Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Plan 99

March 29, 2023 12:59 AM - Season 2, Episode 16

The heroes are tested. Part 2 of a 2-episode finale.
posted by EndsOfInvention (18 comments total)

I’m sad for Tech but also satisfied in a way. He died like an MVP, saving his squad. It was a good death.

Honestly I expected Cid to subvert expectations and not give them up, but I guess it was inevitable. I genuinely like her character so it’s a disappointment.

Also disappointing: no interactions with Crosshair! And I don’t trust Emerie, I don’t care whose DNA she’s got. She’s a wrong ‘un.
posted by orrnyereg at 3:27 AM on March 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

I liked the sort of upside-down caterpillar track motor the monorails used, reminded me of the trains in Solo.

The escape was so intense I was suprised to see I was only 7 minutes into the episode after the train crash. The Omega-POV shot was good.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 10:30 AM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I liked the sort of upside-down caterpillar track motor the monorails used, reminded me of the trains in Solo.

Space Wuppertal.
posted by orrnyereg at 11:54 AM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I watched these back to back, so maybe the reveal was in the prior episode, but apparently I've been watching enough of these Stars Trek And War to have recognized Krennic as a CGI character.
posted by Kyol at 6:48 PM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

It's kind of fitting that last ep we got Saw, and this one we got Krennic.

Pretty bummed about Tech. But I wonder... hey, if Hemlock got his glasses, maybe he'll try cloning him and we'll get Tech II? A nerd can dream.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:27 PM on March 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Can't be a coincidence that The Bad Batch's overall plot is about the Empire's cloning research, and so is The Mandalorian's. I don't mind the inter-series tie-in but I'm not a fan of trying to tie in to the sequel trilogy. Would rather pretend they didn't exist.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:26 AM on March 31, 2023 [2 favorites]

Pour one out for Tech, but as someone said in the other episode post, no body, no...death? Granted, a Tech surviving on Eriadu, a notably dangerous place to run around (it's Tarkin's home planet and one of the rites of passage for his family is going off into the wilds and surviving), is rough and then having to get off the planet and so on...eh, the odds slim quickly! I had an inkling someone might die in this finale but wasn't sure who it would be. Maybe Crosshair. Given he survives to next season's premiere, he'll probably join the team for Season 3.

It was definitely fun to see Krennic and hear "Project Stardust." I thought Wulf Yularen might have been there in his new ISB outfit, but never got a confirmation. I'm completely at lost as to who the Imperial guy talking with the brogue was.

The writers bent over backward to tell us Cid was going to betray the team, but I was close to being convinced this was done to mislead us. Welp! I guess we all received confirmation about our multi-episode speculation that the women in the cloning facility were clones. Everything just went to pot for the Bad Batch.

I suppose I was satisfied with the finale, though I think the season could have been condensed. At least with Omega being captured, we're finally going to learn what makes her special.


Can't be a coincidence that The Bad Batch's overall plot is about the Empire's cloning research, and so is The Mandalorian's. I don't mind the inter-series tie-in but I'm not a fan of trying to tie in to the sequel trilogy. Would rather pretend they didn't exist.

Absolutely, no coincidence. Filoni and Favreau have specifically mentioned they are trying to connect the films. I enjoyed, if not loved the sequel trilogy until it got to Rise of Skywalker, and generally, that's the film which has the gravity to pull everything after Return of the Jedi into its direction - unfortunately. Abrams couldn't stick the landing and just made a lot of bad decisions with a well made film with wonderful actors. I could go on. I won't. I've gotten better.
posted by Atreides at 6:48 PM on March 31, 2023 [2 favorites]

I mean, Filoni & Co. have gone a long way toward redeeming the prequel trilogy; whether or not they actually have is left up to the individual fan, but there are worse things to try, and I wish them all the best in this endeavor.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:25 PM on April 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

I mean, Filoni & Co. have gone a long way toward redeeming the prequel trilogy; whether or not they actually have is left up to the individual fan, but there are worse things to try, and I wish them all the best in this endeavor.

My wish is similar…except with the caveat that I hope, for the sake of their own shows' identities, they continue to keep the sequel trilogy references scrupulously vague and indirect. Because the bedshitting aspect of the sequels is not the mere notion that Palpatine would try, and likely succeed, to clone himself; that's, like, too obvious for him not to do. Rather, it's basically everything about that storyline's execution.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:40 AM on April 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Because the bedshitting aspect of the sequels is not the mere notion that Palpatine would try, and likely succeed, to clone himself; that's, like, too obvious for him not to do. Rather, it's basically everything about that storyline's execution.

Bingo. It's why I was initially onboard with the reveal Palpatine was coming back. I played the teaser to hear his cackle more than a few times.

One thing that I've been really bad on, has been not talking about the contributions of Jennifer Corbett to this show. She's actually the head writer and executive producer, so while Filoni might be in the background indicating where he wants things to go, she's the one bring it into reality. One of the problems with Filoni's past works has been a significant lack of women, so it's important to note when a woman is in such a big position.
posted by Atreides at 7:02 AM on April 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

Update: Bad Batch was renewed for season three, which will also be its last. A teaser was shown to the crowd at Star Wars Celebration, so it may pop up on the internets soon, too.
posted by Atreides at 7:09 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Was hoping for 4 seasons but I think this works well, too. I also hope this doesn't mean LFL is quitting telling clone stories altogether but I'm not hopeful. Dee Bradley Baker must be heartily sick of these guys by now.
posted by orrnyereg at 9:07 AM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

One would think. He is doing the voice of Nubs in the Young Jedi Adventures show, tho'.
posted by Atreides at 8:07 AM on April 13, 2023

You know you watch too much genre TV when the "your buddy is dead, I present to you his distinctive accessory to show you he must be dead" routine makes you LESS inclined to believe said buddy is dead. That is some Mouth of Sauron bullshit, man!

I feel like they telegraphed too obviously that Emerie was a clone for the last few episodes, so the big "reveal" went over like a bit of a damp squib.

Excited to see the Crosshair Omega team up to get out of the facility. I bet either Emerie doesn't survive that, or Crosshair doesn't and Emerie joins the crew. Actually, the best argument for Tech actually being deceased is that it makes space for Emerie to join the Batch as their new nerd. Much as I resent the implication that nerds are fungible (hey, funny thing, my employer's been telling me that for years too!) it does make a certain sort of sense.
posted by potrzebie at 2:27 PM on May 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Season 3 trailer is out!
posted by orrnyereg at 3:29 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]

Brad Rau: he makes clear that [Asajj Ventress’s] return will honor prior tales, including the book in which the character apparently perished. “We don't want to spoil anything, but want fans to know that any new storytelling with Ventress will align with the events of Star Wars: Dark Disciple.”
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:10 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]

IDK how I feel about Ventress with hair. It is nice to see Crosshair back with his brothers.
posted by orrnyereg at 6:13 AM on January 23

As one of those folks who had read Dark Disciple and knew the cover, I didn't mind the hair (it's on the cover), but I did do a head jerk wandering if DD was being overwritten. When they bent over backwards to state it wasn't, I felt better. It's an enjoyable book, granted, Asajj is essentially fridged at the end. That she becomes undead, and perhaps this was always the plan since DD was adapted from Clone Wars scripts from the cancelled season, makes me even happier.

There used to be story reels from the first of those episodes that never got finished on StarWars.com, but when they brought back the show for a final season, they ditched them, in part because the Bad Batch episodes were part of those reels. In those reels, they had given Asajj her hair back.

If the animation team follows track this trailer probably represents the first three or four episodes of the season, at that. Some folks are also wandering if Tech doesn't pop up there.
posted by Atreides at 7:55 AM on January 24