I don't think there were giant wolves in the unfinished Kashyyyk arc. I believe there were supposed to be Wookiees riding on giant monkeys that would fight these mantis-like creatures. I think the part with the giant monkeys is still in because we see them being ridden on in the trailer.
Something that bothered me while watching the premiere is that it feels like the Batch are in a weird place re: how they feel about "regs." They consistently use stun blasts on clones by default, but they don't go out of their way to avoid killing them and they never seem to feel bad when they do end up killing fellow clones. The idea that the Batch would want to avoid killing their brothers makes perfect sense to me and feels like a logical moral/emotional conflict for them to have when fighting the Empire, but they just... don't. I know that the Batch (other than Echo) has a sort of disconnected relationship to "regs," but they still have that connection of brotherhood. When Wrecker stunned the one clone and they dragged him into the container, I got kind of excited, like this guy was going to end up stowing away with them and, after chip removal and/or discussion, join the Batch, which would lead to a new motivation to "free" as many clones as possible. That does probably sound more like the sort of thing Rex would be doing, but it seems like such an obvious idea that the Batch should at least wrestle with, and it's just not there.
The original arc was that the CIS would have invaded Kashyyyk and planning to cause a large forest fire to weaken the Wookies and also grab resources. Bad Batch was sent for recon and dismantling of the operation, they were going to work with Tarful. The 3D Layout sequence we saw was just the Bad Batch and Tarful being ambushed by those spiders until the monkeys show up. They were looking for them because the Wookies revere them as forest guardians, so they went to ask them for their aid, which is a pretty big deal in Wookie culture.
Yeah, much stronger episode this week, but it's still much more action-focused and light on substance than I'd like. It's all generally well done and the environments are interesting enough (though it would be nice if more of it was visible), but for the majority of fighting I was just bored. I did think the last third of the episode was quite strong. Something about this animation style with extended scenes with no dialogue and just the score really sticks in my mind, like in the Clone Wars finale. I do really like much the episode felt like an episode of the Clone Wars, right down to the similar music playing during the battle, only to be reminded that this isn't the Clone Wars... or maybe this is what the Clone Wars really was all along (which would be the interesting version of this story, though I'm not sure the show itself is willing to believe that). Spoiler I've never loved the idea of Cody going AWOL. To me, he always seemed like a kind of reflection of Obi-Wan in the same way Rex was to Anakin. Anakin was always one to question authority and place the lives of others before institutional conformity, while Obi-Wan was, despite being a moral and good person, ultimately loyal to the institution he served despite its clear flaws. Having their clone commanders follow similar but distinct paths (Rex goes AWOL and turns on the Empire, Cody remains loyal) always felt like the most interesting route, so it's sort of disappointing that Cody is basically just Rex now. I do like how he was portrayed in the episode (his little moment of hesitation when Crosshair mentioned Jedi was good), but there's nothing new or interesting here. I also think Cody's decision to leave came way too easily. It seems now like every clone (at least the ones who lived through the war) is just one Imperial atrocity away from rebelling. Obviously Crosshair is supposed to be representative of the clones who stayed loyal, but he never gives any good reasons for why he's choosing to serve the Empire. This was my frustration with the reveal at the end of last season, and here he still displays no clear ideological or personal motivation for his decision. Crosshair should be interesting - there should be plenty of clones who come to a similar conclusion based on their experiences in the war - but, like the rest of the Batch, his character remains stubbornly paper-thin. The show is still falling short of what I'd like to see, and I don't know if I'd call this episode a substantial improvement, but I did enjoy it for what it was. Bit of an indictment on the show that its strongest episode this season is the one in which its main characters do not appear...
Man, what a switch up. This was a dramatically better episode and easily one that felt like a good Clone Wars episode again. This is no small compliment given how much of the show just plain sucks. I do have to again praise the lighting and animation, an early scene with Rampart where he’s barely lit was really good looking. I love that everything is flipped on it’s head in this episode. In TCW this would’ve been the clones heroically saving the day against clankers for the Republic. But now, it’s so, so much worse. In fact even the earliest, happiest episodes of TCW are so much worse now. King Katunko in the first episode? All that episode did was give Palpatine another world under his thumb. It’s really compelling that Ames thought #DookuWasRight when Dooku helped mastermind the Empire’s creation in the first place. And the clones aren’t saving a planet from clankers and a villain of the week. They’re helping the fascist Empire remove an annoyance who took their installed Governor hostage. Crosshair was great because we get to see him being the closest he’s been to happy since the first episode before the order was given. He’s actually happy to have a comrade again, someone he can banter a little with, someone to watch his back. And he still ends up driving him away. Cody’s arc is pretty predictable, but I really do want to know more about what he really thinks of things. That was chilling, his reaction when Crosshair said the Jedi were traitors. Ames herself was great, she was cool and smart, and it was cool again to see her loyal to Dooku and Bonteri. The droids were fun and didn’t break the gloomy tone of the episode. Speaking of, the tone was great. It was effectively dark and moody for a post-Order 66 clone story. This is really what the show should be more like on a regular basis. It was very reminiscent of TCW in the minutes before Order 66 went out. I’ll never forget the dawning tension and horror of that build-up, which Tales of the Jedi actually managed to recapture during the Dooku arc. I wish the show could be this good all the time.
A small thing, but I really liked how it seemed the droids were more competent in their tactics. The Commando Droid learning to avoid the shot pucks in the staircase was great to see. However thinking outside the box is still the downfall of most Tactical Droids. The one droid responding to Grotton's claims with "Mmmhmmm" was hilarious. I do not think Cody ran, I think he was arrested.
Yeah Grutton gave him a stink eye when he was bringing in all the stormtroopers. The show will probably take the easy way out and say he deserted, but it’d be fun if that stink eye foreshadowed that he was gonna report him to Rampart who went and caught him.
They absolutely should have. IMHO just skip those eps and start watching with this---save yourself some time.
Loved episode 3. Those kind of “contained” mission episodes are what I miss the most from being younger watching TCW.
I think they should just consistently keep up the quality of this week’s episode, but skipping the premiere is a good idea too.
I enjoy isolated plots or side story episodes, I enjoyed this one, however I worry that once again the Bad Batch are not utilizing their limited series run to its full potential again. Hope Hunter and Echo's nerf nugget run went well. Let's see if this season has a good payoff. The pointing fingers at Cid makes me wonder if she will sell out to the Empire or something.
I'm extremely annoyed that the show set up its most interesting character conflict yet between Hunter and Echo in the premiere, and then we get this episode in which Hunter and Echo are specifically doing things offscreen and are never seen. Maybe next episode will be about what they get up to and will explore more of that conflict, but that felt like a targeted denial for me specifically. The episode itself was pretty dull, though the race at the end was surprisingly engaging and fun to watch (almost entirely due to the music, which reminded me of the track from the first season 2 trailer). Overall it just felt entirely pointless, giving us nothing of note from any of the characters except for a reminder that "uh oh, maybe Cid can't be trusted," which a) isn't exactly compelling since Cid has very little characterization, and b) that could've been communicated without spending a whole episode on random nonsense. I do like seeing more types of entertainment in the galaxy - I was worried we'd just be seeing podracing or swoop racing again, so it's nice to get some variation.
Its possible that Tech's reminder to Wrecker and Omega that most of their problems come from Cid's jobs and that they are capable of more than what they are lumped with, could go somewhere. I could see him siding with Echo if a feud begins.
Well, back to mission of the week episodes. It was pretty slow but honestly the climax was kinda fun. Tay-0 was kinda funny, I liked his teal/Vespa colors and how he looked like a life preserver, or was it a cheap plastic toilet seat? Millegi was a pleasant surprise, I thought that was Ernie Hudson for a second, then I thought it was Jonathan Adams. And then the credits confirm it was Ernie!! Props to him for being able to still do a deep intimidating voice. It’s been ten years since Prime went off the air but I still miss Agent Fowler. I like that Tech basically grinded the race track like you’d grind a racing course in a video game to learn all the tricks and turns so he could do it himself, that was kinda funny. And it was kinda cute seeing this tiny girl bargain with a big Ron Pearlman looking gangster. He’s the same species from TFA on the couch and the Ninth Sister, right? This episode didn’t even mention the events of the premiere which further proves how meaningless it was. Just a filler episode. The subplot where Millegi keeps mentioning Cid is untrustworthy didn’t do anything for me because we know she really isn’t. She’s grown a bit attached to Omega but I can easily see her betraying the rest, and then will do a Han returning to help rescue. Cliche. That’s what the episode and show generally are besides the good stuff about, you know, the clones during the Empire’s infancy.
I feel like the show was setting up for a proper intro with Phee and then forgot to, because it felt shoehorned of just having the Bad Batch go with her. As per usual it feels like they are trying to use all the scrapped plots of the final season of Clone Wars to be reworked for Bad Batch. The race last episode could have been said was Bad Batch's version of Rex racing against R2 and this one could be said was the reworked plot of Ashoka finding the ancient Sith temple under the Jedi Temple while being hunted by a slender, long limbed creature. All in all though the reveal of the 'Heart of the Mountain' was very H.G Wells and makes me wonder about its origins. They really don't like character growth though for the gang which only seems to happen for the show's season's premieres and finales.
Another filler episode but it had a nice atmosphere for the most part. It’s really interesting that the score was so huge and ethereal. Like I’d expect that for something like exploring a Sith or Jedi temple, or finding a passageway underground to the World Between Worlds. So props to Kevin for bringing his A-game as always. It still felt pretty boring, though. Like the dialogue and actions are too slow and the characters are too underdeveloped for it to really pop. This reminded me of a filler episode of Rebels if the cast was not as developed as well and they didn’t have a legit family bond. Hunter gets paired up with Omega and Phee but both he and Phee are so one note we don’t get anything out of it. The rest of the Batch is just there, and to be fair so is Hunter because god forbid they make him his own character. Omega’s eagerness for adventure is kinda cute. The climax was pretty cool. I loved how Fallen Order delved into the Zeffo and showed us ruins and stories unrelated to the Jedi or Sith, to show there’s a much, much bigger galaxy out there with thousands, millions more questions out there than could possibly be answered. And this was more of that. What the fuck was that planet killer? At the beginning of its activation, was it sending a signal? To who? And what was it sending? It’s super intriguing, and it seems like we’re not quite done with it. The show is still not good. But like anything, there’s always at least one thing here or there I’m glad I saw.
