Reunion (The Bad Batch - S01E08) - Animated Series

Discuss the latest Chapter! (Discussion)

"I've taken down so many clones over the years!" SPOILERS.

Not the reunion you want

It appears The Bad Batch is gearing up for the season 1 endgame, now that we are just past the halfway point. In "Reunion" the pieces are moved across the board and at the end of the episode Hunter and his friends will need to act quickly if they want to come out on top.

Blowing stuff up can be a good tactic, after all

In "Reunion" the Bad Batch are reunited with Crosshair. Last week the scrapper guild informed the Empire about the Bad Batch on Bracca and the Empire doesn't waste any time and sends Crosshair after them. The Bad Batch meanwhile are still on Bracca because they want to strip the star destroyer for resources and intel that will earn them a nice sum of money. But this gives Crosshair and his troopers more than enough time to corner the Bad Batch and a game of cat and mouse begins. In the end the Bad Batch barely slip through Crosshair's grip and the former Bad Batch member is severely hurt when the ion engine that was meant to kill or flush out the Bad Batch instead is detonated in a controlled fashion and an energy blast hits him.

Someone you'd rather not want to meet

The Kaminoans have learned about the Empire's mission to Bracca and they have very different plans than the Empire. They fear the Empire may ruin their plans and so they send yet another bounty hunter to retrieve Omega. And it turns out that while Nale Se thought hiring some rookie bounty hunter is good enough (a very questionable decision) Lama Su hires an actual pro this time. And this pro is none other than Cad Bane who first takes out some clones and then duels Hunter. And of course Hunter loses and is shot (does Hunter ever win any of his fights?), Cad Bane then stuns Omega and takes her with him. Since Bad Batch clone armor is apparently made of very strong material Hunter is neither dead nor really seriously hurt ( just slightly wounded) and his team mates retrieve him. Hunter then informs the Bad Batch that Omega was taken by a bounty hunter and that they need to find her.

Wild west in outer space

"Reunion" was certainly a very entertaining episode. The first scene between Wrecker and Omega once more underlines their friendship and confirms that no lasting damage to their relationship was done when Wrecker's chip activated. The cat and mouse game with Crosshair that follows is suspenseful and highlights that the Bad Batch are good tactitians when the plot requires it. The appearance of Cad Bane is certainly a surprise. He's yet another Clone Wars character that is featured on the show, once more emphasizing that The Bad Batch is a sequel of sorts. It was to be expected that Cad Bane would best Hunter, but again Hunter loses to yet another baddie of the week, maybe the show could find other ways to create drama and tension or obstacles. But with Cad Bane and therefore the Kaminoans now in possession of Omega again the plot will certainly thicken on the Bad Batch. Let's just hope Hunter and his team won't need several episodes to figure out that only the Kaminoans could have an interest in getting Omega back

The episode made some very neat stylistic choices, we get some innocent buddy comedy in the beginning, to make place for a game of cat and mouse in the dark and a battle of wits, to then enter the spaghetti western genre, even the music reflects that shift. And towards the end the episode references the old Star Wars Republic Commando video game with a quite unique ego perspective from Hunter's point of view. A lot of thought is apparently put into the episodes and the production design once more needs to be lauded. This is top tier animation.

After more than half of the season 1 episodes have aired it is maybe also time to take a step back and to look at the series as a whole. The episodes are entertaining, the characters are well written, production design is outstanding and the one major issue the show had with Wrecker in the pilot was quickly resolved by adjusting his character and the way he is written. Omega is endearing, for the most part, but the number of times she saved the day is somewhat unrealistic, but this trope has not been used in the last couple of episodes and chances are the writers are well aware that certain tropes should not be overused.

The Bad Batch has one major problem though, that much is clear after 8 episodes. The basic structure is almost an identical carbon copy of The Mandalorian. I am not sure this is a good choice. Once again we have the hardened warrior(s) who happen upon a child and have to take on new responsibilities. Once again said child is some kind of mysterious science project, once again all kinds of bounty hunters are after the child. Once more the child is eventually kidnapped and the good guys now have to go and save it.

Still, the endgame will certainly be exciting. The Bad Batch will go to Kamino eventually, we may find out what makes Omega so special and what plans the Kaminoans have with her and phase II. But much of season 1 will most likely seem like a deja vu. The Bad Batch is an entertaining affair, but quite unoriginal at times. A more unique basic plot structure would have been better.