Premiere: The Bad Batch

I’ve got a good feeling about this.

When the Bad Batch were introduced in the final season of The Clone Wars, I wasn’t a fan.

I, like many others, was mindful of the limited episode count and wanted these to focus on Ahsoka and the numerous clones that made this series so special.

Of course, we needed have been worried. Dave Filoni knows best, and we were delivered a multi-episode finale arc that arguably acts as one of the best Star Wars movies since the original trilogy.

Still, I was surprised to hear that The Bad Batch was getting it’s own spin-off. None of them seemed especially interesting as individuals, although the concept of a group of defective clones acting as a special ops team is pretty intriguing.

Now that The Bad Batch has landed with a 70 minute premiere, I can see why Filoni has decided to focus on this group for his next animated project.

Order 66 Executed

Looking at official Star Wars canon, the immediate ramifications of Revenge of the Sith have been largely unexplored.

We’ve had several projects between ROTS and A New Hope - Solo, Rebels, Rogue One, even the Fallen Order game is set 5 years after Anakin’s fall to the dark side. But we’ve not really had an insight into how the galaxy and its citizens reacted to the fall of a Republic and the rise of an Imperial Empire.

Some projects have touched on this — The Last Jedi and The Mandalorian have further explored the idea that most citizens on most worlds don’t really care if a Republic or Empire or First Order is in charge. There’s real world symbolism there of course, but it means that there’s likely not too much fertile ground for deep storytelling from a citizen’s perspective.

Clones are arguably the ones who are most affected by this change, as overnight they’ve gone from being soldiers fighting to protect the galaxy, to mass murderers, to completely unnecessary due to the war being over and a switch to conscripted soldiers underway.

With this in mind, the Bad Batch end up being an inspired choice to follow during the Empire’s rise. Defective or not, they’re still clones, so they have a unique point of view to watch everything unfold from — and no doubt have an emotional connection to these events also.

The Team

The Bad Batch consists of Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair and recent clone recruit Echo, re-introduced here after their Clone Wars arc.

Each has their own special skill as a result of their mutation, but it serves to differentiate them as individuals much more visually than Filoni was able to for clones during The Clone Wars (for obvious reasons). These characters will no doubt be fleshed out further in upcoming episodes, but Hunter and Crosshair are the premiere’s biggest focus.

Crosshair is immediately turned into the series antagonist as the only Batch member to not be immune to Order 66. I hesitate to call him a villain, but it’s a very smart play to have one of the main characters be positioned as the enemy of the rest so early on.

This ups the stakes for the rest of the season, as I assume the team will try to save/help Crosshair at some point rather than simply trying to kill him.

The Child

Star Wars is first and foremost about one thing: family.

The original trilogy revolved around Luke discovering and being guided by his family heritage— leading to one of the biggest reveals in cinema history. The prequel trilogy showed Anakin’s conflict between his family and his duties. The sequel trilogy focused on family legacy, and how one’s family (or lack there of) informs one’s identity.

Rebels was also family driven, with orphan Ezra Bridger finding a new family unit with the crew of the Ghost. Recent additions to Star Wars lore such as The Mandalorian have taken this concept a step further, with Din Djarin acting as Grogu’s father figure.

Another core theme of the Star Wars mythology is one of hope.

This often stems from the theme of family — characters finding a group who inspire them to be more, and to give them hope in a galaxy oppressed by Separatists/Imperials/The First Order.

These themes are both completely embodied by new character, Omega.

Omega is revealed to be another defective clone, yet the purpose for her creation remains to be answered. She’s the first ever female clone we’ve seen which immediately makes her interesting, even if we still don’t know what her ability is — her comment to Crosshair in lockup implies she might have some sort of foresight or intuition?

I’m wondering if her name holds a clue to her purpose. The word “omega” is the last letter (the end) in the Greek alphabet, and where an “alpha” is usually quite domination, an “omega” is usually rather peaceful. This works to symbolise her appearance as a singal that the war is ending and a “peaceful” period is beginning — although I’m not sure if that was a choice by Filoni or if that holds meaning within the story.

Omega both finds her family with The Bad Batch, and is incredibly hopeful and optimistic despite the tragedy happening across the galaxy at that time. That’s no more obvious than when we see her excitement as they enter hyperspace at the end.

Bigger Things At Play

The premiere also reveals some interesting things about other going’s on in the galaxy.

Tarkin is very opposed to Clones — or at least their cost — and manages to weasel out of the deal with the Kaminoans on a technicality. This doesn’t sit well with the Kaminoans, who end up helping the Bad Batch escape at the end.

This raises some interesting information. Kaminoans are known for the cloning prowess, but they weirdly seem fond of the Bad Batch while speaking to Tarkin during the training excerise. You’d think defective clones would be something they’d try to hide, as it’s kind of bad for business.

We also see at the end that the Kaminoans seem to be laying low, but are very much cautious of their place with the new Empire. I expect to see that evolve over upcoming episodes.

We also get a surprise appearance from Caleb Dune/young Kanan Jarrus and see where he was during Order 66, as well as an appearance by a young Saw Gerrera — both appearances organically connect the show with the existing Star Wars mythology. The Bad Batch ends with them on their way to see a friend, which I assume may be Rex?

Speaking of bigger things, we know that Filoni is putting together a little shared universe of live action Star Wars projects around the time of The Mandalorian. Omega is a young child now, but it’s not hard to assume she’d be an interesting inclusion as an adult during these shows, following the same trend as Ahsoka.

I’m excited to see how The Bad Batch evolves over time. Much like The Clone Wars and Rebels, I expect some early lighthearted episodes followed by a couple that really pack an emotional punch which changes the direction of the show.

At the very least, it’s fun to be back in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. I’ve got a good feeling about this.