The Bad Batch Helps An Old Ally Find A New Home After The Atrocities Of Their Brothers
Image Source: Disney+
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE BAD BATCH SEASON 2, EPISODE 6
After two weeks of side-quest filler episodes, The Bad Batch returns this week with a tale of trauma and healing. While it may not further the overall arc of the season set by the first two episodes, it is a solid work of character development and fleshes the galaxy under the boot of the rising Empire.
This week, the Bad Batch, while on a smuggling mission, encountered an old ally captured by their droid employers. That’s right, The Bad Batch saw the return of fan-favorite Gungi the Wookiee. First introduced back in The Clone Wars as a Padawan, Gungi is a loveable young Wookiee that many fans despaired over in regard to Order 66. It was heartwarming to see him alive and well, or as well as could be. However, it was tearjerking to see him scared and wary of the clones rescuing him.
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They took him back to Kashyyyk to try and find some Wookiees who could help him. In the process, they encountered a company of Trandoshans employed by the Empire to hunt Wookiees and enslave them. With Gungi’s help, despite the risk of exposing the existence of a Jedi, the Bad Batch help a Wookiee village repel the Trandoshans and find Gungi a safe haven with his people.
While this episode would be considered a filler, now a commonplace in Star Wars animation, it was an exception to the rule and a worthwhile experience. “Tribe” was a heartfelt and gut-wrenching look at the effects of Order 66 and the rise of the Empire on those who once enjoyed a place of respect and power in the Republic. Seeing little Gungi again made everything about this episode work. Though he had grown since he was last seen in The Clone Wars, he maintained an air of innocence as he hugged his knees to his chest in the back of the Bad Batch’s shuttle, alone and scared.
Image Source: Disney+
His maturation in the face of the horrors he experienced since Order 66 showed especially when he defiantly found his strength as he pulled his lightsaber from his captors’ clutches. Hunter’s line at the end of the episode, lamenting Gungi’s loss of youthful innocence in the aftermath of the Jedi genocide, underscored this quality of Gungi, who had to endure what no child, Jedi Padawan or not, should. It is further poignant for Gungi who, as a Wookiee, had to see the Empire hunt down his people, enslave them, and destroy their planet.
The theme of innocence lost is pervasive throughout the episode. From Gungi’s reactions to Omega’s ignorance shattered by the revelation of what the clones did to the Jedi, everyone experiences some growth. It brings a sort of revelation in and of itself to the viewer that growth is eternally linked with the loss of innocence. Hunter and the group are not immune from it either, despite their age, seeing twice in the span of the episode the effects of their clone brothers’ actions, the first in finding Gungi and seeing him recoil from them, and finding villages burned to the ground on Kashyyyk. It helps reinforce their almost zealous conviction to help Gungi and the surviving villagers push back against the Trandoshan slavers.
Image Source: Star Wars News Net
This episode shows how Star Wars animation exceptionally conveys atmosphere and tone. atmosphere and tone. Gungi’s isolation and fear of those around him, especially around the clones, are accompanied by dark colors and a sorrowful soundtrack which turn into warm, earthly colors after the Wookiee village took him in.
“Tribe” is a powerful episode. Though it may not further the narrative as some would like, taken by itself, it is fantastically done and furthers explores the galaxy and the people within it. What is Star Wars if not a magnifying glass on the people that inhabit the galaxy?
New episodes of The Bad Batch Season 2 stream every Wednesday on Disney+.
Rating: 9/10
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