I know this phrase seems to get thrown about a lot, but the latest episode is already one of my favourites of the whole series. I was initially a little bit skeptical about Dawson playing Ahsoka, but after seeing her in just a few scenes I think she managed to translate Ahsoka’s mannerisms quite perfectly (1st scene shows a slightly different side of the character than we’re used to, so that threw me off a little at first). I also think the character, like Bo-Katan, was handled in such a way that it should work for new fans as well and not just Clone Wars & Rebels fans.
Show far this show has appropriately had a very strong Western vibe to it, which obviously makes sense for the character, and this episode was all Samurai film (which is quite appropriate for Ahsoka) and I loved it. There were several shots taken straight out of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, which of course inspired the spaghetti westerns, so the combined aesthetic for this episode was just perfect. I’m actually really impressed by how Filoni has grown as a live-action director in just three episodes. I’m somewhat in the minority in that Chapter 1 is one of my lest favourite episodes, now I do it’s good, and did Filoni a great as a debut director, but it felt a bit bland to me. Chapter 5 was better stylistically, though the plot was quite simple. This episode however, was all Filoni, and it shows. It really was like seeing one of the best episodes of Clone Wars or Rebels translated to live action.
The Thrawn reveal was quite surprising. On one hand I’m super excited as Thrawn is quite literally my favourite EU character. On the other hand I’m always a bit skeptical this this show is going to turn into an endless string of EU cameos. However, Favreau/Filoni has handled both Bo-Katan and Ahsoka perfectly so far, so I do believe they can pull it off. Though this could of course simply be a hint of another series, possibly an animated sequel to Rebels. However, if they end up making a live-action Thrawn, I really hope they get Lars Mikkelsen. He’s already voiced the character perfectly, and he has a face that really first the character. With some minor prosthetics I think he’d make a great live-action Thrawn just like Sackhoff made a great live-action Bo-Katan.