With the end of the first season, the Batch had to face off against their traitorous brother Crosshair on Kamino, where they were forced to work together to avoid the destruction of the cloning facilities by the Empire. Despite such destruction, Crosshair remained on the Empire’s side. A time skip between seasons lands us with the Batch as they continue working for Cid, though having been laying low from detection by the Empire wherever they went. Only seems right for them to be launched straight back into Imperial sights with the start of this season.
If there’s one thing that seems clear, it’s that the grip the Empire holds on the galaxy is strengthening, with everyone thinking about their future. As Cid remarks, it’s only a matter of time before they arrive on Ord Mantell and potentially shut her down. And that also affects the Batch as she is their only ticket to the money they need to survive. So what to do? Aim for a higher source of income.
Across these two episodes, a new mission sees them make a raid, only for it to go wrong. Split up, the Batch do what they can to survive and regroup. Hunter is as protective of Omega as ever but respects her skills. However, a fracture has occurred that sees Omega want to make a success of this mission. She feels once again that she is a problem, and wants to make that right, putting herself at risk to do so.
And it’s Echo who was part of that fracture. His insistence that they should be doing more to fight the Empire, that they can’t keep hiding – protecting Omega, had her reconsidering her place among them. Echo makes it clear to her once they’ve escaped from the danger that any other outcome would have been worse for them.
There’s some great action throughout, along with a bit of world-building about where the mission takes place. And a new character introduced in Phee, a pirate who takes an interest in the Batch. Owing to the introduction but lack of presence across the episodes, I’m sure she’ll be back in later episodes with a more important role. After all, you don’t get someone like Wanda Sykes to voice a character just for a small role. Unless she’s got her own spin-off show we don’t know of yet.
These first two episodes have done a great job at reintroducing the Batch and their plight after more than a year between seasons. Despite the time jump, a good job has been done in establishing what has been going on during that time. AZI is right at home serving drinks at Cid’s parlour, with the ending showing that fear is already driving officers to protect their own interests.
From what has been seen in the trailer, the rest of the season is looking to explore a lot. As ever, there’s a lot that would have been hidden from those trailers, so while we know Coruscant is going to feature, while we know Rex wants the Batch for a job, we don’t know the intricacies of those missions. What exploration of the characters they will bring. But if it’s anything like what has been seen from these first two episodes, it will be an enjoyable ride.
Images Taken From:
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 | Official Trailer | Star Wars
