2:35 So Sabine performs poorly in her lightsaber drills or assessment, and offers the excuse that it’s been awhile. Then when Ahsoka backhandedly compliments her on remembering the minimum, she asserts that she remembers enough to get by. Aside from the “not good” assessment she just received, she also lost a lightsaber fight, and took what is now a canonically non-fatal stab through the torso that had her bedridden for an episode. She has no basis for claiming any sort of competence at all. She did not impress on either a formal assessment of her fundamental skills, and failed in the practical application of the same!

And that haircut makes her look like Ezra Miller.

3:10 Ahsoka claims that her combat skills come from her Mandalorian upbringing. Which is weird because Boba Fett and Din Djarin and Paz Visla and Axe Woves and Bo Katan exclusively used guns, except for the Darksaber, with which Din and Bo Katan seldom demonstrated any real swordsmanship, simply relying on its properties to cut through what the plot needed. I don’t recall Sabine using guns in “Rebels,” either.

5:11 This is just a more tedious and low-energy version of Obi-Wan training Luke in the original movie. Where the training used blaster bolts, because that’s a more plausible and serious threat he might have to face in this setting. Star Wars movies by Lucas never showed Jedi sparring. All training with lightsabers was against those remotes, because the key is not honing your reflexes and drilling in forms and moves, but reaching through the Force to anticipate threats and guide your reactions. And that works for anything. Sparring only works if you are going to get into a lightsaber duel, when that weapon is exclusively used by your allies, in theory. No one trains to fight the Sith because there are only a couple of them in the whole galaxy and the odds of encountering one are vanishingly small. Training for a lightsaber duel is either an indication of suspect intentions or awareness of one’s own main character status. And still not as useful as training to anticipate and deflect blaster shots.

6:47 Yes, anger and frustration give power, but the problem there is they lead to the Dark Side of the Force. If they unbalance you, there is not even a short-term advantage and no moral impetus to reject them. The show is not making the Jedi good, simply practical.

8:02 Why are the Chancellor of the Republic and four Senators the ones waiting on a military officer’s report?

8:17 This is not an answer to the statement Hera made. She was not accusing anyone or lobbying for a policy change with regard to former Imperials. That’s what the Senator’s reaction would be appropriate for.

8:21 Hera’s retort that these Imperials were still loyal does not counter the Senator’s assertion that they were outliers and most former Imperials are loyal to the Republic. Her response would fit the Senator scoffing that Hera misinterpreted the actions and intentions of her adversaries or an attempt to blame her for the fight, by claiming she was assaulting or abusing loyal Republic officials.

8:54 “I have reason to believe…” means nothing, without giving the actual reasons. Otherwise it’s no different from saying “My opinion is….”

9:00 She is asking for approval to send a task force to a particular system to find out. Isn’t she the one who asserted that by her rank and position absolutely nothing is classified from her? Anyone who is immune to any and all levels or categories of classification should have enough discretionary power to deploy a task force. Most military organizations have information that is classified from even the highest ranking officers for compartmentalization, not necessarily rank or status. In other words, it’s got nothing to do with your trustworthiness and authority, it’s simply that no one is allowed to know unless they are directly involved, for one reason or another. If Hera can override any and all classification, she should not need permission for anything.

Also: “I have reason to believe…”
“Are you certain?”
“…I could find out.”
No. This is not a conversation between people who are paying attention to what the other says, this is a script aimed at getting to a certain point. What are her reasons to believe, if she needs to do something to find out? Who says “No” when asked if they are certain about something they stated they have a reason to believe? (well, Hera, apparently) Why wasn’t a review of those reasons to believe the next step? I could see Hera trying to gloss over those reasons if they aren’t very strong or convincing, and fishing for this task force, but no halfway decent organization would let her get away with it. The woman who worked with Luthen Rael to build up the Rebel Alliance from its infancy would not miss a trick like that. Heck, she even abandoned her war-time haircut and went back to her old Senatorial doo, so it should be on her mind!

10:12 Hera’s point is that the possibility of Thrawn’s return presents a danger. I could see why you’d be annoyed with her, given the highly suspicious nature of her presentation to date, which involves mostly claiming on her own authority that something exists and attempting to smear her critic’s loyalty and not actually refuting the charge that she is motivated by personal considerations and diverting resources to personal agendas. But her point and central argument are abundantly clear.

10:26 After being accused of have ulterior personal motives, she invokes her personal losses in attempting to explain the threat posed by Thrawn’s return.

10:42 She snaps back at the Senator immediately after he states that Ezra is also dead. That only supports the idea that she is blinded by her personal motives.

11:02 She has to leave the room? They can’t just switch to a different channel? Also, they are holding this conversation in front of a couple of guards above and behind their position, who, serving directly under Hera, might actually be loyal to her, rather than the politicians and might repeat every word they hear. Not to mention there could be any number of recording methods being used. The shot at this timestamp shows crates just strewn about the room! Anything could be in, or concealed by, them. This method of communication makes no sense.

11:02 How long has it been since the end of Rebels? AFAIK, this kid had not yet been born on that show. Unless she adopted him, what with having a totally human appearance.

12:10 Is an adult actually believing that the mind masters and retains skills and knowledge more quickly because the geopolitical situation is deteriorating?

12:38 Why are there all these 2 and 3 second pauses between lines? Are they recording this separately?

12:59 Was sliding that cup across the table supposed to be some sort of power move? That looks like the kind of thing you might pat a youngling on the back for, not demonstrate your mastery and superior talent and discipline

13:20 What did that conversation tell us about Sabine or Ahsoka? Was it building on their established characterizations? They both seem sort of dull and lifeless compared to their appearances in Rebels. Was there any substance here beyond rehashing Jedi training, as if anyone watching three episodes into this Star Wars show does not know all that? My father saw the OT and at least the first two prequels and is otherwise unenthusiastic about it, but I’m pretty sure he would not have come away from watching that scene saying he needed the refresher.

17:24 Ahsoka claims she never needed the presets Sabine used for the tail gun, so which Sabine responds “So you say…” Well, wouldn’t she know? That she cleared them out suggests she has used the tail gun and successfully, which would suggest she did not, in fact, need them. Why should she keep the customized settings for someone who was no longer part of her crew?

19:57 This can’t help but draw comparisons to the original film’s scene of a similar nature. And this one just falls flat and feels excessively self-congratulatory. Han and Luke were not blaming Chewie and Leia for their missing (and appeared to use a computer to track and target the enemies more than Sabine does) and their behavior reinforced their characterization. This is just bleh.

20:36 The guy who might not be a brainwashed Ezra is called Marrok.

23:42 How did she cram her very distinctive head parts into a form-fitting helmet and suit so fast?

24:10 Why did the presence of an individual on the exterior of the ship, wielding hand-to-hand weapons entice the fighter pilot to pass that close? Why were they not standing off and shooting from a distance? Why not approach from three different vectors to provide more fire from more direction than she could plausibly deflect? Why not approach from the opposite side and shoot the ship to pieces on the side she cannot defend? Why does the big ring thingy only have guns pointed in one direction that they cannot finish off a ship that is dead in space?

24:27 So the only substantive damage done by turbolaser blasts was overcome by fixing the wiring in the cockpit. No structural issues? No damage to the engine or power distribution systems, just knocked out the controls?

24:32 Just this episode, Ahsoka has demonstrated her ability to perform telekinesis with the Force. Why not get herself back to the ship, instead of demanding that Sabine come get her?

27:47 Of course, because this is Star Wars, the Empire is setting up a project, so important that it requires the personal attention of the leader and 50% of the Force-user contingent, in a system they do not have 100% secured and locked down, and all you need to do to hide from them is fly out of sight of their fighter complement and land among some trees. Why are there no satellites covering the whole planet’s surface and tracking anything that lands there? Why is this thing that is so important (I am assuming it is for the purposes of transporting Thrawn from that other galaxy) only protected by six fighters and turbolasers that can only fire in one direction?

Big old nothing burger of an episode. This is the third of eight, and all we have done was establish that the bad guys are building a ship to make the journey set up in the prior episodes, and which could easily have been inferred from the fact that they have stolen several engines that are so powerful no one could think of a use for them. Also, the New Republic can't even be bothered to go looking in a particular system to see if something is there, or else Hera has made such a pain in the ass of herself that the politicians will shut her down just to spite her. If that was intended to show the complacency of the New Republic's leadership, there would be much more subtle, less stupid ways to do it, without rendering their command and control and civilian oversight procedures nonsensical. Some better reason than "we could spend that money on welfare projects instead" would be helpful, too. All sorts of things could be brought up, like Denab is too close to a system that is balking under Republic leadership and they can't afford the fallout of provoking them with military maneuvers so nearby, or their task forces are all too busy with other missions, and the best they can do is a small recon force, and they could all get massacred by Darth Bangs and Not-Ezra with only the Jedi ship escaping by the skin of their teeth. Same outcome, raises the stakes, and makes the leadership look less stupid, and Hera less useless.