Acbagel said:
Also, Deagan, what did you think of the Shadow Council scene as a first time viewer? That’s the scene with old imperial officers talking about their future plans/needs. Did the placement work for you? I moved it up in the series to give us a better picture of the state of the Empire compared to where it originally was placed.

I tend to zone out during these sort of council/politic meetings, even watching the prequels (haha). I’m not too sure what “Pershing” is, or what they were getting at with “cloning” (sorry lul), but I don’t think its placement detracted from the story at all - it’s a good break from the action to check in on Gideon. Perhaps I’m not following the story too well, but this just felt like an introduction to a complex group whose plans would be better explained in time.

If anyone has watched Naruto Shippuden, they do a similar meeting with The Akatsuki to introduce the group’s goals, then they expand on the stories of each antagonist in later episodes.

arabian said:
…with the mention of “I need protection, and we have to get rid of Mandalorians, and Pershing’s research is gone.” I mean, up to the scene prior, all we as the audience knew everyone thought Gideon was dead so WHY would he suddenly need like a ton of continued protection, the covert Mandalorians are all scattered now, and the Pershing message was literally sent 3 days ago where he said ‘I’m still working on it, boss! I’ll do better.’

While I agree with @Arabian that at that moment it seems the Mandalorians have dispersed, my impression was that the Shadow Council was getting close to finding them, and the meeting was ultimately for them to agree to get rid of the “pests.” Seeing as in Book 4, our protagonists successfully breach Gideon’s ship, maybe he was right to request protection from the Council?

As long as ACBagel has a plan to flesh out this group in future Books, I think this scene could pretty much fit anywhere as a breather.

Excited to see what you have next, love the films!