The Bad Batch, Episodes 1-4 Review
Credit to: Disney, Lucasfilm, and all associated entities How Does It Stack Up Against The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian?
Welcome back to any of you Star Wars fans! This time around, we’re taking a look at Disney and Lucasfilm’s newest addition to the Star Wars story, Star Wars: The Bad Batch. In this review, we’re going to take a look at all four episodes by breaking down what was good about them, what was bad about them, how well this show stacks up to Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and at the end, we’ll give a rating that rates the first four episodes of this installment’s first season. Warning, there will be some spoilers here and there. Now, let’s get into it.
Episode 1: Aftermath
Starting with Episode 1: Aftermath, the first thing I have to say is, “Wow.” This hour long episode is just full of goodness that’ll get any Star Wars fan hyped up. For those of you who don’t know who the Bad Batch is, the group consists of 5 enhanced clone commandos: Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, Echo, and Crosshair. We have in fact seen them before, but I’ll explain that in just a moment. This pilot episode cleverly hearkens back to previous Star Wars installments, specifically Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and of course, The Clone Wars series. While this series is dedicated to the titular clone squad, we’ve already seen them, specifically in the final season of The Clone Wars, though this first episode is welcoming enough to not require you to watch that season (even though I HIGHLY recommend it). While this episode has certain moments that are a bit slow, it actually gets a pass, because the story immediately hooks you in, as do the characters. We see familiar faces like Caleb Dume, otherwise known as Kanan Jarrus from Star Wars: Rebels and his master, Depa Billaba, Governor Tarkin in a younger form, the Kaminoan cloner Taun We, and even Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker via recap at the very beginning of the episode. The recap itself is so great, as it shows you many of the events that took place in Revenge of the Sith, including the cowardly escape of General Grievous in the beginning of the movie. Sadly, you are forced to see the unfortunate event of Order 66 once more, though it does kick off the story very well by doing so. Something that did bother me with this scene, was the fact that we saw this event take place in the Star Wars comics, and they make some unnecessary changes in this adaptation, such as young Caleb’s reaction to his master’s death, and even the color of Master Billaba’s lightsaber. The scene itself is also a much more lazy adaptation than how it happened in the comic, so that definitely wasn’t good to see.
Later in the episode, we see the team head back to the cloning planet of Kamino after Order 66, thankfully not fulfilling the order themselves. Here, we see them amongst the brainwashed clone army watch and listen to none other than Emperor Palpatine, reforming the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire. The cheers of the clones (all except the Bad Batch) really do make you feel a wave of sadness, knowing that these guys used to be the good guys. Seeing them in this fashion is something we’ve never seen before, and it really does strengthen the story by putting so much detail into how different the clones became immediately after Revenge of the Sith. Not much later, we meet a new clone, this time being a young female. Her name is Omega, and she seems to be inspired by the fans of Star Wars ourselves, as she admires the Bad Batch so much, knowing their names by heart, and doing her best impressions of them every once in a while. As a character, she’s meant to be the lighthearted relief from the sad surroundings in the galaxy, especially Kamino. Omega is a pleasant addition to the story, and I’d say that she is a character a lot of fans such as myself will continue to have interest in.
Towards the end of the episode, we see a very unfortunate turn. Crosshair, the marksman of the Bad Batch, betrays his comrades. While I won’t say why exactly, I will say that the way it happens is very clever. It really does show you how low the Empire is willing to go if it benefits them. I was super heartbroken by this betrayal, since Crosshair was always my favorite of the team besides the witty clone, Tech. The Bad Batch flees Kamino with Omega as their replacement for Crosshair, and the episode finishes. All in all, this episode was definitely a strong one. It gets the series rolling very nicely, it reintroduces the Bad Batch in a really cool and action packed way, and it introduces us to the pretty funny and super innocent character of Omega. While I wish the scene with Caleb and his master was given more respect and the episode showed us a bit more of the effects of Order 66, it was still a very good episode.
4.5 out of 5.
Episode 2: Cut and Run
For this episode, we see the crew head to the planet of Saleucami to stay hidden from the new Empire. They visit an old friend, clone deserter Cut Lawquane, and the family that he’s raised there. The beginning of this episode helps us realize that Omega has never explored the galaxy the way we’re used to seeing other characters do. The moment she steps off of their ship, she’s immediately fascinated by the sunlight, the clouds, the unusual trees around them, even the dirt. In fact, she’s never even heard of dirt. It really does act as an eye opener, as does the rest of this episode which we’ll get to in a bit. When the crew finds Cut and his wife, they all settle down in their home, where we see their kids interact with Omega, saying that they’ve never seen other kids around their area. Cut eventually reveals to the crew that the entire clone army had devices implanted in their brain to control them when the right order is given. Omega immediately recognizes the devices he’s talking about, revealing that they’re called inhibitor chips. The kids and Omega head out to play in front of the house, and we see Hunter and Cut talk about how he plans to get his family off-world, and move to another planet. From here, we see Hunter and Cut take off.
For this scene, we see the pair explore the nearby town, conversing amongst themselves. This scene does a fantastic job at adding minor details to explain the transition from the Republic to the Empire. The Empire has established an identification system that every citizen is legally required to apply for, which is called a “chain code”. We’ve heard of this ID system before in The Mandalorian, and from what we can put together, this system uses numbers that describes an individual’s age while providing their assigned numbers. The Empire also established a system that has a citizen turn in their Republic credits for Imperial credits, furthering their influence over the galaxy. These details really do help to further build the world that is Star Wars, so this episode definitely stands out to me personally for that reason alone.
This episode is basically filler, but it does keep you interested for the most part. The Bad Batch finds themselves in trouble, Omega gets a bit reckless to help out her new team and the Lawquane family, and everything is eventually resolved. The Lawquane family successfully gets on board a transport ship to find themselves a new home far enough from the Empire’s control. Overall, this was another good episode. Nothing too important happens, and nothing crazy really stood out, but we did get a nice close look at what the Empire is doing to its citizens with its falsely hopeful propaganda, and how they treat them in reality. Pretty good.
4 out of 5.
Episode 3: Replacements
This time around, we see the team crash land on an uninhabited moon in order to make some immediate repairs to their damaged ship, as it took some pretty bad damage on Saleucami in the last episode. The crash seems to be pretty important for Wrecker specifically, as during the crash, Wrecker suffers a pretty hard blow to the side of his head. It seems to be serious, since he continues to complain throughout the entire episode. I have a theory about this ongoing headache, but I’ll mention that another time. Moving on, Tech and Echo are outside replacing a damaged vital component of the ship while wearing masks due to the dangerous atmosphere. Echo notices movement nearby and goes to investigate. As he investigates, he calls over Tech, and the pair notice big gashes on the ship’s hull, damage that was recently done. When the pair goes to investigate what could’ve caused this, we see a creature sneak around the side of the ship, and snag the component needed to fix the ship. When the crew discusses the misfortune a bit later, it’s revealed that the creature is called an Ordo Moon Dragon, a species that feeds on raw energy, which explains why it was allured to the part of the ship and stole it. Long story short, Hunter and Omega decide to head out and track the creature to retrieve this piece.
Now on the Imperial side of things, we get to see the now Imperial Crosshair yet again, being watched by Governor Tarkin and Lama Su. Tarkin still debates to both himself and the Kaminoan how useful a clone army still is to the new Empire, and Lama Su of course defends the clones. Without the Empire’s support for their cloning operation, the Kaminoans would likely be seen as either a useless entity, or a direct threat to the Empire. A new character only seen in the previous episode, named Vice Admiral Rampart eventually reports to Tarkin during Crosshair’s examination, and presents the idea of enlistment. He argues that with regular humans to enlist, it’ll show that they have true loyalty for the Empire without needing to be programmed. He shows both Tarkin and Lama Su a brand new elite squad of troopers, comprised of 4 humans who signed up to be soldiers themselves. Long story short, Crosshair is placed as the commander of this squad, and they are all ordered to take out a rebel camp as a field test. One of the troopers shows extreme distaste for Crosshair simply because he’s a clone, and Crosshair… handles him. What I find especially interesting about this entire sequence of events, is how we finally see how the Empire started to integrate human soldiers into its army, replacing all clones. This spells an inevitable disaster for the Kaminoans, but we’ll have to wait and see how. When we’re introduced to the 4 humans, we get insight into why exactly they would enlist in the first place, and it’s simple. They’re getting food, they’re given homes, and they’re getting paid. When presented the same thing, would you think the Empire is so bad in the beginning? Especially when you consider the fact that the war was finally over when the Empire came to power? It truly is an interesting subject.
To wrap things up, Omega manages to pacify the creature enough to retrieve the ship’s part, Crosshair follows his Imperial orders, and the Bad Batch are off to a new adventure. Even though this episode should also be considered filler, it gives you so much. Getting even MORE insight into the Empire is always a plus, and seeing the savagery of this new elite squad was intense, but not quite as intense as Crosshair when he needs to be. Omega is growing to be a very likeable character who has her uses, and Crosshair is tugging on everyone’s heartstrings by following Imperial orders. This was a very good episode.
5 out of 5.
Episode 4: Cornered
Here we are at the fourth episode, the final episode of this review. Before I start with the details, let me just say that I LOVED this episode. With that out of the way, let’s get into it. So, with the ship repaired, we see the Bad Batch take off, but there’s a problem: the Empire has their scent, so they need Tech to make some modifications to the ship, which means they need to make a stop. This time, the team heads to the planet of Pantora, a planet we’ve seen before in The Clone Wars. Almost immediately upon arrival, they find trouble. The team lands, and the attendant of the landing platform greets them. Tech and Wrecker stay behind to make the necessary changes to the ship, and the rest of the crew heads out into the city to find some supplies. We see the mischievous attendant make a call to an unknown character, making them aware of the team’s presence. That is until the character turns around, and it’s revealed to be none other than Fennec Shand, the bounty hunting sniper from The Mandalorian. It’s revealed that she’s on the hunt for Omega. We can assume that she’s likely been hired by the Kaminoans to track down Omega, as they do mention in the previous episode that they need a purer source of genes to clone from, since the genetic code of Jango Fett (who all clones are cloned after in case you don’t know) is degrading. Since we saw Jango die by Jedi Master Mace Windu’s hand in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, they need someone else to clone after. Omega seems to be the most likely candidate, unless it’s Boba Fett, since he’s an unmodified clone.
Moving on, we see Hunter, Echo, and Omega in the streets of Pantora wearing disguises, with Echo being dressed as a droid, funnily enough. Interestingly, we actually see the citizens of Pantora celebrating the Empire as they watch hordes of clone troopers march on to the sound of propaganda from none other than Vice Admiral Rampart, just like in Episode 2. This scene just continues to expand the in-universe politics. You would assume that everyone knows that the Empire is horrible and everyone hates them, but on some planets, this isn’t the case. The Empire is celebrated and loved. This is exactly why people would want to enlist. Through propaganda and false promises of peace and prosperity, plenty of people have sided with the Empire so much that not only do they support these suddenly shifted politics, but they’re willing to die for this Empire. It’s a strong message that can relate to the real world, though that really is a topic for another platform entirely. A bit after this, we see Hunter and Echo interact with a business man while Omega gets distracted by her surroundings, walking away from her two team members. It’s here that we see how exactly Fennec Shand operates. She’s smooth, as she puts on a false face to get you to trust her, exactly like she was in The Mandalorian. Fennec presents herself to Omega as someone who wants to reunite her with her friends, so Omega immediately trusts her, not knowing how dangerous and sneaky people are in the galaxy beyond Kamino. When Hunter eventually finds her, he immediately recognizes the potential threat in the situation, and so begins a wild goose chase and a dangerous, fast paced fight to protect Omega. While Hunter deals with the bounty hunter, we see Echo make some funny and cute droid friends to help him bring supplies to the ship.
In this episode, Wrecker unfortunately comes to be a bit useless when his assistance is requested. When he meets Fennec, he’s almost immediately taken out, which really is uncharacteristic for his character. As much as I love Fennec, I found this to be really odd and honestly lazy. It’s almost as if the animators realized that the episode needed to end soon, so they cut the fight short by having Fennec immediately knock him out. Anyways, the heroes do eventually evade Fennec, get supplies to the ship, and get its modifications up and running. They take off as Fennec contacts someone we would assume to be her employer, and she stares at the stars above before the episode cuts away.
Overall, this episode really was great, but boy that scene with Wrecker left a seriously bad taste in my mouth. Fennec was portrayed amazingly, and yet again, the Empire has been fleshed out even more. This was yet another successful episode.
4 out of 5.
Final Thoughts
I can honestly say that I love this show. I love the characters, I love how the Empire is used, and I love the overall tone. Omega is an interesting addition to the Bad Batch, and Crosshair’s struggles really do make you feel for him. It is a bit slow, and sometimes things happen that you don’t exactly agree with, but for the most part, I can genuinely say that this show stacks up amazingly alongside The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars. We see the Bad Batch used brilliantly, and we get a nice amount of Fennec in the fourth episode. I know for a fact, we’ll get way more Fennec Shand fans because of this show. We’ll have yet another review for this series when the eighth episode drops, so that way we can give you another deep review for episodes 5-8. I really hope you enjoyed this long read, and I can’t wait for you to hear more of my thoughts on this show. Make sure you give it a watch if you haven’t! Now, here’s the score for episodes 1-4.
