Rating: ***
Review Date: 1/13/26
The third chapter in the "Star Wars Tales" series focuses on Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane. While it's nice to see a redemption arc for Asajj, foreshadowing sets it up as a tragedy which gave me a lot of anxiety. It's also unfortunately ruined by the inclusion of an annoying kid. Not surprising, since long-time "Star Wars" writer Dave Filoni was involved, and he seems to have a thing for annoying kids. That said, Filoni's writing is annoyingly cliché, formulaic, and juvenile, which is perfect for a Disney content creator. At the same time, it also has a strong comfort food element, since you always know exactly what you're going to get. Like Cad Bane's origin story, for instance, which features (you guessed it), an annoying kid and absolutely no surprises. But the animation is attractive, the music is good, the execution is solid, and all of the right dramatic beats are hit, so it's hard to complain. Like I said, sci-fi comfort food. I also have to wonder if I'm even in the target demographic anymore.