SPOILER Ahsoka - Part 3, Time to Fly

Is ok. They all seem to have to think for 30 seconds before speaking their next line.

 

I have a lot of thoughts on this episode.

First thoughts - the pacing of the dialogue is really off here compared to the previous episodes. (In that it actually bothered me this time rather than sounding like weighing each word.) It mostly occurred when characters would say something and then another shot would occur where they'd walk into frame or the scene, like Hera during the meeting and Morgan during the dogfight. Instead of having them speak and having a voice-over that cuts into them talking as they enter the frame, they just...start talking after they enter it. In other words, they speak about a half-second or so behind where I think they should.

The dogfight isn't the best either. It's not bad, and it looks great, but there's no emotion. It's not tense, like the space battles in ESB, TLJ, R1 or ROTJ. It's not a Cat-and-Mouse fight like in AOTC. It's not exciting like in TFA, ANH, ROTS, or even The Mandalorian. It just...is. This is something that Filoni (or rather, episode director Steph Green) may need to study and improve on, because this just didn't do it for me as well as it could have.

The training scenes were interesting and really worked with Star Wars. The dog-fight outside of the ship was...a thing. Definitely Filoni, that's for sure! (If you doubt that, go back to Rebels Season 3 or 4.)

I feel like we've both settled and not settled the debate on Sabine's Force Sensitivity. As the SWNN post earlier today and several of our members have speculated, the answer to Sabine's Force Sensitivity is more of a "not yet" than a straight yes or no. (One could say that it's functionally a no while theoretically and probably ultimately a yes, too.)
But it's good to see the discussion in the story all the same.

Finally, SPACE WHALES!! (Oh, I'm sorry, "Star Whales.")

Overall, this episode had nearly all of the makings of Star Wars - Lightsabers, Western and Samurai homages and evocations, talks about the Force, space battles and weird space monsters, and some fun political shenanigans - but it didn't come together quite as nicely as I'd prefer. The pacing was good, but there wasn't any tension. Still, it was a good episode and I'm really enjoying Filoni's dedication to taking his time on quiet scenes. Ahsoka and Sabine turning on the ship again, just a quiet moment like that, isn't something we've seen in a long time it feels, at least to me. 7.5 or so out of 10. (With a chance of turning to an 8/10 on rewatches.)

 

Short but I overall liked it

 

Once again, I'm loving the ominous buildup the series has had. There's a very genuine unease surrounding Thrawn and his potential to unite what remains of the Empire under his banner.

Also really enjoying the dynamic between Ahsoka, Huyang, and Sabine, especially in this episode where Ahsoka and Sabine are actually interacting more rather than constantly being at odds with each other. The master/apprentice dynamic is especially fun as Ahsoka is very clearly out of her element while attempting to teach, what is to her, a particularly difficult student. Anakin is probably having a good laugh at Ahsoka's expense right about now.

 

I hope everyone enjoys the episode, I think I’m gonna hold off until next week so I can binge 3 and 4 together. 32 minutes just isn’t gonna do it for me.

 

Oh, man. That was a good one too.

Starts slow. Yep, the dialogs again, like first 2 episodes, specially ones with Ahoska involved. Rosario I think tries too much to look patient and wise. People who didn't see I guess will see it now. There is also something in the editing I guess. But in general is not a bad thing, cause then the action scenes have more impact.

But after those interesting Jedi dialogs and training (so Filoni, like Rebels, I like his approach and reflections of the Force) boom!

What a dogfight! Really loved it. I needed a space battle. SW needs always a space battle. And this one was so refreshing, with those IIWW ships alike. Loved the incredible visuals, the ships, the music in there. As i said in episode 2, this show is really good in action. We need more.

Marrok helmet is so badass! Like a medieval great warrior or someting. oh jeez I love it.

The Republic started quite divisive and broken. The built of another order is there. Like the backstory here and there in this show while the center story moves forward.

And all surprises: purgils, hyperspace ring, galaxies. This goes to something different.

Last 20 minutes are pure gold. Really really loved that space fight.

I have already incredible shots in mind for screenshots. During the day I will post it.

Great episode despite the minor details at the begining. Episode 4 here we come!

 

Ahsoka ep. 3 – Time to Fly

Huyang is fab!

With such a major emphasis on Sabine’s Jedi training (echoing Luke in ANH, obviously), I think it is now becoming increasingly clear that she’s gonna be a proper Jedi character in the future. I mean, if they intended for her to fail and remain a drop-out Jedi, they wouldn’t have gone through all the training stuff. I’m very curious about where this is heading… Well, she’s not going to get killed up quickly, that’s for sure… but will she be one of the new generation of Jedi to join Luke’s (or even Rey’s) Jedi school? Hm…

Hera doesn’t take any crap; cool. Is she going to secede from the New Republic, at some point, I wonder? To go rogue and leave (or rather to Rebel against) the NewRep, and go on some damn-fool, idealistic crusade with the rest? I think that is very, very likely.

Also, Jacen

The first episodes echoed RotJ a LOT, while this one is a ANH refrain; interesting. Arriving in the Denab system is obviously a refrain to the MF arriving in the Alderaan system in ANH.

Morgan Elsbeth is one cool cat!

The constant bickering and competition between the bad guys is rather cool, and very lieutenants-of-the-tyrant-vying-for-position vibe.

Right, purgil migratory routs between galaxies; that’s cool.

This was a set-up episode, but it managed to tell a self-contained story nonetheless. I like it. The writing here is very on point, and I think Steph Green’s direction was more on point here than in the first one… or perhaps it was just that this one had fewer and shorter expository talky-talk scenes. All in all, I liked this episode a lot!


I still do not understand how and why the Shadow Council etc. are awaiting Thrawn's return. Has Elsbeth simply managed to sell them all on her being able to go to the other galaxy and pick him up? Is that it? Or has Thrawn somehow been in touch with someone? And why is Baylan so keen on finding Thrawn? Is he just hankering to be pseudo-Vader to Thrawn’s pseudo-Palpatine?


One thing’s for sure; next week, we’ll get the scene at the Stonehenge-astrolabe place where Baylan duels Ahsoka.

 

Part 3 screenshots. Even being shorter, that was a hard one. Supercool visuals. Great direction.

 

Awesome shots again

 

This was such a great episode. The pacing was terrific and it's kind of amazing how much they jammed into it. This is a perfect example of why episode length doesn't matter as long as you have good story content. It also makes rewatching it much easier. We've seen this time of dogfight stuff in Star Wars before, but they did a really good job of keeping this exciting. Ahsoka going outside the ship was cool. The little interactions between the characters was fantastic. It all worked. I can't wait for the next chapter.

 

I love the story, but I find the dialogue lacking for many of the reasons described above. There are scenes with Ahsoka where I legitimately thought I lost audio because it seemed like dead air. I'm trying to give the story more time to develop (not too unlike Andor) because the pacing seems slow at the moment. The visuals are great (star whales FTW!) but everything else needs to catch up.

 

Sabine said the thing!

Jacen's hair: I'm glad there is still a bit a green in there.

Music: so far has been freaking awesome.

Kaz's father was amongst the Senators.

 

Marrok's helmet appreciation post, and how the light plays with it giving different shots:

 

I'm loving this series so far. Sure, this was a short episode... but a good one, in my opinion.

Hera really came into form this episode, for me. Really felt more like the leader we knew from Rebels.

Sabine... there's no way that she's not Force sensitive by the end of this series, right? Why tease it with no payoff?

Ahsoka herself... needs something. It's her show, but so far I'm not sold on her character yet. I mean, obviously she's one of (if not the) most popular characters in all of the fandom, but if someone were to only watch this show, I'm not sure they'd feel the same way. She has the makings of a wise Jedi master, but some of her best traits have not yet surfaced. Ironically... whatever criticisms fans may have had of her in the original The Clone Wars movie, this Ahsoka is almost the polar opposite- too quiet, reserved, and humorless. I think some flashbacks or backstory for her could do wonders, hope they do that soon.

Plenty of other thoughts (this red-treed planet is beautiful, hope the next episode explored it more) but one thing that immediately comes to mind... I've only seen Resistance once, and idk if I ever even finished the second season... but was Kaz's dad always like that? Was he a bad guy in Resistance? Or is this just setting the stage for his own arc in that show (maybe he's initially reluctant to confront the First Order in that show, and this lays the groundwork for that)?

The sheer Medieval-ness of the helmet is so cool. Great design.

 

The episode left me wanting more, which was very good for me.

I especially enjoyed the Bokken saber training saber scene. Very samurai.

Yes, much better.

 

Marrok is badass. He's a mix GI Joe's Snake Eyes and a black medieval knight and talks like Noob Saibot from Mortal Kombat

 

Something about Marrock reminded me of this: