Ahsoka Hamato Xiono

Characters like Hamato Xiono is like real world politicians. And like them he will remain in political service until he crooks.

 

I could only buy Xiono as realistic if he was speaking his lines in the Senate chamber, which would be seen by the galactic public. But he’s saying these idiotic things in private.

 

I'd hardly call a court hearing private.

 

Well its a court Room that might be made public. Looks like its the Corucant public court Room.

 

He acted the exact same way in the private briefing with Hera earlier in the season. And this looks and feels like a private military tribunal. There’s no indication, in the script or in the execution of the Xiono scenes, that he’s grandstanding for a public constituency. None. This is just how he thinks. The only thing that will help justify it is if he’s an actual Imperial spy. But even then, he’s laying it on so thick that he should be under suspicion.

The political elements of Dave’s stories are their worry’s feature. Far too much of a caricature.

 

I wouldn't call the briefing private either. But either way, people like him will always be like that in these kinds of situations. He thinks he has things to win and things to lose, so he keeps at it.

 

Both was breifings of Leadership, not private.

 

Maybe it's being aired on HOLOSPAN?

But this guy is like this even with his own son on Resistance.

 

Totally necessary character. Without him there would be a fleet of NR ships waiting for Thrawn above Seatos. Hopefully Hera left some kind of probe orbiting the planet.

 

Like most politicians.

 

He's so two dimensional to be worth a thread. He's someone we can focus our frustrations with the NR on. Upon reflection, the NR never had a chance. Palpatine had decades to basically build the empire, until Order 66 allowed him to proclaim himself Empire. Leia was just trying to keep the rebellion going.

 

The problem is that we get basically no insight into his worldview or why he acts the way he does. We don’t know what he’s seeking to win or fearing to lose. He’s just a caricature.

Honestly, I’ve found this entire political subplot to be one of the weakest parts of the show. The entire premise is rather silly; why would it so controversial for the Defense Committee to authorize sending a few fighters to scout a remote planet? Why is Defense Committee needed to authorize such an ostensibly minor operation anyway?

 

Xiono's only purpose is to answer the question, "why isn't the entire NR on standby to stop Thrawn when he returns" but's being done in such a heavy handed way it makes it cartoonish and not at all interesting.

Andor did a much more effective job at showing government shortsightedness. If you compare Dedra's scenes with Major Partagaz versus's Hera's scenes with Xiono, my god it's like night and day!

 

No established motives ≠ caricature.
That said, I know enough about his motives.

 

He's very realistic to the point of being annoying, I guess we want our politicians to be like Mon, Bail and Padme and forget there's ones like Palps and Hamato.in real life too.

 

You mean most are like him. It’s the rare politician who isn’t.

 

I see your favorite is Phinus Valorum.

 

The lack of established motive is relevant to why he’s a caricature, though. Without anything to give him a bit more depth, he’s just a grab-bag of exaggerated “bad politician” tropes. He’s grandstanding, he’s obstructionist, he’s a jerk, and that’s basically it.

 

He serves as a foil to Hera. We probably see more of him as time goes on and learn more.

 

And that's basically what some people do IRL as well.

 

You don’t need to tell me that some politicians engage in grandstanding and obstructionism in real life. But there’s two big differences. First, nobody in real life is this one-note.

Second, it’s not hard to learn and understand the motivations of people who act this way in real life (even if doing so doesn’t make them any more sympathetic). But we get no insight into why Hamato Xiono behaves this way; his writing is just copying the behavior of these people without understanding the basis. This makes him a shallow character. This in turn affects the entire subplot, making it more shallow and less interesting for the audience.

It wouldn’t take much to give him more depth; just changing or adding a few lines. But they thought this was good enough. I just don’t agree.

 

We don't need to tell each other anything, yet we do say things.

 

100% correct.

The problem with the character is that he doesn't reflect real life. As you said before, in real life, we can look into why politicians behave as they do. They don't just behave as they do for no reason. That's laughable.

And it's important for us to know why Ham acts as he does because it lets us known whether he is a villain, selfish, or just misguided.

And when we know why he is the way he is, then it can tell us more about the New Republic and its weaknesses and how to feel about it.

He's way too flat at this point. This is why so many people are wondering if the NW is just incompetent or if there is more to it. Fans shouldn't be wondering about the NR's political conflicts at this point. We should have some understanding beyond simply saying they are overwhelmed. Overwhelmed doesn't explain Ham's behavior.

 

Or, it does.