#fuck Brad Rau

[writingforfun0714]

Hi all I wanna talk about the Star Wars Celebration 2023 so-

Warnings: Spoilers, long post, not a fic, idk what else

SPOILERS!!!! SPOILERS RELATED TO ANY/ALL NEW STAR WARS CONTENT!!!

So I wasn’t really aware of Star Wars Celebration this year cuz my b-day was Friday and this past Sunday was Easter so you can bet I was excited to see the live streamed videos on Youtube. After going through most videos available, I started going online and looking at different articles and whatnot (I also saw those vids of KK walking out on stage to quiet/shame applause lol).

I hate KK with a passion so I’ve been unsure about new Star Wars projects but from what little I’ve seen, I definitely feel a bit better about the future of Star Wars (and hope KK is on her way out).

I’d like to talk about Ahsoka (live action) first. I love the concept of continuing the Rebels story. I enjoy Rebels. Not as much as Clone Wars and is about tied with Tales of the Jedi, but I definitely enjoy Rebels more than Bad Batch (which I’ll get into later).

First off, the cast for Ahsoka. I think it’s great! We’ve seen Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka (and obviously Hayden Christensen as Anakin/Vader) so I was really only wanting to see the animated Rebels characters (Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, Chopper, Hera). While Zeb wasn’t shown in the Ahsoka trailer shown, we did get about 30secs from Mando when he talks to Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s character (I forget his name). I thought Zeb looked great and loved they got Steve Blum (the original VA) to play him. The other Rebels that have been shown are Hera, Chopper, Sabine, Thrawn and a hologram image of Ezra. Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine looks amazing and Mary Elizabeth Winstead looks great as Hera. Chopper, being a droid, obviously looks great as well. Eman Esfandi as Ezra looks amazing as well. For a while, like lots of fans, I thought Mena Massoud would be Ezra (he was coming off his Aladdin success) but when Eman Esfandi got the role, I saw Massoud’s response and was put off from the guy. Massoud didn’t seem happy/polite, to me at least. Plus Esfandi looks more like Ezra than Massoud does (especially w/ the nose, eyebrows and chin). I also think Esfandi looks a lot like Ezra’s father Ephraim Bridger. Idk if Eman Esfandi’s been in anything else but I’m not put off by new actors. I think new actors can be amazing (the only disney example I can think of is Neel Sethi as Mowgli from the live action Junglebook remake from 2016).

Now for the main man, Thrawn. I know he’s a comic/Legends character but for the purpose of this post, he is animated first then shown in live action. Because he was shown in animation first, I’m always on the side of getting the VA to be their character in live action (James Sie is doing this in AtLA as the cabbage man). When I found out that Lars Mikkelsen is Thrawn I was over the fucking moon.

Controversial opinion?? Thrawn was done dirty in Rebels. I was 16 when I first watched Rebels and I definitely think he was overhyped. I know Rebels is more kid-oriented, but I’d say going into the 2nd half of S1 had a more CW-esque feel to it and definitely by the end of S2, I thought Rebels was gonna be CW 2.0. I learned that Thrawn is supposed to be cold, calculating and patient so I re-evaluated my feelings on S3 and realized that Thrawn was building up to the S3 finale. By S4 and with the introduction of the Loth Wolves, I definitely thought Thrawn should’ve made some waves at this point. I’d say that the only real damage he’s done was in the S4 finale, forcing Ezra to sacrifice himself.

I think Ahsoka is the perfect chance to show just how dangerous and lethal Thrawn can be. I HAVEN’T READ THE THRAWN TRILOGY BOOKS so everything I know about it is from wookieepedia and google. I’m wondering if they’ll bring in any Legends characters related to Thrawn (ELI VANTO!!! He’s right there c’mon).

Lastly I wanna talk about Huang, the lightsaber construction droid. We first see Huang in Clone Wars S5 with the Ahsoka/Younglings/Hondo arc. Huang definitely reminds me of the wand guy in Harry Potter, but sassier lol. I’d heard from leaks online that Huang was going to be in Ahsoka, but to actually see him was amazing. I immediately questioned if the other Younglings are still alive at this point (they’d probably be mid 30s?) We get confirmation that Gungi is alive in Bad Batch S2 E6 Tribe, so I wouldn’t say it’s impossible that the others are alive.

I know that bringing back familiar Jedi is controversial among lots of fans (feeling it takes away from O66). But I actually like it because it shows that even though O66 was planned from the beginning (w/ Sifo Dias/Dooku/Palpy), the plan wasn’t perfect (and then of course the retconning of brainwashing from prequel trilogy to inhibitor chips). I’m sure Palps never expected the inhibitor chips to degrade or that the clones would be independent thinkers. I actually like when they bring back familiar Jedi.

So, overall, I’m definitely stoked for Ahsoka. We haven’t gotten confirmation but I definitely wanna see Lothwolves, the World between Worlds, and Jacen Syndulla (Hera/Kanan’s son). I didn’t particularly like his design in Rebels (he should’ve had lekku w/ his green hair imo) so I wouldn’t be upset if he didn’t look exactly the same. I’d also like to see more clones. I’d like to see Ahsoka reunite with Wolffe, Cody, Rex and Gregor. I’d even be fine with unnamed clones.

I’m assuming Ahsoka takes place during Mando S2/3, maybe S1 was well but I’m focusing on the 2nd and 3rd season. That means the Empire has been gone for about ~7yrs (10 at most I think) and Vader is dead. I’d like to see Obiwan show up as a force ghost to Ahsoka as well. He was there for Luke after his death in ANH, but I’d argue that Obiwan loves Ahsoka just as much as Luke. I’d like to see Ahsoka using to Force to feel when Obiwan died in ANH like how she did in hyperspace, sensing Anakin’s fall in CW S7 finale. Make it painful, I wanna sob lol.

I also wouldn’t mind Ahsoka meeting Boba Fett again. They met once in S2 I believe when Boba tried to kill Mace w/ Aurra Sing and her crew. Plo Koon took Ahsoka with him to go face them and while Ahsoka and Boba argued pretty much the whole time, I think her words really got to him so I can see them starting out tense then as they get to know each other, Ahsoka would see similarities between Boba and the clones she served with and he’d be annoyed lol.

So yeah, I think those are my thoughts on Ahsoka and I don’t want this post to get super long (even though it kind of is).

The next show I wanna talk about is Skeleton Crew. I’m excited about this show but I’m more curious than excited. I love Jude Law and the idea that it takes place in some uncharted region in space is great (new planets/locations/people). I love the whole premise that Jude Law’s character protects a group of Younglings since it matches my own HC of Hondo protecting the Younglings he met. Idk who else is in this show, but I’m definitely looking forward to it. I can see them bringing in Cal Kestis in live action (with Cameron Monaghan obviously) for this show (then perhaps have him crossover with other shows like Mando/Ahsoka). I don’t know much about it so I don’t really have a lot to talk about with this show.

Now I’d like to talk about Acolyte. I saw the leaked teaser uploaded to Youtube (idk if it was taken down but I can’t find it—it was phone footage and had no commentary). I believe this show is supposed to be set during the High Republic era (350-50yrs before the Skywalker Saga). Love that timeline setting. We hardly have any canon info on that era so this is perfect. Also Acolyte is about the rise of the Sith (in a time that was considered prosperous for the Jedi) so I think that’s super interesting. I had heard that it could also have Palpatine’s origin story??? YES PLEASE!!! Given that the High Republic Era ended 50yrs before TPM, it’s possible Palps was alive at least during the end of the High Republic Era. I’d like to see his master Darth Plaguis as well and that whole story Palps tells Anakin in RotS during the bubble opera.

I saw that martial arts is going to be a major part of this show and I’m super excited. Jedi have been shown to fight hand-to-hand before but I hope martial arts connects somehow to the Force (like how AtLA uses different martial arts for the bending types). Speaking of AtLA, I’m wondering if SW is utilizing martial arts BECAUSE of AtLA’s success (the Netflix live action show, Avatar Studios). Dave Filoni (Felony) also worked on AtLA so I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be true. But anyways, I’m also super excited for Acolyte as well.

Alright now for the animated shows.

Tales of the Jedi is confirmed for a 2nd season and reportedly there are more writers. I’m hoping that means we get either more episodes or longer episodes. I don’t believe anything else, story wise, is confirmed, but I’d love to see Jedi we didn’t quite see enough of. What I’d like to see:

—Quinlan Vos training Aayla Secura

—Mace Windu training Depa Bilaba

—Yoda/Yaddle relationship confirmation (I HC they are baby Yoda’s parents cuz obviously).

—Luminara/Barriss Offee bonding (I’ve seen so many people hate on Luminara for her treatment of Barriss and I definitely think they all miss the point but that’s a whole other post).

—Caleb/Kanan bonding w/ Younglings like Ahsoka did w/ Gungi and the others.

—Yoda making Shaak Ti in charge of the clones (and her being a mom to every single one of them). She would definitely be the one to bring Younglings/Padawans in to train with the cadets so they learn to work together.

—Plo Koon being a dad to Wolffe/Ahsoka/the 104th (I wouldn’t mind seeing Plo’s backstory either).

—Kit Fisto’s story (being discovered, training, meeting Monnk, meeting Nadar).

—Anything about Saesee Tiin, Eeth Koth, Adi Gallia, Stass Ali or Ki Adi Mundi

—I could also see Cal Kestis making his animated debut (outside of video games) in this show as well.

—Ahsoka getting her 2nd lime green saber/Ahsoka getting her white sabers/purifying kyber crystals.

If the show did stories about other characters besides Jedi:

—Tales of the Clones (obviously unwhitewashed—I can dream can’t I?)

—Grievous’s backstory. Seriously this would be amazing.

—Huang’s backstory. When was he created? Was he a droid belonging to a Jedi (like R2/3PO and Anakin) or was he made specifically by the Jedi to be the lightsaber constructor. Maybe have a scene w/ a Youngling/Padawan Yoda??

—Shmi Skywalker being happily married to Lars. Bonus points for being a mother figure to Owen and her feeling like she failed Anakin (Obiwan parallel). Idk just more Shmi Skywalker. TPM didn’t have enough Shmi content.

All of these ideas could potentially tie in Jedis so it could still fit ‘Tales of the Jedi’.

As for Visions Season 2, I have absolutely no idea what to expect (just like S1) but all the animation shown looked 🔥 so I’m definitely excited for this. I believe in S1 we saw Boba Fett make a cameo in one episode. I didn’t recognize any cameo appearances from what was shown but please let me know if I missed anything (I’m not good with Legends/Extended Universe characters). Again, like Skeleton Crew, I can’t talk much about Visions simply because I don’t know enough/not enough has been shown. But definitely excited for this.

Now for Bad Batch Season 3.

Those that follow/have seen my posts regarding Bad Batch know that I don’t particularly like the show. I never have. In short, THE WHITEWASHING, the writing, the animation (regarding Omega’s emotional intensity), and Cid are all subpar. You can definitely tell this is a Disney Star Wars show (like the 1st half of S1 of Rebels—Rebels was the first disney animated SW show).

I will say that there are particular ideas that I liked but I just don’t think they were executed well. Dooku’s warchest/Serrano, Cody, Gungi, Echo leaving, the Zillobeast, Mayday/Crosshair duo, family vs soldiers trope, and even one of CF99 making a sacrifice are all great ideas I just don’t think it was done justice.

Season 3 is the final season and I can’t express how happy I am. I know that we are just going to get more of the same. The clone model/Omega’s design will not change (fuck Jennifer Corbett, Brad Rau and Dave Felony honestly), Cid is technically still in the picture, and the story has changed from saving Crosshair to saving Omega. I think it’s important to note that Hunter has no reason to believe Omega and Crosshair are together. Omega isn’t like the group. That’s the whole point of S1 w/ the bounty hunters. So having Tech sacrifice himself FOR CROSSHAIR, then having Hunter at the end say they are going to rescue Omega instead just undermines Tech’s sacrifice. Also the way Cid looked somewhat remorseful when accepting payment from Hemlock in the finale got me nervous. PLEASE NO REDEMPTION ARC FOR CID!!! GET RID OF HER!

I think the only thing I’m looking forward to for S3 is the music and the scenery animation. I don’t think I’ll watch Wednesdays. I was in no hurry for S2 and the disappointment I have for both S1 and S2 has made me not want a S3 but at least it’s almost over and they can do a new show. I love the CW-style animation, just make POC look like POC!!! It isn’t hard. I’m still hoping for a more adult/Andor-style CW-animated show completely disconnected from the Skywalker Saga (IN THE KOTOR ERA PREFERABLY!!) That’s my dream.

So yeah, I guess that’s all my thoughts on Bad Batch S3.

Lastly I wanna talk about that new animated Young Jedi Adventures. It’s set in the High Republic Era and features new characters (along w/ Yoda) but it’s aimed for preschoolers. Honestly I’m actually kind of excited for this show. I’m wondering if we’ll see any familiar faces or not (and if we do, will they be changed from Legends?). I don’t know anything else except the names of the characters have been released. I’m assuming it’ll be a kind of basic toddler show about learning the basics like what to do when you feel sad, how to share, bullying maybe, idk basic little kid lessons you know? I’m assuming these lessons are the ‘core’ foundation of who a Jedi is supposed to be—selfless people who do good and builds the Younglings up and maybe will end with the main group becoming Padawans/getting assigned a Jedi Master. Idk that’s just my guess, I could be totally wrong.

So out of the whole Star Wars Celebration, I’m mostly excited for the live action stuff (I didn’t talk about it, but that mando movie sounds pretty cool), but I am looking forward to Tales of the Jedi S2 and SW Visions S2. I didn’t talk about this either, but I’m a bit on the fence about the new Rey Skywalker/sequel movie. Apparently it’s 15yrs from Episode 9 Rise of Skywalker and Rey is a Jedi Master building the New Jedi Order or something like that. I LIKE Daisy Ridley. I DO NOT like Rey Skywalker (like many fans). I agree with pretty much all of Rey criticisms (being instantly good at Jedi stuff, overpowered, Kylo Ren x Rey pairing, etc).

Thanks for reading and I hope you also enjoyed the Star Wars Celebration💕

—Maisy

[phantom-of-the-keurig]

The audacity of Lucasfilm to give Rebels four seasons of painful, cringe worthy nonsense while capping the bad batch at three seasons make it make sense

[lothcatthree]

jennifer corbett and brad rau you can try to get me to feel bad for nala se as much as you fucking want but it is never happening

[sunnyxjarrus]

guys guys season 3 is coming soon

look if you haven’t seen it here’s the link for it

on that note

also I swear in this so there’s that

Ventress is alive alive and from the looks of it about to kill the bad batch

we have Wolffe

but we have a brief look at our beautiful boy which is definitely going to be used as a flashback showing us how he survived the fall because if it’s only reminding us of the loss because why would they.

VenTrEsS!!!!

so obviously it’s time for me to update my bingo now that we have more information on it

but I’m not done

was that cut lequane I saw ready to fight because someone fucked with his little sister/niece because I’m pretty sure that’s what I saw.

cross is so miserable he just wanted to help his little sister and brothers stay off the imperial radar

WHAT DOES PALPATINE WANT WITH OUR PRECIOUS CHILDREN

IS DARK DISCIPLE BEING UNCANONIZED???

don’t think uncanonized is a word but now it is

seriously though this is the most happy chemicals I have had in a little while and I just can’t even comprehend it completely

Can’t believe I almost forgot to mention Phee I can’t

Also why must they fucking hate us okay I get it you can’t kill Rex but that doesn’t mean he has to suffer so much sadness

If I have to watch Rex cry again I will be crying too and then I am going for Jennifer, Brad Rau, and Dave

Hemlock is about to get his ass kicked

Hunter going full dad mode

All the bounty hunters (fennec and bane)

I actually can’t stand cad bane but his presence means todo is probably going to be there and that redeems all of them if cad bane is as easy to despise as he typically is

‘we’re not to big on following orders’ Hunter Why why would you do that to us

I love everything wrecker does in this

I honestly don’t have terribly high hopes for all of our merry friends

3

three episodes

THREE EPISODES AT ONCE

who is saying “they are coming for all of you” because he’s right about it but it looks like imperial armor

VENTRESS!!!

But like everyone is upset about the empire taking omega (rightfully so) like we get a whole mini army taking on the empire because they took omega

might add more if I see anything else that I forgot to mention but I think that’s all

[genericficerblog]

I love Bad Batch with all my heart, but, I can admit reading this, the show is pretty bad, and Brad and Jennfier are pretty bad writers.

There's so much that Brad Rau and Jennifer Corbert completely forget about and there were parts where they didn't know what they were doing.

Also, Brad and Jennifer just hate Autistic people. How they disrespected Tech and never addressed Omega being Autistic ONCE.

Which is a shame. I enjoyed the show, but knowing how much Brad and Jennifer fucked up does hurt the enjoyment a fair bit.

Drops the Bad Batch behind Andor honestly.

My five cents on Tech’s fate in TBB

It’s been over three weeks since the show ended and I’ve been writing this in my head ever since, mostly to have it summed up in one post for posterity lol. I considered letting it go at this point but I know it’ll drive me crazy if I don’t get it out of my system so might as well.

So here we go, some of my rambly post-finale thoughts on Tech’s death (and a few other issues) under the cut!

Disclaimer: while this post is in critical spirit (because that’s how my brain works), I want to make clear that I have nothing but respect and gratitude towards everyone who’s worked on the show. My criticisms are of the final story as a whole as I interpret it (art is art, everything is subjective, you know the drill), but one never knows what goes into the process of making it behind the scenes, so I’m not holding anything against the creative team. I love this show dearly and am in awe of how good it is at its best, despite certain things I wish they did differently.

To begin, if I had to sum up the biggest problem that TBB writing suffers from, it would be lack of closure, and too many red herrings. Not just for Tech, but many things. Major plot threads as well as little character moments are cultivated or thrown in just to never culminate in anything or to be immediately discarded after serving the plot, some of them incredibly misleading. Some of the top examples:

- Crosshair’s chip. We never get an exploration of how the trauma of his chip activating and being left behind not only affected his motivation and choice to stay with the Empire, but his relationship with his brothers. While it was made fairly obvious, if subtly, that Crosshair became free of the chip’s influence after getting hit by the ion engine on Bracca, the narrative treated this change as if it didn’t matter at that point, while it obviously mattered a lot within the context of Crosshair’s character. Add to that all these little details with him clutching his head in s1 finale, Omega expressing her disappointment in him, and Tech’s comment on how “it is just his nature” (as if it matters!!! See what I mean about the narrative treating Cross’s chip as if it didn’t play the key part in his trajectory? They throw in this line, like we are supposed to take away that it’s simply Crosshair being Crosshair and not like, the results of brainwashing and abandonment), Wrecker blaming Crosshair for not going back to them, all while we as the audience have been shown and told repeatedly how these chips work (and so were the Batch), we ended up with an incredibly confusing situation with lots of mixed signals from the writers. And once Crosshair makes his choice to stay with the Empire in s1 finale, his chip and the confusion it brought to his relationship with his brothers is never brought up again, because the plot simply moves on.

- Cid’s betrayal. After her being a major character for two seasons with a continuous relationship build-up with Omega in particular, she is discarded as soon as her betrayal serves the plot, with all that character development getting thrown out of the window. You can be mad at Cid all you want, but to me it’s incredibly weird and wasteful to end two seasons worth of build up on that note without it having any closure for the characters, especially Omega whose whole theme is trusting people and bringing out the best in them. It’s fine if they decided to make Cid exactly what she appeared on the surface (untrustworthy and self-serving) after playing around with her potentially growing through her fondness of Omega, but then at the very least the betrayal should’ve had an impact on the characters, Omega most of all. Even just one casual line from Omega in s3 about how Cid’s betrayal impacted her emotionally, however minimally, would have solved that problem. And no, CX-2 mentioning how he extracted info on Phee from her off screen absolutely doesn’t count as closure, because I’m talking about emotional closure for the main pov characters as well as the audience. Cid had a presence for two seasons, then as soon as she executed her role as a traitor to further the plot, she was discarded like she was a random extra.

- Emerie’s relationship with Hemlock. We are led to believe that he basically raised her, instilling in her the idea that she had no chance without him and owed her purpose and “safety” to him. You can’t tell me that this didn’t deeply affect her struggle and eventual decision to break away from all that and choose to help the kids, basically betraying Hemlock. I get that the show only had so much screen time and Emerie is a supporting character in season 3 at best, but common, she has more tension with Dr. Scalder than Hemlock while the potential for this rich deep conflict between them is right there.

I can probably list more smaller examples but this is getting long and I don’t want to go on any more tangents, so, finally, the biggest example of lack of closure and tendency of TBB writing to display foreshadowing that leads nowhere:

Tech’s death.

First of all, I’ll die on the hill that it wasn’t denial or delusion that led to such a big portion of the audience to believe that Tech didn’t really die in s2. If we look at the facts:

- there was no body

- it’s the finale of season 2 out of 3, pretty early for one of the main titular characters to get killed off

- the only/last character to allegedly see Tech after his fall is a villainous scientist who is known to experiment on clones specifically

- not a fact but: the whole scene with Hemlock presenting Tech’s goggles to Hunter was incredibly suspicious. In hindsight, I think the whole purpose of it was so that the Batch got Tech’s goggles back in their possession as a memento (and to show how evil Hemlock is to rub it into Hunter’s face like that) but it was executed in a way that read as something much more. It read as if Hemlock was going out of his way to convince us/Hunter of Tech’s death, but with us knowing who Hemlock is, his background in experimenting on clones, everything screams at us to not trust a word he says. Is it really so surprising that so many of the viewers immediately jumped at the conclusion that something more was going on there?

- Hunter’s (lack of) reaction/immediate narrative fall-out. More on that later as I address lack of emotional impact of Tech’s death in s3.

- it’s Star Wars. And there was no body.

So yeah, to me, it is completely justified that so many people read that whole thing as open to speculation at the very least, foreshadowing Tech’s survival at most.

Personally, I was 70% sure Tech was truly dead prior to s3, but not because the text told me so, but because at that point I was used to the show’s writing regularly sending out mixed signals, and a part of me was resigned to Tech’s death becoming another example of the writer’s intent clashing with their accidental empty foreshadowing.

As season 3 aired and the whole CX-2 plot was unfolding alongside continued lack of closure for Tech’s fate, my hope for Tech Lives reveal grew and grew, but in the end my initial doubt was proven right, unfortunately.

Oh, CX-2.. what a mess. You can’t tell me the creators went over all of these scenes, all of these lines, looked at the whole picture and *didn’t* see how it was incredibly easy to interpret CX-2 as potentially being Tech with all these little potential parallels. “Domicile” alone.

If they didn’t want us to entertain the idea that it could be Tech, they could’ve done it differently, but for some reason, they chose to leave that space for speculation. My question is, why?

If they truly wanted us to believe Plan 99 was it, Tech’s Noble End that we were supposed to take as this dramatic super emotional ultimate sacrifice and all that, then why would they not make it clear that CX-2 couldn’t be Tech? Why breed confusion? And breed confusion they did. It’s hard for me to believe they didn’t foresee the “ohh is it Tech?” speculation.

When so many members of the audience immediately and individually jump at a theory or have the same take away from the story they are being told, yet the authors say it wasn’t meant to be taken that way, something went seriously wrong with the writing.

I don’t like to speculate on such things because we will probably never know for certain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had at some point considered CX-2 being Tech or at least something more for the whole CX plot thread, but changed and reshuffled things at the last minute for whatever reasons.

Which is fine and understandable. But it brings me to the heart of my biggest issue with how Tech’s fate was handled:

lack of impact and closure.

Let’s disregard all the Tech Lives theories for a moment and focus on what we did get: Tech, one of the main characters, getting killed off at the end of s2 out of 3, for stakes and consequences and NOTHING else. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.

Imagine, for a moment, he survived and stayed with the Batch. Nothing would have changed, in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. We wouldn’t have had a few obligatory “Tech mention, everyone feel sad now” throwaway lines/goggle shots and whatnot, sure, but that’s it.

Tech dying didn’t change the trajectory of the plot in any way, nor did it affect any of the other characters in a way that changed their trajectory. And anything less is simply not enough to justify killing one of your main characters. Stakes and consequences ain’t it.

Consider Mayday, for example: a supporting character, but his death in s2 affected Crosshair in such a way it completely redirected his journey, AND in s3 we got an episode that cemented the impact Mayday had on Crosshair and provided emotional closure for them. That’s a narratively meaningful death.

Tech’s death was not meaningful to the narrative beyond removing him from it. That’s why so many Tech fans insist he deserved better treatment: not only was he not present in one third of the show physically, but he lacked any sort of presence even in death. His absence was never processed or grieved by any of the main characters and so by extension by the audience.

And before anyone starts with the whole ‘they are soldiers/they had no time to grieve/etc’ arguments, it is the responsibility of the writers to provide the space for all of that emotional impact. It they don’t, there is no impact.

A few reactions here and there, moments of missing Tech as a person and a brother, not an asset, anything would have made this whole thing easier to accept.

The lines that we did get, from Omega mentioning the stuff Tech taught her to Echo commenting on how decryption would be easier if Tech was with them to “Clone Force 99 died with Tech” from Crosshair - each and every single one of those lines linked to Tech’s functions as part of the squad, his usefulness, but we didn’t get a single line in remembrance of him as a person of his own, no one missed or remembered him for himself or his personal impact on them.

Just one line from Omega about how he taught her about change being a constant part of life or whatever, or Wrecker making a comment on how Tech used to info dump about stuff, anything would have instantly provided that much needed sense of “he was here, he was a person and is still a part of us”. Instead, Tech was killed off to show that messing with the Empire is dangerous and risks are real, I guess, and immediately lost any and all presence within the story.

We never even got to see Crosshair’s or Phee’s reactions to losing him.

Speaking of Crosshair, that’s a whole other example of complete lack of closure: they never closed the loop on the family being reunited again after initially leaving Crosshair behind, and with Tech dead, it’ll forever stay broken.

They could’ve given this a bittersweet yet meaningful spin if they developed the angle of Tech dying on a mission to bring Crosshair home, making a sacrifice so Crosshair had a chance.

Instead, the moment Tech dies, we get Hunter (and through him, the narrative) immediately abandon the idea/plot thread of going to rescue Cross all while saying “let’s not waste Tech’s sacrifice”. Sacrifice for what? Clearly Hunter doesn’t see it as a sacrifice for Crosshair’s sake, so, what, to make sure the rest of them makes it from the mission? The mission to save Crosshair. That mission. Right.

I see people talking about Tech’s noble sacrifice that ensured his family got to live and eventually have their happy ending, but all I can think about is how the creators chose to have him die on a mission that was immediately abandoned and the only take away from that whole sub plot was Tech’s own demise.

And after Crosshair is back with the Batch, his reaction to Tech’s death is never explored at all.

So yes, to me Tech deserved so much better. If you are going to kill off a major character, it must be necessary to be compelling. The way I see it, Tech’s death was not necessary at all because it didn’t change anything. And if it was meant to, the creators failed to communicate that by choosing not to explore the emotional impact of it and not structuring certain story beats in a more precise manner.

To wrap this up, if the way Tech’s death was handled was satisfying for you, that’s valid and I’m glad for you. For me, unfortunately, it’s completely the opposite and will forever remain the biggest and most unfortunate low point in the story.

And while I welcome anyone to share their own perspective if they wish, please don’t take this post as an invitation for debate, since there is no one right or wrong way to interpret or be affected by art.

[dclblog]

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (O-Ton, kleinere Spoiler)...

...ist für mich eine schwierigere Angelegenheit, als ich dachte. Wollte eigentlich schon vor einer Woche eine kurze, knappe Kritik darüber schreiben, dass der Film tolle Momente hat, mich aber insgesamt nicht nachhaltig beeindruckte. Ich hatte schon angesetzt, da wurden meine einschlägigen Social Media-Plattformen überschwemmt von Lobeshymnen gerade auch derer, auf deren Filmgeschmack ich sehr viel wert lege. Von Leuten, die ihn als den “besten Tarantino seit ‘Pulp Fiction’” priesen über dreifache Kinobesuche in drei Tagen war alles dabei. Nun neige ich nicht dazu, mich von Mehrheitsmeinungen vereinnahmen zu lassen, aber wenn so viele Hochgeschätzte einen Film so unbändig lieben, sehe ich mich gezwungen, doch ausführlicher darzulegen, warum es bei mir insgesamt nicht Klick gemacht hat.

Fangen wir vielleicht mit den zwei Aspekten an, die ich ohne Einschränkung großartig fand:

1. Brad Pitt

Ja, es hilft, dass er auch mit Mitte 50 noch eine der fotogensten Erscheinungen ist, die abgelichtet werden können. Aber als sein hübsches Gesicht dank Alter und jahrelangem übermäßigem Nikotin- und Alkoholgebrauch vor ein paar Jahren die Makellosigkeit verlor, kam zu meiner nicht geringen Überraschung der ganz fantastische Schauspieler zum Vorschein, der er vielleicht schon immer war. Sein monströs-trauriger Vater in Malicks “Tree Of Life”, welcher mir ebenso viel ehrliche Angst einflößte, wie er mich in seinen hilflosen Momenten tief berührte, war endgültig der Punkt, an welchem ich mir eingestehen musste: ich bin Fan. Ich bin in “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” gegangen in der Erwartung, dass Margot Robbie, welche ich ganz großartig finde, ihn veredeln würde. Dass stattdessen Pitt der MVP ist, welcher mit gelassen müdem Sexappeal auch die Szenen stiehlt, in welchen er im Hintergrund in der Unschärfe an einer Selleriestaude knabbert, hätte ich nicht erwartet. Bei ihm wird alles zum Erlebnis, die guten Szenen verbessert und die peinlichen (und es gibt ein paar in diesem Film) haarscharf gerettet. Natürlich weiß Tarantino dabei um den Mythos des Namens, des Lächelns, des Körpers, und er weiß dieses Kapital sehr clever zu nutzen. Und natürlich wird Pitt irgendwann wie in seinem Durchbruch “Thelma und Louise” das Shirt ausziehen, was fast dreißig Jahre später lächerlich anmuten könnte, aber bei ihm mit so viel entspannter Würde vonstatten geht, dass es immer noch als großer Kinomoment durchgeht - in einer Zeit, in welcher sich die gemeine Tricktechnik mit immer neueren CGI-Mätzchen selbst zu übertrumpfen sucht, ist der Umstand, dass der nackte Oberkörper von Brad Pitt noch als (latent melancholisches) Spektakel inszeniert werden kann, ein kleines Wunder. Ganz ganz toll ist zudem

2. Der Schluss

Der Titel des Filmes verweist natürlich nicht nur auf die ollen Leone-Klassiker, er ist auch elementar in der Vorbereitung auf ein Finale, welches wie schon “Inglourious Basterds” und “Django Unchained” die zuvor durchaus akribisch recherchierte Geschichte ins Reich der Märchen entführt, wo sie in ein gerechtes Ende - oder was Tarantino dafür hält - mündet. Da diese seine Methode mittlerweile mehr als bekannt ist und als Shyamalanscher Plottwist nicht mehr taugt, empfinde ich es nicht als übermäßigen Spoiler zu schreiben: auch in “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” läuft Altbekanntes bis ins Detail genau ab, um dann durch das Hinzufügen zweier Elemente - DiCaprios abgehalftertem Westernstar und seinem Stuntman Pitt - eine gänzlich andere Wendung einzuschlagen. Das ist dann alles komplett drüber, ultrabrutal und urkomisch, gleichzeitig aber eingedenk dessen, was man eigentlich weiß, auch tieftraurig und bittersüß, kurz: in allen Belangen meisterhaft. War es bei “The Hateful 8″ gerade der Einzug des von Tarantino so geliebten Gore, welcher ein bis dahin grundsolides Bürgerkriegsdrama zu einem müden Piffpaff verkommen ließ, rettet hier das fulminant absurde Finale einen Film, welcher in meinen Augen eine große objektive und zwei rein subjektive Schwachstellen hat, und zwar:

1. Sally Menke ist tot

Ich werde sicher keine staunenden “Aaah”s und “Oooh”s, geschweige denn einen Originalitätspreis ernten, wenn ich schreibe: seit Tarantino nicht mehr die Editor-Großmeisterin an seiner Seite hat, welche ihm zur Not auch mal auf die Finger klopfte, hat er ein Schnittproblem. Es gibt auch hier unfassbar großartige Sequenzen - Pitts Ausflug ins Manson-Dorf sollte als Blaupause dafür genutzt werden, wie Suspense in einer Szene, in der objektiv nicht viel passiert, aufgebaut werden kann. Allein: das, was ich bei seinen Werken immer so fantastisch fand und was ich in all seinen Filmen bis einschließlich “Inglourious Basterds” wahrnahm, nämlich die Verdichtung von Zeit, funktioniert irgendwie nicht mehr. Zumindest nicht mehr so mühelos. Ich weiß, dies ist Jammern auf allerhöchstem Niveau. Aber für mich waren die Momente, in denen zwei oder mehr Menschen ein einfaches Gespräch führten und man ganz gleich, ob es danach Schüsse oder Küsse gab, mit offenem Mund dasaß und nicht zu atmen wagte, ein größeres Markenzeichen dieses Filmemachers als Füße und Gewalt. Und diese Mühelosigkeit vermisse ich, gerade in einem Film, in welchem ich mich für meinen Geschmack zu sehr fragte, was genau denn nun erzählt werden soll. Dies gehört aber nicht hierher, sondern vielmehr zu Punkt

2. Wo ist das Märchen?

Tarantino bezeichnet “Once Upon A Time” als seinen persönlichsten Film, und das glaube ich ihm. Noch toller fände ich es, wenn ich es auch spüren würde. Ohne mich groß auf die “ist die Bruce Lee-Szene rassistisch”-Debatte einlassen zu wollen (weil sie ein anderes Thema für einen anderen Blog ist), finde ich ebendiese Szene symptomatisch für einen Film, der voll ist mit Elementen, die ganz klar von Tarantino geliebt, gar vergöttert werden (dass er ein glühender Lee-Fan ist, ist kein Geheimnis), nur um dann oft als mehr oder weniger geglückte Punchline herzuhalten. Ich meine das aufrichtig nicht sarkastisch, wenn ich gestehe, dass ich mich zwischendrin immer wieder fragte, was genau denn Tarantino nun an dieser Zeit so toll fand. Und um das klar zu sagen: ich habe kein Problem damit, dass er ihre problematischen Aspekte ausklammern und vielmehr von den Wundern erzählen möchte, wie er sie eben damals erlebte. Aber wo bitte sind sie? Die Coens mit ihrem lapidaren “Hail, Caesar!” hatten auch kein Interesse dran, Sozialkritk am Hollywood der 50er zu üben, aber es war immer ersichtlich, was sie stattdessen wollten: den Clooney als Cary Grant für Arme, die Johannson beim Wasserballet und den Tatum beim Matrosentanz - ich persönlich finde das legitim. Film ist immer schon auch Eskapismus gewesen, und um der Welt zu entfliehen, muss man Teile von ihr ausblenden, auch und gerade in einem Werk, dessen Titel mit “Es war einmal...” beginnt. Aber dann möchte ich offen gestanden mehr sehen, mehr fühlen als beim x-ten Cruisen durch die Hollywood Hills und Margot Robbies “Abenteuer” als Sharon Tate, bei der ich nicht umhin kam, schlicht enttäuscht zu sein, weil sie in meinen Augen so viel mehr kann und Tarantino für das, wozu sie hier gebeten wurde, auch gleich jemand deutlich weniger Begabtes hätte nehmen können. Sie ist hübsch, sie strahlt über das ganze Gesicht - fin. Aber zumindest wird hier noch der Versuch gestartet, so etwas wie Magie auf Zelluloid zu bannen. Ich schließe nicht aus, dass ich bei einer möglichen zweiten, dritten Sichtung alles dahingehend zurücknehmen und das Gegenteil behaupten werde - es ist schon merkwürdigeres geschehen. Ein Umstand der aber bleibt, für den ich Jahre brauchte, um ihn mir einzugestehen, weil dies eine Meinung ist, für die man als Cineast schräg angeschaut wird, aber die jetzt nun mal endlich raus muss:

3. Ich mag Leonardo DiCaprio nicht

Genauer: ich mag ihn nicht mehr, seit er erwachsen wurde, sich die Charlie Sheen Gedächtnis-Stirnfalte zulegte, die mit jedem Jahr größer wird und immer schlechter kaschieren kann, dass die ihm innewohnende Leere bei aller Brillanz - und ja, ich halte ihn für einen technisch brillanten Schauspieler - schlicht nicht spannend, nicht aufregend, nicht großes Kino ist. Er hat mich seit seinen Jugendjahren nicht ein einziges Mal mehr wirklich berührt. Ich weiß, ich bewege mich jetzt hier in seeehr subjektiven Gewässern, aber die einzigen beiden Rollen, in denen er mich zuletzt überzeugte, waren die in “Wolf Of Wall Street” und “Django Unchained”, weil er in ersterem als nihilistischer Broker nicht so tun musste, als hätte sein antrainierter Leo-Charme noch irgendeine seelische Anbindung und in zweiterem ein Arschloch zu enden alle Arschlöcher spielen durfte. Ein Film, in welchem er die klare Hauptfigur ist, der ich folgen und bei der ich mitfühlen soll, ist für mich sehr schwierig, nicht zuletzt deswegen, weil sein verkniffen sorgenvoller Hasbeen (rein visuell eine klare Fehlbesetzung) größte spielerische Leichtigkeit erforderte, um nicht irgendwann auf die Nerven zu gehen, wo Di Caprio immer die eine Spur zu verbissen, zu entnervt, zu angespannt ist - dass sie ihm einem alternden “No more fucks to give”-Schönling wie Brad Pitt zur Seite stellten, unterstreicht diesen Punkt nur umso mehr. So ließen mich auch Szenen, die auf dem Papier ganz ganz toll sein sollten, unangenehm kalt - sein in alter Tarantino-Meisterhaftigkeit geschriebenes Gespräch mit seinem jungen Co-Star hat alles Potential mittendurch zu gehen, verpufft aber für mich auf halbem Weg zum Herz.

Tarantino ist immer eine Angelegenheit für sich. Meine persönliche Haltung zu seinen jeweiligen Filmen verändert sich mit jedem Jahr, welches ich auf dem Buckel habe und mit jeder Sichtung. Insofern soll diese Kritik nicht als meine ultimative Meinung zu “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” gewertet werden. Allein: ein mir sehr lieber Kinofreund meinte einmal auf die Frage, was für ihn ein Lieblingsfilm ist, mit: “Alle, mit denen ich wieder aufwache”. Eingedenk der Tatsache, dass dieses Werk knapp eine Woche nach der Sichtung fast komplett bei mir aus Hirn und Herz verschwand, fürchte ich, dass es bei aller möglichen Korrektur meiner Ansichten in der potentiellen Zukunft kein Liebling von mir mehr werden wird.

D.C.L.