2x06 Tribe

[7.7/10] A big part of Star Wars is, as the kids say, “the vibes.” As shows like Robot Chicken and even The Yoda Chronicles have pointed out in comic fashion, if you really stop and examine the plotting and world-building of the Galaxy Far Far Away, there’s a lot that doesn’t quite add up. But so much of what makes the franchise successful is the feeling of all this, the sense of a battle between good and evil, of brave people working through thrilling adventures and finding themselves, and a sense of belonging, in the process. The particulars don’t have to make complete sense because the sense of the thing rings true. It’s the magic of storytelling and cinema at play.

And I have to say, I really enjoy the vibes of “Tribe” here. Something about the visit to a Wookiee village on Kashyyyk is just so cool, but also so meaningful. Part of that is a return appearance from Gungi, one of the Padawans who participated in the gathering ritual in an episode of The Clone Wars. In truth, his survival is a bit of a cheat, but as with players like Maul, the cheat is worth it for what they do with him.

“Tribe” earns his appearance a bit by showing what a rough time he’s had. He seems pretty desperate when The Bad Batch frees him from the Vanguard Axis, a scary, all-droid crime syndicate that's willing to smuggle Wookiees and/or force-sensitive beings. He is understandably resistant to help from anyone who looks like a Clone Trooper, not trusting the people who turned on him and his fellow Jedi. And most notably, as a Padawan, he left Kashyyyk as a very young child, so doesn’t know where his village of origin is, doesn’t know who his people are, doesn’t know where his home is. The sense of this lost child, wayward and angry after having been through so much is undeniably compelling.

So too is what he and The Bad Batch find when they make it to the Wookiee home planet. In truth, I’m not sure how this squares with the version of the planet we see in Jedi: Fallen Order, set not much further in the timeline, but it’s startling to see Trandoshans allying with Imperial troops to raze the forests that Yanna’s tribe calls home. You get the sense that it affects Gungi, to see something so sacred brutalized like that.

And yet, the sacredness with which the Wookiees treat their surroundings is part of the appeal here. It’s a cliche, but the Wookiees of Yanna’s tribe have a respect for nature. They are of the land, and believe that it’s the trees’ planet, not theirs. So when a mechanized force rolls into town, harming the flora and living in discord, rather than harmony with the land, it seems out of step and viscerally wrong, to the characters and to the audience.

This is the point where I should probably acknowledge that “Tribe” is a reconfigured version of one of the “lost” story arcs intended for season 7 of The Clone Wars when it was still in production. Descriptions of that arc, and even clips of animatics and rough animation fans have seen align closely with what we see here, from Wookie riding big cat monkeys, to the insect-like critters roaming around the countryside, to a spiritual devotion to the trees, to the Trandoshan villain who earns Gungi’s ire. I’m pretty sure the writer is the same. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with repurposing ideas that didn’t see life in one avenue and giving them new life in another. (And The Bad Batch were, appropriately enough, involved in the story as it was originally conceived.) But it’s funny seeing something familiar to die-hard fans remade and revivified in this new setting.

I like that spiritualness. Granted, “Tribe” veers a little too much into cheesy James Cameron Avatar territory with nature itself defeating the bad guys rather than the young Jedi hero having to make the choice whether to kill someone who’s taken so much from his people. But the sense of the Wookiees defending their homeland from these interlopers with no respect for their ways, The Bad Batch deciding to join the fight because the Wookiees were their allies in the war and they recognize an injustice in the making when they see it, the sense of asking the trees and the planet to help them in the battle all give this a balance of the tragic and the heartening.

The Wookiees are struggling. They’ve been exiled from their homes and forced to take refuge in the forest. But the forest is a refuge, one where they have their bond with the flora and fauna around them to help keep them safe from the Empire and the Trandoshans who’ve hunted them for sport since the time of The Clone Wars. Even as the proceedings are too dark to really make things out in places, the aesthetic of their lush forest mixed with the flames and gunmetal of their attackers, the anger and triumph of a beleaguered Jedi-in-training finding loss and hope, and the sense of a people who are hurting but still fighting, gives this one the kind of vibe that sticks with you. I can see why Matt Michnovetz decided to bring this story back, realized in its full glory, and all the atmosphere and sentiment that comes with it.