SPOILER Bad Batch Season 2

You know, it's funny I've seen a couple of other people comment on how they didn't see Echo leaving so soon, well, I didn't see him leaving at all. I guess I thought he would pull the rest of the Batch to his way of thinking and they would do more as a group, but his leaving the group was a surprise to me. I like the conflict his departure has created, they are even more out of balance than they were after Crosshair defected, and I think they realize that fact. Echo blurred the line between them and the "Regs" just like Omega and her wide-eyed wonder has blurred the line between them and the rest of the Galaxy. I'm all in for a slow burn series that is done as well as this one is. I think I just subconsciously set the bar, not too high, but in the wrong place, and I bought into the scuttlebutt that this could be a two season series. At this pace, and with the underlying story getting bigger and deeper, not to mention the ever-evolving look and feel of this world and these characters, they could go 3, 4 or even more seasons.

When you put it that way, it really changes things. All of these missions, while fun and entertaining, for the most part, they are "empty". This week would be an exception, of course, and there is almost always a lesson learned at least, but as far as advancing their position, the Batch is spinning their wheels at best. So it works on many levels. Fun, flashy and exciting adventures for the casual viewer, and a bleak, more desperate quest to get a foothold for the more "story and lore" type SW fan. It seems to me that S1 just had a darker tone, so the series adapting a more enticing veneer while maintaining the deep undertones makes perfect sense for the longevity of the series.

 

There is so much to unpack in this episode, but first and foremost, there is one thing that popped out from the opening frame and was almost distracting. This show is GORGEOUS. I know that's been a common topic this season especially, but it seems like every episode it gets better and better. The scenery, the backgrounds, the textures, the movements... Seriously, there are a few shots in this episode that could have passed even surpassed some of the CGI in the Prequels. The cinematography is epic and the epic score is cinematic. I know that the spewing steam, and the glow of the beams off of flashlights isn't new, but the scene with Tech and Omega, where you can see her breath... I found that, well, breathtaking.

Now, on to the story. They definitely keep us on our toes this week with a fast-paced, always evolving (pun intended) adventure, cut in with some all-important narrative details on the Imperial/political side. The very Alien-esque feel was cool, the creature went from a janky Pokemon, to Rango on Acid, to... Ohhhh, it's a Zillo monster! I know that's been a much desired and predicted arc, and even though I didn't catch on until the big reveal, it was cool to see that plot carry over from TCW. The Doctor is hella creepy, I imagine he will wind up being Pershing's mentor. Also creepy how they were loading up the citizens on those transports, as if being witness to the Zillo was enough to be incarcerated by the Empire. Facist bastards... And how about instead of chasing after "suspected pirates" why dontcha get that rapidly growing, electrical killing machine you lost under control? We are really starting to see some of the whacked-out insane and maniacal tendencies of ol' Sheev here. He had no clear thought out plan with his cloning program. A super-human Mandalorian bounty hunter? Yep. An uncontrollable almost extinct energy eating beast? Sure. A little green pointy eared creature? Go get him. A brainy little blonde girl? Round her up. Yet he wound up with a freak like Snoke and a decomposing reboot of his own nasty old self? Brilliant.

Ok. To wrap it up, two last items from The Metamorphosis. Those creepy-cool glowing eye troopers, they are the unregistered clones that the assassin in The Clone Conspiracy was part of.
Also, sorry not sorry, but Cid gotta go. I don't mean in the run her outta town way, or the cut ties and move on kinda way. No, I mean in the Lucca Brazi, sleeping with the fishes kinda way. She does know too much and she's not the live and let live type.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Mando, and I feel like BB "played at its opponents level" so to speak. Both were fast-paced and satisfying. I think that several of the past weeks' BB episodes would have really seemed lackluster in comparison to Mando, so well done with the timing.

I will add that after this week, I do feel like BB is back on track for getting some resolution in the next 5 episodes. I am truly missing that toothpick chewin' hiss-whispering Crosshair. Curiosity grows to concern every week he doesn't show up.

 

Does this Dr. Hemlock figure in any other Stars Wars media(comics, etc...)? I have never heard of him before.
As a huge Clone Wars fan, it was totally awesome to see the Zillo Beast. I felt this episode, while still imparting the "Empire is winning" feeling, definitely moved the story forward. Bad Batch will become the hunted again.

 

Oh. Wow.
Dr. Royce Hemlock is voiced by...


Jimmie Simpson, aka Liam McPoyle from It's Always Sunny...
The McPoyles have joined the Empire...

 

Loved the shot of the zillo on top of the power station thing with fighters shooting at it. A direct King Kong reference.

 

One of the better episodes of TBB, IMO.

 

I never liked Crosshair, but this episode I see him differently looking forward to his journey. My favorite episode thus far, RIP Mayday...

 

Everything has changed.

The fate of the Clones has been the underlying theme for this show, really even before it was it's own series. The Bad Batch's arc in TCW set it all up, even back to the Ninety-Nine arc, which, for me, stood out as a much more righteous theme for the series than glorifying a homicidal despot, but I digress. The plot and the plight of these men, who were created for war, and what now? once the war is over, is a very real and very relatable subject matter, and it has served this series well as a backbone. This week's episode dispersed with any subtleties and illusions. The Imperial Officer (I couldn't be bothered to remember a name) was over-the-top detestable from the start, yet he also fit perfectly into what we expect from Imperial Officers. From his fancy little fur collar to his cartoonish high-brow accent and the way he pronounced "schedule", this guy was marked for death from his first frame. However, I did not think it was going to go down the way it did. Believe me, that was exactly how I WANTED it to happen, but we get used to a certain moral standard in Star Wars that would never actually allow such a thing to happen, until it did. There was a brief moment, right after Mayday died, that I saw the old SW trope, where this guy would become the new Bad Guy, demeaning Crosshair, chasing down the Bad Batch, oppressing innocent civilians, just being your average Imperial dick... And then, everything changed.

Most obviously, there was a major transformation within Crosshair. He is experiencing empathy. Sympathy. Loss. Fear. He is becoming more and more human and less "equipment" as the Imp referred to him earlier. His brothers have been slowly making the same transformation over time through shared experiences and lessons. Crosshair got a crash course. He was shown a peek of this back on Kamino, he had a nibble of it in The Solitary Clone, but now, he is chin-deep in the change.

I hope this does not end with him making the ultimate sacrifice for Omega and his brothers, that is definitely where we have been pointed for some time now, but maybe that cold-blooded murder of the Imperial Lt. this episode is only the first of many "norm-busting" devices we will see in this series. Maybe Crosshair will get his redemption and live to tell the tale, unlike so many others in the Galaxy.

I do think we are about to see a classic SW trope, however... The heroes fearlessly storming into the belly of the beast to bravely save one of their own and destroy an imminent threat to safety in the Galaxy. Mount Tantis is going down!