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“Dark Disciple,” a novel published in 2015, ends with the female lead Asajj Ventress sacrificing herself for her lover Quinlan Vos. The novel took place shortly before the events of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” However, in 2024, “Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3” features an episode centered on Ventress around a year after “Revenge of the Sith.” This season of “Star Wars: Tales” explains what happened to Ventress after “Dark Disciple.”
As with the other “Star Wars: Tales” seasons, “Tales of the Underworld” focuses on two characters: a hero and a villain. In this season, Asajj Ventress is the hero and bounty hunter Cad Bane is the villain.
The first plotline reveals that after Ventress’s death, she had been laid to rest on her homeworld of Dathomir. The Nightsisters, a coven of witches in which Ventress had been a member, tells her spirit that she can either stay with her deceased sisters or get resurrected. After choosing life, Ventress spends the season trying to find Vos alongside a Jedi called Lyco Strata. While Strata initially got on Ventress’s nerves, they slowly warmed up to each other throughout the course of the series.
The other plot line depicts the backstory of Cad Bane and reveals that his real name is actually Colby. His friendship with fellow orphan Niro was strained when Bane embarked on his career as an outlaw whereas Niro found a job in the justice department. As adults, they face a bitter reunion.
One thing that I liked about the series was how it brought back several actors and characters that have not been seen on screen in nearly a decade. Al Rodrigo returned to play Quinlan Vos after voicing him in “Hunt for Ziro,” a 2010 episode of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Three.” Barbara Goodson returned to play Mother Talzin after voicing her in a recurring capacity in Seasons Three, Four, and Six in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” Hearing their voices and their characters come back brought me a lot of nostalgia from my childhood, and it was a very pleasant surprise to see.
Another thing that I liked is the character development that the protagonists experienced. Throughout the course of the “Star Wars” saga, Ventress was initially depicted as an antagonist and wielded the dark side of the Force. By the time “Tales of the Underworld” takes place, Ventress has now rejected the dark side and is forging her own path. Cad Bane’s character development is more tragic. His first episode in the series depicts his friendship with Niro and how it slowly deteriorates as they both find different paths in life.
However, I do not like how there are new Order 66 survivors introduced in the series: Lyco Strata and an unidentified Inquisitor. In “Star Wars,” Order 66 is depicted in “Revenge of the Sith” as the mass execution of the Jedi that supposedly decimated the organization and left very few survivors. So far, many Order 66 survivors have been introduced, which leads to doubt of its effectiveness even though “Star Wars” has made it clear that the Jedi were virtually wiped out.
Another thing that I disliked was the vagueness about the timeline of the episodes. For example, it is unclear if Ventress’s storyline took place before or after her appearance in “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.” Cad Bane’s storyline is completely unplaceable, and it is unknown whether his story took place in the era of the prequel trilogy (Star Wars Episodes I – III) or that of the originals (Star Wars Episodes III – IV). Knowing when their stories in “Tales of the Underworld” take place would help understand their characters better and if their actions were the result of one of their earlier stories or not.
Overall, I think that despite minor problems, such as not being clear about its timeline, “Tales of the Underworld” is worth a watch.
