I loved how they had the conference table on the ship retract into the floor. That was particularly smooth.

[Taegin Roan]

Alright. Finally got up the courage to watch the first episode. All in all I wasn't disappointed but wasn't entirely thrilled, but what should I expect from Filoni? Here are my pro-cons for the first episode.

1.) The live-action casting. Albeit, I am beyond disgusted with Disney's continued campaign to ruin beloved classics with their woke agenda, I have to say the look-alike factor was uncanny. The 3 mains looked as one would imagine their SWR animated counterparts would look. Added bonus seeing Mrs. McGregor.  
2.) Prosthetics. They did a way more convincing job on Ahsoka's lekku. Still not appropriate for an adult, but looked far less childish. Similarly to Hera's lekku being small for her age. However, I'm not opposed to the parallel to....human female anatomy, in which age is not a determination of size. Some women are simply larger/smaller than others. I also liked the material they used for Ahsoka's lekku. When it moves it wrinkles, giving it a more aged skin appearance. If this was planned, it was genius.
3.) I liked how they got back to Morgan. This left a horrible taste in my mouth from Mando S2. "How TF does some random Imp with a beskar spear able to go toe-toe with a former Jedi?" Now knowing that she is a Nightsister makes a helluva lot more sense.
4.) At first I was very opposed to the new dark apprentice garb...but upon looking closer, I noticed a familiar pattern. And those schooled in concept art will recognize this.....and then I did further research and continued my disappointment. I initially thought that Hati's top was inspired by the original concept art for Asajj Ventress. But then I looked closer and saw that the pattern macthed Skoll's top. I actually liked that neither of them is actually wearing black. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the overt wearing of white, but I'm considering that it may be an allusion to martial arts belt rankings. She is the student (white belt) and the master wears dark (black belt). And although I liked the non-plastoid armor, I felt that hers was poorly fitting and ill-placed in spots; particularly the tasses (hip armor). They just look superfluous. Spaulders, bracers and greaves I get. But that's me.
5.) I absolutely hate Hati's bangs, and hair color.....and what gives with the "padawan" braid? The actress is a pretty girl, so why give her such a wretched hair style?
6.) THE MAP!?!?! I am trying to keep my lunch down over this. HOW TF is there always a map made long ago to a place that is relevant right NOW? Thrawn was taken to God knows where with a light-speed space creature. Who TF knows that they took him anywhere versus leaving him as (most probable) space trash. Also...way to rip off Treasure Planet.
7.) I'm lost on how Ezra got lost. Guess I need to rewatch SWR. But I will welcome any reminders.
8.) I liked the orange light sabers. Anxious to see where they go with this.
9.) I appreciated Hati's ferocity when attacking. It was nice to see that she knows her place as an implement for her master....if they are in fact Sith. Curious to see where this leads.
10.) The New Republic uniforms......are so horrible looking. I'm not even into fashion, and these make me shudder. <bughugh>
11.) I'm very confused about how a group of Nightsisters of Dathomir set up an entire city on Arcana. Wouldn't that by definition make them the Nightsisters of Arcana?
12.) Sabine got dead. WOOHOO! I know she's not dead cuz I've seen enough spots online to know she gets a haircut. But still.
13.) I'm calling BS on how devastating the droid self-destruct are. The whole premise is beyond stupid. More so in that the CIS droid army didn't simply send out waves of suicide bombers to win the war. Ntm, why the hell do the bombs have to be visible to activate? "Well we did this thing one time, so now we have to do it for everything." {Stupid Disney}
14.) I loved how they had the conference table on the ship retract into the floor. That was particularly smooth.

There is a lot of good in this series, but very little Great. I wish it was better than it is. And I still don't love the Ahsoka casting (and I like Rosario a lot in other things, I just don't feel she fits Ahsoka as well as most others seem to think). But there's also a lot in this series that is ... not great. And yeah, I agree with the map. Total ripoff of Treasure Planet (one of the only movies that I'd be okay with them doing a live-action remake of).

[Darth Logos]

Ep. 2 pros/cons:

1.) From watching the recap, I am really not liking Hati's spaulders. They make her look like she's constantly shrugging or slouching her head. It's very unflattering.
2.) Not really sure how I felt about "Sith" Stone Henge. I kinda dig the parallel to the real one being a celestial viewing apparatus, but....if the map could be viewed without it at Sabine's place, why was it even necessary? Hopeful it will be explained later.
3.) Very hopeful that the idea of living beings being able to achieve intergalactic travel, is a fore-shadowing that the DC is working to incorporate the Yuuzhan Vong.
4.) I was bit disgruntled that Sabine got away with a mere flesh wound, when most die from a saber stab.
5.) I didn't like the hack job. Initially I thought the idea of finding the right power levels so you don't burn up the circuitry was pretty smart. But then they butchered it by making it a simple timing thing. Kinda not how that works.
6.) Oh boy. The fight in the ship yard. The droid...meh. What really caught my interest was the Inq (Can't remember his name). More specifically was that he didn't fight with the stupid fidget spinner function of the Inq saber. He actually fought straight double blade form. I appreciated him showing true skill with the saber instead of relying on gimmicks.
7.) WOW! Sabine looks way better with the shorter hair. To be fair, they could have used the nasty condition of her long hair to hightlight (you see what I did there?) what happens when you continually color your hair.
8.) Also, I liked how they made her armor more functional looking. Instead of the "I'm a cute, spunky Mando with cute spunky armor" it looked practical; like it was actually made for her petite frame, yet offered the same level of protection. Well done prop shop.
9.) I was not a fan of Chopper throwing crap out of the ship to rain down on bystanders, (especially when he is supposedly concerned that someone else had gone through his stuff) while at the same time having Hera overly concerned that shooting the transport down. Strategically, why not simply wait to break atmo, THEN open fire? And if you could stop the transport, target the cargo and make the acquisition useless? TBF, without the idiotically thrown tracker, they wouldn't have been able to track it to the assembly sight.

There is a lot of good in this series, but very little Great. I wish it was better than it is. And I still don't love the Ahsoka casting (and I like Rosario a lot in other things, I just don't feel she fits Ahsoka as well as most others seem to think). But there's also a lot in this series that is ... not great. And yeah, I agree with the map. Total ripoff of Treasure Planet (one of the only movies that I'd be okay with them doing a live-action remake of).

She is the perfect candidate physically. We've been watching the new Last Airbender series; some characters are perfectly cast physically, others....nah. But the post-TCW Ahsoka is just written too stiff; animated or other. Also, NO! No more live-action abominations. Too many aspects would be lost. But I can't argue that seeing the aliens CGI, yeah. Especially Scroop.

[Darth Logos]

Ep. 3 pros/cons:

Not a lot to discuss, since not a terrible lot happened.

1.) Good Lessons. I can't remember what they were right now, but I remember that Ahsoka's lessons to Sabine were eloquent, simple, and very applicable (regardless of Force alignment).
2.) I liked how they designed Sabine's non-armor clothes were designed: simple and functional without superfluous features. I felt it was very befitting the Mando heritage.
3.) I hate how they keep reusing the inefficient fire rate of the tail guns, used in SWR. If it were merely a downside of the Phantom, so be it. But it's a horrible standard to have AA guns that fire so slowly. Especially considering how rapidly the enemy fighters (so cool btw) shoot, the tail gun was effectively semi-automatic.
4.) I did not like the down-to-the-wire scanning BS. It was unnecessary, contrived, and tactically unsound.
5.) WOOHOO! Everyone died again because of the stupid scan. Why not simply survive first, THEN run the stupid scan? Honestly! How did Huyang survive for 500+ years being that inflexible.
6.) Back to the fighters. Absolutely beautiful. I loved the WWII/racing plane style. Although, thinking back, they shot exceptionally fast, and I noticed that they really didn't seem to be hitting....Fulcrum? very hard. So perhaps (doubtful, but perhaps) I was too severe on the tail gun fire rate, since it took few hits to wreck the fighters. I would have balanced them better though. C'est la vie.

[Darth Logos]

Ep. 4 pros/cons:

1.) I'm not sure how I feel about the Westar 35s opening. I like the aesthetic of them opening to mirror the idea of pulling back the slide of a pistol to check if it's loaded. But at the same time....it's a blaster.
2.) For as much as I've complained about Huyang.......DAYUM!!!! Old man knows how to hold his own in a fight. I particularly love how his combat style utilized all of his construction to great effect.
3.) WOW! What a great fight under the ship. I like that Ahsoka is not afraid to venture into the "darkside" by throwing one dude into another dude's line of fire. Didn't like how Sabine was so easily disarmed, but they made good direct use of her armor.
4.) Ugh! Jacen. By no fault of the character's, I hate this character. a) The name was just a cheap excuse to resurrect an OC classic. b) The design makes 0% sense. As already established in TCW, Human-Twi'lek hybrid children have blended traits of both parents: Shorter lekku, no hair, mixed patches of skin color. Jacen is just a human with green hair because............Disney doesn't understand genetics. (This couldn't be seen in any other areas. )
5.) Shin needs to.....idk. There is something about her fighting stance that bugs me.
6.) Baylon vs. Ahsoka: decent fight, but Baylon needs to use single-hand moves. Constantly using a 2-hand approach makes him look too rigid.
7.) Ahsoka burns her hand and now she can't fight.........WTELF? She can throw the apprentice around, but can't defend or fight with her good hand? This whole plot/prat point was just bad writing to facilitate what happened next.
8.) Sabine being tempted was predictable, but a well utilized trope. However, her obsession with Ezra is getting a little stale. (I may need to watch SWR again to find out why she's so attached) But for "family" one would think she would be more concerned with what was sacrificed to achieve the ends. This seems more like an unfulfilled romance that she is desperate "rescue".
9.) "Hey Snips." That is all.

[Taegin Roan]

I hated a lot about the stuff with Sabine in this episode. Especially how her helmet just randomly decides to fall off in the middle of a fight. But other than that, some good stuff in this one if I remember correctly. Love Baylan, but Ahsoka just isn't it for me. However, I'm excited to see your thoughts on Ep. 5.

[Darth Logos]

You asked for it, and now you're gonna get it. Lot's of praise for this one. What is it about ep.5s that get so much right?

Ep. 5 pros/cons:

I'm going chronologically because.....well I've taken to taking notes while I watch.

(1 & 2 are from watching the recap)
1.) How the hell does Baylan have ANY clue, let alone specifics, why Sabine wants the map? This makes precious no sense. He doesn't know her, nor has he been a part of her past to watch events unfold.
2.) Considering the energy requirements needed to make an intergalactic jump, the discharge of such energy should have destroyed every ship in its wake. This consideration is made with Disney canon <cringe> in mind: In TLJ, the Holdo Maneuver <double cringe> displaced so much energy (and even this depiction, captivating though it was, was misrepresentative of the actual theoretical physics) that is destroyed several SDs, and absolutely wrecked the Supremacy, which totally eclipsed the Executor in size. That was only standard lightspeed. So yeah, love Hera, but all the Reps needed to die for believability.

(3 on are from the current ep.)
3.) Hayden's been practicing. I love the way his saber form flows. It seems to be a modified form of his usual aggressive technique, but more graceful and sneaky. Kind of akin to what we could have expected of Vader had he not lost the duel on Mustafar.
4.) UGH! F#$%ING Jacen. I hated the saber sounds in the waves. It was a weak means further the plot a force a search of the area.
5.) Really dig the live-action TCW flash-backs. There's something extremely satisfying seeing Hayden donning Anakin's iconic CW armor.
6.) I really appreciate the design of the Ghost for the live-action. As much as I hate to admit it, the Ghost has become as......lovable (?) as the Millennium Falcon.
7.) OMG! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Non-suited Vader is cool to see again, but the mixed voices of Anakin and Vader just pushed it over the edge. That was an incredible nuance. Actually sent a chill down my spine.
8.) Very interesting make-up job on Ahsoka when she wakes up. Don't think we've ever seen a Togruta without a head adornment. I did research images of Shaak Ti and others. And even though the head/face line isn't necessarily covered, attention isn't really brought to it. Also, older renditions of this anatomical feature depict it as a fold and not a smooth transition. I think the smooth makes the lekku look much less prosthetic and more natural. Good job make-up dept.

[Taegin Roan]

Ok, I agree with 1. But Baylan is just such a charismatic character that it was just a joy to watch his performance.

as for 2, I want to agree with you, but even within the movies, we have contradictions, going all the way back to ANH when Han is talking about needing to calculate the jump correctly (although he's talking about supernovas and such). But if you look at R1, we see several ships attempt to jump into hyperspace, but run into the recently emerged SD. Sticking with R1 for a second here, they jump from within the atmosphere of Jedha, which should cause all sorts of issues, but it didn't (maybe because the atmosphere was already messed up due to the DS test, and maybe it couldn't cause anything to happen to the planet itself because it was already so broken). And then we go to Rebels. I believe it's S5 that Hera jumps through a space station. And then in TLJ, the Holdo maneuver causes all sorts of devastation (as you mentioned), and was supposedly 1 in a million or something like that (though then shown not to be the case at the end of TROS 🤦🏼‍♂️). So it's hard to really know what would actually happen with that. But I think it's safe to say that it depends on how far away from the object you are when you initiate the jump. The closer it gets to hyperspace, the more damage it will do. Or something along those lines. Who really knows for certain.

Alright, now to the good stuff!
Yes, Anakin. All the Anakin. Just utter perfection. The lightsaber truly looks like it belongs to him, and that he's been wielding it all his life. TCW flashbacks were utterly brilliant (no surprise), an young Ahsoka was perfect (far better than Rosario has ever been). And it absolutely is the nuanced performance of Anakin that we've been looking for. I always knew Hayden was great as Anakin. I'm just glad everyone else can see it now too. But also if you watch the BTS stuff about this show, Hayden is heavily involved in the process of bringing Anakin to life. And the way he thinks about the roll and the suggestions he has, it's abundantly clear that he knows this character (and how Lucas wanted him to be) so well. It's just great to see.
As for the unsettling nature of the Lekku without the foreheadlace, yeah, that was weird. Didn't like it, and didn't need to see it. But you are right in that it makes sense design-wise. I do believe that we have seen examples once or twice of other Togruta withought the thing though. Tales of the Jedi, maybe, and maybe even TCW once.