The Bad Batch S2 Finale Was Depressing And Shocking…And Also A Little Contrived

This was a very good ending to the season, though it definitely had a few head-scratching moments. The Bad Batch S2 ended on a high note as it delivered a mostly well-written, shocking, and easily the most depressing end to a season in Star Wars history.

The redemption arc is complete.

Even though the final two episodes, Episode 15: “The Summit” and Episode 16: “Plan 99”, had some glaring writing issues, the season as a whole has completely changed my perspective on the Bad Batch. I’m fully invested in each one of these characters and the arcs they have all engaged on.

And, thankfully, these final two episode wrapped up a good majority of the Season 2 storylines and set up extremely fascinating and interesting dilemmas for Season 3.

To be honest, I don’t even know where to begin this review. I mean, I could just lay out every single plot point in order as it happened in the two episodes, but that would be incredibly boring to write and would probably send all of you reading this into epileptic shock. So, instead, I guess I’ll separate this into the three major plot points between all the episodes: the raid on Eriadu, Cid’s betrayal, and the ending events.

Oh, if you haven’t seen the episodes yet, this would be a great time to leave this page, go onto Disney+ and watch the episodes, and then come back as I’m getting into spoilers.

Okay, as for pretty much everything from Episode 15 and the first 10 minutes of Episode 16 was spotlessly perfect. The infiltration of Eriadu was easily the best part of the finale as it not only shined some more light on Grand Moff Tarkin (who actually was born on Eriadu), Dr. Hemlock, and the Empire’s plans for the clones, but it also had the best action sequence of the series to date.

Scaling the tramway system, sneaking around the mountain base was a great callback to their escape from Mount Tantiss last season, while running into Saw Gerrera , who was disguised as a stormtrooper with some rebel friends, was a complete shocker.

It was great to see a young Gerrera back in action, but how did he manage to sneak in at least 7-10 fighters and dozens of explosives, which he used to nearly destroy Grand Moff Tarkin’s base, without the Imperial control center noticing? They were able to sense a slight tremor with one of the sensors beams over 500+ feet away from the actual base when the 4 members of the Bad Batch snuck in, yet they didn’t realize an entire section of security cameras were offline?

Anyway, the obvious emotional wrench in this finale, and the season as a whole, was Tech’s “death” (I’ll explain in a second) to save the Bad Batch from being shot out of the sky. After the explosion at the Imperial base, the Bad Batch’s escape plan using the tramway cars was ruined as they short-circuited mid-air.

So, in one last heroic effort, Tech sacrificed himself by leaving the car, powering up the rail line, and then separating the broken half of the tram, which he latched himself onto when Imperial fighters blew up his position, from the operational part of the train the rest of the squad was on, leading to him falling to his death. It really was sad to see Omega cry out and Wrecker lament as Tech executed “Plan 99” and sacrificed himself to get the rest of the Bad Batch to safety.

Buidling up his character this season with the rest of the squad, Omega, and Phee came full circle in that moment as even though Tech was the most emotionally distant member of the squad, his death caused the most emotional moment of the series yet.

But, seeing how we never actually saw his body, I have a sneaking suspicion he’s going to come back in one way or another.

I mean, he had to have died from that fall 6,000+ foot fall (they were in the clouds) and then getting crushed by a 150+ ton tramway car (he was attached to the car as it fell), but that doesn’t mean Hemlock didn’t take his body for experimenting. Sadly, I think he’s coming back in some zombie-like form in Season 3.

Cid’s betrayal is rather straightforward as the Trandoshan simply turned The Bad Batch over to the Empire as soon as they landed on Ord Mantell to recover and get help for Omega, who was injured during the escape from Eriadu. But that doesn’t mean she’s not the biggest prick in all of the Star Wars universe.

Sadly, this was the worst part of the episode for me as not only did it make zero sense for the Bad Batch to head back to Cid after she blatantly threatened them a few episodes ago, but also the reason why they went back to her was due to another plot contrivance: they inexplicably left AZ with her. If they had just taken AZ along with them prior to abandoning Cid, then they’d never would have found themselves in that situation.

Oh, and why were Hunter and Omega ready to just abandon Crosshair to his fate when they were talking at Cid’s place? I thought the whole reason they infiltrated Tarkin’s base was to find out where Crosshair was being held. Giving up and agreeing on leaving for Pabu as soon as Omega recovered seems contradictory to the whole point of the last three episodes, right?

Regardless, Dr. Hemlock, Clone Commando Commander Scorch, three dozen clone commandos, and an entire starship of Imperial soldiers arrived, captured Wrecker, Hunter, and Omega, and started off the ending events.

The fight in the streets of Ord Mantell after Echo, who was the lone Bad Batch member to not be held hostage, and AZ took over a prot0type of the AT-ST and freed Hunter and Wrecker was great, while the dramatic escape from Ord Mantell after Dr. Hemlock left with Omega was also really well done.

Still, the best part of the ending was the final scene of Omega being brought to Mount Tantis and exposed to the true horrors of Dr. Hemlock and The Empire.

Having her come across dozens of rebellious clones, including Crosshair, all strapped down to tables, locked in tubes, and being experimented upon was easily one of the most chilling scenes ever in a Star Wars show. I really felt bad for Crosshair and all of the clones, who were once proud soldier of The Republic, being experimented on as if they are nothing but lab rats as I have a feeling they’ll end up as the first iteration of the Death Troopers.

And that’s not going to be a pleasant fate.

Oh, and the revealment of Dr. Hemlock’s assistant to also be a clone wasn’t shocking at all as that was one of the most obvious revelations ever. She looked, sounded, acted, and reacted like a clone, though my only question is how many female clones are there? I was under the impression Omega was special because she was an unaltered, female version of the Jango Fett DNA.

Regardless, even though this finale had its ups and downs, it certainly paid off a vast majority of story lines, plots, character arcs, and my doubts about the series.

Episodes 15 and 16 get a 9.1/10, while The Bad Batch Season 2 gets a respectable 9.0/10.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (The Bad Batch Season 2, Episode 16: “Plan 99”)

In Text Image 1: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (The Bad Batch Season 2, Episode 16: “Plan 99”)

In Text Image 2: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (The Bad Batch Season 2, Episode 16: “Plan 99”)

In Text Image 3: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (The Bad Batch Season 2, Episode 16: “Plan 99”)