Well, here is my Ahsoka Season 1 finale review and it was mid at best for me. Online I hear various subjective view points. There are those who hated it, and there are those who loved it. Ultimately it will depend on what your tastes are. So, just like any other series we critics review then huh? All I can give you then is my take.
As usual I will be keeping as SPOILER FREE as possible with this review. I will however be discussing full spoilers for previous episodes and my what’s next section has to unfortunately have a few clues as to where this went.
Ahsoka Finale
As said above this finale was mid at best to me. As Season 1 goes, I liked some of the early episodes, but I thought the show dragged a little in the middle, then peaked at Episode 4 and 5 and went back downhill again in 6-8#. The main problem I had with the finale was once again a lack of drama. The bud guys try to stop the good guys who are trying to stop the bad guys and none of them are ever successful because the only plot that matters here is the chase itself. End that chase and we’d have to have something more inventive happen.
The lack of invention is most felt to me in what we are shown of this new Galaxy. I mean we are suddenly somewhere never before seen in Star Wars. Yet we discover nothing about this new Galaxy and only meet one native species. As Baylon’s differing goals, we get no new answers and only more teases, which are clearly setting up a potential Season 2. Whilst I get holding some details back, Ahsoka feels like a series of chase action set pieces with the littlest plot possible to be saved for what comes next.
Action
There is a lot of action again this week, but I rarely found it thrilling. One fight enjoyed, the others I thought were poorly choreographed, again. Director Rick Fumuyiwa gave us the Mando Season 2 finale with Luke Skywalker. However, none of this is anywhere near as epic in execution.
If anything, this series need a bit less action, or a shorter set pieces and more dramatic conflict between characters. Sabine’s arc feels decent, but I’m still unsure where Ahsoka’s arc is going and still don’t like her double Lightsaber scenes. There are also scenes against cannon fodder for our Jedi that just always feel like 20 extra;s in a room moving where they were told so that the leads can cut them down. If a door opens and a room full of bad guys appear, you just think, ‘here we go, pew pew dead’.
Maybe Andor spoiled me, but there’s just no weight to any of this. The parts that interested me most about this series were explored the least. The parts we did spend most time on were weightless action and one liners. Shin and Baylon are interesting, so when they just disappeared from the plot in the finale it feels incomplete somehow.
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Forgive me, but of all the situations Filoni could dream up for what Ezra and Thrawn had got up to, this was the most inconsequential. What has been hard about being there, and why are his troop numbers so low? What has he been doing for a decade, just making an alliance with the Nightsisters to get them and him back ‘home’? How did Ezra get away and why did he end up with the hermit crab people?
Additionally, a lot of the end teases with Baylon are going to be completely lost on anyone who has not seen TCW and Rebels. There has been Mortis teases throughout and there is one here too, but only those who watched the shows will understand them. As far as any casual viewer is concerned, we still know nothing about Baylon’s aims.
What Comes Next?
Far as I can tell, we need to have an Ahsoka Season 2 to deal with the story we began in this show. However, the Thrawn and Ezra story could branch off into it’s own show, or be part of Mando Season 4. One assumes the culmination of all these plots will set up Filoni’s movie, but who knows for sure?
I definitely want to see what happens next to Baylon, Shin, Sabine and Ashoka herself. However with some better pacing we could have gotten a lot more on this in Season 1.
Truth is, Star Wars has become (outside of Andor) live-action kids TV. Simple plots, bright colors and plenty of action, but nothing to engage your brain and nothing original we haven’t seen a million times before. I’ll watch new shows with the same interest I had in watching new cartoon series. In other words with a muted and less focused interest.
Andor proves Star Wars still has potential. However there is no one left at Lucasfilm capable of realizing that potential it seems. They even managed to make the live-action return of Grand Admiral Thrawn a bit dull. I like the actors, especially Huyang who is the best in every episode. However I really don’t think I like the writing or the choreography of Ahsoka. It feels like it was made by the same crew as Obi-Wan Kenobi. As in, it’s of the minimal acceptable standard for TV. As said in the title, this finale is mid at best.
GRADE: B-
Nothing special, little to discuss with fellow fans, and almost nothing that made me get on the edge of my seat or engage me intellectually. Star Wars is just a mid, normal franchise now with as much bad as good. Actually… More bad than good.
Kennedy continues to fail and Star Wars continues to be less ‘special’ every show that releases. at this point I’ll probably only do a full season review of Skeleton Crew unless it somehow blows me away.
What do you think of my Ahsoka Season 1 finale review? Agree with me that this was mid at best? Let me know below, or leave me your own review of the Ahsoka finale.
