One of the down sides of watching these at 5 am is that I tend to be grumpy after I get up. My first viewing, everything felt off. Ahsoka felt wrong, the dialog felt stilted, I didn't get all the easter eggs. It was a good episode, but I felt let down somehow. It probably didn't help that I'd had the entire episode spoiled a couple days ago. Because I have no self control. You're all welcome for not posting the spoiler info here...

And then I watched it a second time after work. Complete 180.

Really loved Dawson as Ahsoka. She seemed like a genuine embodiment of the grown-up, experienced version of the character. I had a similar experience with Katee Sackhoff a couple of weeks ago, where during my first viewing she seemed off, but then upon review I thought she nailed it.

The lightsaber combat was pretty great. It was almost a horror vibe at the beginning, and she toyed with the guards the entire episode, basically. She was clearly on another level, but it wasn't a video game cutscene.

Morai! I completely missed her the first time. (That's the owl creature that follows Ahsoka Tano around, lot of clone wars history there).

HK droids! Meatbags!

I'd really like to get some additional information about Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth. Not the least of which being how she was so capable in combat against Ahsoka and why Thrawn was referred to as her "master".

Thrawn!

I have a bad feeling about both Sabine and Ezra. If Thrawn is alive and kicking I don't think it bodes well for Ezra, whether it's a dark side turn or death. And the lack of any mention of Sabine at this point is pretty glaring.

So much from Legends being pulled into canon. Tython?!? Holy shit.

I hated the name Grogu the first time I heard it a few days ago. It's grown on me.

I see people online still referring to him as an 'infant' or a 'child'. How accurate is that? Can he speak and has chosen not to? He likely trained for decades, and he's clearly very, very strong in the force. Is the child thing an act?

I get the hiding bit, though. We saw Maul and Ahsoka feel Order 66. Imagine the kid...

Just a lot to think about. I could see me watching this episode a couple more times.

Maybe the most important episode, if not the best, to date. They're really going into some unexpected territory.

I think this is what Favs was referring to when he mentioned the show making a major change about halfway through. I thought it was going to be in tone, getting darker, but no, I think it's the first opening of the window into a much larger universe.

Thrawn

At this point, that seems like more of a "When" and not an "If".

Otherwise, there's no reason to mention him if he doesn't appear in this season, future seasons or one of the spinoffs because there are literally tens of millions of Star Wars fans that have never read the Thrawn Trilogy, Duology or saw Star Wars Rebels.

As much as I loved the episode, it really did feel like a Pilot to a Spin Off, NTTATWWT.

The most intriguing line in the entire episode IMO was Ahsoka stating that "There aren't many Jedi left".

Well, we know that Ahsoka is still alive for sure but she's going to hunt down Thrawn, so she's likely out as Grogu's Master. I really hope that a series with her, Sabine and Bo-Katan happens because I think it would be absolutely amazing.

That leaves Ezra Bridger as a possibility, although unlikely at this point. Cal Kestis from Fallen Jedi might be an option.

But of course, the coolest reveal would be that the most powerful surviving Jedi of them all appears on top of the mountain to Grogu: Luke Skywalker.

I'd freaking shit my pants if Sebastian Stan shows up as Luke. I probably wouldn't even be able to sleep after seeing that episode.

I'm with you on the staying up thing. Each time I've stayed up until midnight to watch an episode, I feel pretty "blah" about it afterwards.
It happened after the very first episode and it happened again early this morning.

When I go back and re-watch at a reasonable hour, I'm completely blown away and feel like a little kid this season. As much as I'm just dying to know to what happens, I just need to go to bed and watch it once I'm fully awake, have had breakfast, etc.

I also caught Morai's appearance immediately, which wasn't unexpected since this episode was Filoni's baby, but it was still super cool to see. The fight between Ahsoka and Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth was fucking BADASS and for those that aren't familiar with the actress, she's a Stuntwoman and amazing Martial Artist whose father is a legend in Hollywood. Her Godfather is none other than Bruce Lee, and she bears his middle name: Diana Lee Inosanto.

It's kind of too bad she's dead because as an ally of Thrawn, her backstory is probably pretty freaking evil and awesome.

As I mentioned previously in this thread, I've told all my friends over at the Mouse that I didn't want any spoilers for this season, which has actually made it an absolute blast because unlike Abrams and his merry band of bozos, Filoni and Favreau totally "get" Star Wars. I haven't felt even an millilitre of disappointment with any aspect of this season.

All that said, it certainly feels like they're setting up something.

I know that there are quite a few new series in development but if they decide to go down a path similar to the Thrawn Trilogy while bringing back Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie and Lando, Disney+ will add 50 million subs overnight.

I thought they did Ahsoka well. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Ahsoka did some CRAZY shit physically. I mean it would be like trying to get a live action Wylie Coyote. But they did a nice job. With the cuts, blocking and effects they used they obviously approached it with care.

Dawson took a second to get used to but I was all in by the end. It was a little evident what she was doing vs what the stunt gal was doing. Still well done. I’m not sure how far they can push the string in terms of having a million action scenes likely they did in the animated series. I think there is possibly a ceiling on how much action they can do with the blocking and effects, but again they’ve earned the rope to hang themselves with.

Re: Thrawn. All I know about him is from Rebels. I’m interested to see where they go with this. Swinging for the fences man. That’s a hell of a swing. That can go all the way wrong. But again. They earned the rope.

Re: Danes comments about it not feeling like Mando. The Ahsoka stuff certainly was a different experience altogether. But the Mando stuff was pure Mando. It was a really nice blend of styles.

Re: Beskar can it really eat a straight cut from a lightsaber? I’d have to go back and watch, but damn I feel like that isn’t what I’ve seen in Clone wars/Rebels. But I could be wrong. Pretty nice flex that Mando was fixing to take a whoppin from Ahsoka. Good that they didn’t have him square up and be her equal. Nice care to take to take a real objective look at how it would go. Really REALLY fucking well done.

I’m going to be tremendously sad when we hit ep 8. :-)