“Common Ground” takes the Bad Batch to the former Separatist capital now under Imperial occupation. While Omega discovers a new skill, the squad rescues a senator who supported a war against them not long ago. Along the way, a few brand-new characters make their way onto the stage in this episode, particularly Senator Avi Singh and Imperial Captain Bragg.
Take a look at all the Star Wars references and easter eggs we noticed this week…
Avi Singh and Raxus
– Senator Avi Singh is a new character voiced by Alexander Siddig, who is best known for playing Dr. Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also played the Prince of Dorne, Doran Martell, on Game of Thrones.
– Raxus, or Raxus Secundus, was established as the capital world of the Confederacy of Independent Systems in The Clone Wars. Padmé Amidala’s friend and mentor Mina Bonteri worked there as a senator. The capital city of Raxulon serves as the setting for both “Common Ground” and some The Clone Wars episodes, including “Heroes on Both Sides” and “A Pursuit of Peace.” As we see in The Bad Batch, Raxus was a prosperous planet that supported people of many different species.
– The novel Tarkin details some of the sector’s transition from Separatist to Imperial control.
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– The Separatist Senate, also known as the Congress or Parliament, met on Raxus. Count Dooku was officially the head of state of this body while also sometimes fighting on the frontlines of the war. A senate leader, Bec Lawise, handled day-to-day operations and appeared briefly in The Clone Wars.
– The name “Raxus” is a holdover from Legends. A world called Raxus Prime featured in the video games The Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed as well as the middle-grade young Boba Fett novel The Fight to Survive. Raxus Prime was a barren junkyard planet that has not been re-established in canon, but can be extrapolated to exist near Raxus Secundus.
Sian Clifford and GS-8
– Singh’s aide GS-8 is a RA-7 protocol droid, a model that has been part of Star Wars since the very beginning, when one appeared in the Jawa’s scrap pile in A New Hope.
– Sian Clifford plays GS-8. She has a bit of a roundabout Star Wars connection, as she played alongside Solo: A Star Wars Story droid actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag.
Shelby Young and Captain Bragg
– The Imperial captain overseeing the takeover of Raxus is a brand-new character. While Captain Bragg was presumably part of the Republic military not long ago, she’s quickly adapted to her new role, as if she was just looking for an excuse to start imposing martial law and torturing people. Bragg is voiced by Shelby Young, who’s previously voiced characters on Forces of Destiny, The Mandalorian, and more.
Echo vs. the Separatists
Echo has good reason to trust Singh less than his squamates do. In The Clone Wars, he was one of the clones who moved up through the ranks with future deserter Fives and the well-known Captain Rex. But the Separatists captured and surgically altered him, turning him into a living computer with which they could predict the Republic troopers’ movements. Echo still has the cybernetic arm and jacks from this experience. As a reg, he’s more stuck in the ways of the old war than the rest of the squad.
AT-TE
Along with a variety of previously-established Imperial ships and droids, the spotlight of this episode is on the weapon of war known as the AT-TE (All-Terrain Tactical Enforcer) walker. It’s smaller and more maneuverable than the famous AT-AT walkers in The Empire Strikes Back. These have appeared throughout The Clone Wars.
Dejarik
The game of dejarik, first introduced in A New Hope, showcases a variety of holographic creatures in a simulated gladiator battle.
