Spoilers Bad Batch Season 2 - This Fall

[cooleddie74]

Think about how fun "Assignment: Earth(TOS)" is. Sure, it's a Star Trek episode first and foremost but Kirk, Spock and the other crewmembers aren't even the main characters in the story and don't even show up in quite a few of the scenes. It's a Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln story and both characters (who I might add never again appear in onscreen canon) do a commendable job of carrying a story that also has none other than Captain James T. Kirk - William Shatner - in it.

Yeah, it was intended as a pilot for a spinoff series but that doesn't change the fact that guest stars and supporting characters define that episode and did a commendable job.

 

[Christopher]

It was called Mando Season 3 internally to keep it a secret that it was a Boba show.

Except that it really should have been Mando season 3, because it contains pivotal events in Mando & Grogu's arc that would render TM's storyline confusing to anyone who hadn't seen this "separate" series. It's the same mistake the Star Wars: The High Republic novels made, putting out what are nominally separate book and comic lines aimed at different audiences, yet interlinking their stories so much that you pretty much have to follow them all to get a coherent narrative.

Think about how fun "Assignment: Earth(TOS)" is. Sure, it's a Star Trek episode first and foremost but Kirk, Spock and the other crewmembers aren't even the main characters in the story and don't even show up in quite a few of the scenes. It's a Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln story and both characters (who I might add never again appear in onscreen canon) do a commendable job of carrying a story that also has none other than Captain James T. Kirk - William Shatner - in it.

Yeah, it was intended as a pilot for a spinoff series but that doesn't change the fact that guest stars and supporting characters define that episode and did a commendable job.

I actually think that trying to be both a Trek episode and an A:E pilot at the same time makes it not work as either one as well as it could have. Although the original non-Trek A:E pilot script was even worse, reading like an unfunny sitcom.

 

[The Wormhole]

As for Cody; kind of wild that he deserted the Empire, though the fact he didn't end up in retirement with Rex Gregor & Wolfe (who I'm sure will also show up sooner or later) probably doesn't bode well for his future.

There's also that Rebels episode where Rex seems to wake up from a nightmare screaming Cody's name.

 

[Saul]

Episode 3 was excellent. Tonally it's the kind of episode I like and even gave me 'Andor' vibes with the darkness and music. I'd rather the show continue on this path than having the little kid involved each week.

 

[Tuskin38]

Hmm there's no Episode Guide for last week's episodes yet.

Anyone here read Aurebesh? I'm guessing that wall of writing behind Cody and Crosshair's final conversation was a memorial wall with the names or numbers of dead clones.

In-universe they're meant to be the names of clones who died at Geonosis. The artists were told to just write random groupings of numbers and letters. The slab of rock was taken from Geonosis.

It first appeared in CW Season 5:
https://www.starwars.com/series/clone-wars/the-jedi-who-knew-too-much-trivia-gallery

 

[Reverend]

You'd think if it was meant to be clone casualties from the very outset of the war it would just be columns and columns of six or seven digit CT numbers, not names at all. I don't see any aurebesh numerals there at all; it's all just random letters.

Not that it matters at all, though I suppose I just assumed given how front and centre it was presented vs before when it was barely glimpsed in any detail, that they'd take the time to make the text actually look like what it's supposed to represent.

 

[Ithekro]

If it was the first battle of Geonosis only, than they might not have names yet. That seems to be a thing that came about due to the Jedi. In addition these would pretty much be troopers we don't know.

 

[JD]

This week's episode was great. It's always interesting to switch over get the bad guy's perspectives on things once and a while.
It'll be interesting to see what becomes of Cody since I believe this is we haven't seen him in any stories that take place after this.
It gave us a nice look at what was going on with clones as they were being phased out.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

This week's episode was great. It's always interesting to switch over get the bad guy's perspectives on things once and a while.
It'll be interesting to see what becomes of Cody since I believe this is we haven't seen him in any stories that take place after this.
It gave us a nice look at what was going on with clones as they were being phased out.

Except it wasn’t straight up bad guys view.
It was good guys being duped into doing bad stuff view.
Jury is still out on Crosshair

 

[JD]

Yeah, your probably right. I guess I should have just said, the Imperial side.

 

[Christopher]

Jury is still out on Crosshair

I dunno, he seems to have made his choice, at least for now. Maybe what Cody said will eventually sink in, but probably not until some future event changes his perspective enough to understand it. For now, it seems like he's being contrasted with Cody rather than paralleled.

I find myself thinking of Prince Zuko's journey on Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I've been rewatching -- the way it took two and a half seasons for him to gradually change perspectives, and the way it looked like he might be there at the end of season 2 but then he backslid. And then it struck me that Dave Filoni was one of the main directors on that show, and now he's the boss here.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Somewhat.
Though Zuko was driven out of a sense of entitlement/ need to proof himself to his father.
Crosshair seems to have no sense of selfworth at all. He has bought into the idea that he shouldn’t have any agency beyond problem solving.

 

[Christopher]

Somewhat.
Though Zuko was driven out of a sense of entitlement/ need to proof himself to his father.
Crosshair seems to have no sense of selfworth at all. He has bought into the idea that he shouldn’t have any agency beyond problem solving.

I'm not saying they're the same character, just that the story might be taking a similar approach of a lengthy, difficult redemption journey rather than a quick one. The only similarity I'm suggesting is that Crosshair might reject several chances to reform before he's finally ready to come around -- if he does come around at all.

Although since Avatar is fresh in my mind right now, I have to disagree about Zuko's sense of entitlement. If anything, what drove him was his fear that he didn't deserve what he sought, so that he was desperate to prove himself. And he lacked agency too, because he felt he had to prove himself by the standards his father defined, to base his honor and worth entirely on someone else's declaration of it. It took a long time for Iroh to convince him he had the right to define his own honor on his own terms.

 

[Xerxes82]

Somewhat.
Though Zuko was driven out of a sense of entitlement/ need to proof himself to his father.
Crosshair seems to have no sense of selfworth at all. He has bought into the idea that he shouldn’t have any agency beyond problem solving.

I don't think that's a fair assessment. Crosshair defines himself as a soldier. It is all he has ever been, from the moment of his birth. I don't think he has the slightest idea what he is without that label attached. So he sides with the Empire because a good soldier follows orders. And now that's his mantra, because it simply has to be. Without it, what is he?

His journey mirrors the rest of the Batch quite explicitly. They are learning what it is to be outside the GAR and being under the authority of someone else, of being soldiers. Calling their own shots, having their own agendas which won't always fit together, figuring out who and what they want to be outside the strictures of what they were made to be. Crosshair just wasn't able to make that leap, to leave that identity of "soldier" behind. At least, not yet.

I still think we're going to see the Batch reunited before all is said and done. Maybe not this season, certainly. But before the end.

 

[Set Harth]

I had forgotten all about Cody. My first thought was "didn't this guy die?" but then I was like "I guess not, he was alive at the end of ROTS."

 

[Reverend]

Well that was a fun little episode with some neat details. I like that even the title is a reference to both Lucas's notoriously terse stage direction to the original cast, and his life-long love of racing.

The main thing that leapt out at me was the presence of a Nosaurian! That's a very rare species. Indeed with two or three exceptions most of the creature designs that originated from the TPM pod race sequence almost never show up in anything else, so it was nice seeing one alongside both a Dowutin from the ST, and a Gamorrean & Trandoshan from the OT. I like when new productions cross pollinate like this rather than just sticking to all new or all classic designs. The ST's insistence on going with only all new alien designs (save for like two specific returning characters) really bugged me.

The race itself felt like it had shades of the original Boonta Speeder race from the old Droids cartoon, right down to the racing tubes and weaponised speeders (not to mention it also featuring a certain Jango Fett clone as a late entry!) I half expected to see an ad for the White Witch in the background, but alas, no such luck!

Nice that they're finally breaking the squad up from time to time and letting Tech & Wrecker carry their own episode without it all centring on Hunter all the time.

Oh and Ernie Hudson is always a welcome addition to any cast!

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't know, I found this one a bit on the meh and predictable side. It was nice getting some insight into Cid's background, but otherwise this one didn't really do much for me.

 

[Tuskin38]

Oh and Ernie Hudson is always a welcome addition to any cast!

I didn't recognize his voice, but I recognized Ben Schwartz as TAY-0

 

[Turtletrekker]

I don't know, I found this one a bit on the meh and predictable side. It was nice getting some insight into Cid's background, but otherwise this one didn't really do much for me.

It also hung Chekhov's gun on the wall in regards to Cid's loyalty. She certainly seems to like the Batch well enough, but she knows the Empire is coming and what will she do if her back is against the wall? Whether she betrays the Batch or not, her loyalty will almost certainly come into question this season now that the gun has been hung on the wall.

But yeah, other than that, meh.

 

[cooleddie74]

"I regret nothing!"



Best death scene of any droid in years.