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#star wars rebels rewatch commentary
rughydrangea · 7 months
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I can't hold it in any longer. I'm so deeply confused by Ahsoka. I just really don't understand who this show is for. Is it for regular people who watch The Mandalorian but have never seen the animated shows? Then the fact that all the main characters have years of history that those people know nothing amount basically guarantees that they will not find any aspect of this story compelling. If you don't know who Ezra is, why would you care if he's saved or not? If you don't know anything about Hera and Sabine's relationship, would you be interested in Hera's continuing presence in this show? If you've never seen Thrawn, how could you think of him as a genuine threat that everyone should be worried about? And if your only exposure to Ahsoka is in the live-action shows, then I'm sorry, but why would you want to watch a show about that character, who is very cold and appears to have no real emotions or inner life and whom you have been given no reason to be invested in?
On the flip side, as someone who has seen Rebels and The Clone Wars, speaking for myself I can say that this show is giving me nothing I want because it's simultaneously dependent on the backstory of those shows but is trying to be accessible. Ahsoka has a long, complicated, very fraught history with the Jedi order--something you'd have no idea about from what this show is giving us (the opening crawl called her an ex-Jedi knight! which she isn't! what is going on!). The intense bonds of love and family that tie together the Ghost crew members are alluded to here, but the actors can't really sell them, through no fault of their own, but because those bonds were so thoroughly established by separate versions of the character. I miss the warm, deeply intimate, sometimes fractious relationship that Hera and Sabine had, a weird cross between mother/daughter and older sister/younger sister that was such a lovely part of Rebels and that isn't really being recreated here. Most of all, I think Filoni's desire to keep the animated references down to a minimum has, in these first three episodes, resulted in the erasure of my personal favorite Ghost crew member! And to me it makes no sense! Ahsoka was never the main Jedi in Sabine's life--Ezra and Kanan were. The people who first taught Sabine to use a light(dark)saber were Kanan and Ezra. We got a Jacen appearance this episode, and he even says that he wants to be a Jedi, but a casual viewer would have no idea that Hera's pained reaction to this is because his father was a Jedi! Star Wars is all about legacies and the pain they cause and the ways that stories repeat themselves and the groundwork for that is all here, but we can't tap into it because this show is being made for people who neither know nor care who these characters are and where they are coming from!
And then there's the one bit of backstory that we're missing that makes me feel like I'm losing my mind. Multiple times in each of the three episodes that have aired so far, I have found myself thinking back through Rebels--was there a scene were it was suggested that Sabine was force-sensitive? The answer, of course, is no. So, given Ahsoka's kind of traumatic history with the Jedi order, why would she see a young woman with no kind of force sensitivity and think, oh, yeah, she should be a padawan? I just don't buy it. Ahsoka's ties to her Jedi life weren't severed when she was expelled from the order, or when she declined to rejoin it, obviously; we saw in s7 as well as in Tales of the Jedi that a lot of her journey is about coming to understand the value of the Jedi and the role that they played in the galaxy and how that legacy lives in her. But her path was different. She's a product of the Jedi order, but she's not one of them. Why she would think the only way to help Sabine to develop is to force her into a mold that a) isn't right for her, and b) ultimately wasn't even right for Ahsoka herself just makes no sense to me. And because we have no access to that first, unsuccessful attempt to teach Sabine, we have no idea why any of this is going on or what anybody is hoping to get out of this arrangement.
I should be done, but if I'm griping, one more thing. In TCW, Ahsoka is an endlessly compelling character. We see her grow from cute little brat to a thoughtful, compassionate young woman of deep conviction and principle, always questioning the world around her, always grounded by deep relationships. Her appearances in Rebels feel like the natural maturation of that character--she's older, calmer, more sure of herself, her personality that before was so bubbly having subsided into deep, flowing waters. But she's still animated by curiosity, kindness, and a sense of justice. She's obviously changed from who she was as a child, but she's still Ahsoka.
I personally see no continuity between this character I love in her animated form and the live-action version. It's not really a performance problem, it's that this Ahsoka just doesn't feel like Ahsoka, because she's missing the quality that I most associate with her: warmth. Ahsoka cares. Everything she does is out of a desire to help people. No matter how much she went through, how much she was hurt, she always came back to that. And that's just gone here. Here, she doesn't seem to have any kind of a personality (bizarre, given that she's nominally the main character). What drives her, what she cares about, the importance of her relationships in her life... I just can't see any of it. And it bums me out, because I love Ahsoka, and I want to watch more stories about her, but I want them to actually be about her, not this imposter.
So, uh, in conclusion, I really wanted a Rebels sequel and I really wanted more Ahsoka but this show is, for me, the absolute worst fulfillment of those wishes. And I'm sad about it!
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tarisilmarwen · 8 months
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Rebels Rewatch: "The Last Battle"
Well TCW fans were happy lol.
It's weird to write these as someone who has very little emotional investment in TCW.
Okay, full disclaimer, I have seen quite a chunk of the show, the husband showed me several of the best arcs, I've seen scattered bits and pieces here and there so I know who a lot of the key players are, a lot of the important events and everything but... I dunno the whole Clone Wars era has just never been a big area of interest for me.
Happy for y'all tho?
Anyway.
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[Insert commentary about how this show has really gorgeous environments and y'all sleeping on this work and effort.]
Kanan lampshading the tendency for missions to go sideways ha ha.
Ooof this verbal stumble by Rex is painful, he doesn't know how to act in a scenario where a Jedi is not his commanding officer, ouch.
Oh wow, just like Ezra, Rex shields himself inside his helmet.
Ezra messing with the B1 head awww.
Side note: I LOVE how stocky the model for clones is in Rebels. TCW clones always felt too tall and thin to me, Rebels clones look way more like Temura Morrisan's actual physique.
Ezra accidentally being insensitive about the Clone Wars moment number 1.
Kanan's comment about "scars you can't see". Something the animated shows have always excelled at is showing the genuine aftereffects of PTSD.
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Ezra's been playing the Watson role for the past few episodes and it is adorable.
Rex's initial panic when he thinks he's back in the war. :(((
I understand that TCW fandom cried a lot about Rex calling Cody's name unconsciously here.
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*sobs* Ezra still looks so TINY compared to everyone else.
Kalani assumed the shutdown order was a Republic trick lol.
Lasats not being part of the Clone Wars is an interesting detail. Obviously, Doylistically speaking, they couldn't have been since they weren't created yet, but also I like the idea that Lasats were adamantly against participating in the conflict and the Separatists took one look at them and decided invading them anyway wasn't worth it.
Ezra maybe naively jumps into things feet first, to Rex and Kanan's consternation. They both already know that War Is Hell. But they also have the best chance of getting out of the situation if they relive their collective war experiences and face their past by fighting one last Clone Wars battle.
Oh hey! It's the shuttle they'd repurpose later as the Phantom II!
Hera and Sabine's small B-plot is very brief, but hilarious.
I think Pryce must have pulled a LOT of political favors in order to be granted occasional command of her own Star Destroyer. She's apparently allowed to lay a trap for the Spectres specifically and has the authority to deploy local Imperial outposts, too.
Not bad for a planetary governor. But then, Pryce was always ambitious beyond her station.
She attached herself to Thrawn primarily for the advancement opportunities, I think.
The sex was probably good too I mean what?
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The boys be looking good.
Lol Kanan can hear the cacophony of clanking droid footprints.
Poor Ezra is so lost with all these references.
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This is just a fun adventure for him, he doesn't have the frame of reference to know just how harrowing and dangerous this could be for the average Clone Wars Jedi commander and clone unit. So he doesn't know to keep tighter formation and wants to keep charging ahead instead of waiting to assess.
Rex casually calling his training and conditioning and genetic modulation his "programming", directly comparing himself to the droids. Ow. Ow ow ow ow. Hurting in "Central thesis of TCW, that the clones are not just identical mindless meat droids but individual and free-thinking men" feelings.
Kalani and Zeb's exchange here is hilarious.
Chopper jumpscaring Ezra lol.
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Just wholecloth grabs his wrist like an excited kid trying to show their parent something.
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He's come so far, I'm so proud. All he needs is the slightest gesture.
OH HEY IT'S MY FAVORITE SCENE.
Rex is... I think a little rattled by getting hit. Sure, the armor protected him, but you know it can't have been fun and he probably thought for a moment he had gone down for real. So yeah, Ezra's innocently flippant attitude about things upsets him.
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"A good soldier follows orders!" Ouch. Ow ow ow ow that phrase, Rex, please.
You know it's something that's gotta echo inside his head constantly, his programming won't let him forget it.
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Eternally a fan of the kicked-puppy flinch Ezra gives here.
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Kanan immediately reassuring Ezra that it's not him. <3
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The beginnings of a realization.
I slowed this sequence way down to check where Ezra got hit (for... reasons) and from what I can tell, it looks like Ezra didn't quite manage to block a shot and some of it fritzed past his blade and hit his right collar, right where his armor is.
Rex gets dinged in the helmet moments later, but as he said, "Gen 1 armor always holds up." Once again, Rebels showing off the importance of good armor. :)
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<333333
The group get up to the command center and Ezra starts to live up to his name as "bridger" between disparate groups, first pointing out that by all rights the droids should have won their skirmish, they were just too old to actually function correctly. Kalani agrees and claims victory, but Ezra also pushes against that, pointing out that none of them actually won the Clone Wars. It just... ended.
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The more techie side of Star Wars YouTube have analyzed both sides and concluded that, absent the obvious direction and self-sabotage by Palpatine, the Separatists would have eventually won the Clone Wars. But of course the sabotage and playing both sides was the point. No one was supposed to win the Clone Wars because it wasn't a real war, it wasn't naturally occurring or organic, it was a massive artificial power play by Palpatine, who instigated, incited, prolonged, and manipulated things so that whichever side "won", he would come out on top as the victor standing on the corpses of the Jedi.
Palpatine set both sides up to fail.
This is something Star Wars fandom repeatedly fails to understand, there was no winning in this whole situation. The trap was too carefully set, nothing the Jedi or the Senate or the Separatists did could have prevented the war from happening and nothing they did could have stopped its ultimate endgoal, which was the destruction of the Jedi Order and the consolidation of power under Palpatine as sole ruler of the galaxy. That's the whole tragedy, that they tried so hard, got so close, but ultimately could not prevent that awful fate from happening.
Barring Anakin sitting his ass down for just five more minutes or slashing through the correct party in Palpatine's office, there was no narrative escape. The choices were damned if you do, damned if you don't, and either way you're ending up dead.
Anyway, Ezra's armor-piercing questions absolutely stun Rex and Kalani into silence for a moment before Zeb points out the Empire won. Because they decided to conveniently show up just in time for a good Enemy Mine situation lol.
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Kalani resists the logic at first since he's not at war with the Empire but the Stormtroopers casually destroying his scout unit probably helped change his mind lol.
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Ezra Persuasion Checks both Kalani and Rex into accepting the team-up, like the budding little diplomat he is. :)
"Well this takes trust to a whole new level." Lol.
Nice to see the B1s retaining their status as hilariously abused butt monkeys.
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Rex praising Ezra for "ending the Clone Wars" ahhhhh.
Sabine's eyes lighting up when she sees the shuttle they're bringing awww.
And TCW-inspired credits as a nice little homage.
Predictably this is one of the husband's favorite episodes. It's a fun little romp, pays some love to TCW and develops Ezra's character a bit. It doesn't really affect the larger story outside of that so I guess it could be called filler, but it's a fun filler.
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daisychainsandbowties · 7 months
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hi! ik you’re probably busy and stuff so don’t sweat it if you can’t answer, but i recently read your star wars warrior nun au, and i absolutely loved it. i haven’t watched the movies and stuff in a suuuuuper long time, and your fic really brought that love back, and i was wondering if you would be able to tell me what order i should watch things or which books to read and stuff? again, dw if you can’t respond!
oh! i can absolutely do that. keep in mind that this is going to be my own personal watch order based on how canon works best and resonates thematically for me 🥰 i’ll just make a list i think.
you will notice that i’m not going to say that you should watch things in order. frankly, i don’t think that’s the best star wars experience, but! there should be loads of articles online detailing how to watch chronologically if you decide to do that.
anyway, here we go!
1. the original three! that’s A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. i really truly think that this is the best starting point even on rewatch. just… something about having this as the centrepiece works so well. everything else orbits it and contextualises (and recontextualises) it.
2. the prequels, starting with The Phantom Menace. the prequels are a tragedy 🙂 yes, a very fun tragedy with my best boy obi-wan at centre stage, but it works because you’ve seen the original trilogy and you know what’s going to happen but you’re transfixed by it anyway, by the fire as it eats at the fabric of the story.
3. at this point, you can watch The Clone Wars (the animated move & series) if that’s your jam. i haven’t seen those but i’ve heard incredible things about them. (if anyone wants to chime in on where they think TCW fits in here, that’d be appreciated!)
HOWEVER where i tend to go next is the Kenobi series! it’s perfectly poised between the prequels and the originals. plus i really loved it 😌
4. then Andor. good god. it’s a masterpiece. there’s a second season coming, but it flows beautifully into
5. rogue one. my personal favourite star wars movie. it’s just… stunning, beautiful, tragic. in the timeline it fits between Andor and A New Hope.
6. i really recommend either playing or (if that’s not your thing) watching a youtube playthrough (i recommend no commentary, but that’s up to you) of Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor. my fic is based on these games, but very, very loosely; you won’t be spoiled for Luminous Beings by watching this. there’s a great book set between the two games called Battle Scars. it’s a lot of fun.
7. then the Rebels tv show followed by the new show, Ahsoka!! Rebels is wonderful (i am only halfway through) and i’m gleefully intrigued by what i’m seeing of the Ahsoka show so far. i definitely would recommend also watching The Clone Wars before this, because it sets up Ahsoka’s character!
8. the mandilorian is really good! it’s set after the originals but before the… sequels. might as well address those 😔
8. the sequels - starting with The Force Awakens (a Good movie, actually) - are… complicated to me. i loved the promise of the first one but the others REALLY let me down. the last two are decent action movies with some good characters (finn’s plotline in the second movie is genuinely really good, just too sidelined for my liking. they could have done so much more). basically, you can watch them, and i think you SHOULD watch The Force Awakens, but as star wars movies the last two i… really don’t like.
(there’s a ton of canon games and books and tv shows i’m forgetting after this, but i’d say for me personally this is the structure and the star wars stuff that i really like to revisit over and over. Knights of the Old Republic is an amazing, if old, video game set waaaaay back before the prequels. it’s great if you like viddy games)
i appreciate the faith in my opinion 🥰 and the love for Luminous Beings. i hope this is helpful!
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gettiregretti · 1 year
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Tagged by @never-ending-fanfic
8 shows I love to get to know me.
I don’t watch a lot in ways that I connect with personally. So I thought I’d just mostly go through like, things I think are really good to rewatch, some of which I have absorbed into my personality forever
1. Evangelion (nominated for the animation alone. Commentary on a lot of things in anime at the time and then became a product of a lot of those things later Oof. Aesthetic af)
2. Avatar The Last Airbender (solid storytelling)
3. Community (funny sometimes poignant)
4. Fullmetal Alchemist 03 (don’t @ me it stands alone from the manga and Bhood. It created something even better)
5. What We Do in the Shadows (a good and fun time)
6. Empresses in the Palace (classy trash. Not necessarily good but I love it)
7. Mum (amazing TV. Truly)
8. To no-one’s shock - Star Wars Rebels / Clone Wars (look I’m lumping them all into the same star war. They’re fun! They’re emotive! They expand a world into something believable and deep. Andor gets special extra mention because I believe it really elevates the franchise)
Honourable mention: Ice Fantasy for being pure chaos
Tagging some folks but I often don’t do tagged stuff so I won’t be offended if you don’t feel like it
@sassyimperium @tierfal @mistr3ssquickly @astralalmighty @ship-from-shipping-and-receiving anyone who’d like to
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vaguely-concerned · 3 years
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The Mandalorian Chapter 11 reactions; the ‘the sea is a harsh mistress’ edition
- on first watch this wasn’t really one of my favorite episodes. I think it’s something to do with... one of the many things I love about the mandalorian is how it made the star wars universe feel HUGE. big and surprising and unknowable, there could be fucking anything out there man we don’t know. so having first bo katan show up and then ahsoka being set up right after (quite aside from who’s rumoured to play her, which is an entirely different can of wormy beans) in additon to opening the season on tatooine... eh. I’m not that into it, it feels like shrinking the world. we haven’t even gotten to see any other type of force user yet. it is only early/mid season tho so they’re probably going to pull some unexpected twists on us 
my opinion might change with rewatches too, that happens quite a bit with this show!
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🎶I’VE COME TO TALK WITH YOU AGAIN🎶
honestly I had kind of a hard day yesterday and watched this the next morning and kept pointing tiredly to the crest like ‘it me tho’ 
- I was unreasonably happy about seeing the calamari flan again hahaha he’s been keeping that shit in his pockets for a season and a half now (didn’t he pay with some at one other point too?)! also the sound effects for them are SO EXCELLENT, I keep thinking about how well this show does texture which is wild considering how it’s filmed 
- the warm pat din gave frog lady’s arm when he thanked her and said goodbye 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I love the small ways he’s thawing 
-
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my heart ached so much for him at this point, he just looks so small and tense and lost, like a kid who’s lost his parents in a supermarket
(he keeps his hand on the blaster the whole time too so he knows this is a bad scene but now they’re right out in the middle of the ocean already soooo) 
- din’s very very very dry sense of humour is so blessed. ‘a bowl of chowder for my friend’ faklhfsadkjlfhsadkjhfsd
the baby’s look when he poked the squid thing with his knife too -- yodito’s like ‘dad is a wizard??’ haha. some good baby & dad stuff in this one 
- oh din... side quest boy, side quest booooooyyy
- the shot when bo katan helped him out of the water is perfectly mirroring the scene of bb!din being pulled up to safety by the mandalorian in the flashback, which seems Very Intentional
I Extremely Do Not Trust Her in the larger scale tho. I think it’s important that din knows now that he was raised in a very specific offshoot of the mandalorians ant that there’s some Stuff he hasn’t been told, but I also think it’s crucial to remember that her pov is not unbiased either and she, in fact, already has an established tendency to selectively share information with him to manipulate him into fulfilling her goals. (which he realizes because he keeps saying ‘that is not my mission, my mission is the child’ and I could not love him more). hell, I’m not sure exactly how ‘the children of the watch’ were positioned within death watch, but she was fucking death watch too for the longest time! and she hardly left for particularly noble reasons, she just didn’t like maul! she already lost mandalore like twice, do we just have to trust that third time’s the charm or what! 
she lied to him about the scope of the mission to force him into a position to do what she wanted (fully knowing he’s responsible for a child!!) and she called that ‘the way’ just as easily as the thing about not letting his bravery be forgotten! big red warning lights, NO! I think the thing is that din is having to find his own ‘way’ of being mandalorian (/how does one be a person exactly help?? relatable content, and he’ll get there in the end I’m sure he’s so good), but her way is no less fucked up to me than the children of the watch from what we’ve seen so far. she’s good at killing imperials though which is of course a mark in her favour
(considering that the episode gives her the epithet ‘the heiress’... yeah that’s probably a hint that she’s loyal first and foremost to her entitlement, getting the position she considers hers by right of inheritance. guess we’ll see if the text agrees with her)  
- ‘mandalorians are stronger together’ yeah that’s probably why the cosmic balance makes sure they’re mostly engaged in being at each other’s throats lol 
- so I might be feeling kind of sketch about these guys but on the other hand... when that one lady saved the baby and then promptly took off her helmet to reveal she looks like t h i s ?
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you better BELIEVE I was ready to fall down on one knee and propose right then and there holy shit
- ...wow if he didn’t have the jet pack din probably would have just sunk like a rock and drowned there huh 😨 that armour’s pretty heavy, turns out
- in happier news: din has become so good at reading what the child is expressing and responding/labeling the feeling for him! that’s so important to his development! ‘I know you’re hungry’ and both telling and showing him there’s a solution! still a bit of an issue that he thinks he can inform the baby of things like it’s a reasoned adult and have it understand, but we’re getting there we’re getting there lol
- that poor lady guiding them in for landing and sounding more and more worried fhkasjdlhfkjsdlahf (and he fucking TURNS OFF THE RADIO or whatever he’s using to talk to her through sdkfhaksdfhjs he takes a precious split second just to cut her off asfdjhaslkdfsdfhsda I love my salty dad) 
- when the fisherman asshole tells mando he knows where to find more of his people there’s the tinkling bell sound in the background music, I think it’s meant to convey almost childlike longing for belonging and connection, for finding someone who’ll know what to do? 
- when they took off their helmets and baby looked up at din like ‘???dad what the fuck? can you do that???’. (or like he just sensed his father taking a shitload of psychic damage all in one go)
- the way din didn’t start breathing again until they got the baby up from the water and he had him in his arms... the way he held him... sladfhasdklfhsjakdhfjsakldhfsakjldhfsjkadhfjaskdhfskajdhfjsdakhfslakhfskladhfsakljdhfjskadlhfkjsld
that whole scene was like a nightmare, so desperately unpleasant, in a way it mirrors the way the mandalorians have been hunted down and pummeled these last few generations, this must sort of be what it feels like to him subconsciously 
- din isn’t particularly inflexible as a person, after the initial kneejerk rejection he did listen to what they said and is carefully considering it (he did say ‘this is the way’ back at the end!)   
- the baby’s babbling when he wakes up and looks around in the beginning sounds half like ‘baba?’ and I almost had a heart attack
- loved how greasy and awful and dumb all the empire dudes were (and the comedy on board the ship too it was good for me) 
- the boob plates huh. shit they’ve shown with the armorer that they don’t have to do that in any way shape or form and they still brought the boob plates back :/ I guess it’s so they match up with the rebels/clone wars look, evoking that ~*era*~ and everything, but I don’t have to like it lol  
- I feel so validated in my theory that the razor crest is symbolic of din’s sense of self  (now with beautifully added commentary!) after this haha (and also so so scared now they might be ditching it for a new ship eventually). it’s in pieces, his world view is going to pieces and can’t be patched together the way it was before, from what he knows he’s about to deliver the baby to someone else who’ll understand/love/deserve him better (I do think that feeling is still in him) and he doesn’t even have the certainty of the code anymore to fill the void. oh buddy. 
the discomfort I felt when we got back into the cockpit -- into where it’s supposed to be familiar and safe! -- and saw all the ocean junk lying around, making it feel weird and changed and dirty (it probably smells like rotten seaweed in there now :( no likey)... I mean it was also very funny to see the pilot’s chair held together with a literal fishing net, but please favreau leave my dad’s car/ego alooooone 
- baby laughing his little bum off at din catching the small sea monster before it got him and then munching it......... the ‘there’s nothing in this world my dad can’t fix’ safe energy.......... I’m so scared we’re coming up on something din can’t fix 
- knitwear in star wars: I didn’t know I wanted it, but I am ELATED with having been given it
- moff gideon’s amazing evil voice... back in our ears, in our hearts, I gleefully hate him 
- at least din’s armour is clean again after that (awful) swim? one must appreciate some silver linings along the way I suppose
- din goes straight for the main pilot’s seat once they get the imperial out of it, so he must feel really secure that he’s probably the best man for the job; he is genuinely a good pilot! (and after this I am wondering even MORE who taught him. who raised you within the mandos din??)
- even while everything is new and scary and falling apart we can live safe in the knowledge that at least frog lady and frog husband had a good day and will have a good and happy frog life together with their frog children
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couple goals tbh 
(I don’t necessarily know how it works for frog people but I uh. guess they got busy quickly huh hahaha good thing mando didn’t turn up again until later)
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bedlamsbard · 3 years
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@comentter asked about the TCW series finale
Sorry if I don't remember, but did you ever talk about the last 2 episodes of TCW? I only remember the motion capture thing from the first 2 of the arc. I was annoyed at the changes to the story they previously established in the novel and Rebels (which included Rex and Ahsoka splitting up) and for some reason I can't figure out, it didn't feel like a real ending to me...
I don’t think I’ve talked about it past expressing my annoyance about using Sam Jackson!Mace and Hayden Christensen!Anakin during Ahsoka’s vision. (WHICH I AM VERY ANNOYED ABOUT.)
I don’t have particularly strong feelings about Shattered/Victory & Death -- I think they’re two of the better episodes of S7, but I think S7 is honestly the weakest of all TCW as far as theme and story arc go.  They are also, unfortunately, probably the most aggravating case in S7 of throwing out previously established canon from Johnston’s Ahsoka novel and from Rebels.  And like, there’s not really all that much to throw out! So you mostly have to work to do it!
(Under a cut because this got long and honestly I probably forgot stuff since I haven’t rewatched in a while.)
The big difference is, obviously, the change in location from Mandalore (I believe the novel either strongly implies or outright states it’s in the middle of the battle?) to the ship.  Putting aside Filoni’s comments from SWCE a few years ago about Ahsoka teaming up with giant wolves (I think it’s extremely likely that that was wistful thinking and concept art on his part, rather than George Lucas’s actual plan), the advantage of putting Order 66 on a star destroyer in hyperspace is that it’s about as confined a space as you can get with no escape.  And that works pretty well in the actual episodes -- it’s a nice callback to “Brain Invaders,” as well, though I’m not sure it was done deliberately.  It also limits the number of moving parts available, so rather than having to worry about Mandalorians on both sides (and civilians...would have liked to see those in the Siege eps...that’s a different rant), all that the audience has to worry about are Ahsoka (and Rex, later on), the clones, and the wild card, Maul. Which admittedly is done very well -- like, the way the clones turn on Ahsoka?  Terrifying!  I don’t think they really played into the claustrophobic atmosphere of being trapped on a ship in hyperspace with no way out enough; I actually do think Brain Invaders and A Test of Strength, and even the flashback scenes in Jedi Fallen Order, did it better.  (Not even ONE scene of crawling through the vents? are you even Star Wars?)  On the one hand, it’s been done before, do you really have to do it again?  On the other...y’all made the decision to do this.
I actually hate that Ahsoka has the ~vision of Anakin’s fall -- it’s very jarring, it makes no continuity sense (in all honesty, it’s the sort of thing I’d expect from the ST, so maybe in that context it does make continuity sense, lol), and I think to some extent that it weakens her later reaction to Vader/Anakin?  Also, as I’ve said before I’m very, very aural and pretty sensitive to character voices: the decision to use Jackson!Mace and Christensen!Anakin, even with Hayden transitioning into Matt Lanter, threw me out so badly that the scene lost all emotional impact.  This is a me problem.  Most people I know were just happy that Hayden was getting acknowledged.  Which is honestly not a great storytelling method, we want to tell the story and not acknowledge other actors. But again: this is a me problem.
I really do love the rising sense of tension from the beginning of the episode to the actual Order 66 moment.  It’s just genuinely terrifying, since the audience knows what’s coming all along.
Maul -- *flips hand*  I love Maul.  I think these two eps did a really good job at showing how terrifying Maul can be, even without a lightsaber -- especially without a lightsaber, rather.  I was a little hesitant initially about Maul being able to destroy the hyperdrive with the Force alone, but after thinking about it for a day or so (back when the ep aired, last May) I was fine with it.  I think Maul’s the one character for whom that kind of sheer power is believable, going back to his TCW debut -- if you ever look at spider-Maul closely (and Sam and Dave talk about this in the commentary to that arc), you’ll notice that some of the pieces of metal on his spider body aren’t actually attached, they’re hovering nearby; he’s holding his spider body together with the Force itself.
Rex. The other big departure from canon, because of his “we all had a choice / I didn’t betray my Jedi” comments in Rebels.  From a storytelling POV, this is the most dramatic possible route to go, and it makes sense that they did it.  I think it was either @alexkablob or @mylordshesacactus who said back when that it works well that Rex can’t shake off the command from the chip, that none of the clones are immune to it, because otherwise it looks like none of the other clones cared as much about their Jedi as Rex did about Ahsoka.  I do genuinely wonder if back in the original plan for the remaining two seasons of TCW, there was a scene where Rex had his chip removed, given that comment from Rebels. (And I’ve talked before about changes made from the ~original TCW scripts used for the Rebels backstory to the actual S7 and Mando, though admittedly in that context it was about Ahsoka.)  If originally the plan was for the Order 66 sequence to take place on Mandalore, then that suggests the unlikelihood (though not impossiblity) of Rex and Ahsoka removing his chip.  Given the arcs that we actually got in S7 there was no place to do it...I really do wonder what was in some of the scripts that have been talked about elsewhere but didn’t make the cut for S7.
(God, the one I actually really wanted was the Rex and Artoo’s Excellent Adventure one, I’ll be bitter about this forever.)
I assume Ahsoka and Rex split up afterwards -- the fake grave from Ahsoka was kind of weird to me, tbh, so I’m fine with them not going that way, but.  *shrug*  It is what it is.
The end is...fine. Like, emotional!  I had an emotion! They wanted me to have an emotion! My TCW and Ahsoka feelings have been broken for a while now so my emotions definitely were not what they would have been even two or three years ago.  (And I mean this by when the ep actually aired, not what my emotions are now; they haven’t really changed that much.  Well, my resentment grew, but it is what it is.)
I think...I just recently saw again the comment from Filoni about this, so it’s on my mind -- one of the major problems with S7 across the board, and honestly highlighted in the finale (which, again, is great), is that according to Filoni, TCW was always about Rex and Ahsoka, so S7 had to be about Rex, then about Ahsoka, then about Rex and Ahsoka, together.
TCW is not about Rex and Ahsoka.
That’s not to say that Rex and Ahsoka aren’t main characters, because manifestly they are, but the previous six seasons of TCW are not about Rex and Ahsoka.  At its core, TCW is about Anakin Skywalker, in the same way that the PT is about Anakin Skywalker (and the OT, to a different extent); TCW’s big strength compared to the films, however, has always been that it has the space to go beyond Anakin’s immediate story and deal with everything else going on in the galaxy, some of which overlaps with Anakin and some of which doesn’t.  The choice to make S7 three four-episode arcs has the side effect of narrowing the universe and limiting the stories told -- S6 is, I think, only one ep longer but feels like it’s a full season, because it’s a mixed bag of arcs of varying lengths, with a number of different foci.  Some of the claustrophobic feel of the focus on Rex and Ahsoka works for the finale because of the actual setting of the episodes, on the very claustrophobic ship, but on the other hand...thematically the whole season feels off because Filoni’s interests are very different from Lucas’s (and while we all love to give Filoni credit for everything in TCW, Lucas was showrunning it and all the really weird and controversial stuff in TCW, including Ahsoka, Satine, Mortis, and Maul, all came straight from George Lucas).  The finale feels aggressively narrow as a result -- which on the one hand, works, because yeah, it’s kind of neat and makes sense that Rex and Ahsoka don’t know anything else about what’s going on in the larger galaxy or if anyone else is alive.  On the other hand, it...doesn’t work.  (For me, obvs! Your mileage will vary!)
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gffa · 4 years
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Scattered Star Wars Thoughts: - I’m not sure how I feel about TCW being done.  I think I have less sadness about it because I came back to SW at a time where the first six seasons were already out and done, there was no hope for more, and then suddenly, wham!, there were more, in addition to something I’ve felt a lot when talking about The Rise of Skywalker and why it didn’t devastate me like it did so many others.  I mean, aside from that I liked it fine enough/didn’t hate it. There isn’t really any one SW Foundation for me anymore.  I don’t live and die by any one SW experience.  The PT movies are my heart and soul, my foundation, and they’ve been over for 15 years.  Anything else is gravy on top of that for me, so TCW has always been a supportive story to the PT movies for me.  Rebels was a supportive story to the PT/OT movies for me.  Hell, even the ST movies were a supportive story to the OT movies for me.  (Though, I think it’s fair that others consider them their SW Foundation, there’s a huge amount of people who built their SW fannishness on those movies specifically.) I also feel like, are we probably ever going to get more TCW animated episodes?  Ehhh, probably not.  But who knows.  We would have said the same exact thing before this season itself was announced.  So, part of me feels like the door isn’t really shut, the other part of me is ready to be hyped for whatever comes next because I’m always hyped for whatever comes next, and it’s not like I’ll never see these characters again.  There’s already an anthology book coming out for TCW, there’s a mini-series in the comics, there’s another Padme book coming, etc. I don’t begrudge anyone else for being sad, TCW meant a lot to a lot of people, it was their SW Foundation and they built their fannishness on it, and I wish you guys all the luck in not being too bummed out about it.  But my experiences are a little different and you know how I love to navel gaze on this stuff. - A few interesting bits from the Entertainment Tonight interview with Dave Filoni: - He mentioned that he had to go back and rewatch a lot of stuff from this era because the politics of the era had kind of slipped out of his head, which confirms something that I’d been feeling, that there feels like a very noticeable shift between this season and previous seasons.  I’m pretty okay with the content of the canon itself, I think it fits pretty well, but it’s interesting to note that I wasn’t just imagining things.  (I’m not saying he didn’t get back into that mindset, only that, as he says, things have shifted over time and I had a strong feeling that there was a lot of drift back and forth here.) - One thing I’ve always really liked about Dave is that he’s mentioned that he has reasons for doing things in the story, but he often doesn’t like to explain them, because he wants fans to be able to speculate on them, and he said a really nice thing--sometimes fans come up with interpretations or connections that are really amazing and even better than what he himself intended. As someone who has growing increasingly wary of across-the-board agreeing with word of god commentary (I love you guys, but it’s increasingly clear that, even with all his faults, no one is the next George Lucas), that was really nice to hear. Scattered Star Wars Thoughts/2020 Resolutions Update: - Star Wars: The Clone Wars s07e12 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars Cast Reunion Challenge - JAT Clone Wars chat Current total:  236/260 Scattered Everything Else Thoughts/ 2020 Resolutions Update: - For Life s01e01 Current total:  290/260 Star Wars Fic Recs 2020 Resolutions Update Current total written:  219/520
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canaryatlaw · 6 years
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okay, kind of late, but let’s get through this. good day! I woke up around 9 or so and again couldn't fall back asleep 🤷🏻‍♀️ so I roped my sister into going to get bagels with me. when we arrived at the store, the line was from the counter all the way back to the door, a good 20 feet or so. apparently a lot of people wanted bagels. but I waited, got a dozen bagels plus a prepared one for my brother, and two egg sandwiches for my sister and I, which of course ended up costing a lot of money but oh well. Came home and ate, then waited a little bit to let my stomach settle before getting on the treadmill. I had just reached the half hour mark when my brother came back from the airport with my cousins, so at that point I stopped and went to catch up with them and hang for a bit, which was nice. Around 3 I went to my friends house, and from there we went to the movie theatre to watch The Last Jedi, and oh boy do I have feelings!! First of all, I went into this movie with no expectations at all, because I’m not terribly invested in the Star Wars fandom, I don’t have any hardcore theories about who Rey’s parents are that I needed validated or anything like that. and from that point of view, I thought it was SUCH a good movie, ohmygoodness, like there were so many amazing parts and LEIA agh today being the one year anniversary of Carrie’s death and seeing her alive and on screen and being as beautiful and bad ass as ever......it was so sad but seeing her made me happy. I liked how much they used her daughter in the film as well, and I hope her character sticks around. but yeah, DUDE. I probably should've rewatched TFA prior to seeing this because I don't remember it all that much, but I followed it well enough. first of all, I’m completely disgusted by any Reylo shippers. I’m sorry but I just fucking hate Kylo Ren and that’s all I could think the entire time he was on screen. this murdering whiny pissbaby is supposed to get us to feel sorry for him because he’s so *conflicted* like give me a fucking break, he’s an entitled piece of shit and he needs to be taken down, and just like...I don’t understand how anyone can claim to like Rey and ship her with him. he’s fucking awful to her and using classic abuser manipulative tactics like “you're nothing, except to me” which is basically “nobody else will you, only I will” which is literally the hallmark statement of domestic abusers. so I obviously had a lot of feelings there. but there were just so many FUCK YEAH moments that I absolutely LOVED. When Leia used the force to straight up propel her through space and back onto the ship was so fucking badass, I loved every second of it, because fuck yeah she can use the force and be a fucking queen while doing it. the first scene with Rose’s sister being an absolute fucking BAMF and destroying that huge ship was absolutely fucking fantastic, I loved her so damn much even in just that one scene. and ROSE. my girl. I loved her so much. she was perfect and adorable and a fighter to the very end, just such a great character. I love Rey, like so much, but I felt like most of her stuff with Luke wasn’t as great as the other stuff with the rebels, but her coming in at the end to save their asses was fantastic. I have to say though, by far my favorite scene was when Rose and Finn (I’ll get to him, I fucking love Finn) are escaping from the super rich planet with the weird horse like creatures in the stalls, and the slave children are there. Now, I've seen some criticism that it’s totally bullshit that Finn would not show any reaction to the child slaves, and I completely agree with that and think it would’ve definitely made the scene even better. but like, the moment with the little boy in the cage, about to press the button to alert that something was wrong, but then he stops when he sees the symbol of the resistance, because somewhere inside him, this poor boy who’s been treated as a slave his whole life, who’s only ever known this existence, he sees the rebel symbol and he believes. He doesn’t know what’s out there, what’s going on in the space battles, all he knows is the here and now and the life he has, but he sees that one sign of hope that maybe, just maybe, something could change, there are people trying to help, and just for a moment, he has the power to make a difference in that. and this precious little boy who’s probably been trained to do what he’s told no matter what, who might face punishment for not doing so, he sees that symbol and he believes. he believes he can have a better life, and you can see his feeling of triumph as Finn and Rose escape, knowing that he played even a small part in that. I know I just totally overanalyzed a very small scene, but that’s honestly what I took from it, and I mean I love children, I love seeing them fight for what they think is right, no matter how big they are. and I loved the end scene of the little boy sweeping with the resistance symbol on his hand, because he knows, he knows the rebels are out there and they are going to come back and save him from the miserable life he’s only ever known, and that honestly spoke volumes to me. but, anyway. I LOVE ROSE. she was perfect and amazing. and FINN. oh, Finn. what a heart of gold he has. I loved how both Finn and Rey were constantly asking about each other and trying to figure out if the other was safe, and I mean, really how could anyone not ship them, especially over Kyfail Ren. I also of course loved Poe, and of course his interactions with Leia were great. Leia was EVERYTHING. my general. how can we proceed without you? I know they’ll find a way. but I love how cocky and brash Poe is, and how he’ll do whatever it takes to accomplish what he thinks is right. I just love that sense of justice so much. Anyway, I think that’s enough commentary. After the movie we decided to get dinner at the diner across the street. Diners are, for the most part, a new york phenomenon that are kind of hard to explain anywhere else, but basically they’re awesome and you can order literally anything you could possibly want (just don’t get their italian food, all of the Long Island diners are owned by Greek families and their italian food is not good). In true diner fashion, I ordered matzoh ball soup and a belgian waffle because I mean, that’s a classic diner meal. We ended up getting into a fairly intense but not at all heated (intense as in diving deep into the issues) conversation about different topics in America right now, such as gun control and health care, and some of the people with us were this couple from the UK that go to the church my friends go to, so it was super interesting to hear their perspective on these things, so we spent a while sitting there and just talking about that. Eventually we did leave and I drove home, my family was halfway participating in some sort of card based guessing game, which was mildly entertaining, but I mostly just chilled for the rest of the night before getting ready for bed. Tomorrow I get to see my baby nephew for the first time since he was like 2 weeks old and he just turned 5 months old today so I’m super excited to see that. my family is possibly gonna go to the city, so we may meet them there for dinner later, we’ll see. I’m tired now so I’m gonna go to bed. Goodnight loves. Be well.
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lisaroquin · 7 years
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watched bonus feature commentary of Rogue one, attempting to rewatch Rogue one (since is out and bought) and... trying to put my thoughts together on Jyn and make sense of the *no, just hell no* kneejerk reaction of that character. Jyn...
Star Wars females are too few on the big screen but they’re strong, make sense mostly (okay Padme/Anakin’s big fated love really does not work for me with how we meed them and Ani is *NINE* and then you have adult accomplished Padme with moody pissant bah) Other than her obsession with Anakin, Padme is strong, confindant,born and raised to be a leader and that’s what she is Anakin issues aside. Leia is raised to be the same, trained within an inch of her life from baby on to be a diplomat and rebel leader. Which she is, and later is a fantastic general. Rey is a lost little waif of a scavenger holding on to a hope of her family eventually returning for her, but she’s a survivor, and thats what she does, and she makes sense.
Jyn. hits every *no just hell no* button I have and I’m trying to pick apart coherent reason for that.
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tarisilmarwen · 10 months
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Rebels Rewatch: “Spark of Rebellion”
With the Ahsoka show coming up here in August, I have just enough time for a full refresher so, you know, I Might As Well.
This is going to be different from my normal liveblogs, obviously, less real-time reactions and more commentary and meta analysis, though you’ll probably still get some incoherent nerdery and feelings spew here and there.
All right, let’s get into it.
You know with the benefit of hindsight, Vader’s speech to the Grand Inquisitor here is actually a perfect encapsulation and summary of the premise of the show.
“Hey so the Jedi are dead and the Empire reigns but the Emperor is still worried about threats to his rule, so your job is to hunt down and kill anyone a little bit too Force Sensitive and also anyone Order 66 managed to miss.”
It’s an interesting choice of phrase too.
“The Children of the Force”
Emphasizes the villainy of our bad guys in that they’re hunting down literal children and also seems to suggest some kind of protectiveness from the Force here; these are its children, people born into its “family”, so to speak.
Anyway.
OKAY WAIT NO I NEED TO STOP BECAUSE I STILL CAN’T GET OVER HOW THIS SCENE IS PARALLELED IN THE FINALE.
SHOT FOR SHOT.  SHOT.  FOR.  SHOT.
The show opens with the “boy who was lost” and closes with the “girl who was broken”, Sabine’s move into more narrative prominence S3 onward was not a writing mistake, it was purposeful, it was deliberate, the show is their coming-of-age arc, they are co-protagonists, they are each other’s Most Important Person and have so much influence on each other’s character development and it’s reflected so perfectly in that seventy-something episodes later we’re going to see Sabine standing right here where Ezra’s standing now.
*sobs*
Okay I’m good.
Right here is also when we hear our first classic Star Wars leitmotif, as the Imperial March blares out with obnoxious brassy flair.
Followed almost immediately by the short excerpt of the Rebel Alliance theme that functions as our stinger.
(I’m going to be talking about the score A LOT this time around, better get used to it lol.)
Ugh, there was this one stupid post that was like, “What’s so bad about the Empire regulating commerce anyway?  Controlling food safety is a good thing!”  REGULATIONS ARE A TOOL OF THE STATE TO CONTROL ITS PEOPLE SHARON, you notice they harass this vendor specifically because he hasn’t asked permission from the oh-so-benevolent Empire to make a couple credits selling a single basket of fruit, as if that’s something the Empire needs to control, and when he dares to complain about it they immediately want to toss him in prison.  That’s the epitome of petty state authoritarianism.
This is also such a wonderful character establishing moment for Ezra, because as much as he says he’s only out for himself and doesn’t stick his neck out for people the very first thing we see him doing in the show is surreptitiously sticking up for this harassed vendor.
We learn three main things here: 1. He’s clever and agile, 2. He’s a street kid trying to survive, 3. He actually really does care about people.  All in less than a minute.  Very tight writing.
I love the sound effect they use to signify Force use.  It’s very pretty.
Aaaaand of course accompanying it, the quiet string prelude to the classic Force theme.  An immediate auditory clue cueing us into the fact that Ezra is also Force Sensitive.  So unconsciously, we’re already primed to expect that.
Snrk, I still love how casually Sabine tosses the grenade onto the speeder.
There’s a strechiness and elasticity to the character models here that I think they lose later, as the tone evens out into being more serious, but it’s very Disney-esque.
Actually hilarious and kind of fascinating that instead of stopping Ezra, Sabine lets him keep part of the shipment and have a fair shot at escaping.
She definitely sounds like she likes his gumption.
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If no supposed to ship, why let Tiya say the line so playfully here?
Zeb’s resigned thumbs up always cracks me up.
It bears repeating but the animation?  Very Disney-esque.  The whole way characters move, their design, how they emote and express.
I was always particularly impressed by the hair.
Look at it.
It’s always shifting softly around Ezra’s face and blowing in the wind and reacting to his movement shafkjghkajh.
SO much better than early Clone Wars.
No, shut up, go back and watch those awkward early episodes.
The faces don’t emote.
Kanan’s fond little smile. :)  He already loves that kid so much.
Again with the animation being very 2D Disney hand-drawn inspired in the way Kanan sloughs his shoulders here replying to Hera.
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Hgnnnglllll the little shine in Ezra’s irises shifts like it’s an anime sparkle, I love this animation I love it I love it your Clone Wars could never.
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If no supposed to ship, literally why have this moment with the classic Sees Her In Sparklevision trope?  (Okay so I added the actual sparkles but still.)
Seriously Filoni.  “I think there’s an automatic instinct to ship them.”  WELL WITH THIS COMING DAY ONE EPISODE ONE WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?!
Hi Kallus!
Right so after this sequence where Ezra feels inexplicably guilty for not doing more to help the people of Tarkintown despite him literally only finding out they existed two minutes ago there was pretty much no way I wasn’t going to love him.
I think my brain subconsciously recognized, “Oh, he has a Hero Complex.” annnnd yep, yep, that did it, he’s my son now.
Interestingly, this is also I believe the first time we hear Ezra’s leitmotif, which like Luke’s theme is primarily in brass but in a minor key, slower, more somber, more introspective, almost a thematic foil to the adventurous bold excitement of Luke’s theme.
Luke’s theme, AKA the Star Wars Main Title theme, by the way, is primarily used throughout Rebels to denote heroism.  Typically it comes in whenever we have a Gunship Rescue from the Ghost or some other kind of Big Damn Heroes moment.
Side note appreciating the animation again, the storyboarding and blocking is very cinematic.  The camera moves as it might on a modern Hollywood production instead of a weekly TV serial, which I think helps makes Rebels feel closer to the Original Trilogy.
And here the full Force theme breaks through. :)
Note: At this point, behind the scenes, Hera and Kanan have already discussed Ezra’s potential Force Sensitivity, and agreed to test him.  I am still sorely in need of fanfics that cover that conversation.  Just saying.
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AGAIN.  WRITERS.  YOU NEED TO BE A LITTLE MORE AWARE OF JUST HOW SHIPPY THINGS COME ACROSS BETWEEN EZRA AND SABINE THIS FIRST EPISODE.
Like, there’s a reason why this conversation and footage is used in a million Sabezra amvs.
Ezra rubbing his hand on his neck, Sabine’s soft looks of concern at him, how warmly she finally reciprocates on telling him her name...
(Also notice how Ezra, empath that he is, immediately cottons onto the fact that Sabine considers the Ghost crew her family and discerns that something or other happened to her bio family.)
Gremlin child Ezra. <3
I’m sorry, I just noticed this:
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What is that look, Sabine?  Lolol.
Hera going into Mom Mode immediately.  Her cheeky look back at Kanan, lol, she knows exactly what she’s doing.
Edgy TWC bros complained so much about the humor in early Season One and I say they have no taste, “rare hairless Wookie” is hilarious.
Part Twooooooooo!
For all his bluster and his devil may care facade, Ezra had that Jedi compassion and drive in him from the very start, I will hear NO slander otherwise.
Something in this escape sequence I absolutely love?  Ezra clinging to Zeb’s back.  Just the way he grabs Zeb’s legs and climbs him like a feral cat.  And Zeb does not appreciate it lol.
Oh hey, we’re at The Scene That Basically Sealed Ezra As Tari’s New Favorite Whump Target.
Yeah, protip to all showrunners, you put an emotionally vulnerable young male protagonist in mortal peril and you basically guarantee that I will obsess and fixate on them forever.
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EVERY SINGLE FRAME OF THIS SHOT IS MORE HEARTBREAKING THAN THE LAST.
Hngl and you can hear him hyperventilating too ow my heart.
A brief excerpt of Ezra’s theme plays right here too, as if to compound Zeb’s guilt about the whole thing lol.
Like the score itself is saying, “HEY AREN’T YOU MISSING SOMEONE?!”
Sabine automatically assuming Zeb did something to Ezra. <3
Hera full-naming Zeb. <333333
A couple people pointed out before that Ezra flinches pretty noticably when Kallus reaches for him, and Kallus definitely marks that reaction with his eyes.  It’s such a quick little sequence but it’s fascinating in the layers it suggests.
I reiterate: The subtle facial animation is this show is fantastic.  The minute little emotions that you can pick up tell so much story.
Chopper voting with Hera to go back for Ezra. <333333333333333  The murder hobo does have a heart.
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I love the little sideglance these troopers give each other after Ezra seals them in.  You can’t even see their faces but you know they’re chagrined all, “Oh.  Ohhhh we’re in so much trouble.”
And the joke is even followed up on when Kallus demands to know how Ezra escaped and this poor dude just has all the notes of, “This is the worst day of my life.” in his voice lololol.
I gotta gives props to Taylor Gray, he pulls off Ezra’s impersonations really well.
So how much do you want to bet Kallus had unfortunate flashbacks every time one of Sabine’s bombs threw him?
“I’m sure your parents must be worried sick.”  “I don’t have parents.”
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*URGE TO ADOPT HIM INTENSIFIES*
(Also, same, Hera, same.)
Speaking of entire stories being told in the subtle expressions...
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Tangenting here a little bit, I’ve seen more than one bad faith reading chiding Kanan and especially Hera for “manipulating Ezra into being a child soldier” and hnnghghghgkjgdksh could you guys have any worse comprehension?
Ezra’s fate, narratively and meta-textually speaking, was sealed the moment he volunteered the information about the Wookies and actively took part in their rescue.  He didn’t have to do any of that.  He could have stayed quiet.  He didn’t.  He could have made Hera drop him off first.  He didn’t.  He could have stayed on the ship the whole rescue.  He didn’t.  And yeah, some of the reason why is because Hera told him it was better to fight for others than only for himself, but also have you considered that Ezra maybe is just that selfless at heart?
(See above where his Establishing Character Moment was saving that fruit vendor.)
ANYWAY, if he hadn’t done any of that, Kallus would have never seen him leap far higher than he was supposed to be able to, and would never have marked him as a Force Sensitive, would never have alerted the Inquisitor to him and basically marked him as a target.
Any time the local Lothal garrison spotted him, their impetus would be his capture and/or extermination.  Ditto for when news eventually reached the Inquisitorius.
The safest place for him was absolutely staying with the Ghost (where he could be trained to protect himself) and they even gave him the choice about it.
To say that he was manipulated or guilted by Hera into following instincts that were already inside him denies Ezra his narrative agency; he chose to become a Rebel and fight against the Empire.  Hera might have awakened his heroism but it was Ezra who Answered The Call.
All right, tangent over.
Oh ho man, you can tell they went into this with zero plans to redeem Kallus.
I mean, I’m glad that it happened, I definitely enjoy that aspect of his character.  But there was noooooo groundwork laid for it in these early episodes lol.
Writers got halfway in and realized, “Shit, we like him.” and then had to scramble to come up with something, which, I mean... I relate.
Ah, here’s what I mean when I say Luke’s theme is used primarily as a shorthand for the element of heroism.
And for an example of what I’m talking about re: cinematic camera motion, there’s the bit right where the crew charges out of the cargo hold onto the platform on Kessel.  The camera is behind our subjects and instead of immediately cutting to an exterior shot (which would be perfectly acceptable), instead it sort of rolls out behind them, pushing down and forward with them, for a more dynamic shot.
Add several tracking shots after that, that basically follow specific characters, and with that simple cinema magic, the action sequence feels more frenetic and energized.
Gosh, Ezra was so tiny back in Season One.
I do like this cue right here, when the Imperial ship drops in, don’t know if it’s generic action filler or it becomes a leitmotif later, will have to pay attention I guess.
With context from A New Dawn, we know that Kanan has not ignited his lightsaber since Order 66, though he apparently came pretty close it in that book.  I just find it rather beautiful and poetic that the Force tells him it’s time right when he has a padawan to protect. :)
And this reveal is still excellently done, fine candidate for my personal No Context Signature Scene Test (that being a scene which, when shown in isolation, showcases off the best of a movie or show and entices watchers to check out the rest, it must do a good job of selling the work, essentially).
POV shot as Kanan stands up out of cover, cut to in front of him, the action music drops out and fades into the Force Theme and Kanan just kind of... casually walks through shots, leaning around them, the sound gets muted slightly, we get the gunslinger shot of the lightsaber pieces clicking together and then the Force Theme gets a bass drum flare to emphasize the moment.  Awed looks from everyone.  A triumphant musical cue.
Even Kallus is unnerved for a second lol.
And I love the verbal hesitation when he says, “Focus your fire on... on the Jedi.” like he can’t even believe he’s saying that.
Is it any wonder why I love the whole Rebellion Era Jedi aesthetic?  It does such a good job of encapsulating pure eucatastrophe, the sudden happy turn for good, a beacon of light and hope breaking through the darkness and despair.
The Wookies look at Kanan like a living legend has stepped out of the pages of their storybooks.
HNGH no one touch me.
And of course, Kanan stepping up immediately inspires Ezra to do the same, I love these two so much.
Wilhelm scream, lol.
See people, Kallus already associates Ezra with Kanan and has marked them as a master-padawan pair, there was no chance Ezra was going to just be able to keep his head down and live his life after this.
And again with the subtle expressions, there’s just a flash of sadness from Ezra here as he watches Kitwarr reunite with his dad, HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE HOW UTTERLY EXPRESSIVE THE FACES ARE IN THIS SHOW?
I do kind of wonder what made Ezra decide to swipe Kanan’s lightsaber.
He had a thought to sell the holocron but honestly it seems like he wanted to keep the saber.  As a keepsake?  To use?
Honestly though I love it when writers have Force Sensitives just kind of compulsively drawn to Jedi artifacts and tools.  Like some part of them is called by the Force within the items.
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There’s a really cute, almost shy way that Sabine ducks into her shoulders here.  I see it in amvs all the time but no one ever really talks about it.
I mean, along with Chopper’s sad little moan I think it’s meant to convey that they’re already fond of him and regret him having to leave.
Chopper loved Ezra from the beginning and only gave him grief because that’s how he shows affection change my mind.
Ezra does not take Zeb’s playful hit well, flinches like he did with Kallus.  Of course later he’d get used to it but right now Ezra definitely does not associate roughhousing with affection.
Ezra gets so timid in his body language here.
I... I would really love to know how Kanan got up the tower.  Where exactly is the turbolift in this thing?  Is it in Ezra’s room?  How’d Kanan sneak past?
I know we’re meant to believe Kanan is physically there and just Batmans in and out but honestly I don’t blame the people with the wild theory that Ezra’s having a vision of Kanan in this moment.
Speaking of Ezra’s timid body language, have you noticed how often he crosses his arms, in an insecure kind of self-protective fashion?  This all but goes away in the later seasons as he grows up.
Aaaaaand we hear a snatch of Leia’s theme as Obi-Wan’s message plays again, a little musical Call Forward to the princess’s iconic plea for help perhaps?
Interestingly it fades into a very understated version of Luke’s theme, without the full orchestral accompaniment, just a single trumpet and then some quiet strings playing the notes.
I’m going to have to pay attention but I’m tentatively hypothesizing that Leia’s theme will primarily represent the aspect of hope in the series, to accompany Luke’s representing the idea of heroism.
Hope and heroism, two classic archthemes of Star Wars, lol.
Maybe it’s fitting that Ezra’s theme kind of blends the feel of both of the twins’.
On a completely different note, nice to see composer Kiner keeping in the tradition of assigning the Ominous Latin Chorus to the villains, lol.
I like Grand’s theme, it’s reminiscent of the Emperor’s, all bass male voices and dark minor chords in the strings.
I warned y’all I was gonna be talking about the soundtrack a lot in these.
And that’s the pilot premiere down.  Some people said they found it hard to get into the series at first, but I was never one of them, the pilot had me hooked from the get go.  Granted it was my birthday and I was a bit, ah... sloshed at the time.
Still, there was pretty much no way I wasn’t going to be into this show.  The classic Star Wars feel, the lovely animation, the fact that Ezra was basically exactly My Type... (Orphan, tragic backstory, Hero Complex, heartwarming relationship with (surrogate) father figure, this boy was ticking off boxes left and right lemme tell ya.)
Pilot still holds up.  Not every show’s first episode does but this one does.
This was a fun exercise.  I think I’m going to try to knock one of these out a day at a time until Ahsoka drops, maybe not as in-depth and rambly as this one, but we’ll see.
Until tomorrow then.
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tarisilmarwen · 8 months
Text
Rebels Rewatch: "Twilight of the Apprentice"
The shadow of Malachor looms in the very highly-anticipated Season 2 finale.
Right, so, technically I've already liveblogged this before and you can go here for some of my more, ah, realtime reactions.
(Spoiler alert: There was a LOT of screaming.)
So for this and other episodes that I've already reacted to before I'm mostly going to be focusing more on commentary and meta observations and also my favorite bits and moments, music and animation, that kind of stuff.
Let's dive in!
Ooh right off the bat we have the more serious version of the "Shenanigans" cue.
I know this exchange here between Ahsoka and Rex is a callback to when they first met. So a heart stab for TCW fans.
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One thing I notice about Malachor right away is how dead it looks, even from space. Just a featureless plain gray marble.
We get down to the surface and it's even eerier. In the middle of a giant crater there's this wide, unnaturally glasslike smooth plain, only broken up by weird towering stone monoliths.
Malachor's whole aesthetic leans very heavily into the idea and theme of descending into the Underworld, into a place of darkness and shadows where the light can't reach. Somewhere underground, somewhere full of devils and demons lurking in wait, with many hidden traps and temptations to stumble over.
Like the one Ezra triggers by touching the monolith lol.
This really isn't a survivable fall but whatever.
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The Sith Temple is actually kind of beautiful in a stark, harsh, Gothic kind of way.
This whole environment is really excellently creepy and ethereal. The ceiling above recalls a night sky, the holes like pinprick stars casting beams of light down. The palate is almost colorless, mostly grays and blacks with some splashes of red and white. The lighting is muted and dim, heavy contrast with the shadows. The music relies on dissonant chords. The sound effects are full of watery rumbles, voices whisper quietly that apparently only Ezra can hear.
Oh and there's the scorched ground and statues of people frozen in distress, like the casts at Pompeii.
"To defeat your enemy, you have to understand them." A sentiment echoed and repeated later by both Maul and Thrawn, and inspired by the writings of Sun Tzu in his Art of War. You have to figure your enemy out, learn how they operate and what motivates them, in order to beat them. "Knowledge" is another word they keep using this episode, our heroes need to seek knowledge about the Sith in order to figure out how to defeat them.
I'm still not quite sure what knowledge they were actually able to gain during this trip. Certainly the Force did basically slap the truth of Vader's identity in Ahsoka's face, to get her to confront it and break through her denial. There's maybe a lesson to be learned about not seeking quick, easy solutions to one's problems, which wouldn't fully sink in until "Twin Suns". (Ezra's obsession with finding "the key to destroy the Sith" can be traced straight back to the Malachor plot thread.) There's definitely a cautionary tale and warning about the nature of the Dark Side, that Ezra completely ignores due to his guilt and shame and self-blame.
On the surface level, technically, the mission does accomplish what it set out to do. All the Inquisitors we know about wind up dead, Vader no longer has any interest in harassing them, they keep the base safe. But boy the cost of it all.
It's probably really fitting that the finale takes place here on Malachor, a dead world with nothing left but stone remains and a creepy Eldritch Sith Temple housing a superweapon that must have killed everyone and everything on the surface, in the vein of The Deplorable Word or a nuclear bomb metaphor. The victory is hollow and meaningless, because there is no one left alive to appreciate it. Likewise our heroes' "victory" is pyrrhic and empty, they kill the Inquisitors but take more and heavier losses in return.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We haven't even met Eighth yet.
Hi Eighth!
He's not really developed or explored at all and is really just a generic episode-specific antagonist and ancillary to Seventh and Fifth, but he serves his narrative purpose in splitting the party.
Kanan's worried shout for Ezra after he falls. <3
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Ezra looking very nervous here, don't blame him.
HI MAUL!
Oh man, the pre-finale trailers spoiled Maul's appearance and fandom was bonkers about it. (The pre-finale anticipation and hype was crazy man, so much over-analyzing and hypothesizing. There was a Bingo Card we could fill out with our theories. This one was mine.) Not a small amount of people were speculating about the possibility of Maul corrupting and/or abducting Ezra at Malachor.
I was one of them. Obviously. Still a smidge bummed it didn't come to pass, just imagine how devastating that would have been on top of everything else.
Anyway, Maul pretends to be frail and weak and old and harmless like some kind of sick parody of the scene in ESB when Yoda's introduced to Luke.
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The appropriate reaction to creepy old men lurking in the shadows lol.
Maul plays on Ezra's compassion at first, and then tempts him with what they came for, "knowledge". Ezra keeps a guard up, but cautiously allows Maul to lead him. I think he's figuring he's going to play this by ear like he did back in "Brothers of the Broken Horn", so he's not giving out his name or really trusting Maul yet. That would come later.
Lol, Maul has met Jabba, he knows full well Ezra's playing him.
There's some excellent tense music for the chase with Eighth Brother but I'm not going to really talk about those segments much since, frankly, all the interesting stuff is happening in the Maul and Ezra scenes.
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They're in the roots of the Temple now, very Mines of Moria-esque vibe down here with the columns.
Maul still trying to break Ezra's guard down, playing himself up as an enemy of the Inquisitors and the Sith (even though for all intents and purposes Maul still is a Sith) and I love how awkward things get when Ezra asks him if he was a Jedi, he's all like, "ERRRRRRMMMM."
Talking about his Tragic Backstory though unlocks Ezra's empathy and Ezra lets slip his own grievances with the Empire that Maul immediately tries to manipulate to his advantage, sensing Ezra's anger about it.
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Boy if I had a nickel for every time my favorite shows explored the "creepy older villain forcibly trying to make a younger hero their apprentice" plotline...
(I would actually have three nickels now because the Big Hero 6 cartoon also decided to do that plot YOU GUYS GOTTA FIGURE OUT SOMETIME THAT THIS PREMISE IS BASICALLY CATNIP FOR ME.)
Anyway, at this point I think Maul's mostly just using Ezra as a means to an end, he's not planning to kidnap him yet, just needs him for the doors. It's really interesting that whereas the Jedi Temple on Lothal emphasized the individual journey and separated the master and padawan, the Sith Temple forces them into kind of a codependent symbiosis--if one betrays the other like Sith are wont to do, the prize is lost and both of them die--making them have to use teamwork and a certain level of trust.
Chopper stealing Eighth's TIE to use against him is pretty awesome, admittedly.
Maul gives Ezra an abridged lesson in Sith/Dark Side philosophy: Channel your passions--your fear, anger, hate, any strong emotions etc.--through the Force for a lot of quick easy power. Ezra expresses misgivings but attempts it and this time does not immediately pass out, though he's clearly tired by the end of it.
Oh man the sound design here.
Also love that annoyed look Maul gives when Ezra complains about their progress. XD
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"Yeah I'm killing you after this, I don't have to deal with this shit."
Watching the expressions on Maul's face is a trip, you can see the subtle little flashes of conniving and triumph.
Aaaaaand every time Maul puts his hands on Ezra I still feel an immediate uncomfortable protective rage. You leave him alone you cockroach. >:(
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Enjoy the last vestiges of Ezra's innocence folks, this episode is what shatters that to pieces.
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Always loved this sequence, it feels very evocative of the Cave of Wonders segment of Aladdin and also several scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
SO much symbolism with the precipices and pits here.
Love this music cue too.
I already noted in a different post way back when that something subtle I love is how Maul's Force Grip catch around Ezra is clearly much rougher than how Kanan has caught him. Ezra's tiny panicked glances down are great too.
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So riiiiiiiiiight about here is when I think Maul decided he was going to keep Ezra, you can see in his expression the mean satisfaction when he grabs the holocron, like he's gotten what he wanted. Ezra gets a prolonged moment of regretting all of his life's decisions before Maul finally decides to haul him up.
Look I know fandom makes fun of the helicopter sabers but I never minded them so this is my only comment about them.
Gah, Ezra's innocent little uncertain expressions here always hurt me.
You know, given the added context of TCW Seaason 7, along with the fact that they had already clearly integrated the unfinished arcs into the background continuity while writing Rebels, AHSOKA YOU SHOULD HAVE REALLY WARNED THEM ABOUT MAUL.
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Cool shot is cool.
I haven't talked about the music much because it doesn't really stand out until the climax but it's appropriately menacing and dramatic and ominous, as it should be.
Sam Whitwer's vocal progression through the episode is also amazing, along with the slow shedding of his hood it's like Maul is revitalizing himself, reinvigorated, reclaiming his strength and purpose.
He found something (Ezra) to hang his legacy on and seized it. Or tried to.
Ezra sounds just a bit desperate to convince Kanan, this is likely a product of the straining tensions between them. Maul, meanwhile, takes full advantage of Ahsoka and Kanan's uncertainty to suggest using the holocron to activate the obelisk, not telling them of course that it will turn on the Sith superweapon. Which he's counting on to kill Vader and the Inquisitors.
Ezra's theme in cello bass here, as Kanan decides to trust Ezra.
Almost forgot about Seventh's ID-9 Seekers, didn't we?
Love Kanan's protective bitchiness towards Maul this whole episode. The conflict between him and Ezra is just a little bit contrived, Kanan's been harder on Ezra recently yes, but it also feels a smidge rushed. Then again Ezra's been fixating on trying to solve the fundamental problem of the Inquisitors possibly as a way to assuage his grief over losing his parents, like Anakin he thinks if he can maybe just get enough power he can prevent it from happening again, so he's letting his impulsiveness reign in the quest to find "the key to destroying the Sith" and it's making him have a repeat of "Vision of Hope" where he trusts the wrong person.
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Ezra's bright little, "Trust me." here hurts so much because Kanan does trust Ezra, that's the only reason why he decided they would stay and then it all goes HORRIBLY WRONG *SOBS*.
This is a nice sentiment and all Ahsoka, and it shows how much faith you have in Ezra's goodness and Kanan's ability as a teacher BUT ALSO YOU SHOULD HAVE WARNED THEM.
Ezra's out of sight for like a minute and Maul's already picking at his insecurities and need for validation and trying to get him to murderize Seventh.
The momentary pride we feel that Ezra can't bring himself to strike in anger and hate vanishes when Maul tests the veeeeeery limits of the Y7 rating.
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Ooof.
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I hate this man I hate this man I hate this man I hate him so much. He snarls at Ezra for hesitating, berates his merciful Jedi instincts, and then picks up with that soft manipulative fake concerned tone again. He always uses this tone when he's trying to manipulate Ezra, we'll be watching for it next season, trust me.
Hhggnnl Maul glancing up and seeing the shadow passing over the gaps in the ceiling, he knows Vader's on his way. And he's definitely already made the decision that he's taking Ezra.
Love this brief triumphant cue here, for a moment it looks like they've won.
The matching "Oh crap" expressions on Kanan and Ahsoka's faces when Maul says, "You mean... my apprentice?" they are just a hair too late to prevent disaster.
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Yeah so this moment pretty much traumatized fandom. For months.
DUEL OF THE FATES BABY!
And a very unhinged Maul getting a little too excited about using the Sith superweapon to kill everyone.
The presence in the holocron is likely a trace of the Sith Lord who created the superweapon, Darth Tanis.
Sound design appreciation moment, just LISTEN to it.
"The power will be mine! Ezra will be mine!" Very hinged. Much sane. If you had waited maybe five minutes, Maul, and resisted the urge to murder everyone you could have actually had what you wanted! But such is the nature of the Dark Side, the quick and easy way offers fast solutions but hollow ones, in the grasping for what you want it slips through your fingers.
ALL MAUL HAD TO DO WAS NOT TRY TO MURDER KANAN AND AHSOKA AND EZRA PROBABLY WOULD HAVE GONE WITH HIM. At the very least Kanan might have tentatively let Maul hang around. This is the tragedy of Maul's life, he is the king of self-sabotage.
[Insert ramble about the symbolism of Kanan taking up a Temple Guardian mask and how that relates to his role as Ezra's protector.]
I don't remember I think there was maybe one or two people who complained that Kanan shouldn't be able to beat Maul here, but for the most part fandom was agreed that this was awesome.
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:(((
Please do note: Maul just kind of... assumed Ezra would use the Sith superweapon when he learned what it was. Ezra's too pure for that, alas.
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WELL THAT'S NOT ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING.
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Ezra sassing Vader like Kanan sassed the Grand Inquisitor back in "Call To Action" lol.
And there goes Ezra's blaster-saber. :(
I've been a very good girl conserving my limited photos so now you get a lot of Ezra's terrified face.
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The Ahsoka-Vader confrontation is pretty much perfect, even for someone who never really watched TCW and doesn't really have the same level of investment as a long time fan would have. Even without the context the emotions and drama come across well.
Ezra veeeeeeerrrrrrrry slowly and carefully trying to scoot away from Vader always makes me giggle.
Vader threatening to torture the information out of Ezra if Ahsoka won't give up any remaining Jedi she knows about. :(((
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:((((((((
Still love how TCW recontextualized Ahsoka's angry, "I am no Jedi!" by reframing it as, "I can't be a Jedi anymore, you took that away from me, you killed the Order I loved and wanted to return to!"
I think I heard someone trying to describe Vader here as, "Picture an upright locomotive with a lightsaber." and that's apt, Vader is so heavy and powerful with every movement and swing. This is Vader in his prime, unleashed, against an opponent he won't hold back on and it is glorious.
Chopper guiding Kanan by the hand. :(((
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Ezra's horrified realization. :(((((
Small note: Ezra's been nursing his right wrist this whole time, possibly sprained or burned a bit when Vader destroyed his saber. Also a nice parallel to ESB and Luke.
Ahsoka does her best but you can tell she's tiring here.
Some gorgeous animation as the Temple begins to seal back up.
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How annoyed do you think Vader must have been to have a blind half-trained ex-Padawan and a scrawny 16-year-old kid managing to fight his Force Pull on the holocron?
Ahsoka swoops in for a Big Damn Heroes moment and breaks open his mask. You're welcome for the nightmares, kids.
Hello so many parallels to Luke and Return of the Jedi.
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:(((((
Very effective bringing the orchestra full to the fore with almost no other sound or dialogue here. This whole sequence is brutally powerful.
Kanan and Hera's heartbreaking reunion. The sorrow on Rex's face, feeding into Ezra's clear guilt. Maul surviving to menace us another day. Vader limping off, out of the wreckage of the Temple. Tracking the convor as it flies towards the vague form of Ahsoka descending further into the Temple. The cut to the Ghost with everyone's silent worry and sorry. And closing on Ezra's murderous Kubrick Stare as he gets the holocron to open.
This finale is on people's favorite episode lists for a reason, lol. It's so dramatic and game-changing and tightly-written, leaves us perfectly fuming in anticipation for more.
You know how shows promise that, "Nothing will be the same anymore." in taglines to trick you into watching for the Next Big Twist? Rebels actually delivers on that promise.
It's an amazing ride.
Overall Season Thoughts:
Season Two is stronger than Season One in a lot of aspects. The animation is even prettier with the added budget, the stories remain well-balanced and woven together even with the added breathing room of twenty-two episodes to Season One's fifteen. The show takes advantage of that extra room to build up the finale, especially in the last few episodes, to very good effect. The expanded scope means we're facing bigger and greater threats, and also widening our cast, and yet none of the guest stars overshadow or overpower our mains, who are given plenty of chances to develop and shine.
Aside from one minor misstep in "Blood Sisters", this season is solid through and through.
Onwards to Season Three!
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