Flash Strike / The Cavalry Has Arrived (The Bad Batch - S03E14&15) - Animated Series

Discuss the latest Chapter! (Discussion)

"Clones don't leave our brothers behind!" SPOILERS.

Are you smarter than a 10-year-old? Star Wars Edition (spoiler: no)!

The last two episodes of The Bad Batch are a 70 minute series finale that, for the most part, was a fun romp and a sad reminder of what the show could have been, but very rarely was. Last week, in Flash Strike, we got a fun infiltration episode with the Bad Batch and Rampart in tow arriving on Tantiss, promptly getting shot down and trying to make their way through the jungle, and yes, mandatory man eating monster included. Rampart shrieked like a little girl and eventualy was captured, Wrecker got injured by the beast, but the Bad Batch continued on their path. Meanwhile Omega aka Space Houdini ventured into the cargo chute and climbed all the way up until she found the monster for this week's episode, the Zillo beast. And when the evil Imperial scientist lady came to check on the kids because she's suspicious Omega managed to sneak back all the way and put the panels in her cell back in place in under 2 seconds or so it seems, even if climbing up apparently took minutes. Yeah, whatever. Meanwhile Echo, who was on the Imperial transport, already infiltrated the base, he borrowed a Stormtrooper uniform and a hand from a droid he disposed of and promptly ran into Emerie who immediately was revealed to now be on the light side, to the surprise of no one... and she wants to help!

At least The Bad Batch ends with the granddaddy of all monsters of the week

So this week we get to see how it all plays out. And it was a pretty fun adventure, filled with good action, and because this was the final episode for once at least a few characters (other than Omega) didn't have plot armor, so there was some tension actually! In theory one or several clones could die in the finale, similar to Tech last season.

When Hemlock learns the base has been infiltrated he activates his super soldiers

So... how do events unfold? Well, first Omega outsmarts evil scientist lady, because the daughter of MacGyver manages to hack the med droid with the tool she stole from Emerie a while back. And the droid promptly administers a sedative to the scientist and this means the kids can climb up the shaft. There Omega immediately knows how to operate a console that deactivates the force field keeping the Zillo beast in check, by pushing several unlabeled red buttons. The beast is turned loose and wreaks havoc Godzilla style. Eating people, stomping people... as far as monsters of the week go this was certainly the best one. Of course, the Zillo beast did appear before, but I'll let that slide. And while the kids were discovered the immediate chaos caused by the Zillo means the kids can slip away again and climb up all the way to the top where a hangar is located.

The kids are safe!

Emerie and Echo meanwhile try to free the kids from the vault, only to find the kids are gone already. Echo immediately knows what Omega is up to. Eventually Emerie, Echo and the kids meet tn the hangar. Unfortunately while trying to infiltrate the compound the Bad Batch were captured by Hemlock's special troopers. One of them even, in true Star Wars fashion (it rhymes etc), even chops off Crosshair's injured right hand. What would Star Wars be without limb removal? But that means Omega won't go with Emerie and does the smart thing any 12-year-old kid would do, she accompanies Echo back into the base to free her brothers.

Hemlock tries to brainwash Hunter

Hemlock has the Bad Batch brought into his own special lab where he experiments on turning clones into super soldiers with no free will. So things look pretty bad, Wrecker is badly injured (and the episode makes a point of it several times), the super soldiers outclassed the Bad Batch and captured them, and now they are all subjected to Hemlock's super soldier procedure.

When in the last millisecond of your life you realize the mistake you've made

However, Echo and Omega successfully manage to free the imprisoned clones, and they (Echo) killed a few troopers on the way and now have some extra weapons at their disposal. Rampart is also freed, as is Nala Se. Nala Se now has a mission of her own, she wants to prevent the Empire from using her research and she wants to destroy the databanks containing all the information, this would also help Omega, because with the data gone and if they manage to take out Hemlock no one would be left alive really who knows about the project or Omega... other than the countless scientists working in the vault of course, but I am not a script writer. Anyway, this is Nala Se's plan. However, Rampart overhears it, and the scheming person he is he sneaks after Nala Se to find out what this is all about. He finds Nala Se in the datacore where she tries to erase the data, but Rampart threatens her with a blaster and downloads all the files about Project Necromancer as a bargaining chip with the Empire. But unbeknownst to Rampart Nala Se picked up a thermal detonator from a dead trooper and when Rampart kills her she drops the detonator, no longer pressing down the safety... and it promptly explodes, destroying all the data and killing Rampart. Double win!

Crosshair has to make the shot of his life, one handed...

When Echo and Omega learn that the Bad Batch are in Hemlock's own secret lab Omega immediately knows where that is (of course) and at first she even successfully manages to sneak inside where she immediately knows how to fiddle with a console to release Wrecker, but then she is found and Hemlock has her again! Echo and the clones meanwhile try to create a distraction and attack, the super soldiers engage them and many clones die, Echo gets stabbed by a vibroblade thingy (flesh wound only), but Wrecker wakes up just in time to wreak havoc and with combined forces they manage to defeat the super soldiers. It was a good action sequence, also because no clone was really safe here, someone could have died... of course no one did.

And this is the end of Hemlock... au revoir!

Hemlock chains Omega to his wrist with a handcuff and is on his way to a shuttle bay to escape the disaster zone. He's been informed that all the data was destroyed but as long as he has Omega he can start all over again. But after the epic fight with the super soldiers Crosshair and Hunter are free again and pursue Hemlock. They find him in the pouring rain of Tantiss... and Hemlock threatens that if he goes down (in true Star Wars style the walkway he's on has no railings to speak of really and of course it crosses an abyss) Omega goes with him. So it's time for Crosshair to overcome his trauma... and with his right hand chopped off even... Omega stabs Hemlock with the little tool she stole from Emerie (super versatile that thing, it can open panels, reprogram droids and stab people, like a Swiss Army knife!), which startles him, which gives Crosshair the split second opportunity to shoot at the handcuffs to free Omega... and one second later Hemlock is toast, as he is hit by several blaster shots and falls to his doom.

Tarkin seizes the day and has all funds for Project Necromancer diverted to the Death Star

So the Bad Batch overcome all the odds and win after all (who would have thought...), Tarkin meanwhile, who was already en route to Tantiss to have a serious chat with Hemlock, finds the lab completely destroyed and all data gone. And to remind us that it all rhymes and that it's all connected we get a line about Tarkin diverting the funds to his own "Stardust" project.

Her tech goggles are not glued to her skull after all...

So we are now on Space Tahiti, the kids are safe. Echo has a chat with Emerie (now without glasses) and she agrees to help him with his cause, which means they both will join Rex. And this is how Emerie's arc ends, she will - of course - become a member of the rebellion. I do wonder why Space Tahiti is deemed safe when we had this full on Imperial invasion just a few days ago basically... does none of the involved officers or soldiers remember that??? Which may give the Empire reason to investigate after the destruction of Tantiss? But what do I know, I am not a script writer.

A happy family!

And the episode ends with a happy for now for the Bad Batch and Omega. Everyone made it. The Empire no longer knows about Omega (other than the countless people who survived Tantiss and worked in the vault, but let's ignore that to not ruin the mood) and for the first time ever the Bad Batch are now free to choose their own path. And this is where things end... only they do not...

"An eternity later..." (say it in a Spongebob Squarepants narrator voice)

We do get a tacked on epilogue set an undisclosed number of years later, still on Space Tahiti. I would guess Omega is at least in her 20s, maybe mid to late 20s, anyway, she's old enough now that the rebellion actually needs pilots... and she wants to become a pilot for the rebellion! Hunter is now a middle aged man, and we get a sentimental goodbye, we never see old(er) Crosshair and Wrecker, just Omega and Hunter, which to me, makes it seem as if they assembled and produced this epilogue on a budget and in a hurry. While I know nothing for certain I am pretty convinced The Bad Batch was originally not supposed to end after three seasons, and when they received the news season 3 was already in production, thus they could only alter things so much as to add a short epilogue that kind of gives us some closure but also keeps things somewhat open ended, in theory we could get more adventures with adult Omega who is, of course, now a rebel.

Omega flies off not into the sunset, but setting moon... subversion of tropes!

And Omega literally flies off into the unknown... and probably died 10 minutes later when her X-Wing was shot down over the Death Star.... I am kidding... I bet her plot armor would prevent that.

So that was The Bad Batch.... a few brief thoughts about the finale and the series... if you ignore the usual contrivances, implausibilities and logic holes the finale, all 70 minutes of it, past week and this week, was pretty entertaining and good. If only the entire series had been like that... only it wasn't.

The Bad Batch is ultimately a series that will probably leave nothing behind, nothing noteworthy, maybe we'll see Omega again down the road, she's still young enough to be in her late 30s at the time of Mando and Ahsoka. But The Bad Batch series added nothing of actual worth or anything noteworthy to Star Wars, unlike Rebels or The Clone Wars. It was basically the first two seasons of The Mandalorian rehashed, with the same basic concept, evil scientists need a young child for cloning experiments and said child is kept safe by some tough guys. Also, The Bad Batch more often than not wasted everyone's time with inane monster of the week episodes or treasure hunts... the entire Ord Mantell arc with Cid was a colossal waste of time that never went anywhere, and other than a throwaway line of dialogue about Cid being interrogated (severely) there never was any resolution to it all, we didn't even see Cid get killed. Instead she sent the Bad Batch on wild goose chases for about two seasons resulting in episodes that are utterly forgettable. For much of its run the best The Bad Batch episodes were those weird one off episodes never even featuring the Bad Batch, but other characters like Senator Chuchi or the wayward clone, Crosshair, who was the only actually interesting clone. And let's not forget that weird two-parter about Hera and her origins that had literally nothing to do with The Bad Batch, it was a Rebels prequel. But of course it means Omega has a connection to Hera and thus to Ahsoka, so she could return in live action.

Ultimately The Bad Batch is a show of missed opportunities... why they decided NOT to make it about elite military operations, infiltrations, heists etc is beyond me. We got some of that sporadically, like in the series finale.

Also, why they never brought Boba Fett and Omega together is yet another missed opportunity, it could have made for some interesting episodes. So much went wrong with this series, made all the more tragic by the fact that the good episodes often were REALLY good, some of the best episodes of any Star Wars series on Disney+, but it was all brought down by the inane monsters of the week and forgettable missions the team did for Cid or (shudder) Phee Genoa, who was basically Cid 2.0, same role, same function.

The series added little of note to the lore, didn't expand the universe in meaningful ways and I think it was a good decision to cancel the show. I think animated shows in the Clone Wars style should continue, everything looks fantastic, they have found their own artstyle. But the premise needs to be more unique, no more stories set in the Imperial era please, this period has no secrets left really. And there's nothing left really worth telling stories about. Move on. No shows about Order 66 survivors please, clones, rebels.... we've had that so many times now. Star Wars must not be stuck in the same place.

Also, try to change up a few things, especially The Bad Batch had an overreliance on lazy tropes, recycled plots... in fact, season 3 recycled the escape from Tantiss for the finale, it recycled the Zillo beast and for much of the season we witnessed this fruitless search for Tantiss that failed again and again, when this could have been handled in one episode. If you add up all the noteworthy episodes you maybe get one full season of The Bad Batch, something like 15 episodes, this would have been a killer season and ultimately I feel The Bad Batch fell victim to the "we need to make content" curse instead of making something that is actually worth your time. More content can't be it...

The Bad Batch never really justified its existence. Like Resistance it will probably never be talked about again in a few weeks from now, which is sad, because the show had some potential. But the inclusion of a 10-12 year old girl that goes on all these dangerous missions brought it all down, yes, it was primarily for kids.... but things should still be somewhat believable. And no 12-year-old kid should go on life threatening missions with military special ops. Omega, at times, sufferred from being just too skilled and being a McGuffin, someone who just knows how to do anything... hack droids with a toothpick? Sure! Know immediately how to operate some Imperial console... absolutely... always the center of attention? Yes... center of the universe even, to a degree, because she is vital to the survival of the Emperor... yes. It was a bit too much at times. Omega was also a bit one note, with her starry-eyed naivete and girlscout persona. The few times Omega was shown to be cunning and somewhat morally flexible were fun, like when she hustled people at (card) games etc. But even that only adds to her impressive skill set... she could just do anything. I hope the next animated main character will be a bit more realistic and a bit more flawed. Like, say, Andor... Ahsoka was also more nuanced in The Clone Wars and overall the more interesting character. It can still be fun and familiy oriented, and yes, kids in those shows tend to have unrealistic skill sets, which is fine to a degree, but Crosshair showed the Bad Batch writers could write nuanced characters even for a show primarily targeting kids.

That being said I would not mind seeing adult Omega in live action again. A better writer can certainly make something of her character. And with Omega all grown up she should no longer be so naive and starry-eyed. Also, I bet Ahsoka can easily turn her in to yet another Jedi! The more the merrier, right? But chances are we will never see Omega again. And the Bad Batch clones will be footnotes in a show that was allegedly about them... only they were supporting cast members to Omega instead and played second fiddle to her. A show about heists, infiltrations and military special ops could have at least been mindless fun. I wonder why they turned it into the Omega show instead, when Grogu already scratched the same itch. Only more cute. And with more merchandise. Next up then is The Acolyte, I bet that will be fun to review... Tales of the Empire is coming soon, but those one off animated shorts are just "content" really. I am not even sure I will talk about it. As I said, I hope we will get a new animated series eventually. Just try something new for a change.And try to come up with main characters that are a bit more interesting than Omega was. Even a side character like Emerie was ultimately more interesting. Or Ventress in her comeback from the dead episode.