Cloak of Darkness nitpicks:
Thanks for the detail as always Sade.
Ahsoka going apeshit on Gunray in the interrogation feels like a very Anakin thing for her to do, but you don’t get the impression she’s spent very much time with him yet, so you can’t really read it as his influence.
No, but that’s OK. I think that’s part of her initial rashness. One of the character traits she has early on, that she learns to manage, is her boldness. She’s quick to act, taking the direct path, often without thinking. It’s only after noticing this that I got more of an appreciation for Lightsaber Lost, whose entire lesson is ‘slow down’. Remember, in Christophsis, Anakin says “You’re bold, little one. You might not have made it as Obi-Wan’s padawan, but you might just make it as mine.” He’s acknowledging that she already has that character trait, and it’s part of what bonds them early. It’s also good as the characters grow, to see Ahsoka’s boldness be more moderated, whereas Anakin continues down the path of more directness.
“Skywalker’s not here to save you now!” isn’t a reference to anything, right, because this is their first meeting? Again, seems a little premature, unless you can justify it as her referring to the events of Christophsis.
It’s their first meeting, so it was like this in the original too. I think you just assume that Anakin’s told Ahsoka about Ventress, and Ventress has become aware of Anakin’s padawan (via her informant maybe? It doesn’t really matter.)
Ditto for “Master Skywalker should be proud”.
While your idea to have Anakin immediately palm Ahsoka off is an amusing one, I think there’s just too many little references in this episode to Ahsoka being Anakin’s Padawan for it to work perfectly.
Is this problematic? I intended it to come off as that he’s accepted her as padawan, he’s just booked himself a bit of ‘time off’, since he’s still getting used to it and not entirely comfortable training her. He’s not rejected her, he’s just seen an opportunity to get her trained/looked after by someone else for a bit.
If anything, perhaps this episode would be better placed a bit later so we can interpret it as Anakin’s unorthodox style rubbing off on her a little.
Definitely an essential episode for establishing Ventress, so it’s unfortunate that very little else interesting occurs besides Argyus’ betrayal (and death lol). Luminara Unduli is a really wooden character here, effortlessly slotting right into that humourless, overly-arrogant Jedi master archetype, to the point where Ahsoka doesn’t even learn anything this episode.
I don’t think Ahsoka learns any lessons in this episode, but I think in this episode we see that her boldness isn’t always entirely without sense. She’s brash and a little childish, but I think this episode shows that she’s got a good intuition and is competent - she’s just not well refined. (As an aside, I think this works well for showing why she was allowed to become a Jedi padawan. She’s totally competent and has the right attitude and skillset - it just needs the refinement of tutelage under a master.)
I agree that it’s a slow episode, though, and a necessary one that’s sadly not fantastic. That’s also one of the reasons I’d put it after my Death Watch episode, which is far more interesting.
Thinking about the ordering then. It’s mainly here because yes, it’s fun to have Anakin dump her at first. I could drop that idea and put the episode later. Though I feel like Malevolence is when he really accepts her emotionally/personally (after only really accepting her formally in Christophsis), and I feel like putting Cloak after Malevolence means there’s even less point in Cloak. Which means that Cloak, which remains necessary, is even less interesting.