Animated Shorts TOTE: "The Path of Hate" Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Elsbeth was just a one way train that cannot be stopped. Once the town gave her power, she intends to do things her way. Loved the visuals here again, the towns people are nicely done and everything resembles TM S2 episode very well. Elsbeth is a harsh soul that is lost.
The New Republic couldn't have been portrayed a little more authoritative? They brought them into this story which means if Elsbeth took this action against them, wouldn't they retaliate by sending an armada? Don't see how this could be acceptable and then burning the forest was not how I imagined it happening when I saw TM S2 episode five. Maybe stripping of resources would be my first thought or a battle, oh well.

 

I missed Michael Biehn's character.

 

This was honestly pointless episode. We didn't need to see this since we already knew she is evil, the forest is burned and planet doesn't join the New Republic.

 

I didn't dislike this episode, but yeah it did feel kind of superfluous for the reasons you mentioned.

In contrast the second episode felt like it skipped over something important by not showing how she ended up magistrate in the first place, and how the relationship we saw rapidly deteriorate in the second episode was even established. It might have been better to have an episode about that instead of this one, though then again maybe telling that story would have been a little difficult for a short animation and is better left to a book or something.

 

I gave this a 9/10.

It was a good way to end Morgan's shorts. I really liked how the status quo of Corvis was shown. At the same time it didn't add much. I would've liked for it to have been back a little in the timeline, I agree it seemed like something important was missed. I think it set her up well for Mando and Ahsoka.

 

I'll give some thoughts on all three Morgan eps here. While none of this was ground-breaking stuff, there was a steady consistency I enjoyed. It served as an adequate bridge from Massacre to The Jedi for Morgan, giving her a greater motivation for working alongside Thrawn.

The Dathomir battle scenes were excellent, reminding me of Clone Wars' ambitious sense of scope. Always love seeing new sects of the Force as well, with the mountain tribe Nightsisters being no less threatening than their jungle counterparts, but more willing to bide their time and not poke hornets nests.

The Corvus pair of episodes were a small step down, putting the pieces in place in a more-or-less expected way. I like retroactively making Morgan the designer of the TIE Defender, giving her a bigger role in Thrawn's Imperial activities, as well as partly explaining her ability to build the giant hyperspace ring ship in Ahsoka. I liked the New Republic ambassador, Nadura, returning to her home full of optimism, only to be hit with Morgan's cynical corruption instead. It's another 'New Republic failure' moment that a few of the shows have been including, but I appreciated that this one wasn't due to overlooking some shady Imperial scheme but because of a genuine attempt at empathy gone wrong. Idealistic, not 'head in the sand'.

I think both of the Corvus episodes lacked a strong 'oomph factor', particularly the climax in Path of Hate. I don't know, it felt like it could have done with something more to spice it up a bit, build towards the fire more directly. On the whole though I think these eps did a good job of making Morgan a more interesting figure, even if she is dead now (we probably should have got these eps last year before Ahsoka, but ah well).

One thing it did get me to do was revisit The Jedi, which I always forget is an outstanding piece of work. There's a genuinely odd chill in transition from the animated climax as Corvus' forests burn straight to the desolate wilderness outside the walls in Mandalorian. Seeing the liberation of the town has more significance, as does Ahsoka's dogged pursuit of Morgan. A fantastic blend of Western and Samurai storytelling. That these Tales eps gave me an excuse to revisit that episode with an added level of weight behind the story is no small achievement.