The Republic - Tumblr Posts
Last of all he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.
Plato, The Republic
The good doing evil, or the good in the evil..?
The Bad Batch 1x13 spoilers⚠️
(concerning that Roland guy)
The nerve
The absolute nerve of them
Not only was this episode actually useless but they couldn’t even give us a cameo. Not only was there no cameo but they teased one and gave us this knockoff Vizago
Like???
Vizago or Hondo or literally any other crime boss turned soft guy would have made me less angry than this Roland guy.
So what? TBB cares about Cid? Omega is able to convince Hunter to help people because he has a thick skull and hasn’t realized that Omega helping people is trying to make him realize they need to rescue Crosshair? Even that is reaching. There’s not even any character development…
What was the purpose of this episode?? There’s only 3 episodes left of this season (and other seasons haven’t been confirmed) and they spiked the rising action and suspense down drastically for what?? Honestly, the last couple episodes should all be rising to the climax of the story (rescuing Crosshair/ sacrificial deaths/ fighting the empire or killing Rampart/ etc.), not slowing down like this.
For example, in the Mandalorian season 2, the last 3 episodes of the 8 episode season were spent in continuous rising action with little to no filler moments leading up to Grogu being handed over to Luke Skywalker. Thats almost half the season, 3/8 episodes. In episode 2x06, Grogu reaches out to find a Jedi on the seeing stone, Din gets in a scuffle with Boba and Fennec over the armor that was carried around since 2x01, Grogu gets kidnapped, the dark troopers are introduced as serious threats, the Razorcrest is blown to bits, and Din formed an alliance with Boba and Fennec. In 2x07, Din breaks Mayfield out of prison because he’s desperate, goes undercover to find Grogu, Din has to wear storm trooper armor and show his face for the first time in his life which broke his creed, Mayfield compromises the mission (while building his character development), and Din directly threatened Moff Gideon. All of these highlights are suspenseful and action-packed meant to build up to the season finale, which I’m not going to go into detail about because obviously it’s the climax of the story and there isn’t a filler moment to spare.
My point is that there should be more focus on the conflict of the story and the antagonists at this point in the series since we’ve seen very little of Imperial Clone Troopers (other than Crosshair), Crosshair’s character development and struggle, Tarkin’s role in the Empire’s early stages, who Rampart even is, the Emperor (you know…the one that created the Empire….and the guy that should be ordering Tarkin and Rampart around???), and the early Rebellion. Saw Gererra was in 1x01 for a minute and we never saw him again? Cham is starting a rebellion on behalf of Ryloth, which we’ll probably never see? Rex wants to fight against the Empire with Trace and Rafa, who we instantly forgot about because the story was focused on Wrecker’s chip, but we probably won’t see that anyway?
I thought the whole point of this show was to bridge the gap between the fall of the Republic and the Rise of the Empire and how it impacted the Clone Army, so why aren’t we seeing a focus on the Empire or the Rebellion‘s beginnings? Why aren’t we seeing more episodes focused on Imperial clones (like Howzer and his squad defecting)? Why aren’t TBB helping at least someone within the Rebel Alliance to show its beginnings? I get that the show is about TBB, but I feel like there are ways to better incorporate these ideas and portray them with a stronger impact on the audience.
I was pretty disappointed with this episode…
I agree, but I think for storytelling purposes, it was meant to be that way. It was meant to show the audience that the republic was failing and becoming corrupt, which lead to its demise.
Everything from Palpatine’s extended term limit, corrupt senators, the creation and use of the clone army, countless war crimes, the death of innocent civilians and creatures, and the Jedi order losing their way and choosing to fight in the Clone War was to help aid this narrative.
It was genius on Palpatine’s part. When you think about it, Pong Krell, Maul, the Zygerrian Queen, Barriss Offee, Trace and Rafa, Ventress, Slick, and Fives were absolutely right about the Republic’s corruptness and it’s imminent downfall. The Republic was evil, and that’s why it became the Empire. The Empire had to rise from something, and this was what George Lucas chose.
I am so frustrated rn with the people that try and make it seem like Jedi loved the clones, with maybe the exception of Plo, and maybe Shaak. The Jedi cared about the WAR, NOT their MEN. Men that trusted them, had feelings, emotions. Men that, like slick, even ended up betraying the order because hey! This life is fucked and why should we be slaves??? They may be programmed and a clone of another man, but that doesn't make them less of a person! Less of a breathing creature that deserves to make their own decisions.
You can say what you want, but they were enslaved. You saw from jedi as bad as Pong Krell, to as mild as Yoda, Anakin, or even Obi-Wan that they didn't care. Ping-Pong-Dong turned them against each other, ignoring the mission on umbara just to destroy the clones.
Anakin, as @nibeul mentioned in an absolute stellar post, fucking let a whole group of men die for a fucking R2 unit. Who tf does that? I get it, he's had R2 forever, but he killed those men! And people still stand up for him.
Obi-Wan and Yoda?? Fucking JOKES. They didn't even try to spare them. They slaughtered those men with zero remorse even if they couldn't control themselves! They were in a trance, they had a fucking chip for gods sake! How are they going to fight that? I know some could, like Rex, but not all can.
Plo was the only one that actually just let it all go .down and happen, sparing his men, his bros, even if they were in "the wrong." (Because is there really a right and a wrong in this war?? both sides suck ass in their own ways.) He was said to be the best pilot ever, right below anakin even, I think. And he didn't even attempt to fly off or fight back. He didn't want to be the reason his men died, blood on his hands. Or at least that’s how I see it.
I know this is random but FUCK, Jedi puss me off. They aren't right at all, the clones deserved better tbfh. Like honestly, if it weren't for the fact slick got some of his brothers killed, I wouldn't have blamed the guy. I would have tried to leave the order and free my brothers if I was in that situation. I would have left, because you know what, with all those men you could overthrow them. Get new fucking soldiers, not men that don't even know what happiness outside of the war is.
palpatine is just an embodiment of modern government.
This is in no way an endorsement of Palpatine, but the premise of his crimes is so weird to me.
Like, the most evil guy in existence's crimes are:
Using the power of his negative emotions to practice a cult religion
Puppeteering a war between two factions in the galaxy to install a takeover
Committing genocide
Installing himself as a monarch/dictator (they call him an Emperor, and he rules an empire; wouldn't he be a monarch?)
Assorted war crimes (i can't remember them all)
None of these things, except the first one, are things that literally any government on this planet hasn't done.
The US government? Puppeteered plenty of wars.
The US government? Has committed genocide.
The US government? Has committed plenty of war crimes in other wars with state approval.
The US may not have become an empire, but there are plenty of regimes in other countries and throughout history where rulers seize power and declare themselves rulers: Napoleon, Caesar, even more recently like the Kims of North Korea.
It's just so tragic. Modern government is the bad guy in the Star Wars prequels; the embodiment of modern government is literally cartoon evil. Isn't that lovely?
palpatine is just an embodiment of modern government.
i also think the timeline for this stuff was horribly speedrunned, but I do think having a shorter war was better because narratively, I love that Anakin became Vader so young. It adds to the tragedy of it all, you know? Someone who would have been barely out of college had the weight of the world on him, and then he collapsed and became the stuff of nightmares all before the age his master was even knighted.
I'm one of the people in the camp of "movie!Anakin was actually not that bad", so characterization in TCW felt a bit flat to me, but to each their own. It just felt more like watching stock action heroes in Star Wars to me, and Star Wars isn't an action series.
However, I think that in the context of what we know about the Senate, a three year war was perfect. There was no depiction of a 'rise' for the Senate, because we aren't seeing the rise of a democracy; we are seeing the fall. From the moment that we see them in the PT, the Senate was always corrupt, self-serving and unable to protect their citizens. What we are seeing is the last days of a dying oligarchy that is hijacked and turned into something so much worse. The horrors that the Senate wreaked upon the galaxy from ignorance and hedonism is nothing compared to the banality and depravity of a regime that relishes in that destruction.
A thing about The Clone Wars (the animated series) is that it is pretty much what I would have wanted the prequels to be before the prequels came out, especially wrt Anakin characterisation. But. I'm not sure that makes it better. It might actually make it worse.
So there is a version of Star Wars canon that exists in my brain that's like: Episode I, Episode II, a hundred and however many episodes of Star The Clone Wars Wars, The Revenge of the Sith novelization, etc. Also, the Clone Wars lasted, like, at least eleven years. Three years? Fuck that shit. There needs to be enough time for a rise and fall. Ahsoka can actually fit, here. But you have to make time.
Clone Wars is also frustrating in that, because of its nature, no character can develop all that much. We can't resolve anything we can only create more problems. And bring Darth Maul back [THE CORRECT DECISION]
I was mad at Star Wars when Clone Wars came out so it was years before I watched it. And I'm mad at Star Wars now and for the foreseeable future so there are shows and ephemera currently being released that I can't stomach just now, so.
Why am I thinking about this? Thinking about Star Wars gifset. Thinking about Clone Wars VAs.
best kind of writing is the kind that's like 'we didn't think about the implications of any of this, and surprise! we created nuanced characters and complex worldbuilding'
you know, I see all these comparisons between the republic and America and Rome and all these fancy ass literature parallels, and I’m like guys, it’s the British empire. It’s literally the British empire.
where else besides the fucking British empire would you get the corrupt, clueless fucks that are the east India trading company, oh sorry the trade federation. why would the republic focus on the core worlds only-oh sorry, is this your first time in history? every colony is stripped of its resources and all wealth filters to Britain- I mean the core worlds. A bunch of rich, aristocratic, out-of-touch fuckers running shit? parliament. They even talk with fucking British accents.
i have the same logic for the star wars prequels that i use for poorly written YA lit and death note and game of thrones-esque narratives.
you all suck, so i'm just going to pick which one appeals to me the most and stick with you.
they all suck. they suck to different degrees, but make no mistake. they ALL suck.