The Reel Rejects - STAR WARS: TALES OF THE UNDERWORLD Breakdown & Review!!!

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Starting point is 00:01:37 We're going to talk about this first arc. You can skip right next to the next set of reactions. It's all in this video, but we're going to talk for a little bit first. Michael, what are your first thoughts here? We'll probably give us like five to ten minutes here. Yeah, I mean. It was wonderful seeing Ventris again. Sure.

Starting point is 00:02:00 A short anthology like this, I don't think, lends itself to, I don't think they captured as fully as I was hoping they would, the complexities of her journey. Like, it was almost a little too light-hearted. I mean, it's tough because in my mind, this era is the most interesting established era in Star Wars to explore

Starting point is 00:02:28 and that like there's so many question marks particularly around the hidden path and you know so I think like selfishly I was really hoping that we were going to get to see more but I do love this notion like the overarching

Starting point is 00:02:44 concept of ventress who began her journey as a Jedi fell to the dark and then found her self and sort of this, a constant struggle of identity, her identity as a witch of Dathamere, her identity as a Jedi knight, her identity as an apprentice,

Starting point is 00:03:05 and then her identity as sort of this, this strange sort of pseudo-teaching relationship that she had with boss. Sure. And it's sort of a full, circle moment for her to find herself training a Padawan who is at the same age

Starting point is 00:03:28 that she was when she left the order and there's a level of maturity and understanding that is you know I mean what this did is they I think it was very clear that for whatever reason

Starting point is 00:03:43 they were not ready to close the book on this character and wanted to set her up for something whether that be planned or, you know, just so she's around, I just would have, I would have loved for it to have gone a little deeper. I agree. I think it needed more meat on the sandwich here.

Starting point is 00:04:04 I wish it did, especially because I think this Tales anthology show is pretty good for the most part. Yeah, there's a lot of hits. A lot more success. I think more hits than misses, though. And I feel like Ventris was kind of, you didn't have to. tell like a whole thing, but even if you're going to tell a chapter of her life, I think it could have been something that felt a little bit more unique and substantial. And if you're calling it tales of the underworld, lean into the underworld side of it with where she's at. Like this,

Starting point is 00:04:36 this felt like kind of the opposite vibe, which might be the point of having a Saj Ventures focus story, but keep it extremely run of the mill lighthearted to show that she's going to be having like different adventures in life i guess i thought her moment in bad batch was immensely more striking and had way more impact and more intrigue and that was one episode uh where she is a supporting character in that episode and this felt more about this uh lico guy this lico jedi who i thought was fine he felt very i didn't lico him as much as i would have like nicely done but i agree though he was like everything was like nice and passable which might be all that people really want and some people i'm sure will be satisfied that all you get is ventures showing up yeah i think in our

Starting point is 00:05:29 point of view though you know to have the anticipation a certain point of you from from our certain point of view uh to have ventures come back for this limited time after bad batch and then even t's and quinlin voss is a character we have wanted to see pick back up I didn't even fully understand the choice at the end where she lets it go. I'm not saying if the choice is wrong. I think I understand that choice and that she literally made a... With Quinlan? ...spiritual deal that in order to continue to live,

Starting point is 00:06:05 she cannot be with him. That was the trade-off that she had with Mother Townsend. But she seemed like she set out on this adventure specifically to see him. I think it was... perhaps more about knowing that he's okay and that is enough I wish we kind of had like a little bit of a moment

Starting point is 00:06:30 where she sees him then even from afar but then she'd combust or whatever yeah whatever the hell is that but I do I think there's a I don't think that this was the story pace-wise that they felt that they could achieve it I also think that if you haven't read the Dark Disciple

Starting point is 00:06:47 that this was a very confusing like just all of it was very confused yeah like oh we're starting and she's dead most people didn't even know that she died you know I don't know I expected her to be a little bit more exposition but I guess that's kind of where we're at

Starting point is 00:07:07 is with a lot of content so you can't give exposition to everything but the first three minutes of this in my mind looked felt and sounded more premium than every other episode combined. I mean, the way it started off, it seemed like we were going to get something really

Starting point is 00:07:26 juicy to chew on and a good Quinlan boss. And even the animation felt like there was like more care and attention put to it. Yeah, listen, her story is not over. There will be a conclusion at some point, one can assume. But today is not that day, Greg, but you know whose day it is? Cab Baines Day.

Starting point is 00:07:47 Cad. berry ice cream chocolate bar let's end it on this I think that I would I would still love more ventures I would like more another show of her would be great

Starting point is 00:07:59 I would love to see her coming to live action some great action in here and it was a cute time so I'd still probably give it like honestly like a six out of ten yeah I mean I had fun I really I enjoyed and I hope they dig deeper into exploring

Starting point is 00:08:13 particularly around the Rebel Alliance those who are part of the Rebel Alliance, which is all about restoring the Republic, who were once part of the CIS and the separatist. You know, like having rewatched Revenge of the SIF in theaters the past week,

Starting point is 00:08:30 I feel like that is such an interesting thing that we haven't really gotten to explore and and or and all that. It's a very ripe playing field. And who knows? Maybe we will. I just wish there was a little bit more like actual struggle when letting go that way with that, that would drive home a little

Starting point is 00:08:46 bit more of being haunted. I think there was some missing beats but still yeah happy to have any little adventure where we watch this cadbane whatever whatever untold swords of cadmaine there are to get through yeah all right let's do it brother reject nation January 25th of this year I weighed 218 pounds as of a few days ago I now weigh 181 and six-pack Greg is in coming one of the many things that has helped me stay consistent is having smart easy go-toes like Hewles black edition ready to drink meals it's a complete meal in a bottle, baby, with over 35 grams of protein, 27 essential vitamins and minerals, slow-release

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Starting point is 00:12:16 And they're so nice. They are very nice. Very nice. Hey, guys. Uh, if you're listening to us on Apple or Spotify, we just watched the tales of the underworld. And, uh, we experienced the first three episodes with the Saj Ventris, which was okay. And then we went and watched the second arc, which is of Cad Bain. That was a pleasant surprise.

Starting point is 00:12:40 Honestly, one of my favorite things that I've watched in Star Wars. That was really cool. Take it away, Michael. It's called Tales of the Underworld, and I love how it was able to explore the complexities of what it's like to grow up in a state of destitution and poverty and how there are so many different ways that a person life and trajectory could go.

Starting point is 00:13:17 And at the end of the day, like the most compelling part about all of this is that where Cad Bain is coming from is this place of he has been dealt an awful hand of cards and the first hand up that he ever receives and how he perceived the way out takes him down this path that inadvertently allows him to contribute to the very, cycle that he was trapped in originally, you know, which like beyond Star Wars is I think such a an important thing for us to remember that like sometimes the perception is that the only way out is that way, whereas his best friend took the alternative approach, which, you know, by going law enforcement and instantly being perceived as sort of like the, the,

Starting point is 00:14:14 oh, these were the people that were always pushing us down, always doing this, but he was trying to course correct and trying to get out in his own way, and then to have these two characters live these alternative lives where they started in the same place, they went and ultimately their trajectories met again, I thought was just, it has the poetic symmetry

Starting point is 00:14:38 that I think has the hallmarks of Lucas all over it. the pacing though I think was really nothing short of extraordinary especially it was really only three episodes yeah I would have swore that we just watched six episodes and you know I think there is a a tendency and I think we see it a lot around content featuring Jedi's sure I'm thinking about this a lot like when we're not lost in the mysticism of it all and sort of the fast-paced nature and I think a lot of the overarching like the pressure that comes with the with lore and we're able to just explore

Starting point is 00:15:24 freely and ironically in a very human way these characters I think that's why Andor excels the way that it does but I also think that we got to feel that here too where it was so much more focused on the human experience

Starting point is 00:15:40 rather than trying to play into the larger narrative and because of that it feeds that larger narrative in such a better more organic way so i really i just uh i found myself not reacting because i was just absolutely captivated um and i don't think i'll ever be able to look at cad bay in the same way again and it even makes that final duel even more uh Bain's final duel, spoiler. And Boba Fett? Yeah, and Boba Fett.

Starting point is 00:16:19 Boba Fett murders him? Yeah. That was a cool moment in Star Wars history. No. No. No. No, no. No, I mean, he's more specifically

Starting point is 00:16:34 him going against the Marshall where it's crazy because like even when he goes against the Marshall in in, yeah, I guess it was Bobo. Or Mandolin. There's the Mandalorian

Starting point is 00:16:47 episode of Boba. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when he goes after the Marshall, it does feel painfully personal, you know, and you begin to see

Starting point is 00:16:58 that there's so much weight. You know, I also love that, you know, even the way in what you're, you're rooting for all sides of this, you know, like you're, like I have so.

Starting point is 00:17:11 much empathy still for how awful he is. And I get how he got there. And I think that is something that is, that I always love in a story. Yeah. Where the lines between good and bad are blurred when you understand the circumstance and what happened in there.

Starting point is 00:17:26 But enough of my philosophical meandrums, what did you think? I thought it was exactly the, some of the best, probably the best, that the tale series has done i really love the ducu stuff um a lot in tales of the empire yeah but i feel like this would probably take the cake on the most effective one because you know additionally

Starting point is 00:17:57 like kind of speaking to your point about lore and not really you need to be concerned with that you really don't hear in fact this feels the most removed out of like star warsy stuff outside of the look and aesthetic you can kind of just turn this on any i think anyone can watch this as just some lived in short film and i think the way they utilize each episode to be a different age for cad bane go to his formative development years as a child a little boy see the path that he took the influence that happened really drive home like how we're talking about like the how the law and the system is a thing that kind of drove people, drove these two characters. One to be an alcoholic and the other to not be an alcoholic.

Starting point is 00:18:47 So one to be a criminal and the other who's going to be the anti-criminal and do good in seeing how they're two sides of the same coin. Then go to later years. I think they do a great job on the time jumps too of making the history and stuff that has occurred actually feel real. Yeah. It feels like it's happened. It doesn't feel like pieces of information.

Starting point is 00:19:08 And they do that so well with the, I mean, not just seeing the character's age, but also seeing the setting evolve. Yeah. And again, that gets the pacing of anthology struggle so much with just that, where this one really thrives. Yeah, I think Corey Burden doing even teenager Gadbain sounded pretty believable to me. Like, it's kind of cute, but pretty cool how they did it. And watching how, like, they were best of best friends.

Starting point is 00:19:35 and they easily could have gone down the same path where both could have been criminals or both could have been anti-criminal heroes of their community, pillars of the community. And then when you get to the next chunk, that path of Nero, which is, you know,

Starting point is 00:19:52 one of the complaints that we were having with the first arc here is they introduced this character, LICO, who was fine, but definitely was not standoutish and felt very generic. And then come to this arc and you introduced Nero who is so opposite of Cadbane and I like how it slowly shifts into his POV so by the time he gets to the third episode you really don't want this guy to die and he genuinely feels like a great guy and someone who has impacted the community and watching CAD slowly destroy the good and the former life right down to doing this on his home planet drives home the starkness and the coldness of what this man or alien has evolved in.

Starting point is 00:20:35 into and and I also got to really give credit to how they utilize the expressions of characters who don't have pupils but they oh my god there's good visual storytelling there they were able to tell so much more than one would expect and I think that's sort of the beauty of like to your point the ventress episode was completely lacking in the humanity of it all like there was no I mean you know if you're a youngling Catalan that survived that far into Order 66, the jovial sort of lightness of the situation just felt so out of place. It's a little stiff. And this, on the other hand, was able to sort of dig a little deeper,

Starting point is 00:21:24 and it's universal, right? Like, there's a, we are able to empathize and connect with it because this is a story that could happen in our world. Yeah, exactly. Because it's a story that happens every single day in our world. And it's able to provide a level of empathy and understanding that genuinely leaves you feeling like uncomfortably conflicted in your own morality and in the process. Yet it doesn't make Cadbane look like an anti-hero or anything. They still portray him as a villain, which I really respect it for doing.

Starting point is 00:22:02 Well, and it's funny because I even said, like, oh, well, here he's going to do the right thing and he's going to pay the consequence for it. But the reality is the minute, the minute he had a taste of those sweets. Yeah. And I don't mean that in like a, like a, you know. I get what you're saying. Yeah. The minute a person who has had nothing is given something. willing being willing to let that go

Starting point is 00:22:30 is the hardest thing in the world and how he was taught of how this is how you get things it's like a really great psychology like you said something earlier which is very true and i feel like this would be the case for a lot of people i don't know how you can actually take this in and not see cadbane the same anymore after after this like this really does add layers this is what i wanted for the venture side it was i wanted to feel like i got to no Ventress better or I got to see a side of her I hadn't seen before this shows you that and then some without it being generic origin tale it's still and it's very much like like Rio Bravo or high noon in in terms of the plot that they use as a structural backdrop.

Starting point is 00:23:09 Leaving in on that Star Wars you know but it but it was fun because it wasn't just old West right like it was to your point it was Chicago it was an inner city and it's a neighborhood that is you know and there's one thing I want to add before we wrap up, it also, like, that episode did more to help flesh out why the empire was so successful than any other piece of content. Like when you see a city like that, an individual that are in so many ways removed from the galaxy at large, like at the end of the day, they're worried if there's car chases and if they have food and those basic sort of things.

Starting point is 00:23:52 And in the same way that Cadbane gets a bite of something that he's never had before and a sense of self and safety, and in the same way that Nero attaches himself to this, I think people, if pulled out of discomfort, if pulled out of poverty or whatever that cycle is, or sometimes willing to give up so many of the essential freedoms. Like, there's always the caveats to it, right? Sure, sure. The caveats of comfort. And, like, you see it throughout history.

Starting point is 00:24:30 But I think Star Wars, as you try to understand, like, yeah, how did the empire have so many support? Well, people living in the state of destitution all of a sudden have food and safe streets and they're not as worried. And, you know, so who cares if we maybe never are able to question the political motives? sure yeah you know and in cad bane's case it was you know yeah it took a life of crime and it was worth the risk it was worth all of that you know and then you take take that even further and you know you find yourself uh you find yourself beginning to empathize with everybody on on some level some more than others but on on every level you're empathize and that's the despite being a galaxy far far away and home to alien worlds and all of that like star wars thrives best when it is holding on close to a humanity that we can see reflective in our everyday lives amen that's exactly and or i think

Starting point is 00:25:30 hits home for so many people and my one little thing that i'll add to me it's a way more beautiful one of the more thing i'll add it that i really want to shout out uh i thought the music and this one was so so great it was like a character of this of this particular arc where you could sort of feel like there was a bit of a live band working in conjunction with every single scene really feels like conducted and orchestrated intentional composed would be the better word for right yes and so yeah i thought this was a fantastic arc and no notes uh loved it and who would have thought the cad bane adventure would be the more where you humanize it more would be the most compelling part of this but enough of your thoughts what did you the audience think of this episode i will read every comment

Starting point is 00:26:16 and I will respond to every comment if you share your thoughts and feelings. Search your feelings. You know it to be true. Greg, this was fun. Let's do it again sometime. Until then, don't forget to hit that notification bell. May the force be with you always.

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The Reel Rejects - STAR WARS: TALES OF THE UNDERWORLD Breakdown & Review!!!

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