Maybe I'm the only one, but personally I loved the last episode. I don't even mind the background politics stuff. That's the tie to the ST, it's setting up the failure of the New Republic and exactly why Leia started to get out of politics. She saw the threat that still existed.
I'm able to follow even though I haven't seen every episode of Clone Wars, and honestly, most of Rebels. Granted I've been a SW fan for most of my life. Is the target audience really casual fans? I mean, my dad would have no frigging idea what's going on, but my husband is following along for the most part.
Side note: my daughter's therapist asked me to introduce her to Ahsoka through The Clone Wars. She thinks she needs a fictional role model and said when she was watching Clone Wars this weekend with her own kids, she realized Q reminded her so much of Ahsoka.