Latest / Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast / Issue 356: The Outpost

Transcript

Issue 356: The Outpost · Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast

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I'm going to regret this. Welcome to the ned Paalty. Hi, this
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is Nick and Ostasu, story editor on Star Wars, The Clone Wars and
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Star Wars bad Batch, and you are listening to Aggressive Negotiations. Well,
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hello, and welcome to Aggressive Negotiations. That Star Wars podcast coming at you
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from. I'm not really sure what planet it is, but we'll just say
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it's just another CD bar, another wretched hive of scum and villainy. And
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with me as he is always whose middle names are scum and villainy Jedi Master
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John Mills. But I'm no longer wretched ever since I took that shower.
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That's so true. Thank god, that's a big plus. But scum and
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villainy is really where we find the adventures, is It's true, It's true.
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It was weird though that the Chewy also like decided it was the right
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time to take a shower at that moment. Well, that's the thing is,
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wookies surprisingly need to shower all the time, otherwise they truly bring the
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wretched everywhere. And honestly, I mean, can you have that feathered look
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with the hair if you don't, you know, shower regularly with that much
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hair. Well, the thing is they cover the showering and solo a Star
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Wars story, but they never they never cover the drying. Does Chewie like
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shake like a dog at the end of a shower into the cockpit area and
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shook over everyone? Right? You know? Or is it a blow dryer
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situation? Right? You know when you go through a car wash and they
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have those massive blow dryers. That's what wookies need, right. I feel
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like that. Otherwise, when they walked out and they were, you know,
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going over that landscape, I feel like ice crystals should have been forming
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on Chewy. It's very true. It's very true. But before we keep
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going down this road, because that's not where here to talk about, We're
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going to be talking about the bad Batch episode from season two, number twelve,
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the Outposts, which is anything but funny. So before we do that,
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want to remind you you can find us wherever you get your podcasts.
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Please do subscribe, share the podcast with your friends, give us star ratings
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the Jedi Masters. We've got the entire network at Joint Nerd Party. You
2:35
can also find us at Facebook at Facebook dot com, slash the nerd Party,
2:38
and we're online at the nerd Party dot com. Okay, so,
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John, we mentioned that this episode is anything but funny, and because this
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is the major turning point and the life of Crosshair, and I think,
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I guess this episode really is difficult to talk about well, I think without
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just talking about him as a character and the arc that he is forced to
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go through here. And I figured, you know, why beat around the
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bush about it? We should just talk about it. Oh. For sure,
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Crosshair's journey is obviously at the core of showing exactly how the Empire has
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changed the galaxy. We were seeing it in all of these different ways,
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but Crosshair becomes our way of illustrating nothing from the Old Order can remain.
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It would be enough to say, oh, well, we've got an army,
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let's just keep doing what worked. But you can't do that because that
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army is dedicated to the old Order, and Crosshair is good soldiers follow orders,
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and then he's just given an increasing level of orders that are impossible to
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follow. For a person with a conscience, and as much as we might
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not like what Crosshair has chosen, he chose it because he was guided.
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He thought that he could remain the soldier that he always was. But the
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problem is always going to be is who's in command. And we see repeatedly
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and of course, I mean, you know, it just comes to a
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head here of the quality of commander is what has changed. What's interesting is
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this commander here and the commander's you know, and Rampart as well that we
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run across with Crosshair. What I was really thinking about when I was watching
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at this time is there's one shot where the lieutenant and Crosshair enter that base
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and it's reminiscent of Tarkan walking in with Vader behind him. And what I
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was thinking in that instant moment was Tarkan winds up being a successful commander with
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Vader because they're both from the Old School. And so why does Vader get
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along with Tarkan whereas he doesn't get along with Mahdi or Tag or anything like
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that. Is because they're both from the old school, and all the the
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other people in Star Wars around that table are part of the new order,
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the new command. They don't show Vader the appropriate amount of respect, the
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same way that this new commander doesn't show a war veteran. Let's be honest,
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crosshair is a war veteran. It buys them no respect. These clones
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get no respect. And then additionally, and I know I'm rambling at this
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point, but I want to bring it to this point in specific, there
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was something that the first couple of times I've watched this episode, because it
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is a masterpiece. I adore this episode. It's so magnificent. But man,
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when that lieutenant uses the word clone the way he says, it sounds
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like a racial slur. Oh yeah, and it really really emphasizes that change
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in mindset that we're in. Am I reading too much into it? Or
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you do? You also get that echo? No, one hundred percent.
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I think you're absolutely right. And that is actually the thing that stuck out
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to me again and this rewatch was the fact that what we see here is
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the clones being treated as second class citizens, you know, in the very
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same way like you said that people would use a racial slur to devalue another
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human being. And I was thinking about this. What we have here is
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the difference in the way in which the Empire is going to build its army
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in the way that the Republic did, and the Republic not necessarily intentionally,
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but what they did was they had they had bought because they're clones, a
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band of brothers, a band of beings who care very much about one another,
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because they are all related, right, they are legitimately, in this
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weird way family, and then of course being un or the tutelage of the
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Jedi, it just reinforces that idea. Not only are they family, but
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they are also beings that deserve respect and honor and should have minds of their
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owns. They should be able to have names and all these things. And
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so you put all that together, and it's quite understandable as to why then
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Palpatine would want to create the Imperial Stormtrooper, which brings people together from disparate
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elements of the galaxy. They have nothing in common other than the Empire,
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and so therefore they're only allegiance. Then if they have any allegiance is to
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the Empire. And then of course you've got all of these people in command
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who are encouraged basically to do whatever it takes to get to the top.
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And so They don't care about anybody underneath them as long as it gets them
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where they want to go. And you put all that together and you can
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just really see the difference between you. Even though the Republic was falling,
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it still had these great ideals, right of course, led by the Jedi
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and even by their clone army. And how this series has completely dismantled all
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of those things, and so therefore it you know, in many ways,
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what Palpatine is doing is he's doing the same thing that you know, I
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hate, you always hate to use them as an example, but the Nazis
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with the year zero, right to completely restart, to get rid of all
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the old and bring in the new, as if the old never existed.
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And that's exactly what Palpatine is doing here with the army. And you then
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see this, like you said, Crosshair, here thought he could trust this
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army, He thought he could trust this empire to take care of him the
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way that the Republic had done, and he becomes the collateral damage of realizing
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that's not the case. Well there's you know, I mean, now Stalin,
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you know everybody, history didn't you know, start until we got here,
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and the past is erased You're absolutely right, Like it's the hallmark of
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dictators that you know they're there there, they are the genesis of the life.
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That's necessary sort of thing. But I think that in addition to that,
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what is what is always going to be fascinating is you have this system
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where we're seeing it dismantled in front of our eyes, but you also see
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this direct impact not just on crossair, not just on the batch. But
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we get to know may Day in this episode, and I want an action
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figure of may Day very badly. I love spins on armor. I've in
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case anybody hasn't listened a long enough to know, I have sort of an
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armor fetish. It's probably a misuse of the word, but like I love
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good armor and all the all. You know, it's it's just like when
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I saw a Thron's army in Ahsoka, where I was like, oh,
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that's interesting. I like that a lot. You know. It's like the
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first time I saw the shock Troopers in Revenge of the Sith, I was
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like, that's the paint design. That's the one that I like most.
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But may Day as a character, it's it's interesting to me because may Day
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lands points with crosshair that Cody was trying to make with him. Yes,
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yes, but Crosshair wasn't listening. Why is that? Is it because he
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knew Cody? Is it because Cody represented the batch where he's like, Oh,
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I've known them for so long, this is just an extension of the
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same fight we've always had. Whereas encountering may Day, he realized, Oh,
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maybe my brothers had a point. Do you think, fat You know,
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it's possible because I was also thinking about may Day says to the Imperial
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Commander. He says, in my experience, experience means more than status.
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It's the same thing that Rex said to Ahsoka in the movie the Clone Warf
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movie, the same same thing. And I love that callback because that's exactly
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here. What the Clones have. They have all of this experience. As
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you mentioned earlier, they are war heroes. They have saved you know,
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the galaxy, and now they are being discarded like you know the two bit
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you know, Green Army Trooper that the Emperor is treating them like. And
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that's I think that's the terrifying thing too, because what I see in this
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episode is the way in which, you know, we talked about the way
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the commander, you know, uses the word clone as some sort of slur,
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and I think it's incredibly important and sailing it for us to remember that
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the easiest way to get rid of people you don't like is to, in
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people's minds, change how you think about them by being able to look at
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them differently by using language that devalues them. And we have seen that,
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of course throughout history, and sadly, it seems to be something that we
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continue to do. And I love that the show is pointing that out here
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with the way that the Empire is, you know, and of course we
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just saw the episode a few episodes back where the Emperor basically blames the Clones
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for what have happened and says, oh, well, I mean it's their
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fault for just following orders too. Well, so we it's time for the
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Imperial Stormtrooper, you know. So they have gotten the short end of the
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stick every which way. Well, you know, it's additionally, you know,
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because you have that scene in here where Crosshair sees the Clones walking by
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being retired, and they're they're saying that what am I supposed to do?
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That's not my problem? And it is interesting and you had mentioned this earlier
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where the Jedi take clones who only know themselves by designation numbers and teach them
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to have names and individuality, and the Empire takes people with names and individuality
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and only refers to them as numbers. T K four two one. Why
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aren't you at your post? That's we see that step to get there.
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But one thing I wanted to touch on specifically was the vulture like super creature
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that's flying up in the sky, flying by Great did you get hints of
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sort of a dark echo of the owl from Mortis Slash something evocative this time
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I was watching it, I got something evocative of the sun from Mortis a
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similar motif. The dark side is here. This is an evil thing,
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an evil place, and an evil moment. And because Crosshair sees it fly
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by before he makes his fateful decision, like it it flies by when he
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has that realization of there's only one way to deal with this, lieutenant,
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even though he knows what it's going to get him in the end. Yeah,
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I mean, I do think in some ways that this is kind of
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supposed to be evocative of the owl in the sense, especially with an I
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think that in Native American terms, where the owl represents death, you know,
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And and so I think you're right on there, because in some ways
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this is the death of the old Crosshair, and the rest of the series
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is slowly going to be about the rebirth of the new Crosshair, you know,
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the reborn cross Hair. And and so I really like that idea.
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And I think that's exactly kind of what they're going for, you know,
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with this creature flying in the sky, this this, you know, and
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too, I mean it's it's basically it almost seems like an ice vulture,
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right, and and so I think it fits very well with all of those
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motifs, and so, yeah, it's it's great. Honestly, I think
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it really adds to the utter melancholy nature of especially I think the end of
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the episode, you know, And I love that, I really, I
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really like the way in which I think they're just playing with all of this
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stuff and they're clearly creating something that I mean, this this is just one
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of the most cinematic episodes they've done, you know. You know that we've
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talked so much in the in this rewatch about the way in which so much
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has grown with the visuals, But I mean that pullback of the avalanche coming
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down, and then it's just that gorgeous mountain range, you know, terrifying
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because of what it is, you know. I just the work here is
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really really astounding. Well in the lighting too, is very much you know,
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on display. Again, it's very evocative of the type of lighting Lucas
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was going for and preferred. And I think that the so much of it
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is just a really it's it's a an optimization, a maximalization of everything available
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to them as a tool. Yeah, it's something that is extraordinarily special that
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they accomplish here. And the thing is it's you know, you know,
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to get to your point, like this is a short film. This is
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not just an episode of television. This is a bottle episode, if you
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will, But it's one that is a to your point, a pivotal moment,
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so it's key to everything that came before and comes after. But this
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is one of those magical episodes where I feel like I could just sit somebody
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down and say, maybe you won't love it as much as I do because
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it doesn't impact you the same way. But you can at least sit down
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and watch this beginning to finish and feel like you went on a full journey
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here with this character. Everything you need conveyed to you happens here. If
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you've never met Crosshair before, it's all you need to know. And I
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think that ties into it's a very bold decision, I think not to have
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what other series or movies or whatever would feel the compulsion to have, which
18:36
would be it doesn't keep going further with anything additional to show what's going on
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with the rest of the Batch at this time, or to show somebody having
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a strange feeling about something like it ends where it's supposed to end. Yeah,
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and it ends in such a way where you're still like, whoa,
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whoa, Wait, what does this mean? And it's going to just sit
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there and say, nope, you got to sit there. And something else
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I enjoy is when they have an episode like this is they don't kick into
19:07
the theme song on the end credits the way they usually do. The music's
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always a little bit different, and this time it's somber coming into the end
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credits, and it's like, Wow, that was something special, that was
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something different. Yeah. I always love when they do that with the episodes
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that are much more intense, that they don't then hit the regular Bad Batch
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music they let you sit basically in that intensity by continuing that that very moody,
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you know, Hans zimmer like sound that has come to mean so much
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in this series, which is the the evisceration of joy, you know,
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like, and I think it really really works. It's the same thing,
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you know. I think that they've then continued then with the way they played
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around with the music in the and Or series, which I thought was great
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as well, in that sense where you're slowly kind of getting by the end
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of that series to something that feels more like classical Star Wars e with with
20:27
horned instruments and everything. So yeah, I think this is one of those
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episodes that I think it just stands out from the rest. And it's not
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because the rest aren't good. It's just because this is so good. I
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think you said it best in that it feels like a short film, and
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it also feels like the type of episode that George talked about with his movies,
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where that if you didn't have any dialogue, this episode would still make
21:00
sense. And it's because I think the visuals are so striking and so evocative
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of the emotions that are going on within the characters, you know, you
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again, that is an incredible feat for an animated show to be able to
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pull off. Well, I mean, we're seeing something that elevates the art
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form, or at least people's perception of the art form. We're seeing something
21:27
where it doesn't say, oh, we're quote unquote just animation. We're seeing
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something that says, this is just a medium used to tell They could cast
21:34
this live. These stories are every bit as well written and edited as anything
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you'll see live action, if not better than half the stuff I see,
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if not more than half the stuff I see. And that's the thing is
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a lot of people come into animation with a bias, but also a lot
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of people who work in animation accept the bias, They allow it to infect
22:02
the way they approach their own work, whereas there's no sense of that at
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all with the Bad Batch. This is simply storytelling and it happens to be
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animated, period. That's it. And I think that, I mean,
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we continue to heap praise on the show, and so I know that maybe
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it falls deaf on some years, but this episode in specific is so incredible
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as to leave me speechless, honestly, because I am even knowing where we're
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going from here. Even knowing everything else that happens, even knowing everything that's
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come before, this is still an episode that stops me in my tracks.
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This will forever be in my top three list of bad Batch episodes. I
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don't see it ever getting kicked out, simply because it's so perfectly contained and
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told, and it takes a character that normally we would be conditioned to feel
23:11
no sympathy for, to be encouraged to feel no empathy for, and instead
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says, you really dislike what this guy did, but he's still a person,
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and you have to give everybody the opportunity to see the error of their
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ways, as painful as it might be. You have to be willing to
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say, oh wow, cross Hair understands now, cross Hair gets it.
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And then the slick thing of making him then a bridge to Tantis, and
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that's going to become so important to where we're going from here. Yeah.
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I mean, there's not really only anything I can add to that. It's
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it's just a fantastic episode and uh, it's uh, it reminds me of
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when we were doing Assembling Avengers and and uh, you know, the top
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movie was was always going to be Winter Soldier, Like when what was going
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to take its place? Probably nothing, and so yeah in that yeah,
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and I'm like, I'm like that with this episode here. You know,
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one hundred percent, this is an episode that clearly and utterly belongs and always
24:33
will belong. And you know, like you said, most likely top three
24:38
of the series. You know, I don't know how how it could get
24:42
better than this in in many ways, and so and yet you know,
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as we move into the end of end of season two now and and then
24:53
you know we'll hit season three as well. Oh my gosh, you know,
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there's the show is just it's crazy to think, but it's getting better
25:03
and better, man, it is. And it's obviously at this point in
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season two ramping up for something big coming our way. And speaking of big
25:15
things coming our way, people can get excited for how they can interact with
25:22
you online. And so where can people find you if they want to continue
25:26
discussing the outposts from season two of The Bad Betch Yeah, yeah, of
25:30
course you could find me all over social media under the name Matt Rushing zero
25:34
two. You can also find me here on the network with another show called
25:37
owl Post with Terrey Kaufman talking about every single chapter of the Harry Potter series,
25:41
one chapter at a time. Over on the TFM network, you'll find
25:44
me doing the six or two Club, talking about all of the franchises we
25:48
love. Outside of Star Trek, you'll also find me doing Warp five,
25:52
The Orb, the Artificial Tango, Saddle Up, and sometimes on literary trecks.
25:59
But John, people wanted to catch up with you see all that is
26:03
going on in Castlevania. Where will they find you? Well, you can
26:07
find Kesslvania's latest press releases under my name Cassel Junkie out there on whatever social
26:14
network you want to choose. Good luck finding me because nobody follows my feeds,
26:18
and that's good. It's probably better for everybody in that case. You
26:22
can also find me here on the network, co hosting a show called house
26:26
Lights, where we look at the films of different directors, which I discovered
26:32
as of the recording of this episode that a friend of mine follows on Amazon
26:34
Music. And I said, hey, that's a show that I'm on along
26:40
with Aggressive Negotiations, and he said, you're on this one. I said,
26:44
you didn't notice? I said my name on every episode. He said
26:47
no. I said, well great, I'm glad that you're enjoying everything,
26:52
so please everybody enjoy as we will enjoy going back and decompressing at the Jedi
26:59
Temple to process all of the emotions that the Outpost left with us. So,
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Master Rushing, I guess it's time to close these negotiations, John,
27:07
negotiations are closed. Join the Revolution, Join the Nerd Party.