The Bad Batch’sfirst episode, aptly titled “Aftermath,”introduced the misfits from Clone Force 99and gave them a real place in theStar Warsgalaxy as the group ran away from the fallout of Emperor Palpatine’s Order 66. The series’ second outing starts revealing part ofThe Bad Batch’spurpose while imparting some much-needed parenting lessons.
Having escaped the scope of their former colleague Crosshair, the rest ofThe Bad Batch-now including Omega-head off to sector J-19 where they meet up with a familiar face fromClone Wars, fellow Republic Army deserter Cut Lawquane, alongside his partner Suu Lawquane and his adoptive children. The family does a great job to remind audiences of the fact that Omega is just a kid by setting up the perfect playdate with the other two children and revealing how much of a literal lab rat she was growing up trapped in Kamino.
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Omega is the girl who doesn’t know how to play with other kids because she’s actually never seen another one like her, she marvels at trivial things like dust or even playing ball. Meanwhile, the rest ofThe Bad Batchis catching up because viewers are told that they go way back and are fairly acquainted with each other, so much so that Cut and Suu’s kids refer to Wrecker as uncle Wrecker.
For people who have never seen or finishedThe Clone Warsseries, it bears saying that no, these characters were never introduced before in theStar Warsuniverse. However, their familiarity comes off as genuine enough so that hardcoreStar Warsfans can just let it pass and move on, so it definitely doesn’t feel particularly forced. The episode then moves on to its core mission: Cut, Suu and the kids have to flee the planet dealing with the Empire’s freshly introduced migration policies, because what’s a military dictatorship without that?
The galaxy’s forced regime change brings changes thatthose who have seenThe Mandaloriancan definitely spot: there’s monetary reform, with Imperial credits being established as the new form of currency by decree; and then come those pesky chain codes that serve to enact Emperor Palpatine’s galactic immigration and travel reform, as well as keeping a close eye on its population. Fortunately, the Bad Batch devise a strategy to get Cat and Suu out of the planet so they can move on with their family life.
Of course, throughout the whole episode the Bad Batch’s leader and Solid Snake lookalike Hunter comes to realize taking a small child aboard his crew was perhaps not his brightest long-term idea, something which Cut and Suu are happy to walk him through, yet it leaves him with the thought that maybe there’s a better place for Omega.
Moving onto the action, Echo and Tech’s plan to get the chain codes from the clone troopers involve letting the Empire tow their ship, although when it happens they soon find out they accidentally brought Omega along for the mission. The little clone does prove her worth as she helpsThe Bad Batchcome through -Star Warsstyle-for Cat and Suu, though there’s not another showcase scene for her natural force talents to shine.
The sequence that ensues basically switches from the Bad Batch’s efforts to deliver the chains codes to Hunter, Cat, and Suu, and an incredibly tense border crossing situation for the latter group that really echoes classical war films. The entire episode’s affairs cause Hunter to reflect on the whole matter, ultimately deciding that Omega belongs with a family-like Cat and Suu’s, but since Omega isn’t like most kids she prefers to have things her own way.
Hunter and Omega seem to come to an agreement because asThe Bad Batch’spreviews and first episode show, this is no ordinary girl and thus we move on with a growing bond between the protagonist and the child, much in the same wayThe Mandalorianand Baby Yoda start warming up to each other. Episode two’s 30-minute runtime noticeably slows down the pace, but it does so for a reason, both to establish a real bond betweenThe Bad Batchgrown-ups and Omega, yet also to remind audiences that the series is aClone Warsclone that could also borrow a bit from Din Djarin.
This is by no means a bad thing,The Bad Batchis still a good watch forthose who have never seenThe Clone Wars, nevertheless, it’s those who have that will probably find more “aha! Moments” in its 16 episodes. As the plot moves on, maybeThe Bad Batchand Omega will find a bigger purpose within the galaxy, but for now, it gives off some veryRogue OneorHalo 3: OSDTandReachvibesthat might scare viewers of what kind of fate could possibly await them, and especially what kind of special interest the Empire, Nala Se,and maybe even Anakin Skywalkercould have in Omega.
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