Boy that episode was really good. Sabine has gone from the character I was probably most iffy about to one of my favorites.

I’ve actually been watching through the series again with a couple friends (after finishing out The Clone Wars with them) and Sabine was kind of a non-entity for a long time in the early series, but as of these last two episodes especially, she’s had one of the most interesting arcs out of everyone so far.

I really like the design of the traditional Mandalorians in this, and Sabine with a lightsaber made sense for the plot and with her Darksaber training (but who taught Saxon?). I also thought it was interesting to hear Saxon referred to as the Emperor’s Hand, which is yet another Zahn element we’re seeing make a comeback. It will be interesting to see where they go with that. I was interested to learn more about Mandalorian history and customs, what’s been happening since the Clone Wars, Sabine’s family was interesting (even if they simplified the whole “I don’t like you, oh wait now we’re all friends again” storyline a bit, but in a 22-minute show I’ll let that go), Fenn Rau is actually really cool, and I was honestly surprised that Sabine stayed behind at the end, as well.

I think the biggest success here is taking something that’s become a huge over-the-top silly fan thing and doing it justice without making it feel like fanservice. It’s a good plot, it makes sense within the story, it serves the characters well, but it doesn’t dip into the territory of crazy Mary-Sueing or Gary-Stuing or fanservice or whatever you want to call it (for me, at least). I could have done without the goofy Karen Traviss Mandalorian language, but this was otherwise a fantastic episode and I can’t wait to see where Sabine goes from here.