The Past Is Past, Until It’s Not: Marchion Ro’s Struggle Against History in The High Republic

I spent a lot of The High Republic struggling with Marchion Ro and the Nihil. I didn’t find them very interesting. Their motivations felt one-dimensional. Marchion Ro came across as every college libertarian who reads Atlas Shrugged and makes it their personality. They presented a host of technical problems for the Jedi — how to […]

Five(ish) Rebels Episodes To Watch Before Ahsoka

It has been over five years since the finale of Star Wars Rebels premiered. Every day since then, fans loyal to the series and the characters have anticipated the search for Ezra, the threat of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s return to the galaxy proper, and any future stories with Ahsoka and Sabine Wren working together. This […]

The Tragedy of Mon Mothma the Wise

In the middle of a raucous adventure film centered on hope and the good guys winning the day stands a singular line that breaks through the smiles to remind the audience that a war, even a just one with a clear delineation between good and evil, has a cost. “Many Bothans died to bring us […]

Shadow of the Sith: A Story of Desperation (and Hope)

Adam Christopher’s Shadow of the Sith had the unenviable task of taking the shattered parts of the sequel trilogy created by The Rise of Skywalker and making them work. A desperate task. But, somehow, he does it. Christopher takes a character created purely as a plot progressing device, Ochi of Bestoon, and turns him into […]

Shang-Chi: A Star Wars Story

Great art is rarely original. It builds off the strengths of its predecessors and pulls in the accepted norms of its form. Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, which George Lucas used to build his narrative for Star Wars, is a testament to this. Lucas pulled from the narrative history of mythology, filmmaking, and storytelling in the […]

Becoming the Bad Batch: War-Mantle

As much as the show is about the defective group of clones that gives it its name, The Bad Batch is about the true birth and evolution of the Empire. In Revenge of the Sith the Empire is created and in A New Hope it is fully formed. The 20 years in between were long […]

Becoming The Bad Batch: Rescue on Ryloth

For light there is dark. For hope there is pain. For enemy there is ally. Simple concepts to consider, muddied by the reality that the line that divides is much thinner than general conception. But turn off a light and see how quickly the dark arrives. For the clones of Force 99, that line revolved […]

Becoming The Bad Batch: Devil’s Deal

By thinking about the world in binaries such as good and evil, light and dark, up and down, it is easy to loose sight of how fluid these dualities really are. In ancient myths, particularly fairy tales, this is seen through the transition from the city, which is “civilized,” to the wilderness that lay beyond […]

Becoming The Bad Batch: Bounty Lost

The opening salvo of the ninth episode of The Bad Batch started prophetically with Wrecker shouting, “It’s getting hot back here!” Yes, Wrecker, it is. With the addition of Cad Bane, and his capture of Omega, the heat has been turned up to Mustafarian levels. It is telling that the eerie Bracca theme, entitled “To […]

Belonging and The Bad Batch: Cornered

The rise of the Empire came quietly sneaking up on the galaxy through the machinations of Palpatine, but once its flag flew there was no denying it. The new regime challenged the identity of all citizens. In this restructuring, rogues such as Clone Force 99, The Bad Batch, would have to figure out who they […]

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