TV Review: ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Season 2, Episode 1
by Frank Martin
The first season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch was impressive on many fronts. But it did fall into a bit of a rhythm. Although it still fell into the larger Star Wars story of the Empire’s rise, it had a monster of the week feel to it. Clone Force 99 (aka, the Bad Batch) began working as mercenaries and the episodes felt as if they were going through the motions a bit, taking job after job in order to make a life for themselves. The challenge in the second season is to break through this routine and start something new. While the premiere episode started out in the usual fashion, it quickly diverged into setting up something different.
The episode started with the Bad Batch (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) finishing up a job for their handler; a fairly routine mission that, nevertheless, went off the rails. Their next mission, however, was supposed to be the score of a lifetime: Count Dooku’s war chest from his home planet even as it was already being pillaged by the Empire. Of course, it was a dangerous assignment, and things do not go as planned. The group gets split up, and the episode ultimately ends on a cliffhanger as three of them are stuck in a cargo container in a free fall to the planet.
A big part of last season was seeing if Omega (Michelle Ang) could hold her own as a member of the group. In this premier episode, that’s not even a question as it opens up with Omega actually helping them escape in the show’s opening scene. All in all, the episode is setting up what life might be like for the Bad Batch after they are done with the mercenary situation. They are going to have to figure out if they disappear and just live comfortably or if they try to do good and take on the Empire. This is a time that isn’t often depicted in Star Wars media, so it will definitely be interesting to see how the group reacts to this tumultuous time in the galaxy.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch streams new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.
