I agree with the props and costumes, but I felt some of the sets felt a little cheap and small. I would also throw fight choreography into the pros. The ratio of how insanely good the fight choreography was vs how bad some of the acting/writing was, was high.
a weird take (and correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't think they've done this for any of the Disney+ shows yet), but part of me wonders if a novelization of this would've been somewhat more engaging. some of the show's structure and pacing feels like it might lend itself to a written medium.
Also not to add to the reckless speculation, but Vernestra’s padawan in the books is named Imri, which is eerily close to Qimir if you just add a Q.
I still feel weird about Headland casting her own wife as Vernestra. Maybe if the role was smaller/less important and if Rebecca Henderson's acting wasn't so subpar I would be more ok it. Just feels like blatant nepotism.
I was thinking last night this show would have worked better as a comic book, where the stakes are a little lower and there’s more freedom to explore and sympathize with the dark side. Plus flashbacks from different perspectives in comics are easier to showcase, I think, and fun to look at side by side
with the whole season finished, i'll also say that while many risks were taken - with several of them not really paying off the way the should - i'm glad this show exists and hope that the initial backlash doesn't result in Disney walking back this kind of risk-taking in favor of more interconnected, crowd-pleasing content. i love a lot of the stuff from the New Republic storyline/Mandoverse, but if this doesn't get a second season, i feel the reception to this will lead them to double down on that time period and storytelling style even more. it's not a new tactic for Lucasfilm, and Disney as a whole seems to be leaning into that more with other projects (see the recent news about Pixar).
I recently read the comic series where Vader bleeds his kyber. He spends like 4 and a half issues trying to kill a Jedi without a weapon to get their saber kyber, and then he bleeds it in a few pages. These dudes don't know shit. Also did they just miss the whole thing about how "the force doesn't fade with the dark side" a few episodes ago?
this stuck out to me too, the acting was super mid from her to the point that whenever Vernestra was on screen it just felt so flat and uninspring
There are things I liked and things I disliked about this show. Par for the course with most of Star Wars, but enough interesting stuff that keeps me coming back for more baby.
I'll take a season two with better writing and acting for sure. Lean into the dark side stuff completely please, I thought that's what this show was supposed to be.
Yeah I just want a show about the Sith in hiding plotting their revenge, and this season felt like it was working towards that, and that it's eventually going to be that, but I kinda just wanted that from the jump.
I really enjoyed most of what this season did and what it brought to Star Wars. It started a bit weak with some jarring pacing and acting, but it grew into something pretty cool and I thought the fight choreography was really impressive. I really don't know how to tell what's just noise, and what is legitimately a show tanking these days, but boy was the vitriol LOUD against this one. All the usual grifters on youtube must have made bank with the engagement on their hate videos for this, but who knows how that translate to the shows success / future.
Ehh as much as I want to believe they’d lean more into the dark side in the second season, I have a feeling the spotlight will be on Vernestra
I was also intrigued by the Coruscant plotline by the end. Vernestra pulling the cover up is interesting to me on a character level and the senator who is almost certainly a sith worked/should have been introduced sooner to give that story even the slightest context and stakes. They got there eventually lol. Plus they teased her light whip but we never got to see it in a fight, which were clearly one of the standout elements of the show.
i thought we were gonna get a Stranger/Vernestra lightwhip fight, so i'm bummed we might have to wait until next season to see it or potentially go without it.
one thought i just had would be an exploration of the Jedi master/susceptible to the Dark Side pupil dynamic that might thematically parallel Luke/Kylo in TLJ, and tbh, i don't know that i'd be interested in that. didn't see any other indication that they might be establishing a Knights of Ren backstory either.
finale was as expected. feels like a pretty wasted first season with some really good scenes and characters that is setup for the juicy plot ahead. The lightsaber fight crushed, the big teases were a bit of a bummer to me with no dialogue. I am psyched about where it ended. I see potential in the ongoing story. As an avid high republic reader I was iffy about Vanestra the whole season but felt like they justified her inclusion on this one.