The Witches of Dathomir are, in fact, Force-users, and they are descended from an exiled Jedi; they simply have a different tradition and different techniques for using the Force, compared to the Jedi.
I had no idea that an elaborate back-story for the Witch of Endor has been created, but of course it has.
Another very slow-paced episode, but I liked it.
I liked having two new alien species introduced instead of the same few familiar ones over and over. (Though the baddies strongly reminded me of Tusken Raiders, and I wonder if they are an offshoot population.)
I liked the goofy (but probably dangerous) wolfhorse.
I liked the heavily-damaged Star Destroyer and beat up storm troopers.
I liked that Sabine found Ezra almost immediately instead of dragging the search out for several more episodes.
Where’s Ezra? Surely he must be here somewhere! But where where where where? Is he here? Or is he over there? Oh me, oh my, where can he-- oh, there he is. Huh.
I marked out when the words “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away” were spoken.
To be fair, it has been established that the opening crawl text is the writings of the ancient Whills, the storytellers of the Star Wars universe. Huyang is just quoting them.
Having someone say “A long time ago…” was cringe. It reminded me of when they said, “So you guys are astronauts on some kind of Star Trek?” in First Contact which was also cringe.
This episode had some interesting developments and Thrawn looked less silly in live action than I feared he would. I wonder if they have to pay Timothy Zahn everytime they use the character?
I also thought I heard those warriors make Tusken Raider grunts so maybe they are meant to be related somehow.
Sabine is officially the dumbest named character in the franchise.
“How’d you find me?”
“Sssshhhhh… I know everyone…literally everyone… is in real immediate danger…but let me just not say anything…”
Baylan and Shati are infinitely more interesting now than any other characters we’ve seen…
Is there any real explanation as to why Thrawn and the Nightsisters are working together at all? Like there does not seem to be a purpose to this relationship.
So I haven’t seen the latest episode, but I have to say of all the Disney+ Star Wars series this one is the least enjoyable by a factor of 2. And yes, I’ve watched the Book of Boba Fett. It’s literally taking everything that made Andor the best Star Wars series and saying “Let’s do the exact opposite of that.”
I can understand that but that sentiment goes too far for me. BoBF had boring battles on top of what should have been the best look at the Star Wars criminal underworld. Instead of this bad ass bounty hunter reclaiming himself, becoming a member of the sand people, and then having two bad ass sand people bodyguards, we got what we got. I think they asked what would be exciting and what do people want to see Boba Fett do and they made a show do the opposite of that. Ahsoka has some good battles. It’s nice to see an established Jedi doing well in a fight. I like the ideas of Ahsoka just not the execution. For me, BoBF didn’t do anything well.
I don’t understand Sabine’s character at all now. How can she be okay “freeing” Thrawn after barely defeating him before? How can one person be that important? How can she betray Ahsoka after trying to mend the past? None of it made any sense to me.
This doesn’t help Ezra’s character, either. It’s not like going to another galaxy is easy. How can he not at least ask if there is a danger of Thrawn returning? He did this to save his galaxy from Thrawn! Why would he be willing to throw it all away? This isn’t Sabine going to some remote outer system. He should have a ton of questions on how she got there, who else is there, and more. Why not ask about Hera? Chopper? Zeb? How about just asking how the rebellion ended?? No, no, let’s help this village relocate then talk.
It’s the opposite of the “we need to talk” and then they don’t trope. It’s “we should talk but we won’t.” No idea if that’s a trope or not.
I agree. I like seeing the in between place Baylan inhabits in his philosophy and want to see more of it. I don’t need his background and I don’t want so much it ruins what I have seen! Certainly more, though.
Convenience. Thrawn probably needed them to survive. He never does anything without a reason. The only reason sending Baylan and Shati after Sabine makes sense to have them kill Ezra, someone who stopped him before, or maybe kill each other. Thrawn doesn’t waste. At least, that’s been my take on him. For those that didn’t read the books, and I don’t remember if this was shown in Rebels, Thrawn doesn’t like Jedi. Too much of a wild card for his planning. It’s why he sought to neutralize them in the book or control them as best he could. He also knew that wasn’t possible long term.
Thanks for the discussion!
See I get what Thrawn has gotten out of it… but what do the Nightsisters get/what have they gotten from Thrawn for the decade?
A trip back? Re-established communication with the sisters in the other galaxy?
Those are good questions, though, but everything has been so shallow in this show, as I ponder it, that I will be pleasantly surprised if we get an answer to that.
I expected the Nightsisters to walk all over Morgan and take over. I’m surprised we see them accept Morgan as an equal or at least keep her place. Again, not enough time spent on it.
He started asking questions and she told him she didn’t want to talk about things yet.
I know and that should be enough for me. It’s just not. It’s disappointment on disappointment. It’s probably just me. I might be able to enjoy a few minutes but I don’t think I could move an entire village and not ask. Not that we have seen that happen or they won’t talk before then.
“Hey, you didn’t undo what I came here to do, did you?”
“Let’s just enjoy the moment.”
“oh, okay. Nevermind, then.”
Couple of interesting articles.
So I’ve watched all or most of four of the Disney+ Star Wars series so far. The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Andor and currently Ahsoka. None have been great.
Andor was decent. The Mandalorian was pretty weak (sorry Mandalorian fans). Boba Fett was crap.
Ahsoka is…okayish. I’d put it to date at second on that pretty limited list. Why? Maybe I just like lightsabers 
. But mostly I think it is Baylan. As a long-time disparager of the Jedi and Sith dichotomy (basically different breeds of fanatical religious cult, with the Jedi being better only in the sense of not being actively malevolent Darwinians) and a big fan of Knights of the Old Republic II, I rather like cynical “third way” grey/dark Jedi. That story line is at least intriguing.
I mean sure, no doubt the story will have him be proven wrong (can’t have the heroic Jedi end up being the wrong ones). But it’s fun while it lasts. Sad the actor has died - he’s doing a fine job.
I liked it. The episode was giving strong 80s fantasy movie vibes, and I’m here for it.
Also agree on the Baylan and Sati love.
Kintsugi-Troopers!