Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Decommissioned
June 4, 2021 4:27 AM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe

On a mission to acquire a valuable asset, the Bad Batch encounter smugglers after the same target.
posted by EndsOfInvention (18 comments total)
 
Rafa and Trace are previous acquaintances of Ahsoka Tano, who she met in the depths of Coruscant's underworld in The Clone Wars.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:40 AM on June 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


So nice of them to tattle to mystery man after getting the data stick from Hunter. So who's the guy in the bathrobe?

Echo seems to be the only one clued into Omega's need for some parental-ish relationship. Him talking her through bow practice reminded me of my dad teaching me to drive (lo these many years ago!). Of course I wasn't being heckled by a couple of barflies at the time.
posted by orrnyereg at 6:10 AM on June 4, 2021


So who's the guy in the bathrobe?

My money's on Bail Organa.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:43 AM on June 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


Briefly resurrected battle droid: "Orders are orders." (shrug)

Ouch.
posted by pykrete jungle at 7:16 PM on June 4, 2021


So who's the guy in the bathrobe?

If the dialogue wasn’t “patch him in” my money would be on Ahsoka — there’s an obvious connection with the Martez sisters plus their astromech droid is an R7 unit, same model as Ahsoka’s. Plus you just know that Filoni is aching to tie her into the story.
posted by nathan_teske at 7:51 PM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


"Is there an echo in here"?
"Yes"
posted by the webmistress at 8:09 PM on June 5, 2021 [4 favorites]


My money's on Bail Organa.

It's pretty much gotta be Bail or Saw, right? Unless they're setting up for a tie-in with the upcoming Cassian Andor series.

I liked that Cid had to be the one to point out that Omega's issue with the bow was lack of arm strength; it makes sense that the clones wouldn't be attuned to picking up on physical differences, because they're used to training in an environment where everyone has exactly the same physical characteristics.
posted by mstokes650 at 6:31 AM on June 6, 2021 [3 favorites]


It is weird that she gets a bow, and not a blaster, as a weapon; there doesn't seem to be much reason she wouldn't do much better with a blaster or some other weapon that doesn't rely upon consistent physical strength to operate.

I presume it's because of the implications of having a child wield a gun in a kid's cartoon.
posted by pykrete jungle at 6:35 AM on June 6, 2021 [3 favorites]


After a great episode last week I struggled to find anything to care about this time. I felt like I was supposed to be interested in Rafa and Trace, but not being up on the Clone Wars or other lore they were just there. I didn't pick up anything interesting about them. I have zero desire to watch a Star Wars (or Marvel) episode then read up on line to see why the showrunners thought I was going to be excited about something.

I did chuckle during the initial training scene and loved Cid grabbing the bow and telling Omega to toughen up.
posted by mark k at 11:57 AM on June 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


Poor Wrecker and his constant head injuries, I guess they're preparing the audience for Wrecker to turn against the team, but bah.
posted by later, paladudes at 1:45 PM on June 6, 2021


It's pretty much gotta be Bail or Saw, right? Unless they're setting up for a tie-in with the upcoming Cassian Andor series.

In Rogue One, Cassian says he's been "in this fight since [he] was 6 years old" and I was about to reply that that would mean Cassian was 6 or 7 during the events of the Bad Batch, but checking on Wookiepedia and apparently he was actually a child soldier for the Separatists in the Clone Wars??
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:09 PM on June 6, 2021


The Star Wars universe has always been disturbingly into child soldiers. Anakin murders a shedload of people with a starfighter when he's 9 during The Phantom Menace and it gets presented as a good thing.

Good to see the Martez sisters again—their arc wasn't great but I did like their dynamic. Also, poor Wrecker. They're gonna have to take him out into the field and tell him about the rabbits lothcats, aren't they?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:57 PM on June 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


You know, Hunter, Omega very nearly died in the ultimate the-floor-is-lava moment--the least you could do is give her a hug. Honestly!
posted by orrnyereg at 5:39 AM on June 7, 2021


I watch some shows like, say, Fargo, and often there are callbacks to earlier seasons: they'll mention a character, or the later season will include a character that was only mentioned in an earlier season.

Often, enough time has passed that I don't always get the reference. Nonetheless, most of the time the show holds up without me remembering the earlier reference. It's whole. I can enjoy it as a stand-alone story. Recognizing the reference might deepen my appreciation but the story holds up either way.

The Bad Batch has had a number of callbacks to episodes of the Clone Wars, or so I'm told. I've never seen Clone Wars. But I can tell when it happens, because a lot of the time, the show presents these new, paper-thin characters, and they'll be in disguise, and they'll do some thing, and then they do a Big Reveal with a Significant Closeup. It makes me feel like there's something I should already know about them.

It's a tough balance, figuring out how to present characters for whom people maybe already know the backstory, but not relying on that backstory. I don't think Bad Batch is succeeding on that front.
posted by nushustu at 11:33 AM on June 7, 2021 [3 favorites]


Yeah, it's a bold move to build an episode around a pair of characters that starred in the worst-ranked episode of Clone Wars.

Fennec Shan was in The Mandalorian in a few episodes and will star in the Boba Fett thingy, but they only tell you who she is after she's off-screen.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:34 PM on June 7, 2021


Why oh why have your little girl practice her Space Archery in a bar?! These guys are terrible dads.
posted by potrzebie at 6:04 PM on June 7, 2021 [1 favorite]


It probably says something about context that the kind of slapstick goofball battle droids felt like some of the worst parts of the prequels, but here, in a cartoon with a younger audience? Yeah OK they're fine.

(Which probably highlights that the prequels were also _fine_, but since they're so wrapped up in the Lore and History and Big Important Cinema, it's hard to take them for the kids movies they really are and always have been.)
posted by Kyol at 2:11 PM on June 9, 2021


*channels 10 year old self*

A LASER BOW AND LIGHTSABERS ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!

*dies*

So, erhm, Star Wars knows its market.
posted by M Edward at 4:56 PM on June 15, 2021 [2 favorites]


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