The Bad Batch S3: Who Would Ever Want to Be a Clone?
By John Kirk
Rating: B+
Everyone wanted to be Han Solo in the original Star Wars. Or Princess Leia or Luke. These were true romantic heroes that touched the hearts of both young and old fans alike. But in the case of the prequels? I mean, who wanted to be a Clone Trooper? They weren’t even Stormtroopers.
First seen in the last episodes of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch managed to work their outcast ways into the hearts of loyal Star Wars fans who remember the successful romanticism of the original film and see it echoed in this series.
Sadly, this is the last season of The Bad Batch. We said goodbye to Echo and saw the noble sacrifice of Tech at the end of the previous season. Will Wrecker and Hunter manage to find their missing clone sister Omega, and bring the rebellious Crosshairs back into the fold? These are the initial questions on fans minds.
Very little of this occurs in the first three episodes. It’s a lot of story-building for what promises to be a shorter season than fans would like. After all, we’ve been waiting for this season for what seems to be an eternity. The shortness of this season’s arc doesn’t really promise a lot of joy, actually.
A major theme in Star Wars has always been about sacrifice but it’s more poignant when the underdog has to take the hit, which of course, always leads to the big win. No Star Wars series or film can ever hope to win fans unless it follows this simple pattern.
Of course, there’s no one more underdog than a bunch of refugee clone troopers who have banded together after avoiding General Order 66 to become a group of mercenaries for hire, not knowing that, Omega is a prize the Empire would like to have back. So, of course, they’re on the run and that’s where Season 2 left off: on a loss.
Remember, these clones are the group who used to be Clone Force 99. Clones with unique genetic aberrations that give them special abilities. Though they all had the same face (and variations of Dee Bradley Baker’s voice), they were individuals that set them apart from the rest of the Clone Troopers. They were a cut above the rank and file.
Season 3 has an initial sense of despair to it. The team is splintered, with only Wrecker and Hunter left to continue the search, it seems pretty bleak. Creative visionary Dave Filoni is signalling that this season isn’t going to be a happy one and in fact, the first three episodes seem to confirm that.
It's also a bit slow to start and the pace doesn’t really pick up until the third episode. Again, a bit of a stark contrast to the previous seasons. The sense of impending finality is reinforced by the reminder that Echo and Tech are gone.
Episodes 1 to 3 were released together on Disney+ this past Wednesday and all of them felt like Filoni was trying to tell fans not to get their hopes up for a happy ending.
Which is a shame, because these clones became real fixtures in the Star Wars universe in a very short period of time. In only two seasons, Filoni gave us a close-knit group; an ersatz family with a close sense of kinship that endeared them to fans because of their characters, rather than simply being a part of Star Wars.
Season 3 seems to change that shift with Omega’s importance to the Empire, hence the reason for her abduction to the research facility working on a special project answerable only to the Emperor himself. But the absence of initial joy in this season just reinforces that they’re heroes who no one would want to be.
In its short history this team has achieved the status of being the ultimate outsiders. They have little affiliation with the Rebellion and fleeing the Empire – their former Republic masters – there have been very few allies they’ve been able to trust. They’ve become an independent force for good, and all they have are themselves and while the galaxy gives them little credit, the fans love them.
Combined with a sense of bleakness and an impending sense of defeat, it’s hard to get into this season knowing that it’s the last and the mood of the episodes we’ve already seen don’t give fans any sense of comfort.
Still, with all of that in mind, prepare yourself for a lot of emotion. It is the final season after all, and what this season lacks in energy, it makes up for with that impending sense of finality. It’s touching and hopefully, that will touch fans’ hearts as well as earn the Bad Batch their well-deserved place in the gigantic compendium of Star Wars lore.
The Bad Batch. Directed by Brad Rau. Starring Dee Bradley Baker, Michelle Ang, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Jimmi Simpson, Noshir Dalal, and Wanda Sykes. Available on Disney+ every Wednesday.