The Star Wars ranking team has done it again! The Bad Batch Season 1 Episode 14: War Mantle has made it into our top two for the series, but why? Is Hunter finally stepping up to the plate as a true leader? Are the Kaminoans morally good? If you were the Emperor, would you favor a smaller clone army or a larger recruited military? Tune in as we listen to Brody have a meltdown while Tim makes a heinous Lord of the Rings comparison.
“It truly felt cinematic.” - Amanda
The Immersive Universe (62.4%), Music (57.6%), and Technical Aspects (56.8%) were highlights of this episode. War Mantle expands the lore quite well, showing us V-Wings again, introducing the TK trooper series, featuring Gregor, revealing the Republic Commandos, and giving us that familiar feel of A New Hope. It felt like Episode IV with the music playing in the background during their exploration of the facility (much like Han and Luke’s adventure). The Music at the end with the cliffhanger also sounds awesome. This was a beautiful episode tying a lot of loose ends, which felt like the beginning of the end of the series.
“We also got our first look at the awful aim of the stormtroopers.” - Tim
Even though the Story (56%) and Characters (46.4%) ranked lower than the other categories, we still had good things to say about them. Hunter starts to show some successful leadership; having Wrecker and Omega stay with the ship really paid off for the group. He even starts to hunt like a predator! We get a little more from Echo, being the voice of reason and persuading the group to trust Rex just as he does. Tech stays true to his failures, possessing inaccurate data once again, and Gonky even gets a moment to shine!
“I feel like Gregor’s story just keeps getting better and better.” - Brody
However, we still had some critiques. Why keep stunning? There were many stun shots throughout this episode. The Bad Batch really hasn’t gotten violent, and they don’t typically use force. That’s a characteristic we’d expect from an elite squad. We also discuss the morality of the Kaminoans. Are they merely opportunists? Getting into the ethics of cloning and for what purposes draws me back to droids. Let’s manufacture droids for ‘slave’ labor instead of cloned humans. We also speculate our own possible strategies for taking over the galaxy; not because we want to, but because Brody asked us how we’d do it. Maybe we should ask Brody that same question. All this to say that we’re realizing The Bad Batch show serves like a sequel instead of a solid series on its own. It bridged the prequels to the original trilogy; showing what the Empire’s gradual takeover looks like.
Hot Takes
Gregor is more annoying than Gregor.
Wrecker is like Merry and Pippin; they serve the same comedic purpose.
Wrecker is an irredeemable character.
Lama Su is still alive!
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