A motley crew of mercenaries with an aversion to following orders become unlikely guardians of a mysterious child. Chased across the galaxy by Imperial forces and bounty hunters, they learn to depend on one other and become a surrogate family you can’t help but root for. No, we aren’t talking about The Mandalorian, but The Bad Batch.
The Star Wars animated series comes from Dave Filoni, who was also one of the chief architects behind The Mandalorian. So, some one-dimensional similarities are inevitable. The Bad Batch takes place during the rise of the Galactic Empire, while The Mandalorian takes place after its fall. The series fills in the blanks on a period of uncertainty and upheaval as Palpatine consolidated his power, exploring the finer details of how small reactionary movements slowly emerged on planets tyrannised by the Empire.
To establish a clear sense of time, the series is set firmly at the end of the prequels, specifically the end of Revenge of the Sith. The first episode kicks off the very day “Order 66” comes in. The Jedi have been branded as traitors to the Republic and the clones have been ordered to execute them all. Not all clones follow orders to the T. Like the defective troopers of Clone Force 99 aka the Bad Batch, who were introduced in a four-episode run of The Clone Wars’ final season. The “defect” affords them certain exceptional faculties, moral autonomy being one of them. Instead of heeding Palpatine’s injunction, they let a young padawan escape. With the war ended, they begin to question the newly crowned Emperor’s motives, and their own purpose in a galaxy of ever-changing power dynamics.
The clones are genetic copies (of bounty hunter Jango Fett) conditioned into believing whatever ideology their commander espouses. We’re used to seeing them as armoured identikit soldiers without an identity. By giving these imperfect clones one, The Bad Batch offers a new perspective to events that occurred in the aftermath of the Clone Wars.
Each member of the Bad Batch (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) has an enhanced skillset which is reflected in their names. The leader is Hunter, a regular Rambo: mullet, bandana and all. Tech is the IT guy. Echo is a cyborg who can interface with computers. Wrecker is the gentle giant who likes to blow stuff up. Then, there’s Crosshair, an expert marksman who has a literal crosshair tattooed over his right eye. He is often seen chewing on a straw of grass, in one of the sillier identity markers that this is all happening in a cowboy ranch far, far away.
The series doesn’t define a lot of these characters beyond cosmetic and generic traits. The individualised skills and accents inform their personalities, and Crosshair is about as rich their psychological profiles get. He is the only Bad Batcher who remains blindly loyal to the Empire. This obviously causes a rift within the squad, with Crosshair turning against them when Hunter and the others refuse to kill the Onderon rebels under Saw Gerrera. Declared traitors, they are forced to leave the clones’ homeworld of Kamino, and go on the run with the Empire and Crosshair in pursuit.
Tagging along with the Bad Batch is another defective clone, a young girl named Omega (Michelle Ang), who feels a strong kinship with them. She is the one character that resonates in any meaningful way. She brings a child’s eye view to the proceedings, as the crew comes face-to-face with slavers, crime lords, bounty hunters and the Empire. The heart of the series lies in her relationship with Hunter and Wrecker. Omega is the final letter in Greek alphabet, and possibly the final clone of Jango. What her own special skills are remain a mystery however. But they no doubt hold the key to the Bad Batch’s future.
Chaos reigns across the galaxy. We get a glimpse of how a fascist regime builds an empire. For starters, it launches its own Aadhaar-like biometric system and demonetisation drives, requiring the galaxy’s citizens to register for a chain code to book passage off world and convert their Republic money to Imperial money. Resistance movements arise. The Empire tries to quash them. Indeed, Star Wars in its entirety has been an epic-long cry of defiance against fascism. In Crosshair’s blind loyalty, The Bad Batch offers cautionary lessons on elevating patriotism to moral duty. In the Imperial Troopers, it hints at the helping hand of law enforcement in the ascendancy of oppressive regimes.
Being not as beholden to the fate-of-the-universe concerns of the larger Skywalker saga, The Bad Batch is a lot more enjoyable when the stakes are low. The format echoes that of The Mandalorian.
Jumping into hyperspace, the Bad Batch embark on sub-quests and side quests, which includes saving a family of clone deserters on Saleucami, eluding familiar bounty hunters like Fennec Shand and Cad Bane, and rescuing freedom fighters on Raxus and Ryloth. They set up base in Ord Mantell, taking odd mercenary jobs from a Trandoshan parlour owner Cid (Rhea Perlman). She offers them credits and information in exchange. Cid’s dry wit is a welcome addition to an otherwise self-serious series.
In the final few episodes, Hunter gets caught by the Empire on one of the missions, and the remaining members return to Kamino to rescue him, knowing fully well Crosshair is waiting for them. A shoot-out ensues, not before we learn Crosshair in fact had his inhibitor chip removed and willingly sided with the Empire. Grand Moff Tarkin orders the demolition of Tipoca City, signifying the termination of the clone trooper programme. The Bad Batchers just about manage to escape. Omega saves Crosshair before he returns the favour, but he still refuses to join up with them, leaving his fate undetermined.
Though the series doesn’t defy expectations, it does keep viewers on their toes, serving answers to some questions about the Star Wars universe, and prompting some more (Who saved Baby Yoda from Order 66? Was it the Bad Batch?) The final moments of the season also tease a connection to The Mandalorian. Nala Se, the chief scientist in charge of the clone programme, is welcomed to a new Imperial research facility by a scientist sporting the same uniform as Pershing from the New Republic Era.
There’s a lived-in feeling to The Bad Batch, because it emerges organically as a continuation of the story told in The Clone Wars. While fleshing out a universe that is already brimming with detail, the show curbs its instincts to simply serve a barrage of self-references, placing a premium on storytelling first. In fact, it’s far more interesting when it introduces new characters (Omega and Cid being standouts) with stories of their own than when it brings back familiar ones for the sake of fan service. That’s why it should appeal to both neophytes and completists.
All 16 episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch are now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar Premium.
source https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/star-wars-the-bad-batch-review-clone-wars-spin-off-is-stopgap-cure-for-mandalorian-hangover-9886421.html
