cbr said:
Like the best of sw, the quality of this show is built on other movies/stories, just moved into the sw universe for added color/aliens/blasters/sounds and visuals.
Swashbuckling - lightsabers, ww2 dogfighting - tie v xwing, etc.,
Revolutions begin, prison escapes, all of it. But this is better than the rest of sw because the acting and writing is just really good all around, by any standard, not just sw, and they are taking their time.
I think there's a certain originality in this series in terms of the revolution/rebellion. There's a grittiness in the competition between the factions, Luthen's willingness to sacrifice 50 men for a guy he's also willing to blackmail and use, his desire to provoke the wrath of the Empire on innocent people to provoke a response in return, Mothma's inevitable choice to set her daughter up with a gangster's son and potentially offer him legitimacy through that union... That's not something you ever really see in revolution stories. You may get some cloak and dagger spy stuff, but nothing like this. Luthen would sacrifice his own mother for the rebellion without a second thought and he's the
good guy that you're rooting for.
Every story of revolution or rebellion is full of clean, selfless heros who sacrifice themselves for a noble cause. This one is full of antiheros willing to do horrible things and sacrifice whatever and whomever else it takes to save themselves, fan the flames, or ensure the rebellion lives on in the mere hope that something comes of it. It reminds me of Cassian's monologue in Rogue One:
Quote:
We'd like to volunteer. Some of us - well, most of us - we've all done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion. Spies, saboteurs, assassins. Everything I did, I did for the Rebellion. And every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget, I told myself it was for a cause that I believed in. A cause that was worth it. Without that, we're lost. Everything we've done would have been for nothing. I can't face myself if I gave up now. None of us could.
And Luthen's monologue fits this so incredibly well. He's making these sacrifices and asking them of others, like Cassian, knowing that no one will ever know their depth or appreciate it. Cassian never does find out if it was all for anything or not, and after these events, in the OT, all of them are just, "some really good people," who gave their lives to get the Death Star plans. Everything we see them go through and give up is eventually reduced to a line by those they've done it for, just as Luthen says
This isn't Obi Wan giving himself up to Vader to save Luke, Han, and Leia. This is much more visceral and real. The only other series that I think comes even close is Turn, but even that lacks a lot of the depth. This series isn't good because it's a story moved into the SW universe with good writing, it's good because this is an incredible story that just happens to be in the SW universe (though the phenomenal writing certainly helps).
