The season-spanning story in season 3 has been the weakest yet. Also, the standalone stories have had baffligly poor structure.
That said, in outline form the season looks far better than the result. We got a whole lot of connective tissue in Episode 7, withheld from the viewer as a poor excuse for surprise and shocking developments. It's like the antithesis of Hitchcock's famous ticking bomb. Where we could have had rising tension in the viewers, instead we have a sudden surprise because the filmmaker withheld information. It would be like leaving out the scene where Tarkin blows up Alderaan so the viewer could be surprised that it is gone when our heroes arrive. It's a choice, bit I would argue a poor choice.
Again I liken the storytelling here to the old GIJoe cartoon, except they had dozens of episodes a season to meander wherever they wanted story-wise, and kept their season-long story development to a multiparter that reset the stakes at the beginning of the season. (And in full disclosure, I haven't watched that show since they originally sired, so this is some old anecdotal recollection. )
My biggest point of contention with the way the story unfolded this week was the reveal that Gideon was responsible for bombing Bo's castle. If this was what that mystery was set up to reveal, that was clunky beyond belief. Maybe if Din and Bo had discussed it since or been worried about figuring it out it would have been a good reveal, but as far as I can tell they forgot all about it. Or the writers did.
And to anyone championing well-crafted storytelling, please explain to me what happened to the 3 baby birds that were adopted by the covert. The tribe has moved twice since the adventure that culminated in their rescue, now living in a Cruiser in space. Are we waiting for the surprise scene where they fly in to the rescue fully grown? Because if that us the kind of dot-connecting you find to be quality, I have to disagree.
