Star Wars The Bad Batch: Pabu

Summary

Clone Force 99 finally get some peace.

This was not a good week for Star Wars between the long needless aside on the Mandalorian and then this episode of The Bad Batch, I haven’t been so bored watching Star Wars in a long time. I think what makes this episode so much the worse is the fact that last week’s episode ended on a cliff hanger for Crosshair, which not only wasn’t addressed here but we got an incredibly filler episode about the Batch finding a home and letting Omega be a kid for a while.

I think it is pretty clear that this peace will be short lived, but I have to say there was very little actual peril in the episode at all, yes you had the threat from the sea but that was incredibly low bar. I just think that with the excellent run of episodes up until this one that teased some pretty major things to come this massive step back was not only a misstep but also a move that entirely ruined the momentum the series had been accruing.

The best thing this episode did was have Sid finally go fully villainess, it was a long time coming and I am glad that with her betrayal of the Batch likely quickly incoming that it means she won’t be in the show for much longer as she has long, long outstayed her welcome on the show.

Overall, an incredibly slow episode that ruined a lot of the momentum the show had going for it.

2/5

Pros.

Sid’s turn to villainy

It was watchable

Cons.

It is far too slow

It feels like filler

There is no sense of threat

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The Mandalorian: The Mines Of Mandalore

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal, returns to Mandalore.

I would say that this is a slight step back from the first episode, there were two things that I particularly didn’t like about this episode, but don’t get me wrong this was a good episode. The first was how easily Din was K.O in the mines by the monster and how he didn’t even try and get out of the cage, and the second was the incredibly long and drawn out opening scene with Din trying to find a new droid, this should have been cut down.

With the bad stuff out of the way let’s get into what really worked in this episode. The best part of this episode I would say was seeing more of Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackoff, not only did she have a fantastic action scene, but this episode dived further into her backstory and expanded on her a bit more as a character. I think her and Din have an interesting dynamic and represent two very different ideas of what it means to be a Mandalorian so it would be nice to see that further flushed out in later episodes. For what it is worth I hope the show keeps them together for a while.

A close second to that is the arc that Grogu gets in this episode, not only being as cute as ever, but also demonstrating his further developed force powers and resourcefulness when he is on his own. I also liked his and Bo-Katan’s interactions I thought she gave some great responses to his gibberish.

Finally, I think it can’t be overstated how cool it is to see Din and co back on Mandalore. Exploring the planet in its wrecked state is interesting, and I hope there is more to it then just him needing to have a wash to regain his standing in the community.

Overall, a good episode made all the stronger by Sackoff.

4/5

Pros.

The Mandalorian on Mandalore

Grogu

Bo-Katan and her character growth

Seeing and exploring Mandalore

Cons.

The needlessly drawn out opening

The plot contrivances with Din being captured

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Outpost

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Crosshair finally turns on the Empire.

Just when I think the Bad Batch can’t get any better, we get an episode like this. This may be one of the best episodes of the season so far, it is dark, deep and complex just as the show should be. It breaks away from the family friendly trappings of a lot of Disney + Star Wars and asks some real questions about war and morality.

In many senses this is an incredibly depressing half hour of television, but it needs to be. I think in terms of Crosshair’s journey and how the show is trying to show the horrors of the Empire and its mistreatment of Clones this episode needed to go to the places it did. I think the emotional journey this episode goes on is intense and the ending is far from happy, but not only did I not mind that in fact I quite liked it.

I think the worst thing the show could do right now would be have next week’s episode go back to Hunter and Omega and just forget about Crosshair for a few more weeks. We need the resolution to his story and to see what happens when a clone stands up to the Empire.

Overall, though it is depressing at times this episode of The Bad Batch was everything I have been wanting out of the show for a while now.

4.5/5

Pros.

The darkness

The character growth

The moral questions it asks

The emotions

The ending and the tease of what is to come

Cons.

It is incredibly depressing so get something happy ready to watch after this

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The Mandalorian: The Apostate

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal, begins a quest to seek out the waters from the mines of Mandalore in order to be reintegrated into his sect of Mandalorians.

I have missed this show, it is nice to have it back. Right from the opening minutes of the episode and the intense action fight scene with the giant crocodile like thing you know that you are in for a good time. During this scene the scope and the scale of the action is really impressive.

Moreover, I like where the season is heading, the mystery has enough legs to hold the season and to propel it into something new. I like that Mando was seeking to rebuild IG- 11, voiced by Taika Waititi, I hope that he succeeds as it would be nice to see the character back on the show, my heart melted a little bit as he referred to him as his friend, as did it when Grogu tried to take on of the alien species as his pet.

I was also glad to see Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackhoff, return. I would like to see more of her journey and I hope she does end up teaming up with Din this season, there is certainly a lot of interesting ways they could take the two of them.

I think the one thing I didn’t like about this episode was the pirates. This is mainly because this felt like it came out of nowhere just so that they could have a space battle, it all felt very filler and as though they realised that they had a few minutes spare of the runtime they needed to eat up.

Overall, it is very nice to have the Mandalorian back.

4/5

Pros.

IG- 11

The return of Bo-Katan

Grogu and his pet

The action

Cons.

The needless filler pirates side quest

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Metamorphosis

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Clone Force 99 investigate the rumour of a downed ship and are met with a mystery involving the Kaminoans and the return of the Zillo Beast

I really liked that this episode had such a horror feel to it, there were moments within the episode when I actually felt a little creeped out. It is nice to see Star Wars embracing other tones and styles, not everything has to be cookie cutter family friendly.

Moreover, I like that this episode really sets the board for things to come, teasing out a return by Echo and Rex and the Empire coming after Omega. I think this season will end with the Bad Batch accepting that they can no longer run from the Empire and that they will have to stand and fight and go back to being the soldiers they used to be. I am interested to see what the show will have the Empire do with the Zillo beast and more broadly how the Empire will use cloning going forward.

The only reason I scored this episode a little lower than some of the other ones recently is because I felt the return of the Zillo Beast was underwhelming. If they were going to reference and bring back something from Clone Wars there is a million other things they could have picked, at least in my mind, that would have had more effect on me. I know a lot of people online are excited about the return of the Zillo Beast but it just didn’t do it for me.

Overall a good set up episode but the return of the Zillo Beast bored me a bit.

3.5/5

Pros.

The horror feel

The things it sets up

The clones turning on Sid

The Empire finding out about Omega

Cons.

I didn’t care about the Zillo Beast

It could have done with being longer

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Retrieval

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Clone Force 99 go in search of their ship.

I thought that after a good run of episodes this was a step back, and whilst there is clearly still a lot going on below the surface within the group themselves I would say this episode stopped a lot of the good progress of the past few weeks in terms of character journeys.

The relatively standalone villain of the week nature of the episode in my mind held it back. The villain was relatively disconnected from the wider story going on and just felt inconsequential. Honestly it felt like more filler.

Moreover, another thing that bothered me was that this episode entirely brushed over Sid’s betrayal at the end of the last episode, whereby she basically left them for dead, this feels like a major plot point to not carry on. Also if she is sending a ship for them as the ending of the last episode suggested then it would have made sense for the Bad Batch to have contacted her and told her not to bother, but evidently the writers didn’t think of that.

Overall, it was inevitable after the last few pretty good episodes that a meh one was coming and sadly this was that. It was too disconnected from the wider goings on to feel important or in any way engaging.

2.5/5

Pros.

The Batch themselves say a number of interesting things here

It is watchable

Hopefully next week’s episode can be better

Cons.

It feels like filler

The emotional journey the Batch is on is randomly halted

It doesn’t address things with Sid

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Infinity Pool: How Deep Does This Go?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of wealthy tourists discover the pleasure of committing crimes and then having a double of them produced and executed.

So I have to say after his last outing I had high expectations for what Brandon Cronenberg was going to do next and was very much looking forward to this film, but after watching it I have to say it feels quite hollow.

Whilst again the visuals are there it lacks any kind of substance or deeper meaning, this film feels like it is trying to parrot the virtues that were taught to us by The Island but that was a long time ago and as far as dark science fiction goes probably the better film. I suppose time has moved on from that film and this one explores the idea of clones in a more up to date way, but still it lacks anything real to say.

I would say that in terms of scares or thrills this film does have a number of good moments and goes in directions I wasn’t expecting it to, however, sometimes this results in scenes that push the line of taste and veer slightly over into Ti West territory.

Mia Goth does her best to save this film and gives probably her most manic and intense performance yet, but even she can only do so much.

Overall, a surface level horror film that is crying out for something to fill the void.

2/5

Pros.

The visuals

Goth

Cons.

It feels a little too edgy at times

It is shallow and has nothing new to say

The pace is off

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Crossing

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Clone Force 99 become stranded on a baron world after someone steals their ship forcing them to confront some difficult emotions.

Though this was a lot slower than the last few episodes I thought there was still a lot of good stuff here. It was nice to see the Bad Batch deal with the departure of Echo and their emotions surrounding that, yes this was done through the medium of Omega, who is annoying as usual, but even still it makes for quite an interesting introspection on change.

My issue with this episode comes from its ending and conclusions. In the end the Batch manage to contact Sid for help who promptly refuses them until she is guilted into reconsidering, my issue with this is how can the Batch have not seen thus far that Sid wasn’t there friend. They are supposedly expert special forces soldiers but they couldn’t see she has been using them this whole time? Hopefully after this weeks episode we can finally be done with Sid forever, she was never an interesting or likeable character and hopefully her villainous turn this week will lead to her being written off.

Overall, an interesting episode on an emotional front, but the conclusions reached feel like they have been obvious for a long, long time.

3/5

Pros.

Tech’s emotional journey

This feels like a very character driven episode

It is nice to have a platelet cleanser after the more action focused episodes from the week before

Cons.

Omega is just the worst

Sid’s betrayal

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Truth And Consequence

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Bad Batch are called in to help Rex steal the data drive from Admiral Rampart’s Venator which proves he was responsible for the attack on Kamino.

I know I have talked a lot of trash about Omega in my reviews of the Bad Batch and for the most part I stand by every word I have said, she ruins a lot of the episodes she is in because her inclusion forces the tone to be goofy and family friendly, however, that is not the case here. This episode is moody and dark despite Omega and for that I am proud to call this an exception to the rule. Moreover, the scene in which Omega is saying goodbye to Echo at the end of the episode hits on all the right notes and really helps these two connected episodes to feel like they matter.

I also enjoyed seeing more of Palpatine, particularly more of his long game playing and how he actually rules the Empire in the day to day, some of the other Star Wars media, that is still considered cannon, has eluded to this but not shown it in much detail. Seeing him as a true villain and master manipulator really reinforced the stakes of not just this episode but the show as a whole he really is the evil of the Empire.

On the action front this one is a little lighter than The Clone Conspiracy and feels too concerned with being family friendly during its shootouts, I have never liked the fact that the Bad Batch and now Rex are only using stun rounds and have long thought it made no sense. You could make the argument that they don’t want to hurt their brothers but surely by this point in the timeline not all troopers would still be clones and there would be some conscripts in there as well and it makes no sense that they hold back from shooting to kill them as they would not do the same for the Batch. Once again it is an example of Disney struggling to know what to do with characters that they can’t stick on a lunchbox, characters that aren’t the clean cut good guys, in many senses this is exactly what went wrong with the Book Of Boba Fett.

Overall, another good episode but the action is a little lacking

4/5

Pros.

Palpatine

The emotional goodbye to Echo

The stakes

The surprisingly dark tone for an episode which features Omega so heavily

Cons.

The action is lacking and the use of stun settings is starting to become ridiculous

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Clone Conspiracy

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Admiral Rampart cleans house and has one of the clones who served under him during the destruction of Kamino killed, prompting a Senate investigation and the return of Rex.

I am truly starting to believe that the episodes of The Bad Batch that don’t feature Omega in any major way are examples of the show operating at its best. When the show embraces the darker side of things and moves past the family friendly wrapping that Omega as a character forces on the show then it is truly up there with the hights of The Clone Wars.

I enjoyed seeing the events shown in the end of season one of The Bad Batch come back around to be so important and relevant in season two, it felt rewarding to me as a long time viewer of the show. Moreover, I liked seeing Rex come back and would like to see more of his solo adventures in between this show and Rebels, maybe even a spin-off show?

This episode also benefits from a nice amount of action and is definitely one of the most action packed episode of the whole season, if not the whole show. Honestly the difference between an episode like this and one like Entombed is so night and day that it makes you question whether you are even watching the same show.

Overall, a fantastic episode of The Bad Batch that will be remembered fondly for a long time.

4.5/5

Pros.

Bringing back Rex

Tying in events from both The Clone Wars and earlier seasons of The Bad Batch

It is action packed

The more serious and dark tone

The best episode in a long time

Cons.

The emotional work with the characters could have been better

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