The Bad Batch: 1x08-09
May. 11th, 2022 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tori_reviewsThe Bad Batch: 1x08
Well this is an odd one. I spent most of the episode thinking that while I wasn’t sure I liked the episode, there were definitely things to like in the episode. I figured I’d be parsing that out here. Instead, I present you an imagined conversation between me and a certain type of SW fan:
CTOSWF: Filoni gets way too into his OCs. I mean, he just keeps bringing Ahsoka back when she really shouldn’t be.
Me: But Ahsoka one of the few things I liked in TCW, so I’m not crazy about you coming after my baby.
CTOSWF: If you like, I guess. And not all of Filoni’s characters are bad; Cad Bane is pretty cool.
Me: …so Filoni does get way too into his OCs, doesn’t he?
That is my initial reaction to Bane showing up here, but he’s actually not as bad as usual here, so there’s that. The BB were in a position where a lot of people could have gotten one up on them, in fact Bane isn’t the only person who did, so him getting this win isn’t a Villain Sue trait. So far, we’ll see if that holds.
The main bulk this episode is…solid. The team has a goal: to get stuff they can sell/trade/etc., and work quickly so they won’t be caught by other scavengers. Then something comes along that gets in the way of their goal: Crosshair leading Imperial troops looking for them. The initial skirmish with the scavengers was unnecessary, but not unreasonable. Everyone on the team played a part in trying to overcome their foe; character was revealed through action in several moments; Omega was somewhat useful but not given excess importance; and I just like any time the fights get personal and people on both sides know each other and have to outthink each other.
Honestly, on a better overall show, this episode would be pretty good. But here, it’s weighed down by everything surrounding it (and my general feelings about these shows). It’s a problem that while the team’s goal for the episode is clear enough, their larger goals are not (although I do like that there seems to be some disagreement with Hunter’s lack of a plan and that some might think they should have gone with Rex). That I have to note that the team’s actions here manage to be character motivated and reasoned, when that should be the norm. That in theory I kind of care about Crosshair more than the rest of the team, because he doesn’t have a choice in not being a well established character; but I still dislike that they gave him the evil voice. That I don’t trust the writing to know how to balance a fight between the BB and Bane; the team has to win in the end, but Bane has been a Villain Sue so he may have to be nerfed or the team elevated to Sue status.
I want to say I liked this episode, I really do, because I should. There is enough to like here. I just don’t have enough invested or trusting in this universe to say much more than this showed improvement and I hope it continues.
The Bad Batch: 1x09
So, having found myself playing games on my phone during parts of the last couple episodes, I’m coming to a conclusion that show is just boring to me. I actually think, from an analytical perspective, this episode was better structured and focused than a lot of them have been, but I just don’t care.
I need a hook into this show that I’m not finding so far. And the only thing that I find myself potentially interested in is the shitty life of Crosshair of all things. I feel so bad for him, especially since the team doesn’t seem to care. It really undercuts my ability to invest in this family that we’re supposed to care about, when said family doesn’t give a damn about their missing member. They should care about Crosshair way more than Omega, but they don’t, so I do.
Which makes it harder to care about Omega, because I don’t actually care that much about Crosshair (except in theory), I just know that I care more about him than Omega.
I’ve also sort of realized that I prefer Omega and Wrecker’s interactions to Omega and Hunter. I think I prefer to think of them as all being siblings (which is definitely the Omega-Wrecker dynamic), but Hunter is forced into the father role and doesn’t work nearly as well for me. And it kind of cuts both ways; it makes me dislike Omega for upsetting the dynamic (the rest of them can be siblings); and it makes me dislike Hunter more, because what makes him so special as to need to be the father figure when a brother would do nicely? None of them had parents, only commanders and siblings, and I want to see that reflected in dynamics we seeing developed.
Which bleeds back into my pity for Crosshair. Because if Hunter is the team leader and so also the dad, then he should be looking out for all of the other members of the family, not singling out Omega. And if they’re all siblings, then why are they writing off one of their own instead of going to the mat for him just as much?
On another note, as I expected, this episode gets weighed down by how Bane was established in previous appearances. He’s the Villain Sue that sets a bar; so when he’s mostly beaten by Fennec I start to call her a Sue of some kind too. And then she loses out to Omega, which is not helping Omega’s status as a Sue character either. If I could scale back Bane’s supposed awesomeness that made me hate him in the first place, then…this could have worked. I still wouldn’t care exactly, but it wouldn’t have domino effect of making everyone seem like Sue.
The action is fine here, and we do actually see people using their brains enough for us to see how they think about taking actions instead of just having them happen. That’s good, I like that, we don’t get nearly enough of it. But that makes the episode more palatable, not more interesting to me. Like I said, I’m still hoping for a hook to get on with this show.
Granted, having a hook can still be frustrating when the hook doesn’t get enough attention because the show likely won’t actually be about what hooks me. This show is not going in a good direction on that front (although I do think there will be a turn around with Crosshair before the end of the season, on the other hand I don’t have the confidence to assume we’ll get a full arc on dealing with what’s happened to him).
Well this is an odd one. I spent most of the episode thinking that while I wasn’t sure I liked the episode, there were definitely things to like in the episode. I figured I’d be parsing that out here. Instead, I present you an imagined conversation between me and a certain type of SW fan:
CTOSWF: Filoni gets way too into his OCs. I mean, he just keeps bringing Ahsoka back when she really shouldn’t be.
Me: But Ahsoka one of the few things I liked in TCW, so I’m not crazy about you coming after my baby.
CTOSWF: If you like, I guess. And not all of Filoni’s characters are bad; Cad Bane is pretty cool.
Me: …so Filoni does get way too into his OCs, doesn’t he?
That is my initial reaction to Bane showing up here, but he’s actually not as bad as usual here, so there’s that. The BB were in a position where a lot of people could have gotten one up on them, in fact Bane isn’t the only person who did, so him getting this win isn’t a Villain Sue trait. So far, we’ll see if that holds.
The main bulk this episode is…solid. The team has a goal: to get stuff they can sell/trade/etc., and work quickly so they won’t be caught by other scavengers. Then something comes along that gets in the way of their goal: Crosshair leading Imperial troops looking for them. The initial skirmish with the scavengers was unnecessary, but not unreasonable. Everyone on the team played a part in trying to overcome their foe; character was revealed through action in several moments; Omega was somewhat useful but not given excess importance; and I just like any time the fights get personal and people on both sides know each other and have to outthink each other.
Honestly, on a better overall show, this episode would be pretty good. But here, it’s weighed down by everything surrounding it (and my general feelings about these shows). It’s a problem that while the team’s goal for the episode is clear enough, their larger goals are not (although I do like that there seems to be some disagreement with Hunter’s lack of a plan and that some might think they should have gone with Rex). That I have to note that the team’s actions here manage to be character motivated and reasoned, when that should be the norm. That in theory I kind of care about Crosshair more than the rest of the team, because he doesn’t have a choice in not being a well established character; but I still dislike that they gave him the evil voice. That I don’t trust the writing to know how to balance a fight between the BB and Bane; the team has to win in the end, but Bane has been a Villain Sue so he may have to be nerfed or the team elevated to Sue status.
I want to say I liked this episode, I really do, because I should. There is enough to like here. I just don’t have enough invested or trusting in this universe to say much more than this showed improvement and I hope it continues.
The Bad Batch: 1x09
So, having found myself playing games on my phone during parts of the last couple episodes, I’m coming to a conclusion that show is just boring to me. I actually think, from an analytical perspective, this episode was better structured and focused than a lot of them have been, but I just don’t care.
I need a hook into this show that I’m not finding so far. And the only thing that I find myself potentially interested in is the shitty life of Crosshair of all things. I feel so bad for him, especially since the team doesn’t seem to care. It really undercuts my ability to invest in this family that we’re supposed to care about, when said family doesn’t give a damn about their missing member. They should care about Crosshair way more than Omega, but they don’t, so I do.
Which makes it harder to care about Omega, because I don’t actually care that much about Crosshair (except in theory), I just know that I care more about him than Omega.
I’ve also sort of realized that I prefer Omega and Wrecker’s interactions to Omega and Hunter. I think I prefer to think of them as all being siblings (which is definitely the Omega-Wrecker dynamic), but Hunter is forced into the father role and doesn’t work nearly as well for me. And it kind of cuts both ways; it makes me dislike Omega for upsetting the dynamic (the rest of them can be siblings); and it makes me dislike Hunter more, because what makes him so special as to need to be the father figure when a brother would do nicely? None of them had parents, only commanders and siblings, and I want to see that reflected in dynamics we seeing developed.
Which bleeds back into my pity for Crosshair. Because if Hunter is the team leader and so also the dad, then he should be looking out for all of the other members of the family, not singling out Omega. And if they’re all siblings, then why are they writing off one of their own instead of going to the mat for him just as much?
On another note, as I expected, this episode gets weighed down by how Bane was established in previous appearances. He’s the Villain Sue that sets a bar; so when he’s mostly beaten by Fennec I start to call her a Sue of some kind too. And then she loses out to Omega, which is not helping Omega’s status as a Sue character either. If I could scale back Bane’s supposed awesomeness that made me hate him in the first place, then…this could have worked. I still wouldn’t care exactly, but it wouldn’t have domino effect of making everyone seem like Sue.
The action is fine here, and we do actually see people using their brains enough for us to see how they think about taking actions instead of just having them happen. That’s good, I like that, we don’t get nearly enough of it. But that makes the episode more palatable, not more interesting to me. Like I said, I’m still hoping for a hook to get on with this show.
Granted, having a hook can still be frustrating when the hook doesn’t get enough attention because the show likely won’t actually be about what hooks me. This show is not going in a good direction on that front (although I do think there will be a turn around with Crosshair before the end of the season, on the other hand I don’t have the confidence to assume we’ll get a full arc on dealing with what’s happened to him).
