I really enjoyed the episode. I thought the scene setting was fantastic. I loved how we managed to have a western-style confrontation in the town and a samurai-style confrontation in the compound at the same time. I loved getting background on BY (yeah, Grogu will take a little a time π) and seeing some more development between him and Mando (who was really a totally excited Dad when his "kid" pulled the gear shift handle to him). I love that Din ended up with the beskar spear: while beskar armor provides a defense even against lightsabers (or laser swords!), it does leave areas around the joints open to permit flexibility; the spear would enable Din to fight, say, the dark saber from enough of a distance to prevent sustaining an injury in the unprotected areas.
I like the two-saber fighting style, though two things occurred to me: one was that, especially in darkness or in foggy conditions, they sure do give your position away. "OK, sniper. When you see the two beams of light, aim right between them!" The other is that: "Yeah, we all really wish we could have real lightsabers but the truth is, by 5 minutes after we got them, we would have cut off both of our feet!" π
I definitely liked that BY stayed with Din. That story line is the heart of the show. I also--and this is pure speculation--don't think that we will see Ahsoka again, or at least, not for a long time. I suspect that Disney is thinking of an Ahsoka live action spin-off after seeing what the reaction to the character will be, and all those characters from the animated series belong there, because they are already part of her story. They have no actual connections to Din or BY. Yet there seemed to be a lot of SW fans on YouTube who just wanted the characters from the other shows--and the same Republic-Empire, Jedi-Sith story lines--to move to this show, and Mando can just wander off and they don't care. So...go off an watch those shows and stop trying to mess up the one I prefer to watch.
I also don't think that BY will be making his choice any time soon. I see arriving at the ancient Jedi temple as more of the endgame because of the massive effect on the show that either choice would make.
And now for an unpopular opinion: I have no interest in seeing Luke Skywalker. In my opinion, he's a great Jedi only in fan fiction. Many fans complain about Rey not having any training (and I'm not disagreeing) but neither did Luke. He had a half-day with Obi-Wan and--what? A week? A month?--however long it took Han to get from Hoth to Bespin, with Yoda. And most of the time he didn't really listen. When he left and then screwed up, did he pull a Dr. Strange and pound on Yoda's door for 5 hours and beg to be taught? No, he went off on his own for 3 years before returning, and taught himself. You can't teach yourself what you don't know (maybe he attended the Handy Dandy Jedi Correspondence School that he found on a matchbook cover). And he showed he hadn't learned much: Do we really think that Obi-Wan or Yoda would not have been able to control the Rancor? Or that DV would be able to read their minds like an open book, as he read Luke's on the Death Star?
And Luke has accomplished nothing. He started a school for Jedi (to teach them all the stuff he didn't know, I guess) and then what? Did he have only one student, you know, the one who totally went darkside? If he had others, what happened to them? Did he manage to lose his entire class to the dark side of the force?
For that matter, where are even the few Jedi that Ahsoka says are left? They aren't doing anything to prevent the rise of the First Order, are they? This is why I'm bored to death by now with the Jedi and the Sith. There are only 2 Sith apparently at any given time--there are hundreds of thousands of troops. They could just turn on them and take them.
And the Jedi seem to be basically useless.
Sorry--getting off the soapbox now.