Joanna Robinson and Mallory Rubin are doing Ahsoka recaps for all SW things, they are now on a separate feed called House of R, still part of Ringer just not on the ringer verse feed.
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If youād like to hear from Joanna herself, the new House of R feed (recently spun off from Ringerverse) is mostly about first prepping for Ahsoka by discussing relevant back episodes of Clone Wars/Rebels and then doing deep-dives on the Ahsoka episodes so far.
Slight caution that even though I like Mal and Joanna individually, I never feel like theyāre THAT great as a duo even though they seem to have forged a significant friendship outside of the podcast. From the Ringer family, Iāve probably been enjoying The Midnight Boys (within the Ringerverse feed) more than House of R recently. But theyāre doing instant-reaction stuff to Ahsoka rather than any of the deep-dive work Mal and Jo have done.
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I will freely admit that I enjoy some reaction channels, especially the ones who have deep-dive Star Wars fans on them. Reel Rejects and Blind Wave are two that come to mind.
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I gotta check it out. My concern is that like with LKJās critique, I found out that what I truly love is Joannaās dynamic with Dave Chen. Literally every recap show they did (including Justified!!) is the standard for how to do these kinds of shows. Free flowing yet well paced and directed.
But the stuff Joanna has done afterward depends so much on who she is talking to for me to enjoy the dynamic.
Thanks @LKJ and @skydiver8! Appreciate you taking the time.
Iām a bit of a completist when I watch something, hate missing even tiny detailsā¦so I could probably stand to watch the prequels, and even enjoy them. Weāll see, available time is my biggest issue to be honest. Iāll probably need the rest of 2023 to get through prequels + clone wars alone - if Iām lucky.
On the other hand clone wars episodes are short and possible to watch on my phone on the crapper, always a plus 
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An entire Star Wars rewatch, as suggested by the heads here. is something Iām saving for myself.
I think maybe those guys got started ābefore my timeā on YouTube. The channels I follow most seem to have all popped up with Mandalorianās first season, and Iāve watched with them as they grew from independent folks with 500 followers to reactors/reviewers with hundreds of thousands or more.
Never got into the Ringer or Geek and Sundry or whatnot because honestly, I just didnāt start following this stuff until a couple of years ago and I feel like i missed the boat on them, and also theyāre so big itās confusing, heh
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Yeah, I generally enjoy their podcast when Iām in the mood for something casual, but I have mixed feelings about their deep dives, especially if Iām not into something as much as they are. Itās not that they are reticent to be critical, itās more like they sometimes elevate something that struck me as mundane to āthis is the best thing everā, so when theyāre riffing on something I liked a lot, itās hard to tell the difference.
And I think they have gone meta with it pretty early, so it seems like they make fun of themselves for their over the top enthusiasm at times, making it even harder to judge whether they thought something was ok vs. āLuke I am your fatherā iconic. To be fair, itās mostly Mallory Rubin doing this.
Tried Midnight Boys once, not sure what it was, didnāt stick at all. Iāll check out their Ahsoka ep4 takes, maybe I wrote them off too rashly.
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Charles Holmes is the member of the Midnight Boys who draws silly comments about how he āhates just to hate,ā etc. People who say that are wrong; he gives honest reactions when all the fandom communities seemingly just want hype. Mind you, heās definitely critical unless the product earns otherwise, but I donāt think in any way that heās just leaning into a character or something. Anyway, if you listen, thatās the dynamic youāre stepping into with this weekās ep when he takes the rare step of heaping unfettered praise on the latest Ahsoka ep.
Midnight Boys give me a lot of good laughs. Iām definitely a fan.
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Reading Darth Plagueis first actually made me really like Ep 1 on rewatch. Couldnāt save Ep 2 though, that thingās still a pile of crap.
Ahsoka ep 5
This was decent, I enjoyed it, I probably built my hopes up too much beforehand though. I shrugged at the Clone Wars flashback. It does seem they used this ep to mark a character change for Ahsoka, which is probably more interesting to me than how they got there. I think itās cool what theyāre doing with Jacen. Glad to see this being the most Hera-heavy episode to date, though based on the ending that was probably most of what weāre getting from her for the rest of the season. I donāt care that much about Purrgils? Theyāre alright. I simultaneously shrug at them and worry that theyāre a channel-changer for casuals, but that could be wrong.
Iām liking the season, but at this point it probably has some work to do in order to beat out either of the first two seasons of Mando. Definitely better than Mando S3. Definitely better than Kenobi. Definitely worse than Andor.
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Just started Ahsoka. 1.5 episodes in. Hereās my first complaint:
You can survive a light saber going straight through your chest? LOL WAT? Come the fuck on.
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That exact thing happened in Kenobi too. Star Wars is really, really bad at death. Inexcusably bad.
also, cauterization
Even if true, I could see a Jedi letting their opponent live, but a Sith? Once the light saber is in there, just flick the wrist sideways and itās game over. Why would you not do that?
First, mea culpa about episode 4, after listening to the midnight boys, house of R, and one rewatch, I can say I enjoyed it. Part of it is there was a lot of rebels stuff I didnāt know happened already (world between worlds stuff), another part is I tend to watch premium TV on the treadmill for minimizing the pain, but it makes me sometimes too grouchy. Anyway, went into ep 5 with solid hopes,
Iāll give this one like a 7.99 out of 10. For something that was apparently screened in theaters it was pretty short, and it could have moved things along more. I donāt see where the harm would be if we got a taste of Sabine/Baylon in another galaxy to set up more suspense.
The good stuff, I liked Hera and the kid, the robot has been on point all season. While it didnāt turn out to be a very big role, I thought Hayden Christensen was fantastic, and damn Lucas for being so so bad at writing dialogue and directing actors that he probably ruined this guyās career in the prequels. The dueling was very crisp, I enjoyed everything about the flashbacks, having not watched the animated stuff except for a few clips on youtubes. But tbh, I ultimately missed the lesson Anakin/whoever was supposed to have taught Ahsoka, if someone can clue me in Iād appreciate it.
Space whales were majestic, but again would have appreciated a preview of the destination for pacing reasons, even if Ahsoka doesnāt end up where Sabine is right away.
Oh yeah, good call, I havenāt complimented the droid yet, but this is another strong addition to the snarky droids collection (joining AP-5 from Rebels and K-2SO from Rogue One and probably Andor).
Agree that Christensen has done good work here, and Iām very glad for him that heās getting redemption after Episode II made him look like a complete clown.
I gave this episode a 7 on IMDb. Iāve gone 7-7-6-8-7 for my episode ratings this season.
So, just done with 2 episodes of Ahsoka. Hereās my Star Wars casual fan question: where did Ahsoka come from?
Iāve watch all 9 of the movies, Mando, Andor, Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan. Thatās it. None of the animated stuff.
I saw her in Mandalorian, but thatās it. Is the viewer expected to know more backstory? If so, could someone give me the non-spoiler version. I donāt want to look it up for fear of inadvertently spoiling myself.
After all the Jedi got killed in Episode III, IIRC the only force sensitive beings left that we know of were Obi-Wan, Yoda, Emperor, and Vader. Maybe some others didnāt get killed. Thatās all I remember.
She was Anakinās padawan during the Clone Wars and played a major role in the animated series.
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Ahsoka s01e05
Thereās no outright confirmation of when Anakin is from or if it is even him and not some figment of the imagination, but I choose to believe this is him from post-RotJ, given his line about having heard someone refuse to fight him before.
Believing that, then a redeemed Anakin should be benevolent towards Ashoka and want her to live. For her to live, she has to choose life. Baylan told her that she had a legacy of death and destruction and we see her being groomed as a child warrior, something more chilling when portrayed in live action rather than animation. It was a shock to her when she found out Anakin had become Darth Vader. She had to be reminded that there was good in Anakin (The Clone Wars showed how he was good), shown through memory rather than told, that she was not the legacy of Darth Vader but the more complex legacy of Anakin Skywalker that includes Vader but also so much more. And she can build her own legacy. As she was doing at the Battle of Mandalore. As she could do with Sabine if she put her heart into training.
Her character had seemed overly stoic to longtime fans and could be interpreted as her going through the motions in life. She felt more lively after her experience, like you could see a bit of the attitude that earned her the nickname āSnipsā.
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