Reviews

I don't think I was alone in thinking that the finale to this show would be a lot sadder with more deaths and sacrifices but this finale delivers a very satisfying and better finish than I expected.

At its core, the Bad Batch show is about family and brotherhood and the ways that those can change during times of change and hardship. But ultimately, the message is that if you display love and compassion, your family will always be there for you. That's what crosshair's whole arc was about and what Omega was a symbol of during the series.

While the batch sacrificing themselves to save Omega and the kids may have been a satisfying ending, it would not have fit with these themes so I am very happy to see them stick to their core ideas in this finale. To be clear, if they had gone with the sacrifice route, I still believed it would have worked but in hindsight the ending we got makes more sense and fits better.

Onto the show: I can't understate how much I enjoyed watching this. Perhaps it was the anticipation more than anything but I loved the whole episode. The music throughout and especially in the epilogue was emotional and fantastic. The visuals were once again stunning and the way they conveyed the scale of Tantiss and the Zilo beast was great. I loved the initial discussions between crosshair and wrecker and hunter. He wanted to be the hero and sacrifice himself to save omega but them telling him 'no we stay together' is a powerful message and links to the core themes mentioned above. Hemlock slowly losing his cool but still remaining competent was excellent. I was surprised by the move to remove crosshair's hand, it was used as a way to show that he can adapt and can change however I feel it slightly contradicts the messages with it earlier about it being more psychological. Also, maybe I missed something but we didn't see Wrecker and Echo make it to the shuttle, they were pinned down but then a few scenes later were on the shuttle which I found a little strange but I guess they felt showing that wasn't needed.

The epilogue was a lovely inclusion and really tied into Rebels. I believe that Bad Batch is much more similar to rebels than clone wars but has found a way to combine the best of both worlds in this final season.

What a great finale to a weird but enjoyable show. I was not on board after season 1 but every season has got better, building the characters well and this season has finished it off on a high. Overall I am very pleased with this finale. It delivered the warming and cathartic ending that this show deserved and I can't wait for the next animated show if it carries on from the same maturity and complexity this final season showed.

Ok, this episode is good but it feels like they are dragging out this set up for the finale. From what I've heard, the finale is a normal length episode (hopefully 30 mins ish) so I can't help but feel it will be rushed. To compare to a phenomenal show: Andor, what these set up episodes lack is any character growth or developments which is hard when the episodes are so short. We've seen much of the development needed with Crosshair, Omega and Emeri but if your episode is just set up you have to have some substance to avoid constant set ups.

Realistically, they have to tie up Rampart being found, the zilobeast reveal, kids escaping with Omega, emeri helping echo and the batch getting in somehow??

I still feel we'll see some deaths in the final episode but I'm less sure on that than last week.

Anyway, discussing the episode itself - it was really good set up but lacking much plot progression. Obviously stuff happens but it feels like more shuffling of the puzzle pieces rather than any progress on the puzzle being made (to use a made up metaphor).

Omega's stuff was cool but encapsulated the episode as she didn't even escape or reveal her plan or anything!

I liked the stuff with Echo and he was the only one moving the episode forward (again ridiculous that on a top secret high security base, a clearly out of place storm trooper with a screw on hand on every data pad possible isn't picked up at all - and what does that scanner for the lab even do then?? Check you're a person??)

The visuals were good (not as good as last week) but the music at the start was very nice and got the episode off to a bang. I was thinking to myself how seriously their security was at the beginning but that became non existent later on.

Overall, despite my numerous complaints, this was still a fun and engaging episode if lacking in the plot progression we wanted. 1 EPISODE TO GO!!!!

Last week was quite disappointing but this week makes up for it. Really solid episode.

I might be alone in this but there was a real Rebels feel to the episode, especially the interactions between the batch and Rampart and the humour between them really worked for me.

Before talking about the plot, the visuals in this episode were phenomenal - that cloud city shot early on was like a painting and all of the wide shots of a sunny Tantiss were amazing. I loved one small scene where they showed the Vault from above - really really nice. Also the music in the Vault was excellent, I liked it when Omega was trying to escape. I hope they release all the Tantiss music. The Kiner's have done an outstanding job creating almost timeless soundscapes for each episode on Tantiss making each one unique but fit together.

Speaking of Omega, she was quite serious and almost sinister in this episode which was good. Seeing her character adapt from child in the batch to adult in the Vault was realistic. I liked her interactions with Emeri too. The one scientist who was onto her was a little odd cause we've like never seen them before but it made sense - there are going to be jealous scientists who want the job and are going to notice stuff.

With the Batch, I liked the mission. Unlike last week where it felt quite predictable, this time felt more fluid and interesting. There was a logical progression of events rather than just get this person which was nice. Again very rebels vibes with the impersonating. Obviously it is ridiculous when they are able to not only enter a top secret base but then attach onto a secret top security shuttle with ease but it's nothing we haven't seen before in Star Wars.

Overall, I was a big fan of the episode and good to see the plot really moving forward. Fingers crossed next week's episode is another banger.

While this is by no means a bad episode, it is a bit disappointing.

The main disappointment is at the start of the episode when we meet the batch on Pabu. I was really looking forward to seeing the interaction between Crosshair and Hunter and Wrecker after he agreed to let omega give herself up. You'd think that they would at least show crosshair arriving, saying where's omega and then having some brief argument with Crosshair. This could have been a core part of the episode and link back to trust issues between crosshair and hunter. To not even discuss it after a 5 second mention was frankly annoying. I understand them not wanting to spend the whole episode on it but they should have included more friction between crosshair and hunter and had crosshair doubt his ability. Eg 'I had one job and I couldn't do it' - something like that.

Anyway, the rest of the episode was alright. It was another bad batch mission episode sprinkled with some tantiss omega stuff. The mission itself, while predictable, was fun and some good action and was relevant to the plot. Bringing back rampart was a nice idea. The Tantiss stuff was a little underwhelming but I assume we'll get more of that next episode.

With only a few episodes left, this episode felt a little bit meaningless and we could have spent more time on tantiss or maybe released next episode with this. Or maybe 50:50 between the mission and omega stuff rather than a couple scenes at the start and end. Just an idea.

In all, I think this episode missed opportunities to develop characters alongside action which this season has generally done well. I'm sure the finale 3 episodes will be better and should answer the questions they've been setting up this whole show. I'm still excited for a big conclusion to this show..

On par with the first episode of the season, this episode is slow paced and thought provoking and very well done imo. I loved the first episode and I like the way this season has tried to give at least an episode of set up before major events.

Again, music and visuals. Amazing. Goes without saying at this point

The character development of Emeri (is that spelt right?) is good here and even though I'm sure it's setting her up to help the batch, seeing her on the fence in this episode and challenged is good to watch. They use the Red kid's name well as a way of showing Emeri's conflict. The giving of the doll was good too.

They delivered some heavy exposition which is my main critique with the episode as it's a little on the nose but needed I guess.

What I really liked was the visual story telling which was on par with the first ep this season. Showing not telling is rare in this show given the target audience so seeing it well done like this is great to see.

I look forward to the pay off after this set up episode.

Wow. Once again when the show needs to be serious and powerful, it delivers. This episode, like the last, really shows the power of the Empire and is doing a great job of accelerating into the finale.

First of all: music and visuals were once again amazing. Kevin Kiner and the visual team are doing wonders for this show.

After a couple meh, inconsequential episodes, this week's pair got the story moving again. This episode did a great job of making the heroes lose and in a realistic way. The way their plan didn't work initially to steal the shuttle (that X trooper shooting the pilot was so good) and the way in which Omega decided to give herself up was well done. Only slight critique would be that crosshair could have been a little more emotional and considered how Hunter might react (but I'm sure we'll see that reaction next episode). I was surprised when we didn't see a face reveal from the X trooper but that will for sure come soon (I think it's Cody but maybe it's just a random guy who knows).

And obviously that ending left me shocked. I wish he had his helmet off after he missed so we could see his reaction. But even with the helmet on you could sense the dread.

Overall, great episode and two parter and I'm really looking forward to next week and seeing what will happen.