This is the Way Podcast

The best keeps getting better, but we hear the commentary from fellow podcasters and fans about this being a slow burn. One prominent YouTuber even warned that a "slow burn" is fine as long as it doesn't turn into a "no burn" kind of show. I think next week is going to bring all the action we can handle emotionally. In the meantime, more set up, more characters filling out backstory, and more reas...

Star Wars: Andor's first three episodes are a smashing success in the opinion of This is the Way Podcast. What would our show name have ended up being if this was the first Disney Plus Star Wars show instead of The Mandalorian? Showrunner Tony ("Toe pick!") Gilroy turned things over to his brother Dan ("The Man") and dialogue and action are still in good hands for the second trio of episodes, or s...

Star Wars: Andor's first three episodes are already available and showrunner Tony ("Toe pick!") Gilroy set a high bar for shows in a galaxy far, far away. The dialogue is terrific and the acting has complimented it and the camera work and direction haven't gotten in the way. Will it be the best show from LucasFilm on Disney Plus? It's got a shot and that's saying something. Syril Karn and Timm Kar...

Star Wars: Andor "went live" with three episodes on September 21st, 2022, but instead of covering all of them at once and consuming all of them at once, host Steve Loscalzo decided to cover each episode one at a time, one a day. Three episodes in one day is a lot to handle! It's a great show so far, so that's made the work more enjoyable. It helps when the writing and acting has been superb and in...

It's here! The newest Star Wars show went live on the Disney Plus streaming service with three episodes (a complete story arc) on September 21, 2022. This podcast will cover the first episode and the first episode ONLY. In fact, Steve restricted himself to watching just the first episode to make it easier to compartmentalize each part of the story. What a story! Tony Gilroy does not disappoint in...

Early September saw a Disney Plus Day and a D23 expo and yet, news is light. Also, we're at the point where we don't even feel like mentioning when shows will stream anymore, because Disney's "non-announcement announcement" policy is so bad, they must use disappearing ink. In a month where dragons and magic rings are dominating the streaming platforms, we get a really cool show before the movie wi...

August has 31 days, but it sure felt short on news. Nevertheless, the podcast must go on...because...um... Nothing much happened this month according to Disney, but that's because they decided to get sneaky. If LucasFilm doesn't announce the change, can you hear a redwood fall at Skywalker Ranch? I grow tired of the way things are being handled, both at the parks an on the small screen.  This...

Ah, vacation. It's been nice; enjoying nature and experiencing summer somewhere other than in 95 degree heat and 70% humidity all the time. Now that's we are back at the rebel base, we wanted to collect some thoughts about recent "news" (if you can call it that) and get in the mental space preparing for Andor AND The Bad Batch, season two. I hope this episode is the first and last time I ever reco...

I’m not sure news from Star Wars: Celebration in Anaheim way back in May constitutes news in late June. As it was, we planned for the eventuality that all our “news” would no longer be new by the time we finished our double podcast episode treatments of each Obi-Wan Kenobi series episode. It’s a function of releasing mid-month which is the best time for This is the Way Podcast to produce the news...

All six episodes of the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series are available now on Disney Plus. Bottom line: does This is the Way Podcast recommend watching? OF COURSE. It’s STAR WARS. Is it GOOD Star Wars? Eh. It’s not awful, but that’s not a glowing recommendation, now, is it? There were plot problems throughout the show. Some resolved, but the resolutions weren’t skillful craft by the writers. In some...

I've seen things like "Finally! An episode that lives up to the hype!" and "Obi-Wan Kenobi can't deliver in the finale" and "Obi-Wan ultimately wasn't even about Obi-Wan" and I think the answer lies in the point of view. If you loved Reva, you probably love her underdeveloped arc. If you love Vader, you probably love how he's still obsessed with his master, but still shows great skill with a saber...

How about that? A new writer comes in and the story gets better. That’s not magic. That’s just someone with better storytelling skills helping turn out the best episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi yet. "Best" is certainly a relative term, but when you have Vader being awesome, Obi-Wan and Anakin dueling once again and revenge on Reva instead of the other way around, it’s bound to be better than at least the...

It was devastating to morale to watch others claim credit for being the first to notice things that our podcast posted first. There's no use screaming to the heavens about it because if people don't listen to our podcasts and make the same observations, it probably wasn't some great mystery that This is the Way Podcast was first to solve. Seeing ideas we had several weeks back pop up NOW on YouTub...

Now, I don’t want to go off on a rant here… LucasFilm needs to hire me to take a look at “final drafts” of scripts…or anyone who is a fan of good television. The writing places us in situations in part four of the story that are unnecessarily bad and we shouldn’t have to ignore our way out of trouble to enjoy the show. It isn’t hard here to see ways the story can be exactly the same, but more beli...

We made such an effort to "be first" with great observations, theories, and content, but even being first and accurate doesn't lead to more downloads or listeners. For the fourth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, I decided to try and enjoy it more, but I found myself going off on tangents after taking notes so often it was apparent that the problems I have with the show outweigh the excitement and awe I...

The third Obi-Wan Kenobi episode started streaming less than a week from episode two. Part Three gave us our answer of who would voice Darth Vader. It also gave us the first lightsaber duel between the two since Mustafar (Revenge of the Sith). Padme's daughter continues to shine in her role (in our opinion) and Reva's character seems to fit better even if only by a mote. Steve still feels strongly...

The Star Wars fandom really seems to be forever fractured. Just when you think there are reasons for coming together, some idiots post dumb things on the internet. That's not even the worst part, which you'd figure would easily be the worst part (and I'm sure it's that bad for the actors targeted). No, the worst part is the "over correction" that happens from every well meaning (and some not so we...

The second of two episodes released on Obi-Wan Kenobi series day one is, oddly enough, called Part Two. I would bet heavily that the next episode in the series, the third one, will be called Part Three. We not only get more young Leia in this one, but we get Ben and Leia TOGETHER. They're the most talked about duo since a beskar plated cultist and a long eared, big eyed, green skinned, sack wearin...

Season One, Episode Two of Obi-wan Kenobi arrived early just like Episode One. I wonder if there was anyone out there that said to themselves, "You know what? I'm watching these things out of order." No one? I mean, this is 2022, so there had to be at least one person, right? This is the Way Podcast released an episode on Friday, May 27th (well, two actually) without the requisite quality control...

The space wizard wasn't late, nor was he early. He arrived precisely when he meant to. Well, okay, it WAS earlier than we expected to get episodes one and two of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The usual release window of 3 AM eastern was changed at Star Wars Celebration to give fans a better chance to see the show, which honestly we felt was a strong possibility and it was a welcome one. Shortly before midnight,...

Season One, Episode One of Obi-wan Kenobi didn't just arrive, it arrived early. Parts 1 (and 2) became available on the Disney Plus streaming platform shortly before midnight on March 26th, having been moved up a few hours in an executive decision announced from Star Wars Celebration. The early release was appreciated. This is the Way Podcast immediately got to work and truth be told, notes have b...

Order 66 seems to have caught up to any and all co-hosts. Transmissions from the Jedi Temple revealed too many in hiding and now, Steve is going "solo" for the newest Disney Plus Star Wars series. Obi-wan Kenobi debuts Friday, May 27th, 2022 with TWO episodes of the six episode limited run. Well, it's limited until Kathleen Kennedy and LucasFilm says it's not, right? This show could be a huge succ...

Do not listen to this episode if you loved Akakiri. Yeah, sure we finally rank the nine episodes of Star Wars: Visions at the end, but it won't be worth hearing how much the host didn't like this episode if you enjoyed it. Steve's issues with Akakiri almost left HIM in a "red haze" and if this had been episode one, there might not have been any coverage of the series beyond a single general though...

This is the Way Podcast learned about two parts of anime culture through episode 8. Steve knew they existed, but didn't really understand the terminology. There's "kawaii" and there's "manga effects" and neither of them are important to storytelling, but are certainly a big part of anime. If those things appeal to you, then "Lop and Ocho" might serve you a terrific Star Wars story. If those things...

Content waits for no one. When the Vanity Fair article hit the 'net on Tuesday, it threatened to make a relic of Steve's hard work. Should he have buckled down Sunday and released both his latest Visions review podcast AND the monthly (on the 15th) news update? Yeah, maybe. He also could have done the news update first and then released the Visions podcast on Tuesday. He didn't. Vanity Fair's arti...