The Bad Batch The Bad Batch 1.10 - Common Ground - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Wow! I really liked this episode.
Action sequences were top notch; especially with the tanks.
And the side story with Omega and her strategic abilities was surprisingly endearing.

 

The action scenes made more sense than other episodes. They actually looked like professional soldiers as they went in to rescue Senator Bashir. The tank battle was surprisingly good.

As for the vase, I was hoping they'd avoid the common trope and NOT smash it over somebody's head, but no, they went for the obvious slapstick.

 

Mina Bonteri was dead by season 5 but that doesn't mean they couldn't try to clarify how she had fit into this. Lux needed to reference his mother. I don't remember her even being mentioned until the last episode of the arc. I just feel it retconned HOBS without actually explaining the retcon. That was typical TCW which expects the viewers to connect the dots. Reading too far into things is probably where I go wrong here. Normally I love that. But here, I've just gone in circles trying to understand how these episodes fit together neatly. Dendup calling both the Republic and the C.I.S. puss pockets of corruption and saying he was determined not to join either side and then getting forced should have been an awesome moment in this arc.

Instead I said "What?" because it is completely contradictory to Mina Bonteri's backing of the C.I.S. and admiration of Dooku. Yeah she may never have seen his true face like Padme. I've come to except the idea she would of either been involved with whatever group who tossed Dendup out. Or was really playing both sides before her death. I'll just write Lux off as a dumbass and Dendup off as being to nice when saying "Your mother would have been proud."

I had always waiting for the Republic to be shown doing its own brand of evil before it became the Empire.

 

Did anyone else think of Minas Tirith during that opening shot of the city?

At the end of the first scene when the tanks were walking through the crowd, I was expecting them to set up the viewpoint to look more like the iconic footage from Tianenmen Square.

 

I almost wish they had mixed it up with the show's opening and jumped straight into the scene on Raxus with Senator Singh then cold opened to The Bad Batch's little intro. I do miss the exciting boom that comes from the first note of TCW's old intro.

 

When the empire moved in on the Rally I thought things were about to get really dark.

 

They got me twice. I thought at first the clones were going straight up execute Singh for speaking out. Then I thought the tanks might open fire on the crowd. I wonder how much collateral damage there was from the walker chase. The pursuing tanks hit a couple of buildings.

 

Yeah, it seems like people called episodes S1E5 and S2E2 of The Mandalorian "filler episodes," but they ended up having pretty big plot implications. I liked that we got to tone down the stakes and have a simple cut and dried mission for our heroes to fulfill, with some character development for Omega.

I think the former Separatists are going to become pretty important in the story going forward, and this episode was far from filler.

With all the bounty hunters gunning for Omega, that hive of scum and villainy might not be the best place. What about Canto Bight?

I liked it too, the visuals just get better and better. I have a feeling some of these locations will reappear in live action.

 

My mind immediately went to Tienanmen Square. Luckily things didn't go that dark.

 

I gave my review earlier, but the grade here is an 8/10; mostly because of its importance in what's going on with the former Separatist planets under the Empire.

 

I was kind of hoping they would. We already had Crosshair murder innocent civilians.

 

They wouldn't have done that. That's overboard and for all intents and purposes, not necessary. We already know the Empire is bad. We don't need to see them slaughtering innocents. TCW did that at least in one episode remember when the Death Squad Mandalorians slaughtered a nearby village.

 

Excellent episode. The writers are earning my trust by showing they care about what's come before in TLC and PT and know how to build on it. Having the Bad Batch team up with Separatists is very satisfying, and makes so much sense as a major precursor to the Rebellion.

Rather than doing whatever they want and handing us a non sequitur plot, this group obviously cares for the fictional world they're participating in and care about creating a coherent story, which is one of the key elements that holds my interest in a SW show.

 

You can never have too many kick-the-dog moments.

 

7.0/10

Another one that needs a lot more time to grade properly. Best opening of any episode since Aftermath, but doesn't follow through on the promise of the title or caption. It's also getting grating seeing Omega acquire superskills on lightspeed every third episode. There are potentially valid payoffs for both so this will be a wait and see.

 

Brief observation before going to bed, just watched: the droid poppers are still hilarious.

 

I gave it a 7. It was shorter than I'd like, and too simplistic. But still pretty good, and I like that they aren't preachy with their moral messages. Although, I wouldn't have minded a bit more character development. If this episode was part of a novel it could have been really great.

 

Great episode. Enjoyed both the rescue mission and the Omega sub plot.

It was awesome to see the Bad Batch kicking major butt once again, taking out tanks and squads of clones with ease.

The visuals were incredible yet again. Loved the design of the planet.

 

This was probably the best episode of the series.

Direction of the action scenes felt like the micro series

 

I thought the theme of common ground was introduced well in the episode, although some on the web disagree with this. For such a short episode, we really shouldn't expect the bad batch to get into deep political conversations to explore whatever common ground they might have with separatists, when in fact these connections are fairly obvious and don't even need to be stated -- democratic values, anti-corruption values in some cases.

The bad batch are also an unlikely group of characters to explore Star Wars politics, IMO, given that they are just military guys who are just now learning what their values and identities are like after the fall of the Republic.

As the series goes, it may be appropriate to have the batch overtly take up the cause of democracy and rebellion, but during a quick catch and grab mission doesn't really provide the opportune time for such contemplation or discussion.

Here it was as simple as it should be at this point: the batch learning to slowly overcome their distrust of separatists and droids. This obviously will be developed over time, and I bet we see a droid join the batch some day.

 

@The Chalk Jedi , they already have Gonkdroid. Doesn't he count? Isn't he a droid, and always there to go along on their missions? Do you have something against Gonk? Are you an antiGonkite?

 

Yes, I believe all gonks must be destroyed.

Which begs the question, why are the batch even hanging with one? Their feelings of trauma and prejudice against droids seems to be real, but maybe this is only against separatist droids?

 

Gonky is a spy! Calling it now...

Overthinking it super strategy being Omega's "superpower" actually makes a lot of sense. It's not just a strategy to play a game. That may explain why she learns so quickly and seems to predict things. She perfectly predicts the strategies of others. She can understand the strategy behind things like perfect aim and Hunter's tracking. I don't know if this is possible but maybe she can learn strategy from a Jedi to have a modest connection with the force.

Ties back to the "algorithm" from the TCW Bad Batch arc in a way where Echo apparently linked up and used to predict and counter Republic strategies. Echo and Omega do have more than a few things in common including sharing the moral compass role for the squad. Maybe that's even another motivation for capturing her and getting her back to Kamino. She'd be one hell of a spy. Maybe that's also why Nala Se is keeping Omega out of Lama Su's hands.

That's much better than seeming dangerously close to Quintessence from W.I.T.C.H.

 

The plants in the background are so freakin pretty. I mean, everything is pretty, but the bushes and trees are gorgeous.

I kind of want an episode which gives more focus to either Echo or Tech (or perhaps both). They do things, but aside from a few moments here and there, Echo feels very background. Tech feels even more background than that.

Also this was the first episode without a cameo. I don't hate the cameos, but it was starting to get a little much. The show will probably do less and less of them as it marches forward (as it continues to establish itself) which makes me feel a little silly for complaining about them in the first place.

 

I gave this 8/10.

I don't think this episode was good as the last 2 weeks. It seemed like another mission till whatever comes next. It didn't add much to the story besides Omega paying off the debt. There really isn't much else to say. The action and moral conundrum TBB faced was interesting but not worth delving into. That being said the action was very well done.