The show really has turned the gear from the dulls of Season 1. The third and final The Bad Batch season premiered yesterday, and the opening three episodes were yet another great step in the evolution of the show!
Is this actually becoming the best project Disney has produced since taking over Star Wars?
Despite having a rocky start and little-known protagonists at the start, The Bad Batch has quickly become the best project going on at Star Wars under Disney’s reign. And, the Season 3 premiere was no different for each episode was a very enjoyable watch.
What a turnaround this series has had.
From me absolutely derailing it in the beginning for being unimaginative, repetitive, and really quite useless to the overall narrative to me now calling this show the best thing Disney has done with the Star Wars brand is truly quite remarkable. I mean, it’s very rare for shows to recover from just underwhelming (let alone objectively bad) starts as the Bad Batch had to being a quality, top-notch, and enjoyable show, which makes the growth of the Bad Batch incredible.
And Season 3’s premiere just further proved how far this show has come.
I won’t spoil everything about the show, but the intrigue and mystery surrounding the clone genetic experiments has easily been the best plot in a Star Wars project since the end of The Clone Wars show. Moreover, introducing the likes of Dr. Hemlock, the villainous Clone Commandos (aka: Commander Scorch), and the darker, more apathic ruthlessness of the imperial forces against the clones, the Bad Batch, and the galaxy at large has actually provided interesting and despicable villains to foil against the Bad Batch.
I’m sorry to all Admiral Rampart fans, but he SUCKED as a villain and is not even REMOTELY on the same level as Hemlock.
Plus, getting rid of Cid and all of her AWFUL, HORRIFIC, EYE-BLEACHING side missions (that ALWAYS FOLLOWED THE SAME, TIRED FORMULA) was the proverbial lifting of the chains for this show. I can’t tell you how many times in Season 1 where I’d wake up in eager anticipation of the Bad Batch, put on the newest episode to release, and then cringe for the next half hour as Cid meandered and bitched her scaly-green ass in the Bad Batch’s business.
And this ALWAYS happened after the most exciting episodes (aka: the first few of the series, the Cad Bane arc, the Ryloth arc, etc.). She needed to go…and I hope her betrayal of the squad at the end of Season 2 was the catalyst for her permanent departure.
But the most important change that has happened to the Bad Batch over the last season and a fifth of its run has been one thing: character progression.
Aside from Crosshair in Season 1, the entire Bad Batch would go into each and every mission with the same flamboyant, happy-go attitude that we saw in The Clone Wars and always come out on top. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And, when you mixed in Omega’s naive optimism for EVERYTHING and EVERYONE, it made for a REALLY boring show.
But then Season 2 rolled around and changed all of that with the death of Tech, Omega’s capture and imprisonment, Cid’s betrayal, Palpatine’s successful destruction of the clone army due to the Bad Batch’s direct actions, Crosshair’s disillusionment with the Empire, etc. All of these setbacks, mistakes, errors, and losses gave way to real character progression and change that was desperately needed in all the characters.
(Disney/Star Wars-The Bad Batch-“Shadows Of Tantiss” Trailer Clip)
Sure, Omega is still very optimistic, Crosshair is still a rouge, Hunter is selfless to the core, and Wrecker is…well, Wrecker, but they’re all a little more jaded in this newest season. And that was best evident during the Omega-Crosshair arc on Mount Tantiss.
Hunter and Wrecker’s episode (Ep. 2) was a decent side venture, but the true heart and grit of these opening episodes was Omega’s realization of HOW AWFUL the Empire has been to the clones. Her and Crosshair’s scenes were especially great for they finally were able to bond with one another despite being completely opposite personalities, while Omega, Nala Se, Dr. Hemlock, and Emerie Karr (the other female clone) were also amazing.
Oh, and revelation that Omega is a little more special than one might have thought in the beginning (M-count? Hmm….I wonder what other Star Wars movie heavily featured an “M” word in a medical context? Was it The Phantom Menace?) was cool too.
Anyway, I’ll wrap this article up here as I highly recommend everyone go out and watch this final season of The Bad Batch as for all of Disney’s faults (and there are MANY), then have done right by this show.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Star Wars) (Star Wars: The Bad Batch Final Season | ‘Confined’ Official Clip (youtube.com))
In Text Image 1: (Disney/Star Wars) (Star Wars: The Bad Batch Final Season | ‘Shadows of Tantiss’ Official Clip (youtube.com))
