[7.8/10] Another strong outing. As we continue down the path of Morgan Elsbeth’s backstory, this is a sharp vignette to show us how she first connected with Thrawn.
From a pure practical standpoint, I appreciate the fact that, whether she realizes it or not, she has to work her way up through his goons. An exchange of words with Captain Pallaeon (featuring Xander Berkley reprising his live action role in The Mandalorian) to establish her credentials, and a war of weapons with Rukh (featuring franchise royalty Warwick Davis reprising his role as Rukh from Rebels) to establish her prowess as a fighter unwittingly earns her an audience with Thrawn herself.
I like their dynamic. Candidly, I didn’t always love Thrawn in Rebels. But I appreciate his characterization here, as someone who thinks bigger than just the Empire, who sees the flaws and vulnerability in it even as he’s working to sustain it. He recognizes how many individuals within the Empire’s leadership structure are there out of pure greed or pure fear. But he recognizes not only a capacity to think bigger in Morgan, but an objective, a drive, beyond the venal or quotidian wants of the rest of the Empire’s ossified commanders.
That drive is revenge. That too is prosaic in its way. But it’s also something that led Morgan to rebuild herself, to find a backwater planet like Corvus (the planet where Mando meets Ahsoka in The Mandalorian), and turn it into a built-up base of operations that the Imperials themselves want to harvest. You can see how that drive has lit a fire under her, making her capable and distinctive in an apparatus without much ingenuity.
I also like that this is a moment of self doubt, for Morgan and for her followers. The sense of anger on Corvus, where the workers who untied around her in search of wealth and prosperity turn resentful and threaten revolution when she fails to sway the Empire to take her up on her ship-designs, shows how much Morgan has riding on this. She banked her reputation and maybe her safety on this ploy. Likewise, her disgust that try as she might, these aren’t her people, only continues to fuel her resentment.
Thrawn is someone who can channel that, who can provide resources, who can see not only talent but distinctiveness. It’s plain from the tone of their team-up here that this is a deal with the devil. There’s something ominous about Thrawn’s fighters lurching into view, and the scared murmurs of the citizenry. But to get what she wants, Morgan will work with whomever she needs to, and do whatever it takes. That's what Thrawn's counting on. And it makes for another strong chapter in the story of how Elsbeth became the witch we would come to know later in the timeline.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2024-05-04T05:56:50Z
[7.8/10] Another strong outing. As we continue down the path of Morgan Elsbeth’s backstory, this is a sharp vignette to show us how she first connected with Thrawn.
From a pure practical standpoint, I appreciate the fact that, whether she realizes it or not, she has to work her way up through his goons. An exchange of words with Captain Pallaeon (featuring Xander Berkley reprising his live action role in The Mandalorian) to establish her credentials, and a war of weapons with Rukh (featuring franchise royalty Warwick Davis reprising his role as Rukh from Rebels) to establish her prowess as a fighter unwittingly earns her an audience with Thrawn herself.
I like their dynamic. Candidly, I didn’t always love Thrawn in Rebels. But I appreciate his characterization here, as someone who thinks bigger than just the Empire, who sees the flaws and vulnerability in it even as he’s working to sustain it. He recognizes how many individuals within the Empire’s leadership structure are there out of pure greed or pure fear. But he recognizes not only a capacity to think bigger in Morgan, but an objective, a drive, beyond the venal or quotidian wants of the rest of the Empire’s ossified commanders.
That drive is revenge. That too is prosaic in its way. But it’s also something that led Morgan to rebuild herself, to find a backwater planet like Corvus (the planet where Mando meets Ahsoka in The Mandalorian), and turn it into a built-up base of operations that the Imperials themselves want to harvest. You can see how that drive has lit a fire under her, making her capable and distinctive in an apparatus without much ingenuity.
I also like that this is a moment of self doubt, for Morgan and for her followers. The sense of anger on Corvus, where the workers who untied around her in search of wealth and prosperity turn resentful and threaten revolution when she fails to sway the Empire to take her up on her ship-designs, shows how much Morgan has riding on this. She banked her reputation and maybe her safety on this ploy. Likewise, her disgust that try as she might, these aren’t her people, only continues to fuel her resentment.
Thrawn is someone who can channel that, who can provide resources, who can see not only talent but distinctiveness. It’s plain from the tone of their team-up here that this is a deal with the devil. There’s something ominous about Thrawn’s fighters lurching into view, and the scared murmurs of the citizenry. But to get what she wants, Morgan will work with whomever she needs to, and do whatever it takes. That's what Thrawn's counting on. And it makes for another strong chapter in the story of how Elsbeth became the witch we would come to know later in the timeline.