Star Wars: The Bad Batch: The Cavalry Has Arrived

May 1, 2024 5:11 AM - Season 3, Episode 15

Omega and the Batch battle Imperial forces for their freedom.
posted by 1970s Antihero (13 comments total)

I came into this fully expecting to be blubbing by end; instead it was more of a Huh. Okay.

So Tech really is dead? Then why did they have all that folderol over two episodes with that one operative hunting them down? It seems like a strange writing choice just to fool the viewers. Unless one of them really WAS Tech and he got blown up on Tantiss. That's pretty grim.

Zillo on the loose: yay! Zillo vanishing into the jungle: noooo come back!

The scene on the bridge was very well done. Hunter and Crosshair physically leaning on each other to stay upright. Crosshair pulling off that shot one-handed. Scorch going out like a punk! Ditto Hemlock.

And they got their happy ending after all. Old Man Hunter is a dead ringer for Merle Haggard. Omega is taller than him! That was a really sweet ending.

And...now what? We're left not knowing what Rex and Echo are up to. Omega seems destined to end up in live action at some point. I would LOVE to see her in Andor! I found the first season of Ahsoka to be nearly unwatchable but season 2 is probably where our girl will end up.

This was a great show and I'll miss it.
posted by orrnyereg at 5:52 AM on May 1 [5 favorites]

I came into this fully expecting to be blubbing by end; instead it was more of a Huh.

I lost it when Omega ran up to Hunter and Crosshair and she hugged Crosshair first.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 7:22 AM on May 1 [3 favorites]

I lost it when Omega ran up to Hunter and Crosshair and she hugged Crosshair first.

I was just "ooooh!"

And...now what? We're left not knowing what Rex and Echo are up to. Omega seems destined to end up in live action at some point. I would LOVE to see her in Andor! I found the first season of Ahsoka to be nearly unwatchable but season 2 is probably where our girl will end up.

Somewhere between this episode and Rebels Season 2, Rex ends up in the traveling home for retired clone troopers on that desert planet. Presumptively, they, with the help from the senator from Pantora, try and find a peaceful solution to the remaining clones. But speculation.

Post-Jedi, Omega is a wild card. I don't know where she will end up, but Ahsoka season 2 is possible. I have big guess that our next time seeing her will be in Tales of the Rebellion which has to be the next installment after the upcoming Tales of the Empire (granted, that also seems to serve Ahsoka either as a background filler or potentially lead in depending on what happens to Barriss.

I was satisfied with this ending, surprised by the time jump at the end. I don't think they did the time jump without the implication being we are going to see a Rebellion era Omega out and about. I was surprised that we didn't get more Ventress, but perhaps, yet again, her appearance was to prepare us for that Season Two of Ahsoka. In a fun world, we get a Kenobi season two where she appears and her and Kenobi have to work together. Heh.

I was up there thinking, "Oh, here's the Tech reveal..." and then "No, not yet I guess..." Then even after the guy got speared through the chest I thought, "Oh, his helmet is going to come off and we're going to be shocked and sorrowful that it was Tech." But no, not then, either. Nice wink to Project Stardust there at the end when Tarkin arrived with his shiny new Imperial class star destroyer. Had they shown up yet in this show? I honestly don't remember.

Zillo beast was fun. No, we didn't get the Zillo rodeo, but still fun. Go be free Zillo. I'd like to think that Tarkin decommissioning the base meant they were just going to pack up and leave, leaving the Zillo to wander the strange world as its new home.
posted by Atreides at 11:27 AM on May 1 [2 favorites]

More Dad wars from Filoni

Dug this episode
Very star wars

Plot relevant Megafauna
Cute toddler-sized alien
Prison Break
Crawling through service tunnels (disappointly free of
garbage)
Bad guy(s) redeemed
Laser Fight in the rain
Secret mega soldiers that turn out to be 100% meh
Right hand cut off the body
Not one but 2 sets with the threat of falling
Villian plunges over tiny guardrail to their death
posted by eustatic at 2:37 PM on May 1 [3 favorites]

Tarkin's arrival cracked me up. That Star Destroyer parking maneuver is usually bad news. Using it for a guy showing up hours too late, to a completely wrecked base: hilarious.

I was also expecting one of the winter soldiers to be revealed as Tech. Especially once Hemlock's brainwashing technique was shown to be zapping clones' brains, and he seemed confident it would work on unchipped clones. And they all had helmets with lights on the sides of their skull, like a low-current control mechanism? I don't know the writing schedule vs the animation schedule but it looks like the writers left themselves room to resurrect Tech and then decided not to.

The lurca hounds in the last two episodes confused me, wasn't Hemlock's point earlier that they were ferals not meant to be socialized? But they were obviously trained to work with the Stormtroopers.

Crosshair pulling out his plan to go into the base alone and Hunter and Wrecker shooting it down was real nice.

Overall, that was a fun show. I appreciate the commitment to the megafauna and wish the Zillo Beast good hunting.
posted by mersen at 6:34 PM on May 1 [2 favorites]

I respect the commitment to the bit, but I had a hard time tracking who was who in the big fight scene, where everyone was in dark armor with a helmet.

Still, it did what it needed to, although I was a bit surprised that Nala Se sacrificed herself. I had not expected that from someone willing to create and enslave millions of clones.
posted by suelac at 8:56 PM on May 1 [2 favorites]

I was a bit surprised that Nala Se sacrificed herself.

I don’t think she was planning to; she only did so after Rampart shot her.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:04 AM on May 2 [1 favorite]

I suspect some interference from The Mouse in at least some aspects of these past couple of seasons. The weird way the brainwashed clones arc just sputtered out (after, remember, quite a bit of buildup, all the way back to that 79's episode); the way the show seemed to be leaning toward adding some Senate stuff but then leaned back toward Monster Action Every Episode instead.

But the time jump redeems a lot. It made perfect sense, felt earned and heartfelt, and does strongly imply that at least one character from the show will return in some form.

Now, as a GM running a SW TTRPG campaign that's coming up on the end of the Clone Wars, I was hoping for lots more w/r/t building out the setting, getting a good broad feel for Life Under the Early Empire; I wasn't expecting a whole lot of that, but we got a bit less than I did expect. Still, it's unfair to judge the show itself on that basis, since it's clear now that they really never intended that to be the show.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 6:05 AM on May 2 [4 favorites]

Very much not really the ending I was expecting, either; I thought that the Beebs would all go down getting Omega and the Force Babies out, but they decided that one death in the group was enough (although RIP Crosshair's hand). In the end, although I would have liked to see Tech again (and thought that they could have done at least one good scene with Tech coming out of the condiitoning), I respect that they decided to make his death permanent. (Although they could have had at least one of Hemlock's personal Bad Batch--the Worse Batch?--get de-programmed, but oh well.) Looking forward to seeing a post-Imperial-fall Omega at some point; if anyone can think of a particular Kiwi actress that would make for a good live-action casting, I'd love to hear it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:33 AM on May 2 [1 favorite]

A nice write-up in the Washington Post: In praise of ‘The Bad Batch,’ the most Star Wars Star Wars project ever
posted by orrnyereg at 12:09 PM on May 2 [4 favorites]

I don’t think she was planning to; she only did so after Rampart shot her.

I do think that based on her conversation with Omega, she realized that it was very possible a one way trip to destroy her research.
posted by Atreides at 2:13 PM on May 2 [3 favorites]

As for an actress to play Omega, my personal non-negotiables are:
- must be Polynesian, preferably Māori
- must possess, or be able to competently imitate, a Kiwi accent.

I have no idea who would fit the bill (other than Keisha Castle-Hughes?) but it would be great to have an unknown actress play her.
posted by orrnyereg at 10:19 AM on May 3 [3 favorites]

I have no idea who would fit the bill (other than Keisha Castle-Hughes?)

I was unfamiliar with the name, but she'd be ideal; she voiced Emerie, had a brief appearance as Apailana (one of Padmé's successors as queen) in the prequels, and also appeared as one of the Sand Snakes on Game of Thrones, although of course they ended up getting jobbed.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:53 PM on May 5 [4 favorites]