Sorry to harp on this again, but the word “filler” has quickly turned into my biggest modern pop culture analysis pet peeve. How exactly was last episode filler? They saved Cid (despite her having taken advantage of them for most of the season), they helped the Devaronian gangster guy, they even got involved with the pikes. I can see much of this, if not all of it, becoming really important in future episodes. And even if it doesn’t then it was still a full story which had a point to tell at the end. That’s not filler. Walter White chasing a fly for a full 50 min. episode of Breaking Bad because of broadcast requirements not matching the already mostly spent budget, now that’s filler.
Believe me Bonez, I don’t use the word lightly. When people call episodes ‘filler’, I’m often skeptical because those episodes have turned out to be important character development or bonding time, or just a crucial step back from the story so it isn’t far too overwhelming or fast paced. A lot of episodes people call ‘filler’, I wouldn’t. I don’t call any Clone Wars episodes filler because it’s an anthology series aiming to explore the full scope of the war, and that includes dwelling on smaller stories or characters. But TBB is a linear series; I certainly wasn’t feeling like the story was moving too fast, and the episode felt like they were running out of ideas for new episodes.
Sorry for rambling on about the term, but there are also no Rebels episodes I’d call filler (and maybe that seems a stretch…) ‘Droids in Distress’ explores Zeb’s history and past trauma while setting up the Ghost crew’s involvement in a larger Rebellion; ‘Fighter Flight’ uses a goofy fruit-finding mission to develop the brotherly bond between Ezra and Zeb after previous fallings-out; even Iron Squadron provides a look at Commander Sato’s relationships with Thrawn and his nephew, and it introduces Mart. ‘Infested’ from TBB had pretty much no character development as far as I could tell. Cid proves herself slightly honourable by wanting to save Omega, which I liked, and Omega proves herself a kind and compassionate person for the hundredth time… I just felt like it dragged a bit and didn’t do much to make the characters of the Batch more memorable. But I’m maybe being too harsh on it, because the show IS aiming to explore this period in the star wars galaxy and taking a look at the criminal underworld is an important part of that. And I hope we see the pikes again.
Fair enough, and I see what you mean, though I have to disagree with TBB being a “linear” show (unless I’m interpreting that differently than you do), though it’s obviously much more a single story when compared to TCW, but I’d say it’s more in the same style as Rebels where it’s episodic while still having a through-line as it’s main focus. I get the frustration with TBB being a bit repetitive with it’s themes every now and then, I can’t really argue against that, though Infested still felt more like a proper episode to me than say Iron Squadron, which is the only Rebels episode I don’t like.Though that might just have to do with a personal pet peeve for these types of stories, and that the main cast got side-stepped a bit for some completely new (and slightly annoying IMO) characters. It boils down to taste I suppose, and I quite liked Infested because I love when SW dips into monster-movie territory and the stuff with Cid and the pikes made it feel like a proper story with some real stakes rather than if the big-creatures had simply been part of one of Cid’s jobs or something more casual like that. It was definitely one of the lesser episodes of the first season though, but I still quite enjoyed it and I’m still willing to bet that it’s going to have larger consequences down the line.