The Bad Batch: 1x02-03
Apr. 20th, 2022 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsI forgot about this show last week. I'm not really thinking about it right now because I've stalled on writing the reviews, so it slipped my mind that I had some to post.
The Bad Batch: 1x02
Well, this continues to be fine. So far, I’m not having any major issues with it but I am still spotting some potential pitfalls in the way things are going. They might be able to navigate around those pitfalls, but considering how I’ve felt about…most of the Star Wars TV shows, I’m pretty wary of being optimistic.
There are some continuity questions here. Nothing that ruins it, but stuff is pecking away at my acceptance. How did the Bad Batch find out about Cut? How would Rex have gotten there before they did, seeing as Rex is currently out with Ahsoka? Little stuff by and large, but potential death by a thousand cuts if it keeps up.
Mostly, my biggest concern remains Omega, but I’m also kind of iffy on Hunter. And they’re the two most focused-on characters which is why I have the most to be iffy about. Both do spring from a similar place, that I want the whole crew to be relevant and layered, but so far Hunter is the only one the show has more to say about than their role on the team. In a way, I could say that it’s part of what’s keeping Omega from instantly becoming the Ezra of this show. Because Hunter also kind of is.
And, alright, after months of ranting about that fucking idiot Ezra Bridger, can nobody jump down my throat for calling Omega a potential Mary Sue. I mean it in the exact same way that I bitched about Ezra. (Not that I think the three people who may or may not be reading this are likely to jump down my throat about it, but…certain parts of fandom these days.)
We’re not even there yet, and maybe this will work out just fine. On a spectrum of Ahsoka to Ezra, Omega could pull off another Ahsoka and become an outstanding character (actually, if anything, Ahsoka wasn’t allowed to steal enough of the limelight to make TCW a consistent story). But Omega is the kid insert on a…maybe not real young, but still kids cartoon. The plot is likely rarely going to punish her no matter how many stupid mistakes she makes, I’m probably never going to feel like she’s in any real danger, and she could easily end up being the reason why other characters who should get development don’t.
Like I said, seeing pitfalls that I really hope the show avoids.
The Bad Batch: 1x03
So I’m already losing a lot of patience with this show. It’s just boring. I can’t decide if it’s boring in the same way as TCW, but it’s not a million miles different. I don’t hate it (yet) the way I came to hate certain things about Rebels, and it’s not boring in the same way as Mandalorian, but I’m definitely moving towards the do not like side of the scale pretty quickly.
I understand the challenge in doing voice work for the clones, I do, but I’m not crazy about what we’re getting here. Echo and even Hunter have no personality, Tech is too sniveling, Crosshair too evil, Wrecker…isn’t as bad as the others, but it’s a very obvious vocal choice. And I’m not sure how long I can stand hearing oh-me-ga instead of oh-meg-a; it may be correct pronunciation in much of the English speaking world, but the show sounds so American that using this is grating.
The voice work is really hurting Crosshair’s story, which otherwise might be my favorite because it has room to be more interesting. The main Bad Batch isn’t ever actually going to be that bad and show us the rough times they have and lives they’ll lead in the current galactic climate. They’re always going to be fine and come out with their shiny morals setting example for kids. Where Crosshair isn’t talking at the end of the episode, I do feel sorry for him, because I see the tragedy in his life and how he doesn’t have a choice in what he’s doing; but he sounds so evil that when he is talking it sounds like he’d be doing this anyway.
In some regards this likely will run into the same problem as Rebels though; the characters of this show can’t win. There can’t be plots where they do something that has a big effect on the war; the war hasn’t even started yet and it’s going to go on for another 20 years. The show will have to be content with small victories, but small victories do more for characters with more depth and more connections; saving someone’s loved ones or having to let go of something so that they can fight another day (in 20 years).
So I’m pretty sure Crosshair is being set up as this season’s…small victory by the end. And I can even see that working if I trusted this show to do anything interesting with it. But I’m pretty sure all is going to be forgiven because it’s not his fault; which may be the correct moral verdict, but doesn’t make for interesting drama.
I don’t know what I would do when trying to set a plot in this era of the SW universe, but maybe there shouldn’t have been a story like this set in this era of the SW galaxy. And I definitely don’t know how they can sustain it, especially in its current form, before it goes pretty stale. I already think it’s getting stale and it’s episode three.
What do these clones want? That’s the big question that we need to be seeing. Give them reasons to keep fighting, or show that they don’t want to keep fighting and they’re looking for a place out of the way. Do some actual character development, or this is just going to be another TCW, without the benefit of being able to look at it in a larger story context.
Omega was pretty annoying here; but once more, no more than I would expect from the random ‘charming’ child character.
The Bad Batch: 1x02
Well, this continues to be fine. So far, I’m not having any major issues with it but I am still spotting some potential pitfalls in the way things are going. They might be able to navigate around those pitfalls, but considering how I’ve felt about…most of the Star Wars TV shows, I’m pretty wary of being optimistic.
There are some continuity questions here. Nothing that ruins it, but stuff is pecking away at my acceptance. How did the Bad Batch find out about Cut? How would Rex have gotten there before they did, seeing as Rex is currently out with Ahsoka? Little stuff by and large, but potential death by a thousand cuts if it keeps up.
Mostly, my biggest concern remains Omega, but I’m also kind of iffy on Hunter. And they’re the two most focused-on characters which is why I have the most to be iffy about. Both do spring from a similar place, that I want the whole crew to be relevant and layered, but so far Hunter is the only one the show has more to say about than their role on the team. In a way, I could say that it’s part of what’s keeping Omega from instantly becoming the Ezra of this show. Because Hunter also kind of is.
And, alright, after months of ranting about that fucking idiot Ezra Bridger, can nobody jump down my throat for calling Omega a potential Mary Sue. I mean it in the exact same way that I bitched about Ezra. (Not that I think the three people who may or may not be reading this are likely to jump down my throat about it, but…certain parts of fandom these days.)
We’re not even there yet, and maybe this will work out just fine. On a spectrum of Ahsoka to Ezra, Omega could pull off another Ahsoka and become an outstanding character (actually, if anything, Ahsoka wasn’t allowed to steal enough of the limelight to make TCW a consistent story). But Omega is the kid insert on a…maybe not real young, but still kids cartoon. The plot is likely rarely going to punish her no matter how many stupid mistakes she makes, I’m probably never going to feel like she’s in any real danger, and she could easily end up being the reason why other characters who should get development don’t.
Like I said, seeing pitfalls that I really hope the show avoids.
The Bad Batch: 1x03
So I’m already losing a lot of patience with this show. It’s just boring. I can’t decide if it’s boring in the same way as TCW, but it’s not a million miles different. I don’t hate it (yet) the way I came to hate certain things about Rebels, and it’s not boring in the same way as Mandalorian, but I’m definitely moving towards the do not like side of the scale pretty quickly.
I understand the challenge in doing voice work for the clones, I do, but I’m not crazy about what we’re getting here. Echo and even Hunter have no personality, Tech is too sniveling, Crosshair too evil, Wrecker…isn’t as bad as the others, but it’s a very obvious vocal choice. And I’m not sure how long I can stand hearing oh-me-ga instead of oh-meg-a; it may be correct pronunciation in much of the English speaking world, but the show sounds so American that using this is grating.
The voice work is really hurting Crosshair’s story, which otherwise might be my favorite because it has room to be more interesting. The main Bad Batch isn’t ever actually going to be that bad and show us the rough times they have and lives they’ll lead in the current galactic climate. They’re always going to be fine and come out with their shiny morals setting example for kids. Where Crosshair isn’t talking at the end of the episode, I do feel sorry for him, because I see the tragedy in his life and how he doesn’t have a choice in what he’s doing; but he sounds so evil that when he is talking it sounds like he’d be doing this anyway.
In some regards this likely will run into the same problem as Rebels though; the characters of this show can’t win. There can’t be plots where they do something that has a big effect on the war; the war hasn’t even started yet and it’s going to go on for another 20 years. The show will have to be content with small victories, but small victories do more for characters with more depth and more connections; saving someone’s loved ones or having to let go of something so that they can fight another day (in 20 years).
So I’m pretty sure Crosshair is being set up as this season’s…small victory by the end. And I can even see that working if I trusted this show to do anything interesting with it. But I’m pretty sure all is going to be forgiven because it’s not his fault; which may be the correct moral verdict, but doesn’t make for interesting drama.
I don’t know what I would do when trying to set a plot in this era of the SW universe, but maybe there shouldn’t have been a story like this set in this era of the SW galaxy. And I definitely don’t know how they can sustain it, especially in its current form, before it goes pretty stale. I already think it’s getting stale and it’s episode three.
What do these clones want? That’s the big question that we need to be seeing. Give them reasons to keep fighting, or show that they don’t want to keep fighting and they’re looking for a place out of the way. Do some actual character development, or this is just going to be another TCW, without the benefit of being able to look at it in a larger story context.
Omega was pretty annoying here; but once more, no more than I would expect from the random ‘charming’ child character.
