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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The Last Of Us: When We Are In Need

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, is kidnapped by a group of cannibals, and a recovering Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, must fight to try and save her.

I think this may have been the best episode of the season yet. The emotion in the final ten minutes of the episode is so powerful that you can’t help but be effected. Whether it is the scene of Ellie hacking apart the leader of the cannibals and the look into her soul we get during that scene, or the moment where she meets up with Joel again and he finally accepts her as his daughter. Truly it is incredibly powerful.

I thought the character work within this episode was great, both of the characters go to some really dark places but it is interesting to see them hit that edge and to consider their reactions to the darkness within the show. It is through this that the morality and the complexities of the world are better realised and played with. Once again the performances from both Ramsey and Pascal are fantastic.

Overall, perhaps the best episode yet.

4.5/5

Pros.

Pascal

Ramsey

The emotional journey of the episode

The dark places the characters go to

The ending

Cons.

There are some light pacing issues especially around the first act of the episode that really do slow it down

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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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The Last Of Us: Left Behind

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, now looking after a seemingly dying Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, remembers a time when she lost someone else who was close to her.

I think this was the best episode yet for letting us understand the character of Ellie. She goes through so much in this episode and Ramsey really takes us on a journey through the character, we see the highest highs and then the crushing lows and as we are so invested we feel these emotions along with the character.

I thought the central romance was quite good, not as good as Bill and Frank from a few episodes ago, however. I think Ramsey does a lot of the heavy lifting in this department, which I suppose is because until fairly near the end Riley, played by Storm Reid, isn’t aware of Ellie’s feelings but still. In my opinion, Ramsey’s performance across the whole episode is quite a bit stronger than Reid’s who really doesn’t do a good job of emoting.

Personally, I would have liked a bit more time with Ellie and Joel so that we can understand how long has passed and more about their situation but I guess that is being saved for next week’s episode with the cannibals.

Overall, another good episode but not one of the show’s best, mainly due to a weak performance from Reid and a lack of Joel and Ellie development. This weeks episode does very much feel like DLC.

4/5

Pros.

Ramsey really has a chance to show off here

The romance

The emotions

Really doing a lot with character growth

Cons.

Reid

Not enough Joel and Ellie time

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The Last Of Us: Kin

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, and Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, finally reach Tommy, played by Gabriel Luna.

I enjoyed this episode in many ways because it focused on character relationships be that between Joel and his brother or between Ellie and Joel. I thought the conversation Ellie and Joel had about the other filling a role in their lives that is empty was quite powerful and needed, I think it adds a layer to their relationship now going forward.

Having played the game I knew where this episode was heading with regards to Joel’s brush with death. I thought the choreography of the action and the wider scene in which Joel was stabbed was well done, it felt frantic and rushed pacing wise, which although it doesn’t sound good in this case is as it lends it a certain visceral feel. It will be interesting to see how long the show will have Joel on ice, will it only be one episode or more?

My one complaint would be that if anything this episode feels as though it brushed past a lot of the background of what Tommy has been up to and his new community, yes we see some of a day in their lives, but that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered which really isn’t good if the story isn’t going to double back to them at some point. I suppose when they get around to the events of the second game we would get more Tommy and maybe some of the questions would be answered there but that seems a long way off at this point.

Overall, another good episode though one that leaves quite a few questions unanswered.

4/5

Pros.

Joel and Ellie’s relationship growth

Finally seeing Tommy again

The action scene that sees Joel injured

The emotions

Cons.

At times the pacing feels a little rushed

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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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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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