What I liked about the episode was the juxtaposition of the flashback with Kenobi training Padawan Anakin and the 'real time' events....and how Vader failed in that instance because he failed to absorb the lesson Kenobi was teaching Anakin. I also liked how they displayed Vader's sheer power and fierocity and showed that he's on a level that no one else around is.
The writing is what the writing is on this show. Certainly can nit pick it to death but at this point I'm just trying to take it all in as some more SW's stuff and try not to get to bent out of shape over some lazy writing. We've beat that to death....there's no excuse for it but I don't think it's going to change anytime soon.
Yea. While I point out those issues I had, and they were issues for me, I am still enjoying the show and thought this was a good episode and the flashbacks were great.
This is pretty much where I am. I do think it is the best episode so far. But there were still some problems where the writing wasn't particularly good. And it's frustrating to me because, as is the case with all things Star Wars from the prequels onward, there's a really good story in there, and some really good ideas, and it is all just executed poorly at times.
On the other hand, as is often pointed out in these discussions, it still has that feel of the Saturday afternoon serial that Lucas was going for 4 1/2 decades ago. And in that vein, this is a franchise that keeps on delivering content that, if you let it, is fun, and I can appreciate that. It's like ball park nachos. Back in the '70s, your basic nachos with just chips, cheese sludge, and jalapenos were kind of a new thing. When you could get them, they were great, and you kind of ignored the fact that they were bad for you and weren't really "good food" at all, but had a novel yumminess factor that, in the moment, was pretty good. As time passed, we learned how to take nachos up several notches and even make them gourmet. And the basic nachos became even worse because they are now often prepackaged chips with a vaccuum sealed cup of jalapeno flavored (or plain) cheese sauce that is inferior to the original (not to mention getting the cheese/chip ratio totally wrong). I can occasionally have that as a snack at the ballpark. I know it's empty calories and that it is objectively not good food. But it's fun and familiar, and I can enjoy it in the moment if I let myself not get tied in knots over the issues I have with it.
One last issue regarding Reva: Maybe I am missing the point, but I saw her character motivation a bit differently that some of what was posted above. I'm not sure her long game was getting revenge on Vader, and that she tamped that down and hid it until she could take advantage. How I took her character is that she equally hated Vader
and the jedi for what happened to her as a child, but that she basically saw revenge against Vade as out of reach, so she embraced the dark side and poured all her hate into revenge against the jedi, but that Obi Wan's conversation with her made her realize that she could perhaps get to Vader after all, so she pivoted and took that perceived opportunity. Am I off on that? Maybe I just wasn't paying close attention.