Ahsoka (the show) is good by Disney Star Wars standards. However, getting a small taste of water after walking through a desert will always taste good.
Characters:
Ahsoka the character herself was very uninteresting and over all had a fake feeling of unearned mystique around her. The audience is supposed to see her as "wise" well-experienced but struggling with the conflict of training under Anakin. However, her acting range was very small this really showed when trying to portray her emotional struggle with trusting Sabine and overcoming her history with Anakin.
Sabine was the character the show was really focusing on. While she had good progression and an ok story arc she really fell flat and I couldn't find anything I personally liked about her character. I will say that the progression of her trying to learn the force was much better handled than almost any other star wars live action show. However, it would have been nice if the show showed Ahsoka actually trying to train her in it for at least a scene or two and not just a small conversation over a table. It would have made the payoff at the end much more impactful with the two overcoming their struggles together and coming to trust each other.
Side note: Personally I think she looked better with longer hair. While I understand what the writers were trying to signify with her cutting it off I think it artistically would have looked better if they kept it a little longer like the animated show (but this is a nitpick).
The villains were pretty one dimensional as well with the exception of Baylin which was by far the most interesting character of the show. It's truly a shame that the actor died and can not finish his role in future seasons. Baylin, while he didn't have good screen time, he did properly weave a mystique around his character and set aside his own motives from the rest of the antagonists. From his knights of the round table like honor to his unique emotional reading and manipulation of other characters he was well rounded and had the potential depth to keep the audience interested in his story. However, his separation from his apprentice later in the show had no real buildup to it was and felt very sudden and oddly timed. It would have been better if the audience could have seen his struggle between training his apprentice and his own goals conflicting with hers.
Baylin's Padawan/apprentice sadly was so one dimensional it was hard to watch. Shin Hati had no background, no character traits other than a general lust for power, and hardly any emotional range to her that she might as well of been just another storm trooper. Not only that, she lacked general common sense. She didn't kill Sabine when she had numerous opportunities and motives to, she made many bad choices that anyone in her position would have seen as illogical and had no emotional connection to Baylin as someone that trained under him should have. It's like the writers wrote her as an afterthought. I will say that her artistic design is good however.
Grand Admiral Thrawn. While his acting was very on point and well done his writing was pretty bad. Many of his strategic decisions in the season finale were just illogical. Why keep the ship in atmosphere after loading? Why not destroy the tower earlier? Why can't your ship aim? Why not set traps? What happened to misdirection? Etc, etc. The actor is doing his best to play the character but the lack of logical thinking by the writers really shows.
Mishaps:
Another thing that really made this show a miss for me was the unbelievable nature of most of the battles.
Those are only a few examples of illogical scenes in the show. To be immersed in a story, the story has to be believable to some degree.
Worse this removes a lot of risk for the protagonist. Making the tension nonexistent.
To make your antagonists threatening they have to actually be shown to be a threat to your protagonist. Some things the show could have done to do this are:
(The show tried to do this with Sabine at the start but 1 it downplayed lightsabers and 2 it was a small trip to the hospital and it was over and the villain was chased away so the impact was greatly reduced. This especially was the case when Shin was shown to be pretty inept later in the show.)
These are just a few examples of how to make the antagonist more believable and threatening.
Overall I give this show 4/10. The general story arc is a good one, but the acting and writing in between needs to be good as well for a show to work and this show doesn't have that.
Characters:
Ahsoka the character herself was very uninteresting and over all had a fake feeling of unearned mystique around her. The audience is supposed to see her as "wise" well-experienced but struggling with the conflict of training under Anakin. However, her acting range was very small this really showed when trying to portray her emotional struggle with trusting Sabine and overcoming her history with Anakin.
Sabine was the character the show was really focusing on. While she had good progression and an ok story arc she really fell flat and I couldn't find anything I personally liked about her character. I will say that the progression of her trying to learn the force was much better handled than almost any other star wars live action show. However, it would have been nice if the show showed Ahsoka actually trying to train her in it for at least a scene or two and not just a small conversation over a table. It would have made the payoff at the end much more impactful with the two overcoming their struggles together and coming to trust each other.
Side note: Personally I think she looked better with longer hair. While I understand what the writers were trying to signify with her cutting it off I think it artistically would have looked better if they kept it a little longer like the animated show (but this is a nitpick).
The villains were pretty one dimensional as well with the exception of Baylin which was by far the most interesting character of the show. It's truly a shame that the actor died and can not finish his role in future seasons. Baylin, while he didn't have good screen time, he did properly weave a mystique around his character and set aside his own motives from the rest of the antagonists. From his knights of the round table like honor to his unique emotional reading and manipulation of other characters he was well rounded and had the potential depth to keep the audience interested in his story. However, his separation from his apprentice later in the show had no real buildup to it was and felt very sudden and oddly timed. It would have been better if the audience could have seen his struggle between training his apprentice and his own goals conflicting with hers.
Baylin's Padawan/apprentice sadly was so one dimensional it was hard to watch. Shin Hati had no background, no character traits other than a general lust for power, and hardly any emotional range to her that she might as well of been just another storm trooper. Not only that, she lacked general common sense. She didn't kill Sabine when she had numerous opportunities and motives to, she made many bad choices that anyone in her position would have seen as illogical and had no emotional connection to Baylin as someone that trained under him should have. It's like the writers wrote her as an afterthought. I will say that her artistic design is good however.
Grand Admiral Thrawn. While his acting was very on point and well done his writing was pretty bad. Many of his strategic decisions in the season finale were just illogical. Why keep the ship in atmosphere after loading? Why not destroy the tower earlier? Why can't your ship aim? Why not set traps? What happened to misdirection? Etc, etc. The actor is doing his best to play the character but the lack of logical thinking by the writers really shows.
Mishaps:
Another thing that really made this show a miss for me was the unbelievable nature of most of the battles.
- No matter how many times the ship gets hit it only ever sustains minor damage.
- The Star destroyer may as well be a joke if it cannot aim a few feet below it. How would it ever aim in space where distances are vast?
- Turbo lasers on the ring? Turns out they do no damage and cannot even threaten a tiny ship.
- Crash the ship into the ground at high speeds? Don't worry all you have to do is fiddle with a few wires. It'll be fine.
- Outnumbered by troopers? Don't worry even though their commander is supposed to be the best they still can't aim or use strategy.
- Droids after you and you don't have a weapon? Don't worry, just punch them, your hands will be fine!
Those are only a few examples of illogical scenes in the show. To be immersed in a story, the story has to be believable to some degree.
Worse this removes a lot of risk for the protagonist. Making the tension nonexistent.
To make your antagonists threatening they have to actually be shown to be a threat to your protagonist. Some things the show could have done to do this are:
- Have them destroy the ship
- Easily kill off a side character that the audience and main characters have come to love for a few episodes.
- Take advantage of a protagonists mistakes to a devastating degree
- Severely wound a main character for an episode or two and have the protagonists bond over surviving it in harsh conditions.
(The show tried to do this with Sabine at the start but 1 it downplayed lightsabers and 2 it was a small trip to the hospital and it was over and the villain was chased away so the impact was greatly reduced. This especially was the case when Shin was shown to be pretty inept later in the show.)
These are just a few examples of how to make the antagonist more believable and threatening.
Overall I give this show 4/10. The general story arc is a good one, but the acting and writing in between needs to be good as well for a show to work and this show doesn't have that.
Tell Your Friends