I wish Disney+ would release movie-length episode chunks a little earlier in the evening. I'm going to have some rough Wednesday mornings for a bit.
Movie LENGTH. It should be pointed out, without being an actual complaint, that this wasn't a movie. It didn't feel like a movie. It definitely feels like episodes of a TV series, because it just doesn't all tie together or resolve and that last part is so far a little troubling because there will be another time jump before next week, just as big as this one and it is difficult to see how that works yet.
I was relieved that stealing the TIE, which we saw in the trailers, was not 1/4 of the season as I feared it would be, but really a pretty quick deal just to drop us in on what Cassian does for a living now. But at the same time...I've always thought TIE fighters were dumb. Like cheap, cramped, fiddly things that I'd need 10 of to trade for an X-Wing. It got my attention a LITTLE bit in Episode 7 when Poe was so pumped to fly one. But this episode worked on me a little. It felt anything but cheap on the inside. It actually did feel a little bit like the elite fighter that an X-Wing pilot might wish he could get a crack at. And in particular I saw something that I hadn't thought about before. It seems like a TIE fighter isn't very ballistic. Seems more way more maneuverable than an X-Wing once you get the hang of it.
Cassian's section of the story is maybe the least interesting here altogether.
Dedra has two different stories one after the other that don't really relate and I'm not sure to what degree they will continue after the next time jump. I'm sure we've seen the last of Syril's mom and I'm not sure we haven't seen the last of Syril, but it was intriguing, almost funny, to find out past the time jump that they've become a couple. I think what we'll continue to see is Dedra more and more involved in Krennic's project. And it was pretty beautiful subtext that they did with Krennic. Future viewers will watch this before Rogue One, probably. Krennic is working on energy independence for the Empire! Because even when you get a dozen carefully selected people in total secrecy to thinktank a logistical problem, you still can't tell them you are working on a planet destroying weapon and nothing IN the episode, except Krennic's presence, lets even the audience know. I thought Gorman would be one of the 4 arcs, but I guess it is a slow burn that will take at least a year to fully develop.
Mon Mothma's story is almost entirely subtext and her face does as much work as the dialog. She had the poise not to need to get drunk for her daughter's wedding as her own mother had. But when a childhood friend needs to be killed for the Rebellion, she's gonna need to get caught up on that as fast as she possibly can. Luthan continues to be one of the most interesting and economic characters...ever. I don't know that I've even puzzled everything out of his very little dialog as himself (not the antique dealer). I cannot remember what Mon Mothma said to him to get the high-efficiency response "How nice for you" but I think something about how she won't be involved in what he is about to do.
I don't really care about Cassian's friends who are wheat farmers now. I guess Cassian often is a wheat farmer and only gets brought in as a contractor? But look-it, there's some frank treatment of illegal agricultural workers.
Edit - It occurred to me that we probably know the date of the Ghorman Massacre and we do. 2 BBY. So probably not even next week. They say about a year time jump each week, but there is a year not accounted for since we were told way back that the end of the series would be just right at the start of Rogue One, which is 0 BBY. But maybe the weeks will be 3, 2, and 1 with just a 0 scene stuck on the end.
It isn't a movie because it isn't entirely cohesive and self-contained. Dedra had two independent stories that didn't touch anything else and the second one was interesting TV, but seems oddly indulgent when there was so much they had to do and so little time. Within this 3 episode chunk in 4 BBY, Dedra had nothing to do with anything else. Mon Mothma's story only tangentially connected because Luthan was worried about Cassian, but Luthan doesn't even get to see that resolved. I am not even sure to what extent all these stories WILL connect. Dedra's and Mon Mothma's will touch at the Gorman Massacre and it is likely that Cassian's will. That might be the finale. So far it just feels like they are continuing their favorite characters from season 1 in whatever direction they went.