#dotmatrices

The blue-white blur of hyperspace whirls past them, the hum of the ship fading into the background. Cal is meditating—frustrating, how he always seems to be able to do that. A half-quiet place and no immediate threat and he’s gone into the netherworlds of the Force. Ahsoka wonders what that’s like, sometimes. Not the letting go—she’s good enough at that by now—but reaching out. Diving deep.

When Ahsoka meditates, she feels the breath of the world around her kyber-sharp. She’d been taught meditation—really taught, not the crèchling tricks of quitting your mind—by a man who felt like a sun dying. The first time he’d sat down with her taken her hands in his, she’d felt a roar of ravenous hunger in the atoms of his being, waves and waves of breaking and forming until there wasn’t even a memory left. Not like Jaro Tapal, she guesses, though she never met the man. Not like Jaro Tapal at all.

Cal’s eyes blink open, focusing on her, and she shrugs. “What’s up?”

“Your master—” she starts, but she doesn’t really have the words for it. Instead she shrugs, and lets the hum of the ship overtake everything.

Cal frowns at her, shifting so that he’s sitting with his back against the wall of the Mantis, one knee bent up and the other sprawled out. “He was a good man. A good Jedi.”

She almost smiles at that—a tight, sad, tiny thing. Behind her in the vents, Boggy chirps and skitters by.

“You’ve never told me about your master,” Cal says. Boggy’s footsteps echo, then disappear. “I heard the stories. We all did. But—“

i still have two episodes left to watch, so i can’t provide a full review quite yet, but up to this point: it’s phenomenal. it all starts with the writing—this is easily the most tightly, deliberately plotted star wars series to this point. every character exhibits motivations that are not just compelling, but relatable, which keeps the story grounded even in such a sprawling universe. the directing is stunning, this too feels like a huge step up. that’s not to imply that star wars hasn’t always been visually stunning, it has. but that fact remains that i’m just so very struck by the quality of visual storytelling on display here. and then there are the performances. diego SHINES, that goes without saying and his globes nomination was absolutely earned. but the supporting cast turns in some stunning performances as well. i’m particularly impressed by kyle soller as syril, denise gough as dedra, and andy serkis who turns in an absolutely powerhouse performance as kino. with two episodes to go, i can’t quite see where it’s all going and that’s for the better, but i have complete faith it’ll be magnificent.

Yeah, but I also know enough about Kingdom Hearts 2 to know there are some things I won’t like about it. The three hour tutorial, the navel-gazing self-serious narrative, etc.