Season 1 complete! Some more quick thoughts:
episode 15:
"Trespass" - A pretty basic allegory for racism and colonialism on a civilized planet's non-civilized ice moon. Good episode.
episode 16
: "The Hidden Enemy" - A surprise prequel of sorts to the film. Not a bad ep, but could feel my attention waning.
episode 17-18
. "Virus Arc" - These were weird and felt decidedly "un-Star Wars." I don't know how else to explain it besides saying it felt like I was watching Batman and Robin, not Obi-Wan and Anakin. The thought of
a bad ending where Jar-Jar in his biosuit is surrounded by the corpses of Amidala, Ahsoka and a platoon of soldiers is kind of funny in its own way.
episode 19-21
."Ryloth Arc" - An interesting triptych of episodes, one focusing on Anakin/Ahsoka, another on troopers and a third on Mace Windu. We get to see Windu go ham, so what more could you ask for?
episode 22
. "Hostage Crisis" - Here's Cad Bane. He's okay I guess? I don't like his hat. He's a competent villain, which sets him apart from the vast majority of villains we've seen. This definitely one of the better eps of the season but not sure I'd call it
the
best. I see season 2 starts with more Bane so I'm open to learning more.
I was going to do character rankings but I honestly feel like it would just be a bunch of equal signs. I feel like I don't know enough about Ahsoka yet to make a good appraisal. Obi-Wan is this weird blend of 50% extremely likeable and 50% absolutely insufferable stick in the mud. In this way he is actually well-translated from the films.
Anakin is extremely good, but also really makes me think this
cannot
be actual SW canon because he's far too patient, intelligent, affable, and well-adjusted to go full-on Youngling Slayer. The prequels sort of beat you over the head with the idea that Anakin is a traumatized child who can't control his emotions, and this is why he succumbs to the Dark Side. This totally changes the way we understand Anakin's descent - potentially in a good way - but in a way that seems so incongruent with the films that I'm extremely curious to see how they do it.
What I'm worried is going to happen is that Anakin will just disappear in the series and it won't be addressed at all. Fingers crossed that isn't where things go!
Favorite episodes:
"Bombad Jedi," "Malevolence Arc," "Hostage Crisis"
Least favorite eps
: "Virus Arc," "Cloak of Darkness"
while you slept, the world changed