I am going into this series with nearly no knowledge of the Ahsoka Tano character, nor any other Star Wars lore outside of the movies and a few live-action shows.

The first in a series of posts on 'My Thoughts on Ahsoka' and other Star Wars series. A new thread after each season!

Part One: Master and Apprentice

• "I'm calling their bluff." I like this captain! "Signal them to come aboard." You fool - I hate you.
• I'm getting strong Jonathan Frakes fibes from Baylan.
• I appreciate that very early in the show, we learn exactly how to pronounce "Ahsoka".
• Requisite epic green-screen special effects set with the cloaked protagonist seeking out something underground.
• This puzzle is straight out of a video game - turning pedastels, glowing success indicators, revealing the treasure, an ambush after retrieval.
• Queue the "this is a badass protagonist, watch!"
• Why would the self-destruct take so long and why couldn't the robots give chase while the explosives charge?
• A little bit of exposition and then a new waypoint on the quest hub.
• It's almost like I'm supposed to know that's a Mandalorian helmet? Or maybe a helmet that the idiots like me think is Mandalorian but true fans know what it really is?
• Why would a member of the Sith have a braided strand of hair? It serves no practical purpose; she gains no tactical advantage having it; idleness or affection would cause its creation. It's an unnecessary and distracting character flourish. I hope there is some backstory about that braid in a future episode.
• Are you surprised that the (ex-?)apprentice who doesn't listen to authority absconded off with the map she was told to keep in the ship? Shocking turn of events.
• Oh snap! Anakin!!!
• I literally fell asleep during the next 10 minutes. No idea what happened in the show. I'm sure I didn't miss anything important.
• If it's a fancy Rubic cube, couldn't they have just had a robot work all the permutations really quickly and brute force that rock open?
• Does anyone, and I mean anyone, actually believe that Sabine is dead?

Part Two: Toil and Trouble

Reflecting back on the first episode, why does it take an old, encoded map, buried in an ancient puzzle, to find the location of a recently exiled Imperial leader? The protagonists aren't searching for some long-hidden treasure or some old-god in hiding. These settings aren't congruous with the reality of the modern world they actually live in.

• The easiest story to tell in sci-fantasy is to say some ancient civilization built a thing and somehow no one else knows about it but the antagonist using the device.
• As Ahsoka's ship lands on another planet, I am reminded how good Star Wars is at portraying the large and vast planets and worlds that its character inhabit - even if the stories keep coming down to a handful of people that decide the outcome of all the key conflicts.
• The cut to a random dude standing at a control panel of some kind, and he has... maybe 10 buttons he could push. This is what Star Wars is so absolutely terrible at - with all these advancements in androids, spaceships, AI, and they haven't developed a functional control panel with labels and descriptions and utility?!
• Well that was a really bland episode. On to the next one, I guess.

Part Three: Time to Fly

• If Anakin was too old to start training when he was a little boy, how has Sabine not just aged out of the program? Why all of these inconsistencies in a vast crazy world?!
• Well I'm glad Huyang made that same frickin' point!
• Why were these six craft so far away from the planet? In the vast expanse of the solar system, they just happened to be in an area behind where Ahsoka dropped out of hyperspace?
• She put on that suit really damn fast - like Clark Kent in a phone booth fast.
• Flying whales, eh? It certainly tracks with Star Wars' creature creativity.
• "Ah yes, standard operating procedure." I feel the same way, Huyang.
• Remember when Darth Vader could detect Luke from half an orbit away - how powerful does each Force user need to be to sense the other?
• How is a minute or two enough time to confidentally turn power back on?

Another bland episode; maybe next one will give us something unique to be excited about.

Part Four: Fallen Jedi

• When they got to the system, their transmissions were jammed. Why would bringing comms back up have any different effect on their ability to communicate?
• With all this talk of Thran, there's been no indication - even apocryphal - about why his return would effect so much change.
• Removal of cloaks is a good touch - I am forever reminded of Edna's "no capes!" edict.
• I think it would have been much cooler if the ring ship had sucked them all into its hyperspace jump and now we're in this Star Trek Voyager / Stargate Universe situation halfway across the universe.
• Oh Anakin... blah.

Part Six: Far, Far Away

• I was SO FUCKING BORED with Part 5 that I didn't even take notes on it. That's how boring the episode was.
• This whole show still hasn't give the audience any reason to understand why Sabine is so desperate to rescue Ezra. We're told to care without convincing us to care.
• It's no Imperial Deathmatch entrance theme, but it was dramatic enough to get me to pause what I was doing and take notice.
• There are Tuskar all the way in another galaxy. Cool, cool.
• Again, a species from another galaxy and they can just communicate like she took that thing's language as an elective in college.

Part Seven: Dreams and Madness

• Random cameo used as a McGuffin, how fortunate.

Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord

• When the writers can't even be serious about the title of the episode, how is the audience supposed to take it seriously?
• Great, just what this universe needs, magic flaming swords.
• Stormtrooper Zombies? hahahahahahahahaha
• Why did Ezra wait so long before force-pulling his lightsaber? It seems like that should have been a quick and easy thing to do.
• Ahsoka vs Morgan has been the best choreographed fight of the series and the simplicity of the cinematography lets the craft really shine.
• Did no one think to warn Thrawn that there was a ship flying around on the surface?
• Long rolling hills, vast mountain ranges with enormous statues carved into them, distant towers - is this a LotR set?

Final Thoughts

There is a lot of potential for a whole season or more with the four main characters that were left on this distant planet. Plot threads about how Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang are managing life and integrating with the local politics, cultures, and various norms. Another perspective on that same jouney could be shown from Shin's point of view. And all this lore about the witches and ancient magic along with Baylan's search for something greater than himself would make for another plot line. There is so much potential here!

I am sure, though, that Season 2 (if it happens) will have the ASH trio making it back to the prime galaxy by the end of episode three.

Absolutely superb acting by Ray Stevenson and Lars Mikkelsen; good performances by Ivanna Sakhno, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, and Rosario Dawson. Huyang was the hero of the show and David Tennat's voice was key to the droid being a remarkable character.

Also, Wes Chatham was robbed of a chance to show off his acting skills.