We watched EP3 last night. We're done and checking out. From absurd to offensive we're both pretty bothered by it. I try not to rant about this kind of stuff as I've grown up around friends who argue to no end about SW or ST but this one has pushed me over the edge.
If you have a Y chromosome then the only roles available in this show are incompetent, evil, or subservient. Absolutely nothing so far, beyond Clancy Brown's cameo, and the fighter pilot in Ep1 has proven otherwise. Additionally in EP3 the only character that comes close to otherwise being a positive role model is treated as a senile old man who minutes after I guessed it was TKO'd. I realize and fully agree about the inbalance in the industry going back over a century now but this is just a 180 role reversal which completely is repeating the same mistakes to another group. There is no balance which is ironically what has been an ongoing goal from the first movie. I fully agree we need diversity and inclusiveness but this is not that and again I have to reference ST Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, and even The Mandalorian, all of which managed to achieve those goals without consistently throwing a specific group under the bus.
Sabine-Alright she's young and grieving over Ezra. I get it but this character came from a royal Mandalorian family who dealt with the clan wars, then fought the empire, and then she was in Rebels for 4 seasons, again fighting the empire, more clan war stuff, and if I remember correctly even had to deal with some bounty hunter stuff (I admit I can't remember if that's true but pretty sure it was), not to mention being shown as essentially growing up and maturing. Now all of a sudden, all of those life experiences have been jettisoned and she can't fly, shoot, or fight and stuck acting like a spoiled 13-year-old. The premise of her hiding out in Ep1 and getting ambushed is ludicrous as well. With her said experiences she would have easily had measures in place to warn her ahead of time. She may look older now but is being treated younger than any of the flashbacks in Rebels.
The fight scenes in Ep3 are just plain idiotic. Now it's a known joke in SW with stormtroopers being bad shots and a single rebel can take down an entire infantry but that had begun to change over the years. This week's episode has jettisoned that entire dynamic. Sure Ahsoka's ship's wings can rotate but you-know-for-what's sake why is it that roughly a half dozen or more ships, including the giant cruiser thing, can only aim at them? Seriously put 7 year-old behind a cannon and tell them, hey see the big circle that looks like a bullseye and is barely moving? Aim for that. Pretty sure that dogfight would've ended a whole lot more quickly, and Ahsoka's evasive maneuvers where anything but, other than spinning her wings. Speaking of the dog fight, that scene where Ahsoka goes outside the ship is equally bonkers (looked kind of cool) but if those Sith/bounty hunter pilots have the skills to fly head-on within feet/inches of her ship and not collide how is it that couldn't manage to actually damage it during the strafing runs?
To end my rant, the apprentice, Shin Hati, is sorely underused. Basically pout and pose in nearly every scene. Seems like this one was plucked straight out of the Twilight movies. My wife is beyond annoyed with her and Sabine, even before I said anything, and when I added my observations about the treatment of the male characters she instantly took notice and was equally disappointed. I feel sorry for the late RW, relegated to essentially being a bad Santa in a galaxy far, far, away.
