As The Bad Batch hurtles towards the finale, the back half of the season manages to be even darker and more heart-pounding than the first half!
The final season of The Bad Batch is nearing its end but it isn’t slowing down in the least. Recently, I had the chance to watch all but the finale of The Bad Batch‘s final season. I was already impressed with the first half of the show, which stepped up the pacing of it’s main story and emotional character work. Somehow, the last few episodes of the show take things another step further.
As I did with my previous coverage of this season, I won’t be delving into any spoilers here for the remaining episodes. If that’s what you’re looking for, well, you’re in the wrong place…
The most recent episode (depending on when I read this I suppose), The Harbinger, brought back the fan favorite Clone Wars character Asajj Ventress. Her arrival not only deepens the mystery surrounding Omega, but makes it clear our protagonists aren’t as safe as they once thought. There’s a level of tension sprinkled throughout the whole episode, largely thanks to an impending sense that time is running out for everyone.
Believe it or not, Harbinger is the last bit of reprieve audiences get in the show. Seriously, the quickness in which “shit gets real” in these next episodes is kind of insane. I was hooked. I ended up watching all the episodes they sent my way in a single sitting. I’m not normally a binge-watcher.
I’ve mentioned it before, but even with previous seasons of the show, I would typically only watch one or two episodes at a time. That simply wasn’t possible for these final episodes. These last handful of episodes flow into one another almost seamlessly; making it hard to stop watching.
I don’t subscribe to the idea of “filler episodes” in the way so many online have chosen to view the term. And I can’t think of a single thing in any of the episodes that would come close to even the loose definition of filler.
It’s impressive with how laser-focused these episodes are. Even as familiar faces pop up, the show never veers from the main story being told. It’s evident everything has been leading to a specific point. That’s not to say any of it is predictable. In fact, it does some things I very much wasn’t expecting. But my point is, you can feel the various layers of storytelling—from both this season and previous ones—that are coming together for something big.
And yet, it still manages to allow for some great character moments. The dynamic between Crosshair and Omega has easily been one of my favorite things this season. The way it continues into these episodes adds some emotional heft I wasn’t expecting, and makes some of the decisions the Batch makes feel all the more desperate.
Without diving too far into spoiler territory, we also get some more development on Dr. Emerie (Omega’s sister clone). The way her story has come together is an excellent example of how well this team handles visual storytelling. On top of that, Dr. Hemlock manages to get even more villainous. Seriously, dude is going down as an all-time Star Wars baddie and is probably the first animated character I’ve ever viscerally hated.
As the show continues to explore Hemlock’s work for the Empire, it goes into some pretty dark territory. I mean, the show/season has already dealt with some heavy stuff, but the things we see coming up filled me with rage. Some things were hard to watch and I don’t mean that in terms of gnarly stuff happening (it’s still a kids show). But certain moments hit so hard, I truly forget I was watching characters who were drawn in a computer.
Don’t get me wrong, Star Wars animation has been churning out great stuff for a while now and I’ve greatly enjoyed it. That said, there’s still a feeling of…separation (for lack of a better term) between the animated and live-action mediums. Yes, there are animated projects I’ve enjoyed more than the live-action stuff, but there’s a distinction that’s always around.
The Bad Batch has totally blurred that. Here, I found myself empathizing with characters as if I was watching real, living and breathing, people interact on the screen. Then you combine that with the cinematic quality (everything from shot composition, to choreography, and music) this series has exhibited from the very first episode and it’s easy to see this as one of the best Star Wars stories around in any medium.
All in all, unless the finale somehow implodes, this season of The Bad Batch has pretty much cemented the series as my favorite Star Wars animated show (not counting anthology stuff like Visions). I don’t say this lightly. While I loved both Rebels and Resistance from the jump, I didn’t really get “into” Clone Wars until its third season. I’m not going into all the reasons why, but I struggled to connect to the show when it was airing.
I didn’t care for the “clone specific” story arcs and absolutely wasn’t interested in a Bad Batch series when it was first announced. As such, The Bad Batch had an uphill battle with me. But each season has managed to blow me away in ways I wasn’t expecting. This final season has been firing on all cylinders since the premiere. Somehow these last few episodes are even more intense and I’m more than a little anxious at what the finale is going to do to me.
New episodes of The Bad Batch go live on Disney+ every Wednesday until the finale on May 1st and I promise you aren’t going to want to miss them.
