I agree with much of what has already been said. Some of my early random and rambling thoughts on the two episodes.
There is a lack of tone or atmosphere to the show. Filming on a stage set or on the volume, as opposed to the outdoors on location, does take away from that immersion of believability for the viewer when not executed well, and more importantly appears to zap the actors of emotion or urgency to their scenes. Wexter put it well: like a stage play, but only more dry.
Rasario’s muted performance, barely a flicker of emotion at times so far, has in my mind also somehow affected other actors sharing scenes with her. They are a little one note, without pace, tension or emotion. As rocknroll41 posted, a little wooden. Dramatic pauses and talking slowly don’t make for engaging scenes that have little or no tension in them (see Andor for how that is achieved, especially for building tension). There is quite a notable difference between Ashley’s performance of Ahsoka for Rebels and Rosario’s for this. So I am hoping for that performance to kick into life, now we have moved past these set-up episodes. We know Rosario is a good and talented actress, but she is not showing much of this, as yet.
The staid dialogue isn’t helping and is quite clunky in places. I wish as much effort had gone into the pacing, emotion, and dialogue as there obviously was with the call-backs, fan service and mirroring or homages from previous Star Wars content.
I have to agree with Emre that the background characters, and the background “bad guys” being moustache twirling and lazily written for does not help and appear to become a staple for Filoni shows. The point about the droids announcing the “self destruct” announcement giving Ahsoka just enough time to narrowly get away is spot on. That scene was eye-rolling. The map MacGuffin yet again? Really?
Impaled by a lightsaber yet everything is okay, soon after, yet again? Do lightsabers have a “stun setting” now?
As Z6PO said, why make that impalement a cliff-hanger for the end of the episode? We know from the promo material Sabine has a lot of appearances and footage to fulfil. What would have been surprising, shocking, and a welcome change of pace and tone would have been for Shin to have killed Sabine. It may have even been reason to kickstart Rasario’s performance as Ahsoka, and out of the subdued somewhat aloof-ish characterisation this far. To shake things up, put the viewer on edge, give the story some oomph, feeling, some emotion. Instead, Emre’s “barely an inconvenience” line from the Pitch Meeting videos made me laugh out loud, thank you for that.
No mention at all of Luke, Leia, or Han yet. Even mention of Lando, Chewy, Ackbar? For the whispers and rumours of Thrawn returning to galvanise the Empire and throw the New Republic into turmoil, we just get Ahsoka and some casual interest from Hera? Well so far, anyway.
I did like the speed racer scene, a neat introduction for those not aware of Sabine or her character. However, it did feel like a car TV advert with their being no other traffic on the road out of a major city! Just a minor gripe.
A shout out for the sound design and score, ship design too. End credits are tidy too. The main villains, notably Shin & Baylan have stood out for me. Followed by the droids, and LothCat! Like Humby says, there was a lot of work to do get audiences up to speed with all of the characters and plot lines, it has now done that, so let’s hope it does things more elegantly from now on in.
Like others, I hope the series improves as we go on. Ahsoka is better than Kenobi, BoBF, and recent Mandalorian for sure. Yet nowhere near quality and execution of Andor. I eagerly await The Mandalorian to turn up for two episodes about him, and maybe another episode focused on Dr Pershing and the Imperial sidekick. Just kidding, just kidding! I hope we get more of “show, don’t tell” mantra for the rest of the story, especially for viewers who haven’t experienced those events from The Clone Wars and Rebels. The exposition was little clunky, like the other dialogue in places, and so flashback scenes would be more preferable.
I can see why critics are saying fans of Rebels will love the show as it does appear to be Rebels season 5. And I’m happy that it has scored so well on the review sites. I don’t usually give too much credence to them, but given the history of toxic aspects of fandom since 2015, the politicisation of fandom, review bombing, and hate-for-$$$ online, it is pleasing to see a show receive a high number of positive comments and reviews. And that other fans are obviously enjoying this so far.
That’s enough of my rambling on, and saying nothing that nobody doesn’t already know.
Some mainstream (non-toxic/non-FDM) reviews and explainer videos:
www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/ahsoka-premiere-recap-star-wars-dave-filoni-rosario-dawson-disney-1234809424
www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a44889043/ahsoka-star-wars-disney-review
www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/ahsoka-review-rosario-dawson-disney-1235570414
www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/ahsoka-review-star-wars-series-disney-plus-1234897711
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/22/entertainment/ahsoka-review/index.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Th-of7_zI - HelloGreedo Ep 1 Review, 5 minute video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL3sPxcNgA4 - HelloGreedo Ep 2 Review, 5 minute video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKyPkuxdG7o - IGN 5 minute review for both episodes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTnPVN6jLs0 - Star Wars Explained, 20 minute review for both episodes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZeoo8rQO3s - EckhartsLadder 5 minute spoiler-free review
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN3IoG7Glgs - ScreenCrush, 35 minute Breakdown video.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dveuEHoFGs - Heavy Spoilers, 30 minute Breakdown video