1x01 Ambush

Alright, since I'm going in chronological order rather than production order, it took me a while, but I finally got to the first episode of the first season! Hooray!

This wasn't the best outing from the show, but it had its moment. Going with a recognizable character like Yoda as the focus was fun, though again, the pacing felt a lot like a video game, with Yoda & Co. going up against each new, slightly stronger set of baddies as soon as they defeated the next one, with pretty thin connective tissue in between.

That said, the scene where Yoda tells the troopers that despite the fact that they're clones, he sees the differences in them and that the force is with them too was the highlight of the episode, and surprisingly moving. Yoda's overuse of his old latin-inspired sentence structure can get tiring in large doses, but when the writers relax it, he still comes off as wise, sensitive, and no less badass. It was a nice thing to see and felt like the Yoda who Luke met down on Dagobah. I'll admit, I did enjoy his flipping around and slicing up tanks and droids, though his meditative use of his force telekinesis powers instead were probably cooler in the long run.

While I was pretty excited to see Ventress again when I first started watching the show, I'm getting a little tired of her losing each battle, suffering no consequences, and then escaping at the last minute. But the whole trade alliance story seems mostly like an excuse to let Yoda have some fun anyway, so I'm not complaining too loudly.

As the first official episode of the show after the movie, Ambush had some things to prove narratively. The movie wasn't exactly the best in terms of representing the quality of the show, and as the first real mainstream Star Wars show, it also needed show that this series could be done in an episodic format while also retaining the level of quality the movies have in terms of their visual design. And while the prequels were a dark time for the series in terms of reception, as a first episode this is a solid start. The decision to start with Yoda as opposed to the leads of the show is a good choice as it reveals the audience very clearly that this will be an anthology series first and foremost, and to expect episodes focused on other characters then our leads constantly.

And it's fun! Yoda is the best he's been in a while here, both mixing the powerful warrior version in the prequels with the goofy, fun loving wise mentor from the original trilogy in a great blend. The droids are very silly and funny, much more then in the films, and while having our villains stand around for an entire episode doesn't exactly make for the most compelling storytelling, this is still a good time overall. A solid start, if a bit predictable and on the more obvious side.