The good and bad of the Bad Batch

First, I'll say this is overall quite a good series. None of the "bad" things below are really that concerning for what this show is (aimed at kids/family friendly). But this is my view of what's working and sort-of not working so far. All in all, I'm looking forward to what the rest of the season brings!The good:Characterization (of some characters). The interplay between Omega and Wrecker, and more subtly Omega and Hunter, is very good and very fun. Clearly Wrecker's the joyful child of this bunch. I'm impressed how they've taken the stock square-jawed pseudo-Rambo character of Hunter and made him deeper and rounder (in the character sense) through his experiences.Visuals. Many of the scenes without characters look like they could be in a live-action movie. There's also a painterly quality to some of the backdrops, echoing some of the OT's painted backgrounds.Direction. The camera movements and angles/blocking are varied and interesting. Compared to the Clone Wars or Rebels, there's much less painfully elaborated dialogue (the way characters communicate verbally and non-verbally is closer to real-life cadence) or slow-played action scenes. Things happen rapidly and decisively, if sometimes somewhat predictably.The insights into the post-war transition to Empire. It's been pretty fascinating to see this side of the Star Wars universe.Plotting. Generally pretty good, though see some concerns below. I appreciate the more coherent development of the story compared to The Clone Wars, but by this point (after Rebels and the Mandalorian) I think that's to be expected from the production team. They clearly (so far) know where they are going and are able to put in elements in earlier episodes that pay off later (such as Wrecker's headaches).The bad:Characterization (of some characters). Echo and to a lesser degree Tech are pretty flat. Neither seem to have a very distinct personality, which is a pretty big surprise given everything they have to work with in Echo's background. Tech is, I think, intended to be pretty flat, but the other characters are so much more vibrant that they could do a little more with that - particularly with regard to conflict between Tech's lack of emotion and the other squad members' approach to things. Recent episodes have also suffered because of the lack of Crosshair, who was an intriguing early source of conflict (if a little bit of a character trope himself initially). Hopefully it's a short-lived omission.Plotting: one-arc storytelling. The first few episodes were very interesting in that they switched back and forth between imperial or Kaminoan storylines and the Batch's experiences. It was more engaging to track as a viewer. Recent episodes have threatened to bog down the story in linear "adventure of the week" style storytelling. I hope it doesn't come to that.Callbacks. Some of them have been very good, some weaker. I wasn't enamored with the way Tarkin was involved in early episodes, for example, but your mileage may vary. The Clone Wars and Rebels also suffered from sometimes shoehorning in characters from the prequel or sequel eras. I hope they use existing characters judiciously. It feels like a crutch sometimes when they do. It's a big universe - show us something new!Plotting: plot armor. Maybe this is my own problem, but one major hole I see in this story is how the squad can go around in their Clone War-era armor with their Clone War tech and comms and not be incredibly conspicuous. I realize they're now essentially in hiding and being protected, but that's not very convincing. This point is more fan nit-picking at the show's concept, though, so in a sense may not be very fair. At some point you got suspend a little bit of disbelief.What else do you see that's bad/good or strong/weak? What are you hoping for more or less of? via /r/StarWars https://ift.tt/3pPtn9K