Just got done watching The of the Underworld. Very good, overall, though just like the previous two seasons it's main weakness is it's brevity; it just leaves you wanting more! That said, I think this time around they may have struck just the right balance between serial and anthology storytelling.
Not surprisingly the Ventress arc is my favourite of the pair, both because as cool as Cad Bane is, Ventress is just inherently a far more interesting character.
Random Ventress notes: -
- Straight out of the gate a faithful, if not entirely word perfect depiction of this final passage from Dark Disciple.
For those about to cry "revisionism!" remember that prose writing is usually more wordy by nature, while visual arts can say a lot more with few, if any dialogue. Though Quinlan's words were different, it still conveyed the same sentiment and intent. As for the latter half of the passage; in the episode, the POV shifts to Ventress and she doesn't hear any of what Kenobi and Voss may or may not say to each other.
- I guess we shouldn't be surprised to hear Talzin's voice from beyond the veil, even after the events of 'Son of Dathomir'. If for no other reason than it was never entirely clear exactly how *alive* she was during Clone Wars to begin with. Indeed, the fact that the Great Mothers of Peridia even knew her name suggests she's been floating around between life and death for *way* longer than one might expect.
- I have a few questions as to the chronology of this whole arc, especially in regards to her appearance on 'The Bad Batch', but at the very least it's clear that a significant span of time has passed by the time the waters return her to the mortal plane. When she emerges, the waters are all but gone and no longer glowing, one of the bridges has collapsed, the lights have all gone out and the path is now overgrown with vegetation an cobwebs; the whole place looks dead. So it's probably been at least a year, if not more.
- Not surprisingly, the episode seems to imply that Assaj is in voidspace, aka: the world between worlds (or some aspect of it.) The rippling floor effect when when she takes a step is the same as the various voidspace scenes (albeit shaded Dathmiri magik green); it even has the same hollow thud of a foley sound effect.
- Yes, it's another desert world, but I like how they've made it visually distinct, with much rougher terrain, bridges and raised speeder/walkways. The architecture has a more refined (if run down) aesthetic than the Tunisian inspired Tatooine.
- Again with the timeline; the presence of the classic Stormtrooper armour design over that of the TK Troopers seems to imply that the events of her 'Bad Batch' appearance happened before the bulk of this story. Meaning after emerging she went back to bounty hunting for a time, and attempted to settle down with a "quiet" life at some point after meeting Omega. (There may even be some cause and effect there.)
- That makes sense to me since it's a safe assumption that the first thing she'd do is go looking for Quinlan. Indeed; Fennic calling her with intel on people asking about M-counts suggests she's had feelers out for a while. Whether she went to ground because the Inquisitorious kept getting too close, or testing Omega made her realise something about her path is open to interpretation (probably a little of both, honestly)
- I'm a little surprised that Ventress isn't already with The Hidden Path, though that had only been an assumption until now.
- I do appreciate how they left the door open for future storytellers by having Lyco say he heard a rumour The Path was established by Vos and "the others". Who those others are is a mystery for now; it's probably too early to have anything to do with Cere Junda, though Ahsoka and Barris are other strong possibilities.
- The second episode looks like it might take place of Daiyu, but it could just as easily be somewhere new. I wouldn't hold out much hope of any clarification from the databank since I think think they even bothered making entries for TotE, nor did they release any concept art, sadly.
- Only two desert planets in three episodes? They're slipping!
- While all of these epsiodes feel like they're straight out of 'Clone Wars', the third episode feels like it's from a Jedi centric episode, whereas the first two felt more like typical "underworld" episodes. I sense a thematic progression . . . I mean conflict resolution through diplomacy and empathy? This is as Jedi as Assaj has been since Rattatak!
- Nice ambiguous but hopeful ending. Ventress is able to let go of her attachment and make a truly selfless choice. This seems to have been the price of her resurrection; her heart's desire. She seems at peace with it, finally. It's still possible she and Vos will be reunited at some point down the line, but she made a significant choice here.
I honestly don't have a lot to say about the Cad Bane arc. It's well done and everything, but as with the Morgan Elsbeth arc, it feels somewhat hindered by an overshasowing sense of inevitability.
It's nice to get some details of Bane's backstory, and while some might complain about this demystification as they do with Boba, I quite like it. Sure Bane looks cool, but he is not a good person. Like Morgan, he had many choices taken away from him at a young age, also like he still had several oppertunities to turn away from the dark path, but instead chose to embrace his anger, his bitterness, and his petty vindictiveness.
I even like that his name isn't even his given name, but one he chose for himself, and of course the angsty, brooding teen with delusions of grandure would name himself after a Sith Lord!
In the timeline and in Season 2 of
Andor we're still at least a year away from this event, but I hope it's at least referenced if not partially recreated in live action.
By my reckoning, it's actually just a little less than a year out.
Either way, it's going to be in the mix of the next arc somewhere, since her flight from Coruscant was explicitly stated to be a direct reaction the what happened on Ghorman. I'm not expecting much in terms of a direct overlap; most likely we're going to see her no doubt daring and exciting escape from the capital, and basically skip over most everything from Rebels. At the very most, I think the next we'll see of her she'll already be on the Ghost delivering that speech, and even then we may just be seeing her as a hologram and not have any context for where she is physically.
Even that would be optimistic, and I suspect there's got going to be a direct overlap at all, and it'll cut straight from her escape to her already being either on Dantooine or Yavin 4. Probably Yavin 4, given that it's already being built up to, and that timeline wise, it should be established by that point, since it's where the Phoenix cell fled to after Atollon fell.
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