I'm relieved to say last night's new episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch was another good one, this one written by Christian Taylor. Taylor wrote no less than fifteen episodes of The Clone Wars, including the famous arc involving Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka on a strange world inhabited by three Force deities. And yet, Taylor hadn't worked on a single Star Wars project since Disney acquired the property. I hope we get to see the return of more Clone Wars writers and I find myself wondering if this reflects a policy change at Disney.
A lot of the arguments people have about the quality of writing on Disney Star Wars tend to hinge on politics, specifically wokeness, but I don't think that's really the issue. Although I think wokeness, as a priority, can lead to the hiring of creators who are vetted on improper criteria (they're not necessarily hired for being good writers, in other words), there's no reason good stories can't be written for characters belonging to racial or sexual identity groups historically scarce in leading roles. The two real problems that have plagued Disney Star Wars are the absence of George Lucas as a guiding influence and the insertion of ideas reflective of Disney corporate policies. These policies are much older than wokeness and although I've never seen them explicitly stated anywhere one can deduce them from mostly consistent patterns in Disney's creative output--stories must always, in some way, be about family, there must always be a clear demarcation between good and evil, and good must always be superior to evil in ways so clear that even a three year old can grasp it. At first glance, it would seem Star Wars easily fits with these qualities--the Star Wars movies are about family, many people believe they're about the fundamental battle between good and evil, and the difference between the Rebellion and the Empire couldn't be clearer. At first glance, it's a perfect fit, but in practice, things fall apart--the portrayal of comically inept stormtroopers in the first season of Rebels and the generally, absurdly nerfed villains on Resistance and Forces of Destiny are examples of how this completely undermines storytelling in the Star Wars universe. Notably, the Star Wars movies released under Disney have largely been free of this problem, particularly the strongest, Rogue One. I suspect this is because Disney has been more cautious with the films. Beginning with season two of The Mandalorian, I believe Disney has finally learned this lesson for Star Wars television, too, and we're finally seeing stories that reflected the nuance that always underscored Star Wars under Lucas--particularly in The Empire Strikes Back and the prequels.
"Cornered" begins with the Batch (Dee Bradley Baker) and Omega (Michelle Ang) looking for a new place to recoup and refuel. Taylor deftly uses the circumstance to develop the characters--the Bad Batch are a military unit, used to having their basic needs, like food and fuel, financed and supplied by the Republic. Now, even the smartest of them, Tech, is a babe in the woods. It doesn't even occur to him that the proprietor of the port would require a bribe to persuade him not to file the customary report on their landing. Hunter is cannier than the rest, but even he resorts to the somewhat absurd measure of passing Echo off as a droid and trading him.
I also like how excited Omega is at seeing Pantora--I'm warming to Omega faster than any new Star Wars character since The Clone Wars' original run. And I liked the time that was evidently spent making Pantora look interesting and distinct. There are so many little details, too, I only saw later when I was taking screenshots, like this poor beggar Hunter runs past.
The Empire hasn't solved poverty but everyone is happy that the war is ended--another nice bit of complexity. Order and security do come with their perks.
And, of course, this is the episode that introduces Fennec Shand from The Mandalorian, voiced by Ming-Na Wen, who also plays her in live action form.
Her face looks oddly big. Maybe her eyes should've been made slightly larger to match the stylisation on the other characters. Maybe it needed more shading, I don't know, but Ming-Na Wen is much prettier than this in real life. But this is otherwise, frankly, a more interesting introduction for her than her first episode on The Mandalorian. She's a bounty hunter and Omega is clearly her target but she's also oddly kind to the girl, teaching her how to steal fruit from a local vendor like Sabu in The Thief of Bagdad. I have to say, I feel little bad for the merchants on Pantora in this episode.
Director Saul Ruiz also crafts a very effective chase sequence in the sewer and rooftops of Pantora. All in all, a satisfying piece of pulp serial storytelling, just like the better episodes Clone Wars.
The Bad Batch is available on Disney+.
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