The show was off to a rough start, but I think they turned it around during episode 4 and really managed to stick the landing with the last two episodes. Haven’t actually watched any of the first three episodes in full, but I will do on a rewatch. It’s a nice show overall and works as a glue between the two trilogies. The last two episodes in particular gave me that OT Star Wars feeling in a way that no other thing since has ever managed to do.
The storytelling, production quality and soundtrack was on point for the most part during the later half. While I would have preferred the duels to be more toned-down and less like a cartoon-show, they still were engaging from a storytelling perspective. However, the post-production shaky-cam, cheap vfx and small-scale feeling of certain set designs still prevents this show from feeling properly cinematic. It’s just unfathomable why some shots look the way they do when the show supposedly had a budget of $25M per episode.
What the show lacked in technicalities, it made it up with storytelling. I really like what they did to Reva. But I thought the revelation of her past came too late and we didn’t really need the whole other characters outside the bald dude (I’m not familiar with the lore of the cartoon shows). The whole inquisitor thing muddled the first episodes and made it feel too meandering. Some of the dialogue was just plain bad. But when they revealed Reva’s past, I really liked her and it really ties in well with the overall theme of the show.
Vader was treated really well here. I like how he still struggles with his rage and comes off as immature, full of raw emotion despite wearing his suit. He’s not yet the cold, calculated killing machine from the OT and still yearns for Obi-Wan’s warmth despite what he says to his face. They really added another dimension to their relationship in the final episode and Vader’s arc in this show feels more engaging than his redemption in the OT.
I also really liked what they did with Obi-Wan and how they managed to regain his faith in the force. The way they tied in his guilt about Vader with the slaughter of the younglings in order to connect it with Reva’s character was really great. Better yet was the resolution of that conflict by showing how each character acts when it comes to protecting the young and what it does to them psychologically. It really drove home the theme of the show without telling another Hero’s Journey. However, like with the production quality, it all felt a bit too little too late. They should have highlighted the terror of Vader actions and revealed Reva’s past right from the start.
There are many people currently working on editing the show into a single movie, but I don’t see how that will work now that it has finished. Each episode feels like its own thing. Whoever said the episodes are reflections of the movies was right. Maybe you can shave off a bit from the first three episodes. But the later episodes are good as they are.