Final Impressions - Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Introduced in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Clone Force 99 AKA The Bad Batch were a real highlight and with the addition of the recently returning Echo it was announced that they would be getting their own show which would be set between the events of Revenge of The Sith & A New Hope and see how the crew dealt with the formation of The Empire & Order 66. Today saw the 47th and final episode of the show and it was a fantastic finale which ended the show on a fantastic note. As a big fan, I wanted to give my feelings on the show and my final impressions now that we are finished with it, there will be spoilers for all of the seasons of the show. 

It took time for me to care about Omega

Omega is the twin sister of Boba Fett, she is introduced as an unaltered clone of Jango Fett that worked on Kamino. With the creation of The Empire, she escapes Kamino with The Bad Batch as the villains attempt to track her down for a reason that we later learn. She came across as a bit whiny and annoying in the first few episodes but eventually through the strength of Michelle Ang's voice acting and the writing for her character I grew to really care about her and her relationship with the rest of the team.

The Rise of The Empire is fascinating to watch

A large theme of this show, especially with its first two seasons is the rise of the Empire and how that differs from The Galactic Republic, with it being gradual changes. We see the slight change of armour, the clones being discontinued and the recruitment of outside soldiers. You really get a grasp of how huge The Empire is and how quickly they took over the galaxy and put their martial law in order. 

Crosshair is easily the best character of the show

In a shocking turn of events, Crosshair betrayed The Bad Batch in the first episode of the show and remained loyal to The Empire. From there, he goes through an amazing plot line, he attempts to track down Clone Force 99 while training the new recruits in the first season. He then reveals that his inhibitor chip was removed and he is really loyal to the Empire. However, the second season really made him question his loyalty to the cause and makes him question his worth. He does end up betraying The Empire and seeing him re-join the team with his physical issues added another dynamic. Some would argue that he deserved a bad ending due to the evil things that he did, but this is Star Wars and he truly gets redemption for his actions. 

Too Much Filler

My biggest criticism of this show has always been the huge amount of filler episodes that see The Bad Batch doing a job with very little links to the main story. This issue was improved on in the 3rd season as the character who gave them all these side missions Cid was removed from the show. It wasn't that they weren't entertaining it was just that there were too many and they were usually in a row and it made it feel a bit repetitive. 

The Guest Characters are the best & worst part of the show

It is great to see how many characters from Star Wars Lore are included in this show and expands there characters and story. Highlights such as a younger Fennec Shand, Cad Bane & Assaj Ventress, however, people become so engaged by those characters that it took away from The Bad Batch and the story that they are on.

Tech's death is one of the great Star Wars moments

For me, the biggest moment of Star Wars: The Bad Batch is during the finale of season 2 we see the death of one of the members Tech. It is super sad and truly emotional, he was the best developed character over the season which made his death so much harder and the way it was made, truly made it a special Star Wars moment. The fact that he stays dead made it a gut-wrenching moment and one that truly felt earned and might have even been the turning point for this show in terms of quality. 

We get the introduction of Project Necromancer

When he was resurrected in The Rise of Skywalker, everybody was confused in how exactly Emperor Palpatine returned. Since then we have had some explanation, in The Mandalorian Season 3 we see plenty of focus on cloning and even a mention of Project Necromancer. Now in The Bad Batch, we see the projects origins as Dr Hemlock works directly with The Emperor and it is made clear that this is all linking towards the cloning that we would see in later projects in terms of the timeline. 

We get a happy ending

Probably the biggest surprise of the show is that we get a happy ending. The team take down Hemlock and destroy Project Necromancer and end up living a happy life away from conflict. We see that Hunter, Omega, Crosshair & Wrecker live 10 years together where they grow old and it was just such a nice ending, considering I was really worried that some of the members wouldn't make it out alive. 

Are future projects teased? 

Even though this is a really satisfying ending it does make me question whether this is the end of all of these characters or whether we will see more. We see an older Omega go off to join the Rebellion and maybe we could get her own show? We never see what comes of Rex & Echo's clone faction & how Wolfe ends up joining them and what happened to Commander Cody after he left The Empire in Season 2. I think we will see another show based on Clones and I am all here for it. 

Overall

Overall, Star Wars Bad Batch is a show that had some rough patches but got better with every season ending with a truly fantastic season and a finale that deserves all the praise. I think fans of Star Wars who maybe don't watch the animated stuff will end up loving this show and I think it was a great success.