Cease me if you happen to’ve heard this earlier than: the Unhealthy Batch discover themselves up in opposition to, and operating away from, some sort of large creature. “Why,” grunts Wrecker, the staff’s beefy strongman as he huffs alongside, “why is there all the time an enormous monster?” It’s a enjoyable gag, as a result of actually, with The Bad Batch, there nearly all the time is a big monster. But it surely’s additionally a clumsy reality of the present at massive.
Unhealthy Batch has struggled to discover a stability between telling a wide range of one-off tales of the week (like, say, the perpetual big monster the ragtag clones all the time appear to seek out no matter what their mission was) and a bigger narrative with its titular heroes.
It’s why, for probably the most half, the collection and its characters have largely felt caught in place, even because the relentless Rise of the Empire encroaches additional and additional on the world and surviving characters of the Clone Wars—save for Omega (Michelle Ang) and conflicted staff turncoat Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker, perpetual voice of each Star Wars clone), the staff hasn’t actually grown in character past their preliminary introductions. It’s additionally why arguably the most interesting plotlines the collection has developed thus far—like seeing the younger Hera Syndulla and the burgeoning re-emergence of Ryloth’s resistance teams in season one, or season two’s plotline concerning the lack of social welfare for Clones because the Empire turns in the direction of its Stormtrooper program—have, by and huge, not concerned the Batch in any respect. The collection has principally saved its momentum restrained, content material to solely barely advance its world and characters because it distracts itself with one other monster of the week.
All that adjustments in its third and final season—which returns right now on Disney+ with a three-episode premiere, the primary batch of 15 episodes—though the large monsters are undoubtedly nonetheless there (within the first eight episodes, supplied for evaluate, there are at the very least 5, relying in your hugeness threshold). Coalescing across the fallout of that three-part premiere, which itself focuses on the captured Omega and Crosshair as they reconnect and endure their separate lives within the underbelly of the Empire’s mysterious cloning analysis facility at Mount Tantiss, The Unhealthy Batch’s closing outing takes a extra serialized strategy than its predecessors, deftly drawing collectively plot parts which have in-built matches and begins over the present thus far. It’s been a very long time coming, and sometimes to the present’s personal frustration prior to now, however whilst season three strikes on from one story to the subsequent, all the things feels prefer it’s coming collectively to deal with one explicit endgame—one with doubtlessly big ramifications for each the characters we’ve come to know over the course of the present and the wider connective world of Star Wars on this tumultuous time interval.
All the pieces issues right here, and never merely in a quantifiable, wikiable “canon” method—it’s simply that as a substitute with this tight deal with its endgame drawing collectively myriad characters and tales on the nexus of Mount Tantiss and what the sinister Physician Hemlock (Jimmi Simpson) has in retailer beneath its peaks, Unhealthy Batch lastly feels prefer it’s making efficient use of the time it’s bought. From the large monster motion sequences, to character threads coming dwelling to roost because the Batch reckons with the lack of Tech in season two’s climax whereas additionally coping with the return of the misplaced members to its fold, season three spends its first half in service of beginning to dig again into its characters in methods it hardly ever has thus far, utilizing the stress cooker of its overarching state of affairs to actually put the screws on its characters, and discover in what methods they actually have modified within the lengthy days since Order 66. As soon as once more, that is largely finished most properly by the lens of Omega and Crosshair, however this unlikely duo doesn’t simply carry out one of the best in themselves but additionally attracts that out in the remainder of the crew, resulting in some actually satisfying moments of character work that really feel like earned payoffs given how scattershot the collection’ episodic nature has been in service of these characters prior to now.
And whereas sure, there are some enjoyable one-offs in these first eight episodes—a specific spotlight sees Hunter and Wrecker begrudgingly staff up with Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) in a determined bid for data—none of it feels essentially “wasted,” in both distracting from the central plot or away from digging into its characters extra, all weaving itself into this singular path in the direction of Tantiss and Hemlock, time and again. It really works, not simply because it means we truly get to take a seat with our heroes and watch them develop and bounce off one another extra, however as a result of it successfully units the stakes for the season at massive as one thing that basically issues—grand within the scheme of Star Wars itself, and The Unhealthy Batch’s place in its timeline, however extra crucially grand by way of what issues to our heroes as individuals, particularly.
The place the present has beforehand struggled to make its most fascinating worldbuilding personally matter to the Batch, season three marries the private and galactic stakes collectively completely, conserving all the things compelling because it ticks over from week to week. It’s a mirrored image of a a lot stronger, extra assured present, one which feels prefer it’s lastly able to nail down the story it desires to inform with its characters and is laser targeted on doing so. Time will inform if the again half of the season will successfully choose up on the strengths of its entrance—however The Unhealthy Batch has set a stage brimming with potential for an extremely satisfying finish to this chapter of Star Wars animation if it sticks the touchdown.
Star Wars: The Unhealthy Batch’s third and closing season begins streaming on Disney+ right now, February 21, with a three-episode premiere.
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