What They Say:
As the seeds of rebellion foment on an outer rim world, the Empire schemes to squash it.
The Review: Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While there are jokes to be made about the Bad Batch basically guest-starring in their own show, this is done in a long tradition of storytelling by setting up the main story and spending time with new characters to lay out the foundations. What makes it different here is that we’ve seen or heard of various aspects of this for a long time, through comics, novels, and dialogue in other series. There are a number of key worlds that have events taking place in the larger Star Wars universe that got almost no time in the films and one of the biggest ones is here with Ryloth. With the world suffering under siege from Separatists at first and then rescued by the Clone Army when the Republic was able to start going on the offensive, it’s a complicated planet with a lot of thoughts of its place in the grand scheme of things.
With the rise of the Empire, they’re looking to establish control here in a slightly subtle way. They’ve placed a massive doonium refinery on the world that will employ a lot of people and secondary industries and it’ll help rebuild other worlds impacted by the war, which should make the Twi’leks feel really good about it. But the Empire insists that the military/resistance side of the war disarm and return to normal life – an incredibly hard thing to do no matter what – and to accept that there are defensive measures being taken around the facility that look militarized. It’s also got an area around it that’s kept off-limits which has some of those from the war really wary, such as Gobi, who is Cham Syndulla’s lieutenant during the war. Gobi is hugely distrusting of the Empire and is intent on re-arming as many people as he can for when, not if, resistance is needed again and to be prepared.
With Cham Syndulla being a key player in much of the Clone Wars series, it’s good to see how he’s trying to find the right path for his people alongside his wife Eleni. Senator Taa is all too eager to give into every Imperial demand, but he doesn’t have the love of the people like Cham. So there’s a wariness and problem there as well, which Vice Admiral Rampart is all too happy to exploit. And he’s keeping an eye on things by bringing Crosshair with him. Crosshair has a good read on people and he can tell exactly what kind of person Gobi is, and he knows how to track them as well. This is what brings us into contact with the Bad Batch briefly as they’re flying a mission for Cid to bring weapons to Gobi. It’s brief, coming in about 14 minutes into the episode, but it works really well and has a great moment with Omega giving a little tour of their ship.
That tour is given to a teenage Hera, who as we know will go on to great exploits in her book where she meets the love of her life and then the TV series where she works to help build the Rebellion in key ways. Here, she’s struggling to get Gobi to really let her help, and for good reasons, but she’s intent on being like her uncle instead of her father as there’s a natural distrust of the Empire there. It’s really fun seeing Hera at this age and starting to get into things, causing trouble for Captain Howzer and the like, and also getting some time with Chopper who thankfully isn’t overused here in a bad way. I also liked getting to see her with her own people, a real rarity in Rebels, and the subtle but previously confirmed code-switching she does when she’s not with her own people.
It’s no surprise that things start to go south for the Twi’leks pretty quickly as Rampart knows what he needs to accomplish here and how to move the pieces around to achieve the end goals. It’s perhaps a little forced and done quickly but these are the events that happen early on when cementing control of a people like this. And the Empire is going to strip-mine a lot of worlds for their larger plans that the Emperor has on Exegol. With this episode being the first of two parts, it does a really good job of establishing things for new viewers but presenting it in a way that doesn’t feel repetitive or problematic for long-time fans. I’ve read and seen so much of this story out of order that I’ve forgotten parts to be sure, and there are likely a ton of easter eggs here, but it really does work well in the grand scheme of things.
In Summary:
The Bad Batch may not make much of an appearance in this episode but it’s the kind of thing that works well in showing the strength of this series. We want to see this post-Republic galaxy to see how the worlds fell to the Empire, how they established control, and the first embers of a rebellion that will spark in the years to come. The ‘Batch haven’t set themselves on a particular side yet in truth but they haven’t had the need. They know things aren’t right but they’re five against a galaxy at this point and they’re focusing more on Omega and understanding what her role in things may be. And that works well, especially when placed against this larger backdrop from which they interact.
Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.
