Tales of the Empire -- NO SPOILERS!
So I've finished up the whole thing -- it's not that long, 6 episodes and the longest are about 16 minutes.
The blurb talks about the series examining two heroes on different trajectories, and it does, but their stories don't overlap. Ep 1-3 is all about Morgan Elspeth, and ultimately helps set up the Ahsoka series. Ep 4-6 is all about Barriss Ofee and doesn't lead into anything that I know of, but I sure as heckfire hope they follow up.
Grades: Morgan's Story -- B.
This story is consistent throughout. It begins with a very predictable bang -- Minor spoilers below the tag, but if you've watched the trailer you already know this:
Ep 2 occurs during the Empire's active phase, and establishes important relationships for later. Ep 3 occurs after the Empire's active phase and leads more directly into Ahsoka's first appearance in The Mandalorian.
Ep1 gets a B+/A-
Ep2 gets a B
Ep3 gets a B
Nothing in here is earth shattering or anything, but if you're interested in Morgan's story, you might rate things higher. I personally don't because I didn't see change in Morgan's character. Instead you see change in her relationships and her power, but not in who she is. There's a reason that superheroes gaining power is done in a training montage while the superhero growing as a character is the featured part of the story. I think they really prioritized the wrong things in this, but it's not bad. It's just not as interesting to me.
For serious StarWars fan who love absorbing every bit of lore, the details of plot and relationships here will be as fascinating as the details of watching a person grow and change to take on a new persona with new motives and new vision. Because the overall execution was good, those fans would probably rate this an A-.
Grades: Barriss's Story -- B.
If you know where Barriss's story ended in The Clone Wars TAS, then where she starts in this story isn't a surprise. Like in TCW:TAS, she has a bit of ruthlessness when she's desperate, but the capacity for compassion when she's not. She's a very mixed-outlook character, frequently unsettled and still looking for herself. The self that she ends up finding is finally confident in the side she's chosen and powers she does and doesn't have.
What's extremely difficult about giving this story a single grade is that the middle episode, Ep5, doesn't seem to reflect the character growth from Episode 4. Since the episodes here are short, I found myself unable to connect to where Barriss was before the episode ended. My experience of Ep5, then, was emotionally awful. I felt Barriss was a completely different character with a different history from everything we had seen up to that point. The total B grade for the story is a compromise between two outstanding episodes in Ep4 and Ep6, and one episode that would have been just fine if it was the first time you were ever introduced to Barriss, but in the context of what you know, it made no sense at all.
Ep4 = A
Ep5 = C-/D+
Ep6 = A+
You have to watch Ep5 to appreciate everything about Ep6, but I very much wish they had changed the conflict. Moderate spoilers beneath the tag:
In any case, I definitely loved the conclusion, and would love to see a new Barriss in the game based on whom she has become. Just the name of this version of the character is a spoiler, so don't read if you don't want that.
The blurb talks about the series examining two heroes on different trajectories, and it does, but their stories don't overlap. Ep 1-3 is all about Morgan Elspeth, and ultimately helps set up the Ahsoka series. Ep 4-6 is all about Barriss Ofee and doesn't lead into anything that I know of, but I sure as heckfire hope they follow up.
Grades: Morgan's Story -- B.
This story is consistent throughout. It begins with a very predictable bang -- Minor spoilers below the tag, but if you've watched the trailer you already know this:
Ep 1 is about the Dathomiri Genocide under Grievous and how Morgan ended up surviving.
Ep 2 occurs during the Empire's active phase, and establishes important relationships for later. Ep 3 occurs after the Empire's active phase and leads more directly into Ahsoka's first appearance in The Mandalorian.
Ep1 gets a B+/A-
Ep2 gets a B
Ep3 gets a B
Nothing in here is earth shattering or anything, but if you're interested in Morgan's story, you might rate things higher. I personally don't because I didn't see change in Morgan's character. Instead you see change in her relationships and her power, but not in who she is. There's a reason that superheroes gaining power is done in a training montage while the superhero growing as a character is the featured part of the story. I think they really prioritized the wrong things in this, but it's not bad. It's just not as interesting to me.
For serious StarWars fan who love absorbing every bit of lore, the details of plot and relationships here will be as fascinating as the details of watching a person grow and change to take on a new persona with new motives and new vision. Because the overall execution was good, those fans would probably rate this an A-.
Grades: Barriss's Story -- B.
If you know where Barriss's story ended in The Clone Wars TAS, then where she starts in this story isn't a surprise. Like in TCW:TAS, she has a bit of ruthlessness when she's desperate, but the capacity for compassion when she's not. She's a very mixed-outlook character, frequently unsettled and still looking for herself. The self that she ends up finding is finally confident in the side she's chosen and powers she does and doesn't have.
What's extremely difficult about giving this story a single grade is that the middle episode, Ep5, doesn't seem to reflect the character growth from Episode 4. Since the episodes here are short, I found myself unable to connect to where Barriss was before the episode ended. My experience of Ep5, then, was emotionally awful. I felt Barriss was a completely different character with a different history from everything we had seen up to that point. The total B grade for the story is a compromise between two outstanding episodes in Ep4 and Ep6, and one episode that would have been just fine if it was the first time you were ever introduced to Barriss, but in the context of what you know, it made no sense at all.
Ep4 = A
Ep5 = C-/D+
Ep6 = A+
You have to watch Ep5 to appreciate everything about Ep6, but I very much wish they had changed the conflict. Moderate spoilers beneath the tag:
Ep 5 has Barriss acting naive, compassionate, and good. This does not fit with her character as a whole. They use this to set up a conflict with a character who doesn't like this aspect of her personality, but it wasn't necessary. Barriss could have hesitated instead of advocated, and this could have set up distrust between the 2 main characters of Ep5. The distrust could have been exaggerated over time through other seemingly minor events until the antagonist cornered Barriss. Barriss has never been good at making choices when she's desperate, and she could have made the same ultimate choice she did in this episode impulsively, under threat. The results would have been the same and would have set up Ep6 just as well, because once she makes that choice, the consequences are the same regardless of her motivation. But one method of arriving at a decision is believable and works for the character. The other method -- the one they actually used in Ep5 -- does not. This had the potential to be just as good as the other two episodes. I think it's a tragedy that they didn't take seriously what we knew about Barriss so far.
In any case, I definitely loved the conclusion, and would love to see a new Barriss in the game based on whom she has become. Just the name of this version of the character is a spoiler, so don't read if you don't want that.
Ice Saint Barriss
ISB is a non-combatant, but able to inflict Fear on a single enemy with her basic, You Do Not Know the Way Out. With her first special "Give Them A Head Start" she grants healing and a bonus turn to a single ally. With her second special, "Live," she grans a new buff, Saint's Blessing. Saint's Blessing increases accuracy and crit avoidance, bestows immunity to Fear and Doubt, and dispels all debuffs at the start of a character's turn. Her unique grants 1% mastery increase and TM every time an ally with Saint's Blessing evades an attack. Her second unique grants Offense and Healing every time an ally gains TM (whether or not they have Saint's Blessing. ISB is immune to Purge.
ISB is a non-combatant, but able to inflict Fear on a single enemy with her basic, You Do Not Know the Way Out. With her first special "Give Them A Head Start" she grants healing and a bonus turn to a single ally. With her second special, "Live," she grans a new buff, Saint's Blessing. Saint's Blessing increases accuracy and crit avoidance, bestows immunity to Fear and Doubt, and dispels all debuffs at the start of a character's turn. Her unique grants 1% mastery increase and TM every time an ally with Saint's Blessing evades an attack. Her second unique grants Offense and Healing every time an ally gains TM (whether or not they have Saint's Blessing. ISB is immune to Purge.
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(Though I'm a bit disappointed in the community that Bad Batch finale gets no love)