Full Series Grade the Episode - 307 "Assassin"

On a scale from 1 to 10, what score do you give this episode?

Please note this is NOT the episode discussion thread, so please limit the discussion to the grades and overall evaluation of the episode.

Grade average (36 votes): 6.41

 

9/10. As usual, any Ahsoka episode gets high ratings in my book - and this is one of her best. She shows paranoia, yet is resilient in protecting Padme. Also, one of the better Padme episodes - which, for some reason, seem difficult to generate. Great to see Aurra Sing again as well.

 

6/10

I liked Alderaan.

 

6/10 as well. Alderaan was awesome, and the fact that they used the Leia theme was genius!

Aurra was also cool in her nifty Bladerunner-esque guise. And it was great to finally see the prison.

Part of me really liked this episode, and I really, really wanted to like it a lot more. But the basic plot was just... meh. I'm sick of Padme constantly playing the victim of assassination attempts. Typho is completely useless. Ahsoka always knows what to do while the grownups have apparently succumbed to stupiditis. The villain always ends up in jail (even if it conflicts with how she can later break another character out of jail...) And how did Aurra manage to talk with Ziro when he was in prison? I'm sure there's an easy explanation, but those are often in short demand it seems...

Also, the black/white Padme-morals are driving me up a wall. Kudos to Heroes on Both Sides for breaking that pattern at least.

 

7 for me. The Force Visions seemed far too convenient, though I'm willing to attribute it to a sense of detachment helping Ahsoka. It borrowed very much from AOTC's first plot and we knew the outcome, and the guards were a little ineffective, but overall there are quite a few gems to be had from this episode.

Alderaan and the music were beautiful. I also loved seeing Yoda and Padme used as proper, guiding mentor figures. Very good usage of them.
Aurra's final confrontation was rushed, but it was great as it showed she was skilled enough to wound a Jedi with her gunslinging skills, and that Ahsoka wasn't totally prepared for it.
Padme in a non-action hero role was a pleasant surprise for me too. She was principled, sticking to her goals, but also understanding of Ahsoka. She was also smart, taking precautions once it was clear her life was in danger. A nicely, more moderate look at what Padme does.

 

3/10. After all the hype, this was a major letdown. Even on its own, it was below avarage.

First off, it was a completely uninspired plot. Everything felt "done." Dreams of Padme's death, attempts on her life, Padme giving a speech for righteous cause #27.

Second, the characters drove me crazy. I have no problem with Ahsoka and Padme being friends, but how about an explanation before they're hugging every five seconds? IMHO, Ahsoka was the worst we've seen her. Though her visions are crystal clear, she can't figure out who that pale, red-headed figure is. And I'm tired of her saying everything out loud. We all knew "Padme was in danger!" when we saw the assassin aim the rifle at her head.

Finally, the ending was rushed into a brick wall. Aurra's terrible monologue and "Whaaaa?" before she was stunned made her look like an amateur. And Ziro's accident was lazy writing at it's best/worst.

The only saving graces for me were the beautiful landscapes and the excellent uses of both Yoda's Theme and Princess Leia's Theme. In all, a good idea executed very, very poorly.

 

I hate this episode with a passion.

Summary of this episode:

Ahsoka has a vision about Aurra Sing.
Ahsoka has a vision about an attempt on Padme. Oh my! Who'd have thought?
Ahsoka has a vision about Padme being shot. Oh noes! She might die before RotS!!11!1!1!
Ahsoka goes to Alderaan with Padme.
Ahsoka has another vision of Padme and Aurra.
Oh my! It's false alarm! This scene looks exactly like AotC! How genius!
Ahsoka closes her eyes and summons a more detailed vision. How convenient!
Oh my! The room looks exactly the same as the one in her detailed vision!
Padme gives her speech and Ahsoka saves her life, Aurra escapes.
Another speech, but this time they're using a decoy.
Ahsoka senses Aurra isn't in the room and rescues Padme (who was left behind without a single guard)
Padme shoots Aurra. Oh my! Padme blasting the bad guys? No way!
Ahsoka once again closes her eyes and sees something purple! How convenient!
Ziro falls for the silliest bluff ever. Apparently the development team thought his stupidity hadn't been established enough.

tl;dr:

vision
vision
vision
false alarm
vision on demand #1
failed attempt #1
decoy
failed attempt #2
padme shoots bad guy
vision on demand #2
silly bluff
the end

I was so bored watching this. The plot was void of suspense to begin with, and the conveniently more and more detailed visions (on demand) made for an episode that was only one thing: a huge anti-climax.

Can it get any worse? Hardly.

2/10

 

^wow, I didn't realize this was the extra-extended-plus-size episode discussion thread.

EDIT: And speaking of discussion thread, I find it funny how yours and fistofan1's reviews don't match the ratings you give the episode now. Bitterness perhaps?

 

Stop trolling and take your crap somewhere else.

As for me, take what Humble said and multiply it. I hated this episode with a passion. Biggest waste of time since Corruption and the Academy.
1/10

 

What I didn't like was the sudden close friendship between Padmé And Ahsoka. And Ahsoka having visions about Padmé instead of Anakin having them.

 

I don't troll and I certainly don't proclaim this episode brilliant at one point, then below average the next. And I certainly don't say its an okay episode at one point, and then that I hate it with a passion the next. I admit my inherent bias towards an Ahsoka episode and remain consistent in my reviews. I'll disregard any further opinions you have to make about anything.

 

Seems like I hit a nerve...

 

Technically this episode was pretty good, but a couple of things really dragged it down in my opinion.

All the tension in the episode was based on the viewers being afraid Padme might be killed, when we know beyond a doubt she will survive, before we have even seen the episode. It would be okay if the writers acknowledged that in the way it was staged, but the episode is constructed in a way that assumes the viewers thinks she might actually die. In other words it didn?t work for me at all.

The very worst part of this episode was Yodas advice to Ashoka about the visions. It was a million times better than the hippy wisdom he lectured to Anakin in ROTS. Yoda should not be that good at giving advice about this matter. How can he tell Ashoka that the future is not sett in stone, when all he told Anakin was to rejoice when people die (even when it was painfully)?

6/10

 

Yeah, this is how I basically felt about the episode as well. I don't know why they would choose to do some AOTC/ROTS rip off, but get rid of Anakin and put Ahsoka in his place. The whole "Padme is gonna get assassinated" has already been done before, and even then those attempts on her life failed. We also know she cannot die in TCW, so I don't know why they keep doing this.

 

4/10. After the Mandabore duology I was looking forward to this one. Aurra Sing is one of my favourite villains and the force visions premise sounded interesting. Unfortunately, it didn't (for me at least) live up to expectations. There was no tension. I knew that Padme couldn't die and I just wasn't drawn into questioning whether Ahsoka's visions were real or not (and Yoda's response to Ahsoka's visions seemed wholly at odds with his behaviour towards Anakin in RotS). There was nothing at stake here and it felt like just another unnecessary prequel. To my mind this one would have worked a hell of a lot better if Riyo Chuchi (or another senator whose fate is unknown) had been the intended target rather than Padme.

To the episode's credit however it did succeed in portraying Padme as something other than a Darwin Award waiting to happen.

 

Opinions change. After the Mandalore duology, I saw this episode in a better light. After a few months, my feelings toward it changed. It's not bitterness, it just happened. Please don't throw accusations like that around with no base just because you don't agree with me.

 

I gave this a 6 (incidentally, so far this is the only episode where the grade average is lower than the grade I gave it).

This wasn't a bad episode, it just didn't manage to put its concepts to good use. It's a gorgeous episode, with beautiful scenery, a much welcome use of classic John Williams themes and great acting. However the story just sort of falls flat with the whole thing thing hanging on "oh, will Padmé get killed?" (Imagine how silly Ep3 would have been if George had hinged the whole thing on "oh, will Anakin turn to the Dark Side or won't he?", instead, he just played it straight, with bittersweet inevitability.)

Also, vision-on-deman sort of ruined the whole visions concept. Visions are supposed to be almost random, half-seen glimpses of the future which are beyond a Jedi's true control. For Ahsoka to just summon up gradually more detailed visions whenever she wanted just didn't work at all.

 

7.

Good concept. Great setting. Great plot even. My issue lies with the fact that there is no suspense because Padme is the target and we know her fate. An unknown or an established Senator with an open fate would have had us far more interested. Chuchi immediately springs to mind of course. But there are other Senators from the films who didn't appear in ROTS and could have been used. For example, Bail Antilles of Alderaan could be offed. They could have used someone like Bontari. A friend of Padme's who was the actual target but Ahsoka kept seeing Padme as the target.

So good episode and nice concept but was not pleased with the execution and end results.

 

Gave it a 6. It was a upgrade from the Mandalore episodes, but not that great overall. Predictable overall, so it sucked the drama out of the episode as a whole.

 

Call me crazy, but I thought I'd better elaborate on my low rating.

You mean you actually checked out what we initially said when the episode aired? I can't even remember what I said. But let me clarify it. Often my initial response will be more positive than when I've had the chance to see an episode more often. You can probably tell by my detailing of the chronology of events that I even re-watched this episode to rate it.

But yeah, same thing happened with Pursuit of Peace. I quite enjoyed it on first viewing, but the second time around I just couldn't buy that ridiculous story of Padme's. The opposite happens too; some episodes I liked better on repeated viewings. However, I've never made a secret of the fact that I thought 'Assassin' was anti-climactic and that I hated the 'visions-on-demand'. I'm pretty sure that is in the episode thread too.

What reason could I have to bash this episode? You tell me. I'm not hating the series at all. I'm just really disappointed with the majority of season 3. In another thread someone asked me which episodes I actually liked and it was a huge list. I loved the majority of episodes in season 1 and 2. I freaking love episodes like Hunt for Ziro and Clone Cadets. That's the kind of stuff that rocks my Star Wars world. You can think what you want, but when I like something, I'm honest about that too.

And bitterness? I rated 'Corruption' a 5, which was way above grade average, even though it is probably the most hated episode on LACWAC. Explain how that is bitterness.

You, on the other hand, will rate an episode a 9, 'BECAUSE it has Ahsoka'. In other words, it doesn't matter how bad the story is, just as long as your favourite character is in it. Sure, whatever floats your boat.

 

I agree with majority this time 6 /10 is good enough pros and cons are pretty much same as yours but once again

+Alderaan
+New models for alderaanians no re-used twi'leks and weequays or new favorite siniteens but actually humans and not even re-used mandos ....
+Leia theme and Yoda theme... sorry Kevin Kiner but you're not comparable with Johnny Williams that guy is just genious!
+ Aurra's uncertain fate in Lethal trackdown is now cleared up- she didn't die as many thought (i didn't i knew she would return )...

- visions felt bad..... odd on/off visions with too clear clues were so dumb
- so Ahsoka sleeps with her boots on please if you won't bother to animate any kind of pajamas or even a blanket to her- don't make any sleeping scenes- does she also take a shower with clothes on? (and no we don't need Ahsoka in shower -scene just thinking does she ever remove her boots ) ironically Padmé had blanket and no boots when sleeping
- whole episode was mixture made out of used elements- Padmé's assassination from AOTC with Anakin's visions from ROTS and the fact that Anakin didn't have any visions when Ahsoka had was pretty odd......
- and then the fact that Ziro was still in jail was not needed now this only created more problems because Aurra have to escape before Hostage Crisis... perhaps some upcoming prequel explains that......

 

I have to say, I'm pretty surprised by Kevin Kiner' score on the show. If a soundtrack of the series is ever released, I'll buy it as soon as possible.

 

Interesting that the opening narration flat out lies to the viewers: "Plo Koon and Ahsoka successfully thwarted an attempt on Mace Windu's life, killing bounty hunter Aurra Sing in the process." Shouldn't they have used a more ambiguous word like "defeating" or "taking down"?

 

Where would be the surprise effect for part of the audience?

 

I choose to view the narrations the same way I view pretty much everything involved in Star Wars: With a fair bit of flexibility. Sometimes he's an omniscient third person narrator, sometimes he's an in-universe Republic propaganda mouthpiece with as much knowledge as the characters. The narration is in a unique position in that he is a potential part in the news of the universe, yet can be entirely expandable.

'Wrong' doesn't always lead to 'glaring continuity error which stabs you in the face'. 'Wrong' is sometimes just plain...'wrong'. 'Mistaken'. 'Biased'. 'Half-truth'. 'Lying', even, in the case of some characters.