The first lesson is that you should never trust a stranger . The second is that sometimes , all Star Wars needs to get by is thehelp of a brass you knowfrom somewhere else in the Galax urceolata far , far away .
Disney+ and Lucasfilm ’s “ Cornered , ” if not for its special guest star — The Mandalorian’sMing - Na Wen reprising Fennec Shand — would otherwise be a pretty hum - drum episode of The Bad Batch . After running out of supplying and in need of scrambling their shuttle ’s tracking identifier toavoid the Empire , our titulary heroes happen themselves block on the globe of Pantora ( an unseen but conversant human race from the early day of The Clone Wars , mostly known as the homeworld of George Lucas ’ blasphemous - skinned Revenge of the Sith cameo , Baron Papanoida ) . While Tech and Wrecker outride behind to rewire the birdie ’s identifier , Hunter , Echo , and an eager Z go out to explore the local market in search of food in exchange for what little majestic credits they can rally .
Unlike last week , which heavy contrasted the Batch with the foresighted , ever - growing reach of royal hegemony through Crosshair ’s new squad , the apparition of the Empire has little bearing in the fourth episode . The idea of the Empire’ssteady mold outof individuality through datum lingers — not just in the estimate of the crew ’s birdie being marked by its transponder code in the first place , but the reminder of mountain chain codes and even currency change underpinned by local Pantorans cheering on their white - armoured Modern oppressors — but not as a particular commentary . It , like the Empire , is just here now , and a part of the Batch and Omega ’s new , weird lifetime .
A familiar face causes trouble for the Bad Batch.Image: Lucasfilm
“ treed ” instead is much more interested in play with a peaked side of the coltsfoot far , far aside . It ’s quickly revealed there ’s a amplitude on the Batch — turns out , 20 - ish years before that infamous utterance , perhaps the imperial do need their trash — and none other than Fennec Shand , the next allyof Boba Fett in The Mandalorian and the upcomingBook of Boba Fetthas come calling . Fennec scratch quickly , leaping on an opportunity to exploit Omega ’s dewy-eyed purity when she walk forth from Hunter and Echo ’s haggling to research the markets on her own , leading to an vivid game of cat and black eye as the crew races to set and resupply their birdie on clock time and obviate the bounty hunter ’s deadly anger .
What ’s perhaps most interesting in the otherwise simple arc of the episode — Fennec nabs Omega , Hunter apprehend her back , they take flight to fight and bleed another day — is that Shand is pose up less as a one - off threat to the Batch here , and more as a potential ongoing foe . On the one mitt , it makes common sense to give our wedge an antagonistic force that is less obliquely sinister as the Empire , and they ca n’t really be going up against Crosshair every week . While there ’s an logical implication that it ’s the Empire itself that has put out the bounty on Omega — it could be someone else , perhaps the Kaminoans interested in re - acquiring their most secret of clone assets — even without their direct presence . Fennec as a continued antagonist to Omega and the crew ready up the chance for the show to steady build out what the reprehensible underworld of Star Wars is really like at this present moment of convulsion in the Empire ’s cost increase .
It ’s a stratum of society it ’s been clear Lucasfilm is keen to explore in an on-going capacity , from Darth Maul ’s Crimson Dawn in The Clone Wars and Solo , all the room up to The Mandalorian and now Book of Boba Fett . But thedouble - edged steel hereis a problem that a lot of those other projects have also had to tackle : alternatively of land in a newfangled Orion as a scourge for the team , we ’re confront with Fennec , a type we admittedly do n’t know all that well but one we have it away , nonetheless . Of course , it makes sense , both textually — Fennec ’s been a hunter for a very long metre by our first showdown with her in The Mandalorian — and metatextually — Lucasfilm and Disney would like to remind you that she exists in the rivulet up to her stepping up to a basal persona in Book of Boba Fett afterward this twelvemonth . But it does n’t discontinue it from being somewhat frustrating that Star Wars so regularly go to this well of conversancy , like girth a nettighter and tighteraround its purportedly - vast galaxy .
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
This is a problem Star Wars has faced middling much since it began , long before it became an issue in this Disney - have era of the enfranchisement , rather than something particular to The Bad Batch . And of course , the showalready did thisitself , integrate the origins of Caleb Dume ’s transition from Jedi Padawan on the ravel to Kanan Jarrus , Jedi submarine sandwich of the former Rebellion intoits premiere instalment . But Fennec ’s integration here , even as a potentially extended menace to our heroes , feels less like a lifelike use of her eccentric and more like it ’s Star Wars crossing over itself for the sake of it . We ’re going to spend fourth dimension with Fennec in that upcoming show . Why does she need to be here in The Bad Batch other than to say “ Here ’s a person you know from another show ! ” ? We ’ll have to wait and see just what becomes of her hunt for the bounty on Omega ’s heading going forward . But hopefully if explore the condemnable netherworld ’s approach to the rise of the Empire is something The Bad Batch is exquisite to explore , it ’ll be able to do so with lineament we ’re less familiar with beyond her in the future .
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Screenshot: Lucasfilm
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
