#don't try to be andor when then best you can be is clone wars season 1

[meandmyechoes]

as much as i’m annoyed with this week’s mando episode (and the last, and the one before that), i’m repeating to myself that i should take my own advice and see how the excessive quests pay off later. Buying R5 led to the Covert moving to Nevarro and fighting a torture droid gave Din an excuse to give up the darksaber. Maybe Bo and Din working so well together this time would lead to them co-Mand’aloring. Maybe the nonsense will pay off, yet why am i so impatient unlike with Andor?

It’s not just about the lack of a three-act structure, or even an overall ending in sight. Was there enough production details to glue me to that screen? passionate acting or speeches that reign free in my mind?

With every andor arc there end goal is established first and foremost. Season 2′s finale set up two main ones: 1. Grogu 2. Darksaber. The first one is resolved way too quickly and the second one, after so many convolutions, is sent off with three sentences. With the sacrifice of his helmeted identity, in exchange if unwillingly, is the authority to lead all Mandalorians. I think season three is a good time for a show to diver deeper into its protagoinst, maybe give them an existential crisis. I expected the season to explore the different Mandalorian factions and gave a resolution to it, as a backdrop to Din’s personal debate on faith - and maybe even stay focused on it. Have a few debates and politics about neutraility or militarism. Maybe even farm a little if there’s only orcs and mythical fish left on that planet now! Andor-level environmental storytelling might’ve been what a season focused on the Mandalorian system needs.

It’s definitely NOT as if EVERY Star Wars show needs to be Andor - one would argue that’s why S3E3 felt out of place. This season can’t seem to grasp its genre. It was an episodic adventure with a clan of two and that’s what people expect when you return them to status quo prematurely.

#don't try to be andor when then best you can be is clone wars season 1 #the mandalorian #mando spoilers #sw #it's past 12 so i'm going to sleep bye #sw negativity #(granted there's so. much.to look at this episode but a lot more often i'm unhealthily trying to spot how fake the set is #trying to spot the CG #the opening scene had me brows knit and question mark for a bit and mostly i can't wrap my head around those MOVING tentacles #'wow look they do have the physics and cg to make some noodle-like organ flexible' #i think so far their aliens are quite... good? the fully suited ones - with professionals in body language portraying them are but #this quarren captain is just the stuff of nightmare

[staringdownabarrel]

Alright, so I just saw Ahsoka. Like, all of it; I've seen the entire season in more or less one sitting. (Yes, I'm aware this means I desperately need to get a life. No, I'm not going to.) Here's my impression of it.

I don't think the fight scenes were quite as good as the ones in Obi-Wan Kenobi. I think Obi-Wan did a better job at integrating the use of the force as part of a lightsaber martial arts style. I think it also did a better job at tying the fight scenes into the character development. Like, early on, Obi-Wan got worn out easily because he'd largely turned his back on his Jedi ways for so long, but as the series progressed, he did better as his muscle memory increasingly kicked in.

This is unfortunate because Ahsoka had a really good opportunity to go further with this. They had a few different Jedi at a few different levels of experience and training, and they also had a couple of other factions that hadn't been introduced in a live action Star War before. (I haven't seen Andor so don't @ me if I'm wrong on this point. Or do, I guess.) This would have allowed them to not only integrate the force as part of a lightsaber martial arts style in the same way that Obi-Wan Kenobi had, but also show the difference between the approaches between the Jedi, unaffiliated force users who'd still been part of the Jedi at some point, and those with a completely different force tradition had towards integrating the force and their lightsaber martial arts styles.

The other thing I feel like was a missed opportunity in this season was Shin Hati. When she first came on screen in the first episode, my first thought was, "Oh shit, she looks really cool. I hope she has a good character arc." Then she just...didn't. There were definitely hints of one and I think they're trying to set some stuff up for the next season for her to do, but here in this season, she just didn't get as much to do as I was hoping.

This is in direct contrast to Obi-Wan Kenobi, where Reva did get a pretty good character arc over the course of the show. I found her compelling enough that I straight up consider her to be one of the best characters Star Wars has ever had.

This is more of a neutral point, but I've heard a few people say that you need to have seen The Clone Wars to really get this show. That wasn't really my experience. There's enough context clues in the show itself that you get the sense of what the broad strokes of what everyone's relationship to everyone else was like.

I thought it was kinda cool that Shin Hati and Baylan Skoll had reddish orange lightsabers instead of the traditional red that most villains had. I know there's a lot of stuff in the extended canon about different lightsaber colours indicating this or that connection to the Force, but I haven't really interacted with that as much.

The actual cool thing I thought was that they finally left the galaxy for this show. I think this largely makes sense, given the live action sections of the franchise have largely focused on the Jedi and the Sith being in the death throes of their forever war, so they had to bring in some new threats from somewhere at some point. Plus, there's only so many times they can press the "...and now our society is at war with itself again" button before it feels like they have no other ideas.

#star wars #ahsoka #rant