Ahsoka - Bad Writing, Pandering And Wasted Potential

Now that Ahsoka is finally over and the dust has settled on Dave Filoni's magnum opus, its time to deliver my final verdict on this show. Does it save Star Wars, or is it yet another lame flop from Disney Lucasfilm?

[@justlivin2499]

Ironically, Lucasfilm managed to butcher the character arcs of their female leads more than their male ones this time around

[@ameyskulkarni]

There were male leads?

[@justsomeguywholovesberserk6375]

I guess the Force wasn't female

[@Snowqueenelsaofficial992]

​@@ameyskulkarniI didn't even watch it because I gave up on them they won't change so they can't have my money lol

[@qnebra]

@@ameyskulkarni No, and because they aren't leads they were saved from Filoni

[@harrymarshall4080]

Calling it "the force is they/them"... Such an awful possibility but they'll do it.

[@tonycamacho3015]

It speaks volumes when an angry drunk has more sense than paid professionals at Disney

[@shoegazer93]

HA HA!!!

[@tonycamacho3015]

I love this channel

[@shoegazer93]

@@tonycamacho3015 it is incredible mate. The Open All Hours side channel is very good too

[@user-yp6yr9te7l]

exactly. As a Clone Wars and Rebels fan, literally, WTF happened to the writing? There is so much I want to like, but can't, because of this BS. No one behaves like they are supposed to behave from the shows, other than the most surface level dispositions.

[@Chadius_Thundercock]

@@user-yp6yr9te7l how are you a Star Wars rebels fan that show was ass

[@tudoranghel4695]

The fact that Ezra, after being reunited with long lost friends after a decade of exile, leaves them exiled on the same planet with a smile on his face, not giving a shit about the people who attempted to rescue him was sociopathic at best. What the actual f...?!

[@jaemelancholy1684]

It would have been pretty interesting if Ezra or Thrawn snapped a bit and went insane after 10 years of no human interaction. Like Thrawn still being smart yet mad scientist type. Using Alchemy and science to create monsters while still thinking in his broken mind if he does a good job he can have Palpatine to heal his mental state. Ezra becoming a unhinged force user that talks to himself via Jinx and laughs like the Joker. Being cruel with a smile on his face while cutting down his enemies while his friends look on in horror at the broken friend they remember is barely there. Only for Ezra to have a break of emotion crying a bit as he knows his friends might become as twisted as him and Thrawn if they don't free them quickly. There can so be a subtle relationship between Ezra and Thrawn as they both had no choice but to depend on each other for basic survival and championship. Once they come out they are faced with a culture shock about what they missed being trapped during the fall of the Empire.

[@acetraker1988]

@@jaemelancholy1684 S2 Ezra becomes the bad guy, Thrawn saves the universe.

[@topaznnani4003]

how could that even be possible. How would either of them have had no human interaction. @@jaemelancholy1684

[@gmkzilla7655]

​@@jaemelancholy1684isn't that basically what Thrawn is doing with the nightsisters? Also making Ezra "laugh like the joker" would be cringy af

[@user-ce9xe1qe8i]

That would actually be interesting@@acetraker1988

[@Venator-Class_Star_Destroyer]

I love the fact that Hayden and McGregor are so good at Sword fighting from the Prequels that they can actually attend competitions if they felt like it. Even if Hayden was going slow in Ahsoka it is the quickest and must fluent lightsaber duel we have seen since 2005

[@mishynaofficial]

Obi-Wan Kenobi flashback lightsaber duel was better duh.

[@Cenacles]

Motion cap ray park in clone wars was also immense to be fair

[@burger_person115]

@@mishynaofficialWell yeah no shit cause they both were in it, and actually knew what they were doing.

[@kadewiedeman3127]

Seriously, I can't repeat enough how insane the difference is between the fight choreography of the OT and the new stuff versus the prequel era. Watching any of those movies I really got the sense that I was watching psychic warrior monks fight. Now I could see more energy and martial skill throwing a soggy five dollar bill between two Philly crackheads than if I were to suffer watching anything new Star Wars has put out. OT gets a pass for technical and budgetary limitations if the time, though Luke's first battle with Vader is still a lot more energetic and entertaining than much of what's put out now.

[@mishynaofficial]

@@kadewiedeman3127 the OT was never about the lightsaber duels. It was always about the Force, the philosophy. While prequels have nothing to offer besides danced with shining sticks. The sequels tho ☠️ cat's piss serves more purpose 👺

[@SonoftheWest316]

"a dumb person's idea of what a smart person should be" is a perfect analysis. These writers should be ashamed of themselves.

[@tastethecock5203]

Shitty writing was a part of Filoni's grand plan actually

[@muznick]

They're not smart enough to realize they should be ashamed.

[@dirt_dert_durt]

Why did you use an apostrophe on writers? It doesn't make it plural, you just add an s

[@GingerPeacenik]

That goes for 90% of "smart characters" in entertainment these days. It's a bleak era that we're living through...

[@firstlast9846]

Yea Dave Filoni is not writing a Tywin Lannister type character anytime soon

[@melodicgrog]

Thanks Disney you’re making everyone feel like Jar-jar was ok.

[@metronome8471]

Jar Jar was a real one.

[@DangerB0ne]

He's the key to all of this.

[@ElectroTherapyFTSoul]

Don't you dare diss the great Dark Lord Jar Jar, the real Phantom Menace!

[@TheHoovman81]

The only way Jar Jar is ever tolerable is if you watch the theory how Lucas wanted him to be the Sith Master like the Yoda of the darkside. Then his character makes a whole lot more sense

[@ajivins1]

@@ElectroTherapyFTSoul Jar Jar jarred.

[@keelanenns4548]

I’ve suddenly gained so much appreciation for the prequels and Hayden Christiansen’s choreography abilities because Star Wars used to be cool thanks to them

[@HortonSalm]

The prequels are poorly executed on a grand scale, but individual stuff like the fights, the ship designs, the world building, and performances by certain actors really rise above the clunkiness.

[@mafiagrim]

@@HortonSalmby certain actors u mean 2 actors 😭

[@sailormoonwannabe]

I had no idea how good Hayden Christiansen was at the fight choreography until a behind the scenes video randomly popped up for me. His choreography was unreal and so good, he even does the drop the sword from one hand and grab it in the other. The only good thing that has come from the new star wars stuff is the appreciation for him.

[@Jus7aguy]

Lets make that "cooler", not "cool" The prequels are still crap, they just look better compared to the "more crap".

[@jimreily7538]

​@@Jus7aguyStar Wars went from a gold, luxurious suite (OT) to a ramshackle wooden hut (prequels), to a train station public toilet that has never been cleaned: you pay for entry and all you see are brown stains smeared all over the walls, yellow pools everywhere you tread, smelling as putrid as it looks.

[@GeorgeCowsert]

They managed to bring Ahsoka's character back down to the same level as when she was first introduced.

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

Loool that was a serious burn

[@Azzameen99AZ]

Not quite. Clone Wars movie Ahsoka was a smartass. Ahsoka Ahsoka is just ass.

[@adamH.1]

Well at least S1 Ahsoka while annoying, still had a character to begin with

[@berndarndt9924]

Ahsoka started out as a teen and was a great character with great potential from the start. She was made to be likeable by children & young adults. You can ofc dislike her as a character like many dislike joffrey in GoT.

[@anirudhashok3332]

@@berndarndt9924joffrey is fucking annoying ahsoka wa at least decent and likeable at times

[@EulersIdentityCrisis]

It's a shame Hayden and Ewan can still pull off these characters so well and are willing to reprise the roles only for Disney to give use this.

[@mulliano420]

I know, makes me wish they decided not to. Oh well, hope they got paid. A “what if” type of spin off would be cool since it’s already like there’s a multiverse in SW. EU vs “canon”

[@danandtab7463]

Meanwhile Mark Hamill seems to be saying a lot interesting stuff these days about these sequels, now that his checks have cleared.

[@MarvinHartmann452]

​@danandtab7463 Oh, I didn't see it yet. I know he seems disappointed about how they used his character at the time, and rightfully so, but I will look this up. What I thought was terrible is that the guy visited sick kids at hospital as Luke during many years after the OT, and tell them that "a jedi never gives up" and "to be positive" I mean and he seems to have embraced the role over the years, so seeing how dirty they did him must have been heartbreaking. This is what I don't like the most about new movies: They don't have any respect for what came before, and they destroy the old characters to introduce the new instead of using them as mentor for the new heroes, they just make them useless. Indiana Jones is another example. Sorry for going off topic but I think it's ridiculous.

[@tbone9474]

Chachink

[@darrengordon-hill]

Beta sellouts arent a shame but to be assayed of!! SICK of you guys making victims of PERSONAL CHOICE!!! EWAN CHOSE to make that social media post calling fans "racist" EWAN was handsomely rewarded. Ewan ISN'T THAT GREAT!!! Dear God!!!

[@christophergirardi8145]

I just love the fact Hadden Christensen can easily outplay and maneuver Dawson in the fight scenes, when he's only just 2 years younger than her. It's been 20 years and the guy hasn't forgotten his proper training under Lucas😂!

[@NinjaFlibble]

​@@Lily-rz8mg I need a fight between those two now. Doesn't have to be in a show or anything, just a random youtube video will do (I might have to give Disney money to see it in a show)

[@Enigma75614]

Hayden and Ewan had incredible coordination.

[@chronica6457]

The fact that the prequel actors were offered stunt doubles but they all allegedly said no and decided to do (most of, atleast,) their own stunts and battle scenes is still really cool

[@CarlosHernandez-kn8sl]

@@Lily-rz8mg Ray Park is a Martial Artist, there is NO competition, but yea Hayden truly put his heart in his work

[@drakethesnek6429]

You mean, under Cin Drallig.

[@cartersmith4081]

My biggest problem with the show was the acting. It was so hard to stay immersed with such emotionless dialogue and line delivery, especially from ahsoka. Especially offputting too, because i know rosario dawson is an incredible actress. Its as if direction was "be as stiff as possible"

[@danm5911]

They've forgotten how to make quality cinema or TV. It's as simple as that. Film art has passed its heydey, and it ain't coming back.

[@francoisregis2155]

Fan films are even better than those crappy shows

[@cartersmith4081]

@@francoisregis2155 andor is some of the best Star wars content ever produced imo. Don't let Disney's wave of mediocrity prevent you from watching it.

[@francoisregis2155]

@Cartersmith you are right Andor was nice despite people saying its long to watch I liked the approach they did in that serie.

[@MisterDutch93]

Wouldn't say Dawson is incredible but I've definitely seen a lot better from her.

[@aquilaFUN]

Bill Burr showed more acting skill and character development in a dining table scene than any of the high paid "pro" actors in this entire show somehow

[@chrismoran2063]

He brought more emotion to that scene than literally the entire sequel trilogy.

[@patrioticcat5768]

The guy that some idiots claim got ptsd because his character supposedly also has ptsd? What bullshit will the "fans" come up with next?

[@MisterDutch93]

I honestly still believe the Bill Burr episode of S2 of Mandalorian is the best Star Wars content we've had since the Disney takeover.

[@saprissa9]

Are you talking about the dining scene in SNL with Bill Burr? All the soft gangsters and woke members?

[@dcmastermindfirst9418]

Please. He just acted as himself. An annoying twerp who isn't funny. That's not difficult for him.

[@shadowking9739]

Disney: "Okay, we have the rights to Star Wars. Let's get rid of decades of expanded universe lore and make up our own stories." Also Disney: "Shit, we need ideas! Quick, someone 'borrow' character and story elements from 'Legends'."

[@brettloo7588]

This is disney's greatest failure when it comes to Star Wars.

[@michaelsnow3536]

You watch, Starkiller will be next and they'll butcher him too.

[@fathirizzanzahrano.r6161]

Well George Lucas regarded legends as noncanon,what differentiate him than Disney is he allow legends exist.If he make sequel,he will make his own(there already sequel story plan from him but not used by Disney)

[@Gdsryrox]

@@fathirizzanzahrano.r6161 The EU was canon, it just wasn’t George’s canon. The EU we got for decades was Star Wars. Yes George would have done things differently but he didn’t and the old EU was the continuation of the Star Wars universe.

[@talaniel]

@@GdsryroxWell, now, there is a question what would happen to the EU stories if George did create sequels? Would they be nullified as with Disney?

[@Hanakin-Sidewalker]

The moment I saw Sabine survive a lightsaber strike straight through the gut, I knew there would be no stakes moving forward. What a joke.

[@Darkness1984]

Bet you didnt complain when maul got cut in half and survived.

[@meatpuppet5036]

@@Darkness1984 Maul survived by being full of hate and darkness, with severe damage to his mind. Sabine is full of what now? The consequences of a lightsabre wobbling around in her guts are what, exactly?

[@sniperaim333]

Hahaha amen!

[@sniperaim333]

​@@Darkness1984that's different. Don't ever compare Sabine surviving to Maul. Maul survived by his hatred and his revenge

[@lukereid5556]

@@Darkness1984 but did you ever see maul again on the big screen? for main canon purposes, he died and was never seen again.

[@bigj1905]

I think Zanny put it best: “Ahsoka is actually good when it’s not being bad.”

[@adamH.1]

When is that? I haven't noticed that

[@j.d.buchanan4897]

To paraphrase Nerdrotic: "It's Star Wars for people who don't like Star Wars, made by people who don't understand Star Wars."

[@anotherunreliablenarrator]

I love how Anakin was like "Hey Ahsoka, can you make sure my son doesn't try to murder my grandson over a fucking nightmare causing the second massacre of The Jedi?" Oh wait he just said a bunch of nonsensical bullshit while showing that the choreography in the show outside of Baylan is terrible. Fair. Rest in peace Ray Stevenson, you're one of the most underrared actors of all time and were often the absolute best part of something silly or bad, most recently being the first compelling Star Wars character in almost a decade. Sadly fitting that you're more celebrated now than ever so shortly after you passed.

[@patrickbateman312]

THIRTEEN! THIRTEEN!

[@scope40k]

He was so good in this, giving his very best to every scene he was in. R.I.P.

[@demo3456]

We don't talk about those films

[@hob976]

I think the 12 year old Ahsoka kid could totally carry a show... She was more animated and passionate in her 5 minutes, than Dawson can muster in 8 episodes.

[@AlanDantes76]

Rosario Dawson is a good actor. Jedi, or former Jedi, they aren't supposed to be all animated and emotional; there's supposed to downplay all of that.

[@VioletDeathRei]

​@@AlanDantes76Terrible writing and bad casting take a lot away from that. And if you don't think so watch her fight scenes again everyone has to slow it down for her.

[@Church287]

Ahsoka as a character, especially in fight scenes was very fast and agile to make up for her small stature. She also wasn't a passionless robot. Honestly, she was a lot like Anakin. Headstrong and impulsive.

[@renatodomenech6362]

Agree 100%.

[@AlanDantes76]

@@VioletDeathRei Baylan and ahsoka's fight scene was good. Nightsister lady and Ahsoka's fight scene was good. Any fight scene you don't like is your personal opinion and not objective reality genius. If a fight scene sucks, it's more likely because of the choreographer, not the actor. Was all the choreography good? Fuck no, some of it sucked. But some of it was decent. As for shows, this show was a success. Doesn't mean you have to like everything about it. It opened a lot of potential for the Star Wars to come.

[@DragonGoddess18]

I grew up with Ahsoka from the Clone Wars TV show. She started off as a snarky 14 year old but as time went by,she got better and better. I even cried waterfalls when I thought she died in Star Wars Rebels when she fought Vader Here? They dropped the ball here. Hard.

[@YourFavoriteCommie]

There was no ball to drop. Ahsoka was Filoni's annoying and uncharismatic pet character right from day one.

[@sonicfan2403]

​​@@YourFavoriteCommieOkay but when they had other writers alongside Filoni for Clone Wars, she actually was well written! Since they only had Filoni and hacks write for this series, then it shows how pathetic they put it together!

[@lukes790]

I watched it, but can’t recall what the show ‘s plot was actually about.

[@shrayesraman5192]

Ahsoka represented the best female arc imo. I don't know why she acts like this in the live action.

[@gregoryschweitzer1735]

I cried in Rebels at then too. I personally think she should of died there. I was satisfied with that end until Season 4 retconned it all.

[@landonletterman831]

I didn't look to unkindly on the whole "space whale" thing. They borrow the idea of an "elephant graveyard," that when an elephant knows it's about to die, it will walk to the same place they've designated to do it in, to go do it. Same thing here, she just needs to find one that's about to die (not an easy task) because she can't exactly find one coming back from where Ezra and Thrawn went (it won't)

[@vengeance6833]

Ye but what was the point in the egg thing if they could just hitch a ride with them

[@okbucket]

I also didn't mind the Space Whales thing. That location was probably important because of the whales. And the evil mercenaries weren't in tune with the light side of the force or whatever to talk to the whales. It was fine. The rest of the show was not.

[@janpapaj4373]

@@vengeance6833 a dying whale going there to die is a one way ticket. That's how Thrawn ended up there, with no way back, and that's how they are stranded.

[@alexp4942]

Thrawn actually is a smart character. Hear me out. He knows he's in a Disney show. He knows he can't kill any of the mains. He knows that no matter what he does, the mains will thwart his plans. So he creates bad plans that are just good enough to allow him to escape

[@TheCriticalDrinker]

We floated the idea on Open Bar of him watching all this nonsense playing out and saying, "I don't understand. None of our weapons work against them. What kind of armour are they using?"

[@ericjohnson4199]

@@TheCriticalDrinker it’s called plot armor 😂

[@MrMisanthrope84]

@@TheCriticalDrinker it's that special Kennedy Armour from the planet Femsplain.

[@Soundwave142]

Good one! I was afraid that Thrawn would be ruined. He is not the same character in the books, the Rommel or Yamamoto of Star Wars.

[@calebleach7988]

it's unfortunate because Thrawn IS a smart character. In the books he is a genuine threat to anyone he encounters, even in rebels he sometimes ends up being an actual threat. The Thrawn we see in shows is very different from the one we see in the canon books, and the one in the canon books is somewhat different from the one in the noncanon books. Do you know what the difference between book Thrawn and show Thrawn is? Timothy Zahn. It's almost like you need genuinely competent writers to pull off a character as complex as Thrawn. Zahn created the character, he knows it better than anyone else, and they should just go ahead and let him write the rest of star wars because God knows it would be better than what we've got right now.

[@frocat5163]

"It's better to be alive than dead." Truly the pinnacle of Disney writing.

[@mishynaofficial]

Wow. I am mind-blown. That’s why somehow Palpatine returned 🤯 *d e e p*

[@nont18411]

So Anakin was willing to teach a lesson about “live or die” to Ahsoka but somehow never spared any second to teach his own son the very same lesson when Luke was old and suicidal in the Last Jedi.

[@MrCroky123]

Such an epiphany ...

[@yamato0965]

"People die if they are killed."

[@frocat5163]

@@yamato0965 "And after being killed, people are dead."

[@grantponciano9386]

I really wish more people would wake up to the Filoni mediocrity

[@herheartbeats5727]

One thing striking me it that Ahsoka's tentacles look very cheap in finition (not only short). But we are now 20 years after Shaak-ti's first movie appearances (whose looked refined by contrast). And it was at the good/bad old age of "brick and mortar" costumes, not CGI thrown in any way possible. Again, the feeling of that series' makers just not giving a damn of it to at least try and make it visually properly.

[@SoldierSpiderx]

Ezra, the guy who sacrificed himself to get rid of thrawn, stayed trapped on a depressing planet for a decade because of it. His best friend undos all of it in a second, and his reaction to all this? Offscreen and nothing and I think the big problem with Thrawn is that while he's a tactical genius, he's being written by people who aren't

[@namelessjedi2242]

Anyone but Timothy Zahn writing that character is going to fail. He’s a military sci-fi writer with a keen mind for tactics, you can’t just pretend to be that as an author.

[@crazyralph6386]

It’s so laughably bad, that I’m shocked it got green lit?

[@hogganknowsbest]

I would be pretty pissed if I found out being trapped alone in another galaxy for 10 years to save my galaxy was undone in an instant.....but hey I'm not a jedi.

[@joshuataylor5080]

Thrawn has always been my favorite villain of all time. This wasn't Thrawn. It was the most DISRESPECTFUL bastardization of a character I've ever seen. In the original books he never lost a battle and was only defeated because his bodyguard betrayed him at the last possible second right on the cusp of destroying the New Republic. That is the absolute tactical GENIUS SAVANT this character is.

[@SoldierSpiderx]

@@joshuataylor5080fact they made him dumb this it the not the Thrawn in rebel to he was smart and alway win and this show just made him dumb

[@SourRobo8364]

The greatest lesson Disney Star Wars/Marvel has taught me: you don't have to watch a boring product just because you recognize stuff from other good works of art.

[@arkangelgaming35]

Works of art? Like what? Literally what in Star Wars is "works of art" compared to the recent stuff? It's all the same. All of it. Star Wars are bad movies, with cringy dialogue, over the top set pieces, overdramatic plots glued together by laser swords and space magic.

[@squidmanfedsfeds5301]

@@arkangelgaming35over the top set pieces, laser swords, and magic These don’t sound that bad to me Maybe the movies haven’t always been 10/10 films but you can’t deny that George Lucas creating the Star Wars universe isn’t in some way art, it’s like tolkiens lord of the rings, a lot of thought and skill go into making a universe seem real and lived in, to me that’s a form of art, an imitation of life

[@randomshiba779]

​@@arkangelgaming35Chill

[@CrispyHulk1]

Exactly. Let it burn and return once it's high quality again

[@natmarelnam4871]

There's nothing to watch. Disney bough everything and the smaller studios copied everything they've done.....If you're not 12, anime sucks..... If you're a 30+YO white cis male introvert...... You've been robbed of everything you've ever cared about... PEOPLE SUCK and will destroy what you love.....

[@travelnursediaries]

As a life-long, die-hard Star Wars fan, it pains me to confess that my interest for Disney SW content has dwindled to nothing over the last few years. I've never watched a single episode of Ahsoka and I don't feel like I'm missing anything. This review pretty much confirms the sentiment.

[@younglingdooku6734]

Andor is quite good

[@christophergillette7167]

A great writer can take a dumb idea and make something good. A bad writer can take a great idea and make something terrible.

[@JasonX716]

The fact that Anakin decides to appear in front of his apprentice but was nowhere to be seen during Luke's journey in rebuilding the Jedi Order is beyond me and clearly shows you that these people have no idea what they're doing

[@krald8421]

Not just that, but he never once appears to Kylo/Ben to smack some sense into him when he is worshiping Vader

[@ltb1345]

@@krald8421 Grandson worships your evil alter-ego and becomes a fascistic warlord: "I sleep." Former apprentice is mildly depressed: "REAL SHIT?!"

[@sithlord12]

Anakin appeared to Luke many times, it was mentioned in the canon books. Just because we didn't see it on screen doesn't mean it didn't happen. Ahsoka was his apprentice and one of the most important people in his life, he can't visit her?

[@Pointman11111]

​@@sithlord12 apparently not Gotta be 0/10

[@bloodysimile4893]

​@@sithlord12relating on other expand material to fix your sh!t main story is still sh!t.

[@peterbigblock]

When my kids were little, I used to make up bedtime stories off the top of my head. They were stupid and made no sense, and they never really had an ending so after a while just said, “And then they lived happily ever after the end!” The kids liked it because they were little and I made funny faces and voices. Turns out, I could’ve been a Hollywood screenwriter.

[@EthanSmith]

The screenwriters are still children. Because their dads weren't allowed to ever scold them or correct them

[@def3ndr887]

@@EthanSmithhell they left as soon as they were born

[@anabeatrizgoncalvesporto8379]

I'm still pretty sure that you had made better stories than this paid screenwrithers

[@1799alexandre]

youre already above the screenwriters bc of the facial expressions

[@nikolaivista920]

Then again, you don't want any part of that industry. Hollywood will implode soon because A.I. and robotics will take over. Just look how Ashoka series has been a complete disaster. I know for a fact that A.I. will do a much better job writing than clown Filoni! And A.I. will also do a much better job than Kathleen Kennedy. Facts!

[@KaeYoss]

The original Thrawn could look at a picture one of your species painted and get everything he needed from that to device the perfect strategy against your species. He was so awesome that he was made admiral by the massively speciesist emperor despite being blue. And now he's a crayon muncher sitting on a rock somewhere, watching the busses leave for home galaxy every quarter hour wondering how he could ever go back.

[@jeremyallen5974]

It's funny, he even chastised a pair of Imperial troops for being xenophobic dicks in his incredibly brief appearance in the first Dark Forces novel But instead of having them shot he basically said "If you're going to act like bigots at LEAST make sure the radio isn't on, first."

[@KaeYoss]

@@jeremyallen5974 Dude's not the crazy shooty kind of villain. Wasting resources over some inappropriate behavior isn't smart.

[@dowdpride1]

The weird thing to is that Rosario Dawson is pretty athletic, and has done roles before that required some physicality. She also has exceptional range when acting. Despite both of these strengths, Filoni has decided to have her do the opposite in both cases for some strange reason...truly the force works in mysterious ways I guess?

[@PoopaChallupa]

Filoni was more concerned about being celebrated for his female characters, than he was telling a compelling story.

[@77professional]

I'm still not sold on that. His female characters are not even recognizable as themselves. Whether you think he is a competent writer or not it does not feel like his past projects. In fact, it feels like the Disney corporate board is mining all of their old stuff and Lucas' Clone Wars for anything they can slap a plot together out of. Does Favreau suck balls? If you were watching Mando season 3 and thought all those choices were made by him, you might think so. Think back to all the fired and overruled directors from their Star Wars movie projects. This reeks of Kennedy and the Story Board calling all of the shots. I mean whoever is writing this show does not even understand their own previous plot points or characters.

[@NathanCassidy721]

What else do you expect from a male feminist? If anything, this show proves that it was Faverau, not Filioni, that was the reason Clone Wars was successful.

[@heath_deadgerpvp1161]

Hubris and incompetence, every time.

[@octogigas]

@@NathanCassidy721 Favreau didn't work on Clone Wars, you ding-dong.

[@grandarkfang_1482]

​@@77professional>Do Favreau and Filoni suck balls? Yes, Mando was dogshit all the way through, and Clone Wars/Rebels are continuity-breaking hot garbage.

[@colormedubious4747]

A beloved character, an experienced and competent actress, and a well-known and extensively developed cinematic universe. How could they possibly screw it up this badly? As Jeff Goldblum might say: "Disney, uh, finds a way."

[@smattonellus8354]

You give Rosario Dawson too much credit, she looks the part but sure as fuck she doesn't play it

[@colormedubious4747]

@@smattonellus8354 Please re-read my post and cite where I gave her ANY credit for this specific role.

[@muyandos]

They completely ruined the animated characters 😭😭

[@bradwolf07]

I got into a discussion here on KZbin about Thrawn. The other person said something along the lines of "So what if he let them live? He got what he wanted, to get back to the Galaxy he's from". It was kinda sad to see their low bar. Book Thrawn would mop the floor with Show Thrawn. Heck, Rebels Thrawn would mop the floor with Ashoka Thrawn. Thrawn deserved better

[@somethingawesome1462]

I was extremely disappointed in Thrawn bc of that. He went from calculative, good decisions, to just any other imperial in one episode

[@LegoJango586]

You guys don’t understand. Thrawn is scared. That’s why he is only concerned with getting home and doesn’t care if the protagonists live or die. If you don’t believe me, watch literally any theory video about this planet. The nightsisters are scared too

[@shrayesraman5192]

@@LegoJango586 Yeah but then how do those defenseless turtle things survive on the planet. If the planet is sooo scary.

[@LegoJango586]

@@shrayesraman5192 bc they don’t do anything. Whatever is on this planet doesn’t care about them

[@Laburnam1]

I don’t know his history but I thought Thrawn came across as very accomplished in this series.

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

The Shot of Ahsoka crossing her sabers at 3:23 is like the perfect representation of Hollywood now. I can see Filoni now. “Rosario, after you slash these 2 stormtroopers down, make sure you finish with an epic crossing of the sabers!” So badass, so worthy of a poster or an action figure.

[@KMort]

The fact that the little girl looked more competent fighting Hayden than adult Ahsoka does💀 Hayden's cameo proves the superiority of the training George had him and Ewan do. We literally SEE him slowing down just so Rosario can keep up.

[@CrispyHulk1]

It's like George Lucas invested money into research and hiring true passionate professionals. Disney hires cheap bootlicking interns with zero life experience and it shows

[@natmarelnam4871]

FATsucka - I like Ahsoka and Rosario.... They f*(&ed this up on purpose and they spent $4B to do it.

[@ninjanibba4259]

And Rosario can fight, she has physicality, so I don’t understand why they directed her so bad, physically and emotionally

[@Karn0010]

Just in the clip Drinker showed you can see he is holding back. A real fight he would have just run her over like nothing. The fact that it has been almost 20 years since he's probably done that stuff speaks volumes as well. I don't expect a show like this to put them through what they did for the movies, but at least try. Sad what Star Wars has become under Disney.

[@GreenDinoRanger]

​@@ninjanibba4259I'm guessing she didn't do much of the choreography training beyond the basics.

[@RM_VFX]

"How do you write women so well?" Filoni: "I think of a man, and I remove reason and accountability. Then I add arrogance and arm folding."

[@n.s.3410]

Sell crazy someplace else.. we’re all stocked up here.

[@Yj-Fj]

KaPoooooowwww 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@LegoJango586]

Ummm, the arm fold is Ahsokas signature pose.

[@LegoJango586]

And Ahsoka was arrogant in clone wars too

[@347Jimmy]

It would have been interesting to see how Ahsoka tracked down Morgan in the first place. Or her training Sabine and their falling out. Or Thrawn building up his forces and making his alliances with the witches. But just like the sequels, all the most interesting parts of the story are skipped. Honestly I think Sabine was an interesting enough character without making her a jedi. She was just bland in this.

[@jurisuurvali1730]

I think Disney doesn't use real people to write. Everything Disney creates now feels like AI generated art: looks nice at first glance, but more you look at it, more you notice weird, horrible, unrealistic details in it.

[@kakis3637]

Yep, the reactions is just not what people wpuld do

[@Gundam-Nymphali]

Nah , ask chatgpt and it would probably create a banger script , using ideas from every single other piece of media , something so miserable is definitely human-made , it's bland , tasteless and shock you by how low creativity can sunk

[@AS-lg4yf]

Ezra and Sabine reuniting should have been an emotionally conflicting and powerful moment, but they treated it like two friends running into each other at the super market. If I filmed the scene, I would have had Sabine find Ezra on her own. He comes out of some hidden cave ready for a fight. There are no weird alien people. He is alone, and a bit deranged/animalistic as he has been on the run from Thrawn for a decade. He doesn’t believe it’s her, he figures it’s a trick from the witches who work with thrawn, so he starts fighting Sabine . An emotional battle takes place, showing he still has it. She is no match for a Jedi who has been hardened by years fighting for his life. She is defeated but before he can land a killing blow, she says something about his former master (or something else personal that only she would know) to recall him to his senses and prove she is who she says she is. He immediately breaks down in tears, he never thought he would see her again. “How did you find me…” She explains how she made it there and that Thrawn let her go. His sadness turns to fear at and anger as he realizes by coming, she has not only most likely helped thrawn locate him, but she has potentially given thrawn a way to escape. Ezra begins shouting, “I gave up everything to protect the crew, the galaxy…you. Why would you do this, why didn’t you just leave me to die?!” Before Sabine Can answer, Thrawn arrives with a smirk on his face knowing ten years of patience has paid off.

[@ZenMonkeyGod]

This gave me actual chills. You really ought to consider writing your own version of each episode, because you truly have some great vision. Your wording alone is very well implemented, not to mention the actual story itself is far superior to what we got. Nice work!

[@thaabitumen]

His clothes were clean and pressed and his hair impeccable.

[@mntccd]

That was the worst scene in the show to me. It should have been heart-rending, but was just glib bullshit. Truly awful, cringe-inducing and a tragic lost opportunity on every level.

[@stryfe0]

Too mature for Star Wars and the fans. Gotta keep it mediocre wit surface level 1 thinking

[@kurtisdeakin]

It's not hard to write anything better than these idiots.

[@justsomeguywholovesberserk6375]

Disney always manages to fail in someway, Star Wars went from the most respectable franchise to one of the most hated (Hell even the prequels are being appreciated more)

[@christopheryoung2874]

Disney Star Wars has made me love the prequels

[@procrastinate9805]

I love the prequels after the garbage that is getting produced nowadays

[@neonthunder3261]

Yall think Ezra and Thrawn were just chillin for a decade at some beach planet? Anyways, the prequels at least had an idea and a story to tell with stilted but compelling characters. The new canon has... Only old stories like Heir To The Empire to shit on

[@deez3913]

Well the prequels sort of ruined that but it was somewhat redeemed with the 3rd one. Disney definitely destroyed it though.

[@vcdonovan5943]

Let's cut the c%@p and stop pretending like the prequels will ever not be a flaming pile of $#!%.

[@gab1172]

I hadn’t seen my mum in 7yrs and broken down after embracing finally. That’s how human beings act😭

[@GLJosh]

We re-watched all 2.5 Seasons (Book of Boba Fett is Mando Season 2.5) of Mando to prep for Mando Season 3 and you can tell when the "influence of others" begins. When Ahsoka was done I asked my wife "which was your favorite Disney + Star Wars show?" With near zero hesitation, "Season 1 of Mando". Ahsoka wasn't "bad" (we watched Rebel's and Clone Wars before), I would put in the middle of the pack for the D+ shows (Mando S1 and Andor are on top). Ironically having just typed out D+ that is a great way to describe the grade for most of those shows.

[@TeChNoWC7]

Andor is the only good one imo

[@Kleavers]

​@@TeChNoWC7I'd say Mando S1, Andor and Rogue One are the best things Star Wars has produced in the last 20 or so years.

[@TeChNoWC7]

@@Kleavers not a chance when KOTOR exists

[@Kleavers]

@@TeChNoWC7True. I meant the tv/movie side of it.

[@ionbing2884]

@@Kleavers Rogue One is clearly the best movie this franchise has to offer period. The PT is total shit and the OT isn't nearly as good as you remember it.

[@IIIUMlNATI]

What sticks out to me the most is that there is NO ONE in quality control who just puts their foot down and tells someone: "NO. The quality of your work is atrocious." No one. Its obvious. No one can hurt anyones feelings. Everything is automatically great because its unique to your lived truth or some BS.

[@rKhael53]

The best thing that can happen to a passionate author full of ideas is to have a friendly critic who can read his creation, analyze it impartially and advise him with kindness, but also honesty and rigor. Not to tear it down, but to point out improvements or flaws that the author could not see himself. To motivate the author to do even better.

[@Darksector88]

​@@rKhael53not how this new age works, if you criticize them and they actually listen, they will shut down and give up

[@andyr0ck]

That's some weak K supplier she's got...

[@harbl99]

QC is problemaaaaaaaaaatic.

[@addex1236]

The problem with your idea is that by the time a quality control guy could steep in the money is all ready spent on the project like its made its past the point of no return either reallse it you blew the cash on nothing

[@Mayakran]

I came into this for Thrawn, a dude who’s basically a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Erwin Rommel (eccentric, clever, tactically brilliant, politically naive, an “honorable man on the wrong side”) and everything about his portrayal in Ahsoka is a slap in the face to fans and the writer who created him. The guy’s supposed to love his crew, hate magic, be in his physical prime, have some actual *personality*, be working to STOP an extragalactic invasion, have no loyalties to the Empire itself, etc etc. Filoni really said “fuck you” to 30 years of this character and made tubby idiot blue Tarkin.

[@malphadour]

Nailed it.

[@ltb1345]

Exactly.

[@testcow2604]

Yup. Thrawn looking like a blue Elon Musk with a gut left me so depressed when he first walked on screen.

[@Mayakran]

@@testcow2604 with all the chanting, too. If there’s anything that just screams “Thrawn,” it’s an egomaniac having a cult of peons shouting his name in unison.

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

Rommel was definitely not an honorable man on the wrong side lmao. The ss slaughtered Jews in North Africa behind the lines and Rommel did nothing to stop it

[@SakarianOutcast]

Man, we really needed these writer strikes. Maybe we'll get actual writers. 😅

[@filip1408]

Seriously, watching Hayden move was a complete revelation, it was like revenge of the sith only wrapped filming 2 weeks ago. The man is talented!

[@alexanderwolf7514]

I grew up seeing Ahsoka be fast, agile and acrobatic in every fight. It hurts to see her with the most boring and slow moves. Of course it can't be the same in Live Action as it was in animation but this is not even halfway decent.

[@aliengreen2364]

Even some decent CGI would make that happen, but they can’t even give us decent sets half the time. Battles are obfuscated. It’s lame.

[@thee_morpheus]

R. Dawson is AWFUL in the role. You nailed it, she looks like she is holding in a deuce the whole time while fighting. Terrible actress

[@dearthofdoohickeys4703]

I wonder about that, because I thought kid Ahsoka’s moves weren’t too horrible. But with adult Ahsoka is like they didn’t even try.

[@tropicthndr]

Yea, that’s exactly why Star Wars Rebels is soooo good and makes all the live action movies look really really dumb. Then to make Ahsoka the absolute worst, there’s too much much dead air time with actors just smiling and staring at each other constantly, ugh such a waste of money and time.

[@H0kieJoe]

That was always going to be a problem for any show about Ahsoka, IMO. Dawson has the Ahsoka look, but none of the cat like athleticism.

[@AngryDuck79]

The utter desecration of Thrawn by Filoni is the real heartbreak in this story. If the saying "a writer can't write a character smarter than they are" is true, then this is proof positive that Timothy Zhan is a goddamned genius and Dave Filoni is a drooling baboon. Zhan's Thrawn was a villain worthy of both respect and admiration.

[@mgh7634]

It's so disconcerting watching Thrawn in the new canon just throw his people at problems like expendable pawns, when one of the hallmarks of Thrawn's command in the Zhan Trilogy was how he valued his men. The Thrawn of that era didn't believe in wasting resources of any kind, and that was important, as the Empire had been broken and far reduced from the power it had held after the rebellion, and so to be salvaged, it needed a leader that could work with what was left and not just throw men and equipment into the meat grinder the way the Sith had done before. That's why Thrawn was so critical. He single-handedly shifted the entire way their military operated, prioritizing competency over nepotism, strategy over brute force, and surgical strikes with trained soldiers over wave tactics of poorly equipped conscripts. The storm troopers started going from a joke to a an actually professional fighting force. Corruption in leadership started melting away. Officers and governors started being raised for their capability and command strength. Technology became less focused on big dumb death lasers and more on superior fleets and ships (the tie defender for instance). Nationalism surged in the hearts of the average citizen in a way that had never been possible under the brutal reign of the Emperor. And as a result of all of this, the Imperial Remnant would remain as a strong, viable nation which the Republic would have to tolerate and negotiate with long after Thrawn's death. In many ways, that was Thrawn's greatest accomplishment. Even if he failed ultimately to destroy the Republic and regain all of the Empire's lost territory, his actions ultimately stopped the decline of the Imperial Remnant and ensured its survival. It's not a stretch to say there may not have been an Empire left were it not for him. So to see that great commander reduced to another petty admiral. It's just ridiculous and shows how Disney could never hope to match that legacy.

[@ltb1345]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[@DoomguyIsGrinningAtYou.]

Watched a Brandon Sanderson video where he talks about this. A 'smart' person tends to be able to solve a major problem within a short amount of time. Time, however, is something a writer has in abundance. That being said, I wonder how much time they really had to work on the script for Ahsoka before it got shoved out the door.

[@testcow2604]

This, exactly. It's NOT THAT HARD. Create characters, personalities, motives, and mental ability and resources for the characters to either use or obtain for their goals. Create your story, and make subtle compromises to make things fit and have things MAKE SENSE. The greatest crime a writer of only mediocre talent can commit is belting out a story effort and not having some damned experience proof readers available to critique it. Lucas is guilty of this, Ridley Scott of this, and Filoni sure as heck is too. It's just so depressing to see a massive budget and experienced pool of actor talent wasted with terrible plot pacing, McGuffin use, and horrendous wooden dialogue, too.

[@jacevicki]

@@DoomguyIsGrinningAtYou. There is a really easy trick to writing Thrawn. Thrawn is really, really good at cold reading his opponent. If he can learn enough about you he can anticipate your moves. A great, terrifyingly brilliant villain. But you don't have to be Thrawn-level smart to write Thrawn. You're the writer. You can also anticipate the opponent's moves, because you wrote them. That's how Zahn did it. He would come up with a counter to his own move, then come up with a counter to the counter, then he would right the brilliant back and forth between his intelligent characters. But Filloni can't have that. Because if Thrawn ever actually outwits his foes then you violate the core principal of all modern Disney: A girl can never lose to a boy. How the fuck do you make Thrawn terrifying and intelligent but also never win? It's impossible to write Thrawn while handcuffed by the Disney formula.

[@bengeorge9063]

I can't believe Filoni came with Ahsoka as a character and made this hot mess where she has no expression. No expression whatsoever.

[@meraketh]

And by the way. Mysterious orb pointing out direction in a holographic map was done much better in Treasure Planet 20 years ago... Oh yeah, where is my Tresure Planet live action adaptation???

[@Trustme77]

In Thrawn's first ever appearance in the book "Heir To The Empire", the climax of the novel has him use mining technology to burrow through the walls of Republic warships at a shipyard and send stormtroopers in to capture them all. The heroes figure out how to make the same tech keep on burrowing, resulting in more bulkheads being destroyed and the boarding parties getting exposed to the vacuum of space so that they get killed and can't make off with the ships. But even there, with his plan having failed, Thrawn is like "Well, better retreat now. We didn't get what we really wanted, but all of those Republic ships are disabled now and can't be used against us anytime soon, so at least there's that." That's MY Grand Admiral Thrawn. Even in his defeat there was a victory of sorts. Not sure WHO this imposter on the show is...

[@danandtab7463]

I'm starting to wish Disney didn't try to bring any EU characters after all.

[@alexm2889]

now every claimed "victory" is actually a defeat lol

[@snakeguy8646]

Honestly some of the things Zahn writes Thrawn doing in the newer books is amazing, *vague spoilers if you care* He manages to best another Grand Admiral due to watching recordings of him conducting music, being able to accurately predict his actions and not even be aboard his own ship as it happened. Or, in the Ascendency Books, he bests a superior force using a single gravity well generator, a force a quarter of his opponents size, and vastly inferior firepower. Ik many don’t read these books because of lack of trust of Disney, but tbh they are brilliant reads all 6 of them.

[@sbird8675]

The key is that the books are written by Zahn, the man who created the character and is actually smart enough to create and describe complex battle tactics and strategy. The show is run by Filoni and puppeted by Kathleen Kennedy, neither of whom are smart enough to do that. @@snakeguy8646

[@j0k1g]

Ya.. the Heir to the Empire books were the sequels that should have been made. This version of Thrawn has as much forsight and understanding as Filoni's Boba Fett had leadership skills. Also, you gotta love that in ep8, the jedi ship takes 2 shots from tie fighters and is basically crippled. Where 1-2 episodes before it was shot at by a swarm of fighters for like 10min flying around with not a scratch to show from it. That Thrawn's cap ship had the sensor power to dectect the jedi on wolfback approching from kilometers away, but they couldnt detect the jedi ship litterally fly right up under them. That Thrawn decided to shoot the ground to kill the jedi on wolfback, then send like 30 troopers to their deaths, AND a witch, all to stop the jedi from getting on board, but only once that FAILS does he remove the tower that LET THEM GET NEAR HIS SHIP......... The Thrawn from the books would have rigged the tower to blow, sent a skeleton force in to delay them, and then brought the whole thing down once they where half way up.

[@SpFlash1523]

I think the ironic reason for Sabine not telling Ezra how exactly she got there is because even Filoni recognized himself that it would make Sabine out to look like a blatant fool and a war criminal who not only completely undid Ezra's sacrifice, but also betrayed Ahsoka and her "last" act of stopping the bad guys from getting to Thrawn; letting her presumed death be in vain, committed treason against the New Republic, and single handedly started another galaxy wide war, and Ezra would've had every reason to be angry and disgusted at her. So Filoni just swept it under the rug like it was no big deal.

[@alexm2889]

could have been a great plot point and conflict between the characters...but obviously a snarky quip and a smug smile in response to a direction question is better 🙄

[@Foebane72]

It's called STAR WARS, a franchise that only covers warfare in space, it wouldn't be Star Wars without one battle or another. Boring, really.

[@TheNefastor]

​@@Foebane72agreed, it's Star WARS. Which is why only a complete moron would write shows about peace in that universe. Enter Disney, the magical land of complete morons.

[@TheCriticalDrinker]

Yup, and you just know that if Ezra had done the same thing to save Sabine, he would have been absolutely annihilated.

[@simpdefendmlady6579]

​@@TheCriticalDrinker May I simp for you Drinker?

[@jefrysax]

A perfect example of missed opertunities is in the episode where Ahsoka travels in the space wale and talks to the robot and the robot asks "do you want me to tell you one of the stories of the past" .... and she says "Naaaa let's talk about what happened the previous episode" .(which in universe time happened 5 min. Ago) ... here with no effort could have given us some background info about this planet and the history .... And when I've pointed that example to some Filonians. .. the usual answer is "well this is the genius of Filoni, he is giving us opertunities to theorize and he is preparing the ground for his next project. " ....

[@kalikolamb]

Great video. Relatively, it was more the Sabine-show than Ahsoka. Filoni missed opportunities to explore why Ahsoka even felt comfortable with being referred to as Jedi or taking on an apprentice. How did her relationship with Luke develop? She returned at the end of Rebels to Sabine because she knew she was going to look for Ezra, so why not show the development of their dynamic during that time. Who's idea was it that Sabine train in the ways of the Jedi and why? I feel like a lot of the things brought up in this show were already addressed in Rebels. Ahsoka realized Anakin's fate and faced Darth Vader, Sabine chose not to wield the darksaber. Same with Thrawn, was hoping for some dynamic between him and Ezra with some character development as well. Just another extremely disappointing series from Disney.

[@fred6907]

The reuniting with Esra has got to be the most soulless awkward moment in TV history. It's like watching 2 people on a first Tinder date that find each other extremely unattractive. ZERO chemistry and emotions. And they want us to believe she traveled across the universe to save THIS guy? Yeah right. I have better interactions with my dead grandmother.

[@prot07ype87]

I'm reminded of Tron: Legacy, when Sam was separated from his dad for years. How Ezra's meeting went: Sam meets CLU, zero chemistry and emotions. How Ezra's meeting should've been: Sam meets his father.

[@dwaynecox2002]

@@prot07ype87I think about that scene often. It really was such a human moment after such a crazy action sequence.

[@Nebuloid1]

Yep and that's this whole show, no emotion on anyone's face, ever. Truly don't understand it, another example; Ahsoka is flying through a mine/asteroid field and her face is just, bland. Where's the direction !?

[@pistonburner6448]

I've figured out the root cause for that: It's because Modern Woman™ can't be seen to be made happy by a man, or be strongly emotionally attached to anyone from the evil sex.

[@MrEHD-fj1bz]

I typed the plot into chatgpt and its give me more humane interaction

[@adrianrammirez]

When Sabine meets Ezra again, I was shocked at how emotionless it was. Like who is directing this???

[@justlivin2499]

Ezra’s reaction felt on point for his character tbh

[@cooginald]

@@justlivin2499 If the writing and acting is made intentionally to be wooden and boring then they shouldn't be surprised when no one is interested or cares.

[@DoctorShaft]

@@justlivin2499 Even so, Sabine's reaction wasn't. She sacrificed a galaxy to find him again. And then walks into it with the passivity of an ancient monk. And in the finale gleefully sent him away.

[@picard714]

Someone who fails to understand how humans work, I'd wager.

[@grandarkfang_1482]

​@justlivin2499 a laid-back dumbass who sacrificed himself to seal away the greatest threat to the galaxy has a passive reaction to his friends ruining his sacrifice not even because they love him but because they just wanted to see him again? Wow, Ezra Bridger sounds like an idiot, what did Kanan see in him?

[@GC12345]

This was a perfect analysis of this show. I binged the season and was left completely empty afterward. There was no emotion, no character development, and the characters merely switched locations by the end. The girl playing young Ahsoka had more emotional depth than Dawson and Ray Stevenson’s death means the only remotely interesting (morally ambiguous) character is gone. And that reunion of Ezra and Sabine was just weird. Are you telling me Sabine travelled across a Galaxy after 10 years to find this guy and then just stands there staring at him without emotion? WTAF

[@brandondominguez5540]

Very true. I Agree 100 percent

[@antiseth3964]

This really captured a lot of my feelings about the show. Honestly, I felt it wasn’t “Book of Boba Fett” bad in terms of how it treated the characters that inspired it, but it was still really poor writing. What is this show trying to convey? How do the characters grow and change? Sabine certainly doesn’t. She’s a woman continuing to grieve for her “friend” who selfishly refuses to take responsibility for her actions and spends the second half of the series numb to every problem she just created and every potential life lost because she enabled the return of an Imperial power. Yet somehow she is emotionally “punishing” herself so much for this decision that neither Ezra nor Ahsoka can bear to confront her about it. Once again, her only obstacle to growing her force power is accepting herself. And let’s think about Ahsoka, whose writing is pulled between developing her relationship with Anakin and Sabine. Her former master’s fall to the dark leaves her drowned in guilt, and they repeat the same journey from Obi Wan: Anakin all but directly absolves her of any guilt in his turn. I guess it works well enough, but Sabine, meanwhile, leaves her to die and makes a morally bankrupt decision on the exact same caliber as Anakin’s turn-potentially dooming the Galaxy to yet another war. However, that is simply glossed over for the sake of magically healing their relationship for the final part of the season. She makes no attempt to impress on Sabine the gravity of what she just did-even if Ahsoka refused to fully express any disappointment or anger about it. We just need their mutual antagonism to disappear because _reasons,_ so why not just make up some BS about, “Well, it was the only choice _for you,_ so it doesn’t matter.” I dare you to apply that same reasoning to Anakin’s turn and tell me you don’t feel the slightest bit wrong about that-even if you can sympathize with their respective decisions in the same way. Concurrently, Ezra-who essentially gave his life to take Thrawn out of the equation in the first place-says nothing to her when he learns the truth, nor expresses any genuine suspicion about the circumstances that sent her all the way to his corner of the universe. Come to think of it, he expresses very little emotion in general. I don’t think his emotional stability is necessarily a problem, but his lack of any feedback towards her completely misses. She just invalidated all of his efforts to fight the empire, and he is just _ok_ with that? People can be upset about the fights or about Thrawn’s decision making, but I feel like this story’s biggest sin was the fact that none of its central characters really truly *grow.* There’s no real dramatic tension in their conversations, no encouragement for mutual growth. They just switch to wisened versions of themselves on a dime when the situation warrants that, “ok she big girl now!” All the while, they continue to shove plenty of nostalgia in to lure an audience. That’s Star Wars now. Nostalgia and a bunch of stoic, emotionless actors standing around thinking they are delivering compelling dialog.

[@heinzlilio4612]

Building Thrawn up to be the biggest baddie only to have him be dumbed down to a comically stupid level is a spit on the terrifying genius he was on Legends

[@alexman378]

Well, I mean… He is a man, and this is a Disney show… Making him actually smart is not exactly something they can do.

[@MrsMacLover]

he's a mean grandma though 😂

[@kaleiohulee6693]

It's difficult for a writer to write a character that's much smarter than they are. It's ego that makes them think they can.

[@MarklovesAngels]

Hayden really did rock that fight scene. I was sorry that there were at least three instances where it was REALLY visually obvious he had to slow up on a swing and/or delay his strike so Dawson could catch up.

[@EclipseHedgehog]

if there's one thing i'll say i enjoyed; it was seeing Hayden have fun.

[@blackjackjester]

She looked like Keanu in John Wick 4... except he's pushing 60

[@megagamernick9883]

What sucks is Timothy Zahn still works for Lucasfilm. Bring him in for Thrawn. Seriously, he wrote the character in both Legends and Canon and both works from what I can tell were well received. I would bring him on to work on his character and he at least works knowing that he needs to respect the lore.

[@ajf5823]

I love this idea.

[@Enigma75614]

I like how Ezra says, "I don't need a weapon, the Force is my ally," and then 2 seconds later, he picks up a blaster and starts shooting people.

[@1471SirFrederickBanbury]

Even with how stupid the “remember Anakin” thing was, I have to give credit to Hayden Christensen. He is one of the few people who doesn’t act like a block of wood. A nice reversal to how Lucas screwed him over by telling him to act robotic. He delivers his lines perfectly, with class, style, and the charisma that Anakin had in the clone wars, but was missing everywhere else. Major props to him!

[@MrMisanthrope84]

I have to admit I enjoyed the Anakin memberberries. However it is sad that those member berries were the best part of the show rather than the neat mid-season interval/pallete cleanser they ought to have been. It would be like watching Empire Strikes Back and the scene of Luke fighting the vision of Vader on Dagoba being the best bit in the movie by a mile, instead of being just another neat moment in a series of neat moments in that movie. Imagine Empire without the Wampa cave, no battle of Hoth, no Han and Leia, no Yoda, no Boba Fett, no Imperial March, no Vader outsmarting everybody, no Lando, none of that. Just Luke fighting Vader in the forest and the rest of the movie being a movie about boring dumbasses. That's Ahsoka.

[@1471SirFrederickBanbury]

@@MrMisanthrope84 I totally agree! Ahsoka herself feel EXTREMELY OFF in her own series! Either Filoni has had a stroke, lost his touch from the Clone Wars, or Kathleen Kennedy has micromanaged too much. His works before Mandalorian were good to great, the new stuff feels like he sold out and is just writing what he is told to. I am dying to know why the change of quality of writing has occurred, especially knowing that right before Mandalorian, He made the Clone Wars last season/revival which was one of his best works. Perhaps time will tell... Perhaps we will never know the truth... but I'll be wondering until we do...

[@newalchemy9742]

@@MrMisanthrope84 The flashbacks/memories of Anakin and young Ahsoka were easily the highlight of the show. It was literally the only part I was engaged with. Worst part was the latest lore-destroying addition of having a non-force user grab a lightsaber from 20 feet away to kill an enemy after minimal training. Compare that to a young man half conjured by the force that struggled to the same thing in the Wampa cave after being trained by one of the galaxy's greatest Jedi. So epically ridiculous I want to vomit.

[@toplay1764]

I mean he was literally going to be Vader in that movie , ofc he wanted him to already talk like the Vader we know. Very ... slow ... and ... emotionless ... my master. Not defending that it was a good idea because it makes him (the actor) look like a total idiot. But its not that George Lucas didnt had a motive for the robotic acting (even if its dumb). At this point just give Anakin his own show.

[@ltb1345]

He was also great in Revenge of the Sith.

[@michaelbradshaw7552]

The problem with Thrawn has been there since he was first reintroduced in Rebels, where he was constantly on the backfoot and spouting cope like "no, I am four steps ahead of those puny teenage rebels, I merely allow them to make me look stupid as I locate their main base", with his vampire organ theme and his Blizzard game voice acting. He was never actually allowed to do anything wrong, even though Filoni wasn't brave enough to give him any significant victories over his beloved heroes. Fans just forgave it because they remembered him from the old Legends trilogy back in the 90s where he was a legitimately badass villain, and he had a hype train building from his new books reintroducing him into canon. In this show though, he's fat, middle-aged and looks constipated (Rebels Thrawn is clearly shown to be in shape and an expert martial artist), and seeing him in live-action was the last thing fans were holding on to before they gave up on Star Wars forever. OG Legends Thrawn was frightening because he had a clear plan, a cool-headed analysis of the empire's situation, and a roadmap to victory that *allowed* for things to occasionally go wrong. He knew what was important and what was a trivial defeat that wouldn't matter in the long run. That's what actually smart leaders do. It's what Gendo does in Evangelion. He's fully focused on his plan and he doesn't care at all about things that aren't important. Disney's Thrawn has consistently fumbled around trying to look like a mastermind when actually he has no idea what he's doing.

[@Ale-dd3ek]

Agree on everything except the music The ost he had in rebels was badass

[@musichere3287]

Thrawn was good in Rebels. He was actually smart, and basically every L he took was because of an incompetent official (Konstantine) or something unpredictable happening (like Bendu). Miles ahead of this joke version of Thrawn in Ahsoka

[@averagejoe9186]

Yeah, i was expecting Thrawn to be just as mentally fit and physically capable as he was in Rebels. I mean he could hold his own against almost any opponents and constantly trained and tried to evolve. It's pretty disappointing and underwhelming to see what they made him out to be in this, truly a shadow of what could have been an awesome villain quite like no other.

[@josephvisnovsky1462]

No spoilers, but Thrawn gloating at Ahsoka is out of character. Thrawn squandered his initiative, which is an amateur level mistake. He had the tactical advantage with a surface trapped adversary, and chose not to bombard with his main batteries. They played it off as a delaying gambit during an orchestrated withdrawal, but Thrawn failed to capitalize on a coup de grace moment with overwhelming force.

[@communitycollegegenius9684]

No, the problem with Thrawn is how much he looks like he belongs in Tron and sounds like it too.

[@dutchrjen]

George Lucas once said Star Wars has a lightside (selflessness), a darkside (selfishness), characters that make choices, and consequences suffered for those choices. He also said it was about family and relationships. Sabine was a SELFISH ASS. She put a FREAKING galaxy at risk, and she suffered NOTHING. Mandalore (Sabine's home) that Bo and Din are rebuilding is right next to Dathomir where Thrawn is now. Thrawn will likely wipe out Mandalore again. Lothal (Ezra's home) will likely also be attacked by Thrawn. Ezra was apparently her "only family." I guess Hera, Zeb, Jacen, and Chopper were shit to her then. What the hell was so special about Ezra? Maybe if she was madly in love with him that could work (she'd still be an ass but at least have a HUMAN reason for what she did)... but no... romance in modern Star Wars can't happen. Din and Grogu has been the only interesting relationship. She gambles the fate of the galaxy just to see a guy and when she gave the map to Baylan, she had no prospect of ever getting back home. She seems perfectly content to just kick back and relax with the guy (probably for the rest of her life at that point) but yet she keeps him in the dark on EVERYTHING important. She later sends him off without a tear or a care like the McGuffin Ezra was in the show. How does someone risk the fate of an ENTIRE GALAXY just to at most likely see and spend the rest of their life with someone then an hour later not care that they're gone? How do they suffer no consequences for their actions? How did Ahsoka just forgive her? Sabine's actions made no sense. She lied, stole, she was untrustworthy, she was selfish, she didn't follow advance or warning, etc. NOW THEY ARE CALLING HER A JEDI? Sabine is a Sith, not a Jedi. So much potential but it was all wasted.

[@mousemetal1679]

Are you gonna ignore the fact Bo-Karen is a f-ing narcissistic sociopath who has always cared only about herself and about power, was ensl4ving and torching innocent villagers and enjoyed the power trip it gave her, terr0rized Mandalore for who knows how many years and wanted to get her own sister killed to establish a warmongering t0talitar!an r3gime, but then she was whining and pretending she never wanted her dead, she lies and manipulates everyone for her personal gain 24-7, blames everyone except of herself for her mistakes and bad deeds...but somehow she is supposed to be seen as a hero? If Dangerhair is on the dark side (which she definitely is), Bo-Karen is too, and she is Palpatine´s level of evil. Mandalore deserves to be shot into pieces for following that monster. Hell, it was already glassed by the Empire because that entitled narc cursed it, and the same people who suffered because of her are still following her. They will never learn.

[@kratoscraken5614]

"He's a stupid person's idea of what a smart person should be" bloody hell mate that made so much sense and actually made me laff well done mate 👍

[@neonstarch3210]

The irony here is that Ahsoka, at least in the Clone Wars show, was one of, if not the best-written characters. She started out in the series as a cocky and hot-headed teenager that, over the course of the series, grew and evolved. She was put through trials that challenged her emotionally (dealing with the guilt of getting her whole squadron killed and an admiral critically injured when she disobeys a direct order) and physically (captured and forced to be hunted for sport without her lightsaber and has to join forces with other padawans to escape the planet). It was these experiences that not only humbled but helped her grow into a strong jedi. She went from one of the more annoying characters at the beginning and ended up becoming one of the most beloved.

[@MalzysFoldraankonid]

True this series ruined her completely I am just going to rewatch the clone wars series and burn this out of my mind

[@Trustme77]

Yeah, I liked the non-live-action Ahsoka Tano. She was a good character. I choose to hypnotize myself into forgetting that this show was ever made and that this good character was ruined.

[@mochacashmere]

@@MalzysFoldraankonid”ruined “ bit dramatic much

[@Holocron_Jedi]

She was not well written 😂

[@ltb1345]

This is the problem with bringing a legacy character back as the main protagonist, after their character arc has already been completed. Either you need to come up with some REALLY strong new arc to develop said character further, or they should be a side character rather than the main one.

[@nicolaiitchenko7610]

Since purchasing LucasFilm, Disney has never yet missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity

[@yimpyoi9808]

andor was really good. mando season 1 too. but yeah for the most part its been garbage. only thing im looking forward to now is andor season 2 since mando went to shit.

[@zk2399]

@@yimpyoi9808 dont have your hopes up after season 3 mando, "boba fett" show, kenobi ending

[@aldunlop4622]

If I could sum up Ahsoka with 2 words, it'd be Theft and Betrayal. The Thrrawn story was very well told by Timothy Zahn 25 years ago in Heir to the Empire - a great story of the remnants of the Empire and Luke Skywalkerr hunting down Grand Admiral Thrawn. Disney very quickly said these stories "were not cannon", and they would write their own followup to Return of the Jedi. They Lied...Pure and simple. Instead, Filoni Stole the story from Luke Skywalker (because they hate male heroes) and gave it to Ahsoka and her annoying Sabine, whose only skills are smugness, arrogance, and girrl bossiness - the Strong Female Characters. He Stole from Luke, andd Betrayed Luke's Legacy - just to pander to inferior Female Girl Bosses. Fucking pissed...

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

Did anyone in the show get away because they ran out of gas? That was my favorite TLJ nonsense. They can’t get away, but we can’t catch them because we are out of gas.

[@eijirohiroshima2949]

As a person who grew up loving the 2008 Clone Wars TV show and especially the character of Ahsoka, I was so disappointed with how she's portrayed here. She started off snarky and scrappy, a little annoying, but being so involved with the war forced her to grow up fast. It was great to see her develop into a strong, confident, engaing character who never lost sight of her goals, people she cared about, or sense of humor, all while still respecting both her various masters and the force. The conclusions to her story in both Clone Wars seaon 5 and 7 are some of my favorite moments in Star Wars. I didn't really enjoy most of Rebels, but it did Ahsoka very well. She was much more mature and spiritual while still maintaining an air of kindness and dignity. It was also great to see her teach others the way Anakin taught her, and the way she had to grapple with the dark lord he had become. But in her own show? She's completely emotionless, rarely takes decisive action, is constantly making questionable choices, and doesn't seem to learn from her mistakes. The more I watched the show, the more I felt myself simultaneously frustrated with and bored by what I still consider one of my favorite Star Wars characters.

[@larissaasay6957]

They did her so dirty in this show. She looks like Ahsoka but that's where the similarities end.

[@superjlk_9538]

I’d rather listen to Star Wars politics for 4 hours

[@Deity_devil]

Exactly and that KZbinr Star Wars theory says her being emotionless is her character development smh the defenses for this show is just as bad the defenses for kenobi

[@wizrom3046]

@@larissaasay6957 ... "she" looks like Ahsoka if Ahsoka was a grumpy man

[@justlivin2499]

I just disappointed we didn’t see more of her and Rex, I figured he was most likely dead but even still would’ve it would’ve been a tear jerker to find out from her

[@dubzillas]

Watching Anakin reminded me that the physicality needs to be a higher priority when casting these roles. It's not a male/female thing. The unathleticism of Dawson kept me out of it at times.

[@1shogunate696]

Well she was a fan pick, I wouldn’t have voted for her

[@LayDownAndRot]

Something so obvious, it shouldn't even have to be stated.

[@valoruniversity]

Extremely unathletic

[@reignman30]

They could've at least sped up the footage in the editing room.

[@nont18411]

Just look at the casting of Zoro in One Piece. The actor is perfect for the role (despite all the setbacks of his character writing for being “too cool”). He has physicality. He is proficient in fighting choreography because he has an experience of playing in so many anime adaptations beforehand.

[@TheSpittleSpittoon]

I do appreciate the shout out. I find it genuinely heartwarming that you would include me in your diatribe.

[@WhoWouldWantThisName]

We've gone from the days of assuming this scene played out off screen to actual confirmation that "nope it didn't and you don't even get to pretend maybe it did". If Dave didn't want to have to write some of this stuff out and then have to direct it, he could have at least implied that there were these conversations or moments that took place without us there to see it. I mean at least let me imagine that Sabine and Ezra had the reuniting they should and would have or that Sabine got an ass-chewing from Ahsoka, or again Ezra, for some of the shit she earned it for. I always figured George had some problem with inability to express much emotion or relate to other humans, but Dave too? I can forgive Thrawn looking how he does given the context of 10 years out there with just his boys, I mean who was he going to keep up appearances for, the nightsisters? He still needed to be brilliant though AND needed a reason for still being there and Dave just threw all that out the window with his story providing every reason and resource for Thrawn to have made it back home within maybe a week or two, probably an afternoon. At first I was enjoying it, then I was mostly enjoying it but with reflections of questions I shouldn't have been left with. Then by Ep 7 I was just unable to let the flaws go by let alone not notice them. There's still some potential there for some good to come out of the Baylan and Shin characters but I really don't want just more things to set up future things. I need to be actually finding the show I'm watching now to be good now and not hoping it will be next week.

[@Dr.Pelican-bw2zs]

Sabine's wolf-dog in episode 6 conveyed more emotion in two 5-minute scenes than she did in the entire season

[@manz7860]

I was laughing when she was ambushed and shot like 11 times. And then was mad as hell at the dog for running away. Like what 😂😂

[@vb2806]

You actually watched this show?😮

[@Tidushii]

@@vb2806 yeah, she's a plank of wood but I seen wood be more expressive.

[@TheCriticalDrinker]

True

[@simpdefendmlady6579]

Their message is that emotions can and will be used against you so better not show any

[@speertime]

My sister was the biggest Ahsoka fan before this show. It was her favorite Star Wars character and she watched everything she was in. After watching this show she was so disappointed of how it turned out. It's so sad to see something see genuinely cared about and loved turned into this crap. She is a true Ahsoka fan for recognizing how bad it actually is instead of praising every second of it like every other "Ahsoka fan"

[@jackfenwick6182]

Yeah, my Mrs was the same. She's new to the films, having only watched them with me, but she'd known asoka from the clone wars which her brother watched years ago... she was gutted watching this series

[@etiennelamarche7796]

She's still my favorite sw character. She's lovely in clone wars

[@nameless.greyceo]

Big hugs to your sister

[@2dextreem]

Hashtag Ahsoka Hashtag Tano Tuesday Hashtag Disney Hashtag Dave Filoni

[@MagnusSohlberg]

That's incorrect, because I am the biggest Ahsoka fan before this show. Tell your sister to go back to her corner. And you know what? I'm even more of a fan after this show! And I generally don't like Disney Star Wars, but Filoni is a direct student under Lucas and you can tell. This was excellent!

[@RexKing-lc1tf]

There are some points you made that are logically incorrect, which is understandable as you’re not a hardcore fan. - 1:57 He’s not any of these you listed, this is Anakin Skywalker himself living in the World Between Worlds, where all go after they’ve died and become one with the Force. Dave Filoni does know… because he said it. It’s not up to interpretation. - 2:25 Ahsoka was able to use the Force to connect with the whales, an ability that many Jedi have and Ahsoka gained while she trained as a Padawan. Thrawn could not use the Space Whales because 1. He’s not Force sensitive, and 2. The whales make a blind hyperspace jump without a Nav Computer, it’s impossible to track them. This is why he needed the Eye, because he couldn’t make it happen. - 3:29 As of yet, Filoni hasn’t retconned a single Cannon event. He’s not making any new rules in this show either, rather expanding on the Cannon. - 4:19 The Witches of Dathomir have the ability to re-animate the dead, an ability we have known them to have since they were introduced almost 13 years ago. Everything else you did a pretty decent analysis Drinker, let’s hope for the best.

[@The_Modeling_Underdog]

Ahsoka's Thrawn: "Why am I constantly mismanaging my forces, making stupid decisions and plagued by poor judgement resulting in me losing what was a won, decisive battle?" Your average WWII Japanese Admiral: "First time, gaijin?"

[@xel1673]

When TCD mentioned how they could have found Ezra 10 years later now a hardened warrior after so long being on his own it really made me sad at what could have been. Ezra could have gone from his old self to someone who has been struggling, running, and fighting nonstop for a decade, always trying to keep Thrawn trapped on that planet. Perhaps even fighting to protect the innocent locals Thrawn was subjugating and stealing from for resources. The other galaxy's war might have ended, but he was still fighting. When Sabine finds him, he's a different person. Maybe he's struggling with his emotions, having had to bottle them up and just keep fighting to survive. So when he's with Sabine he becomes overwhelmed by both immense joy & relief to finally see a familiar face, to finally think his nightmare was over and he can go home, but then overwhelming anger the moment he realizes what she's actually done to help Thrawn return. How she's betrayed everything he's had to struggle for alone for so long. They could fight and have drama. Ezra would be 100% right about Sabine's terrible decision and could be deeply hurt and angry. Sabine could undergo a character arc and realize her motivations were selfish, risked the galaxy, and certainly didn't take into account what Ezra would have wanted. However, only after seeing how changed Ezra has become, she could still feel right in her decision to come for Ezra. Likely sensing he probably couldn't have gone on much longer alone. Ezra needed to be saved before he broke, perhaps completely losing the good person he once was. He needed help badly. Ezra could have also had a further character arc showing him teetering along the lines of becoming a Sith. This could also bring more out of Ahsoka (if she was a better character with realistically written issues and struggles), who also struggled when she fought during the Clone Wars. So she could mentor him. Maybe treating him as her own Anakin to keep him from walking the path of the Sith with all the trauma, the PTSD of constant fighting, and bottled up emotions he's left unaddressed for 10 years. ... That would have been interesting. But no, we've got completely non-threatening, agreeable puppy-dog Ezra who was basically doing fine living with his bug-crabs and doing nothing of value. He seemed like he was perfectly content living on that plane the rest of his life and barely seemed excited to be going back to the other galaxy. He is a non-character with no backbone or personal opinion. He'll say, do and be whatever the other characters (and writer) want from him. If it wasn't a massive plothole that even Filoni couldn't have gotten away with, I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd written Ezra's presence out of the last few episodes entirely since Ezra was just taking up space and was a background character anyway. His role as a MacGuffin really could have been replaced by a piece of furniture.

[@Yj-Fj]

Let’s take a stab: former Hollywood writer?

[@xel1673]

@@Yj-Fj What?

[@Yj-Fj]

@@xel1673 seriously, that first part should have been the script.

[@xel1673]

@@Yj-Fj Oh, thank you. I'm definitely not a Hollywood or script writer. I just like coming up with stories. God knows Hollywood and other forms of entertainment aren't providing much to anything good lately.

[@TheDevilinThePaleMoonlight]

​@Yj-Fj Well, I'm with the other guy on this, ur 1st part was INFINITELY more interesting, compelling, emotional, and character/canon accurate than what literal teams of HOLLYWOOD PRODUCERS AND WRITERS came up with for yet another travesty of a star wars show. Filoni is a hack, once upon a time he wrote a good animated show and then sniffed so many of his own farts (like so many other people in Hollywood) that he has completely lost his way. He doesn't know how to write Ahsoka without Annikans participation and influence. She just comes off as bland and uninteresting without him. I never really got into rebels, I watched it when it first came out but ill admit it was just background noise for whatever I was into at the time. I wasn't really invested. That said, Filoni took away all those characters agency in this show as well. It's almost like he can't feel the same way about live-action characters the same way he feels about animated ones. All their emotions are surface level at best and they come off just so damn uninteresting in there motivations and expectations. It's like watching someone who read these characters Wikipedia pages try and write a story for them. It's embarrassing how bad they all come off and feel while ur watching them all. Anyway that's just my 2 pennies. I don't even know how it's possible for these so-called professionals in Hollywood to miss so many open layups with this franchise but they do time and time again and it's as sad as it is ridiculous.

[@rancor453]

Watching Hayden fight her was like watching a proper blackbelt spar with a lower belt to build their confidence up and try to teach them something.

[@A7XKoRnRocks1]

Exactly.

[@coreymorris8319]

You mean the literal point of that entire scene? It literally starts with anikin say he's going to finish her training.

[@JDM33R]

Yea that’s the point. Hayden let her win so she could have her lesson.

[@blackleague212]

4:53 honestly the best edited clip you ever put in one of your vids. Aside from the people rolling in the mud and farting

[@sydneylyman8778]

The Ezra from Rebels sacrificed himself to remove Thrawn from the playing field and save his home planet from Imperial rule. If THAT Ezra had found out the Rebel Alliance won, defeated the Empire, and freed the galaxy (the goal of him AND HIS PARENTS) and then Sabine RISKED BRINGING THE EMPIRE BACK JUST TO LET HIM GO HOME, he would be SO PISSED. Where is hot-headed, street ratty, all-or-nothing, Rebels Ezra Bridger? Cuz I don't see him. Eman Esfandi could have been perfect if the writing had let him.

[@manz7860]

Disney couldn't ever let a man have agency in a 2023 star wars show. They literally have him ride bitch to sabine in the show.

[@kasbakgaming]

The show lost me the moment when they started trying to give Sabine Force powers. She never showed any ability or inclination towards it at any point in Rebels, and they just wrote this garbage like "See? We told you that potential was there all along, wink wink." The only time in Rebels there was any sort of Force reference with her was when she was training to use the Dark Saber with Kanan and there was the two lines of dialogue where she said "The blade feels lighter.", to which he replies "You're connecting with it." And no, that line does not inherently mean Force sensitivity. In actual fact, Sabine showed regularly through out that entire training sequence that she didn't need Force powers, she was already a badass from her Mandolorian training and weapons engineering knowledge. Her character was totally fine as she was, but she got screwed over by Kathleen Kenedy's "the Force is Female" campaign. To paraphrase K-2SO, "Congratulations, your gender is being empowered; please do not resist."

[@MrIkeelyou9]

Couldn’t have said it better myself. They absolutely missed what made her a badass from Rebels. She is a completely different character in rebels

[@bernardliquete9292]

Not to mention, the darksaber was supposed to meant to represent the Mandalorian Throne, and two of the previous wielders (Pre Vizla and Bo Katan) pretty much demonstrated that you don't need no force powers to fight using it. The "heavy blade because you have heavy emotions" thing is like the real life equivalent of not being able to finish a task in time because you are unwilling to do it in the first place but you have to accomplish it in either way.

[@johnhoran9840]

Moff Gideon used it very well, and he's not force sensitive.@@bernardliquete9292

[@manz7860]

Filoni blew his load on the first stroke(first episode) there were a myriad of ways to show Sabine losing to Shin.......and Filoni went with a fakeout death and making lightsabers even more useless.

[@JO-qn8gy]

Do or Die, there is no try. That thought should have been in her mind to make the scene more impactful...

[@DiggitySlice]

Hayden Christensen really gave way more than this show deserved with that fight scene. He's either extremely professional or just loves being Anakin.

[@terranceroff8113]

I think he just loves being Anikin myself and wanted to take the opportunity to flesh out who would become Vader.

[@Red-zh7vq]

@@terranceroff8113 if by some miracle Lucasfilm got a regime change in the next couple of years I'd love to see him, Ewan and Natalie come back for one more big project. Give them the send off Mark, Carrie, and Harrison should've gotten.

[@zuriyel5368]

I think it's the fact that people have been so excited to have Hayden back has touched him and made him happy to be back. It's like he can now get rid of the burden that the prequel trilogy put on his shoulders. People used to think of him as one of the worst parts of Star Wars and now he's seen as one of the best.

[@tombarter3287]

I thought Thrawn looked pretty fat in that uniform. I couldn't believe it when I learned it was actually Lars Mikkelsen whom I remember as the skeletal Charles Augustus Magnussen in Sherlock. As Thrawn he looked like a blue Data.

[@Benji80England]

9:26 What a waste of Thrawn. Those Timothy Zahn books are amazing. Star Wars is dead to me now. I'm staggered. How could it be possible to kill the greatest franchise of all time? Ask Kathleen. I despair, I really do.

[@BeardedDanishViking]

One of the best parts about Heir to The Empre is how Thrawn initially only has six Star Destroyers, one or two of them being Interdictors I believe, and because of that, he pulls of some insanely clever moves in order to build his forces back up, so they can actually challenge the New Republic. Very rarely does he engage in full on fleet combat, but creates an elaborate web of ruses and traps to keep the New Republic guessing. The main reason that Thrawn is defeated eventually is because of his bodyguard betraying him. He could've quite possible won a huge victory if not for that. Mikkelsens Thrawn is... Well. Not even remotely like that. He's been reduced to an Admiral Ozzel level of incompetent, which is so sad to see. And Lars Mikkelsen is a great actor, usually, I've seen a lot of his stuff here in Denmark.

[@arkangelgaming35]

Interdictors didn't exist back then.

[@BeardedDanishViking]

@@arkangelgaming35 Funny how they're in the book then. 🤔

[@colinbielat8558]

​@arkangelgaming35 there were interdictors back then because they were created for the orginal star wars RPG by West End Games, who sent Timothy Zahn a whole box full of source books for the game so he could coordinate his series with it. It is why the Katana fleet was made up of dreadnoughts and why you had Luke piloting a modified ghtroc freighter in I believe dark force rising.

[@criran]

At least he got the vocal mannerisms right. Mikkelsen sounded the part, the rest is up to the writers and directors. He definitely has the ability to portray Thrawn as he is in the books, but was not given the script to do so.

[@colinbielat8558]

Actually Thrawn had more than six star destroyers, he personally kept five for his personal armada which was to be the core of his forces, he no doubt had at least hundreds or even a thousand star destroyers he could call upon as a standard imperial sector would have had 24 Star Destroyers in its fleet register. He no doubt did not have access to all of them though as he was beholden to the individual warlords and would need results to gain their assets. It's mainly why Thrawn was so interested in gaining ships, without ships he could not plan as many offensives and the empire was down to a quarter of its orginal size.

[@shez3532]

The fact that Sabine's arc is built around becoming a jedi instead of exploring her origins as a Mandalorian is a baffling choice, especially given they've invested so much in developing Mandalore's story in live action since Rebels ended and we last saw Sabine. If they wanted a Master/Apprentice relationship to develop Ahsoka's character, Jacen would have made a much better choice. He's around the same age Ahsoka was when we met her in the Clone Wars movie, and he could have easily been a rebellious teen who mirrored both Ahsoka and Anakin's rebellious teenage streaks.

[@MWBalls]

She cant teach grogu or Jacen because they are men. She also can't give the 1000+ years old Jedi training droid who probably knows more about the Jedi then any other living or artificial being to Luke who is actually trying to rebuild the Jedi order because he is a man.

[@calontour]

@@MWBalls Correct

[@georgeh4171]

Sabine is essentially a Reddit Fan Fic character. Was she this bad in Rebels?

[@TheJadedJames]

I’m okay with her becoming a Jedi, but it is insane that like … all of The Mandolorian happened and Sabine doesn’t even have a line of dialogue reacting to it

[@MWBalls]

@@TheJadedJames She should be emotionally broken. Millions of her people, and her entire clan was wiped out as a direct result of her efforts to get mandolor to rise up against the empire, which included giving the Darksaber to Bo-katan. By tradition Sabine was the legitimate owner of the Darksaber at the time.

[@kids.cats.crazy.]

Maybe I missed others but finally a reference to RLM. 😂 My two favorite content creators when it comes to humorous and on-the-nose reviews. Thank you for being you, Drinker.

[@anonymous-hz2un]

The drinker's not that funny, tho. The guy can't stay put for 5 minutes without bitching about *THE MESSAGE*

[@ajf5823]

I’ve read all the Thrawn books and loved how he was portrayed in Rebels. Here he’s just a bloodthirsty villain without personality, just like everyone else. It’s so sad to think of what this show could’ve been.

[@Jaedeok82]

There was a lot to be upset about here, but the biggest one for me was the emotional dishonesty. Moments that should've been devastating or powerful were glossed over. Sabine and Ezra meeting again should've been tonally very very different. Ahsoka seeing Sabine again after she gave the map to the villians and got captured and taken to another galaxy? Another emotionally charged moment, wasted. Thrawn escaped and they're stuck in this galaxy? Knowing nod, and a pat on the back. Music swells like everything's great. Job well done. What the hell was that? This is literally the worst thing that can happen.

[@mishynaofficial]

“Well, they’re all back together. I hope I survive long enough to see the outcome” was the only joke I laughed at. Isn’t that ironic that a droid got more personality than every other character combined?

[@347Jimmy]

The show had enough time for Ezra to pull his stupid dramatics stepping out of the ship and waiting to take the helmet off, but then skipped showing us whether Hera gave him a hug or a handshake after ten years

[@SodoMojo22]

This is one of the key disconnects for me. While I enjoyed the show in a lot of aspects this indifference, denial, shrug off, whatever you want to call it - took the human out of it. Made the gravity of situations feel non important.

[@Imikeh]

As an actual fan of Rebels, my main issue with this show - among a miriad others - is that Ahsoka, Sabine, and Hera don't feel like themselves. Instead of the energetic and caring women that they were they are now all just stoic pieces of wood that mostly care about their own goals.

[@OneRedKraken]

It's like they can't help themselves. And I can't even come up with a sane reason as to why they would see this as a good thing? Let's make all our female characters into uncaring bricks that ultimately only care about themselves. The audience will find it so relatable!

[@alexanderzack3720]

not like disney has been butchering established characters since they got their hands on the franchise. look at what they did with han, luke, leia they feel more like an inverse carricature of themselves. like their characteristics were flipped on the head and dialed up to 11

[@KondorDCS]

Back in the last episode of rebels, even on CGI Sabine you could see how much she regretted not even kissing Ezra before he "hyperwhaled" into the unknown and now when their IRL characters 'reunite' it's like 'hey, nice to see you again, bestie friend, forever in the friendzone!' Sheesh, me and my best friend greet each other with more love than this and we are not gay.

[@GhostLink92]

At least Ezra was left intact. The actor nailed it, and I can't wait to see him come back.

[@jakemerchant950]

A decade is a helluva drug.

[@danielvezina5521]

The first problem is not even writing, It's the casting of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka, I don't think I have ever saw a biggest miscast as that. She never did action, but....

[@stephenbaluran3298]

Ugh, Thrawn. When Timothy Zahn introduced him as a villain (in a novel too, no less), he made you wonder if the Rebel Alliance would've stood a chance had he been in charge of things. He commanded sitting down from a ship bridge full of artwork, never raised his voice, yet he didn't need to execute senior officers to be as menacing as Vader. And then Filoni appropriated Thrawn into his version of Star Wars by neutering him. As for the lightsaber fights being slow, it's worth pointing out that lightsabers are incredibly lightweight because all the weight is in the hilt. That's why Anakin and Obi-Wan twirling their sabers around made sense, overdone as the choreography may have been. It's also why lightsaber fights should never be slow. Ahsoka looked like she was swinging a club at times.

[@achaudhari101]

Or Zahn has liked what Filoni has done. Are you saying Zahn is a traitor for liking what Filoni’s doing despite it not being done yet?

[@smellygreenpants]

If there is one person I feel bad for in all this, it's Timothy Zahn, the original creator of the Thrawn character in Star Wars from back before Disney. He then returned to write more on this character after Disney bought the franchise and rebooted the universe, but had to hamstring him to comply with the stories of less competent writers. And now Thrawn is in live action, completely outside of the hands of his original creator, and look how they massacred him.

[@My_trashtalking_account]

Look how they massacred his boy...

[@SardonicJosh]

Zahn has a history of being screwed over with star wars. He wasn't even informed when LFL decided to kill off Mara Jade and he had already been hired to write a Skywalker Family road trip storyline by that point.

[@namelessjedi2242]

Zahn is a science-fiction writer and his specialty is military sci-fi, so of course his Star Wars villain was a tactical genius and competently written as such. Nobody but him should be writing Thrawn. If you make Thrawn just another imperial officer it doesn’t matter anymore.

[@calebleach7988]

and somehow, SOMEHOW, he STILL managed to write some incredible canon star wars books.

[@demo3456]

A fucking MEN. They literally had ready made awesome with those books.. The tech finally caught up to do them too. It's a lesson to learn. We mean nothing to the elite.

[@CoryTheRaven]

I remember how everyone was all losing their shit about how great Filoni was and how the keys to the kingdom should be passed over to him, while I was nonplussed with how Mandalorian S2 shat the bed by being a bunch of backdoor pilots and throwbacks to Filoni cartoons instead of actually focusing on the characters of Mando and Baby Yoda that I actually cared about. Now after Book of Boba Fett, Mando S3, and Ashoka, I'm glad everyone else has finally caught up.

[@kaleiohulee6693]

I'm sure Filoni is a nice guy, but I've always hated his work with the SW franchise. It's like he took all the worst aspects of Lucas and made them his own.

[@stevanvasiljevic6072]

Good points. I also failed to see why Filoni was so much praised after Mandalorian S2. That season was quite a disappointment for me, more like a cameo fest. I was losing interest until the well crafted appearance of Luke Skywalker managed to save the show. Luke's appearance was akin to the basketball team losing the whole game but managing to snatch a victory by the heroic buzzer beater. But that trick can work only once. Other live shows were all subpar, but no redeeming moments like that to save them.

[@TheFirstCurse1]

I just love how Dave Filoni made one of the best Star Wars characters with Ahsoka, and then ruined her by creating the "wOrLd BeTwEeN wOrLdS" and robbing her of her perfect death via literal plot armor, and then pointlessly bringing her back in Clone Wars season 7 (which ruined it), and then she's in Tales Of The Jedi (which ruined it), and now she has her own show (where she's downright atrocious and AGAIN was supposed to die but was saved via total bullshit). If he let her die do Vader that one episode she would have been perfectly done. But no. And don't even get me started on Sabine's dumbass...

[@TheD1rtyRider]

I am enjoying the series somewhat, but the bad writing makes for a lot of cringeworthy moments. And Sabine is just so unlikable its ridiculous. Honestly, this show could have been really good if it was approached more seriously from a writing perspective.