The Bad Batch Season 1 Episode 8: Reunion & Episode 9: Bounty Lost (thus far) have made it into our top three rankings for the series! From Crosshair getting his face burned off, to Omega finding an abandoned clone facility on Bora Vio, there’s a lot to discuss. Are Hunter and Tech failing in their duties to the group? Is Taun We really dead? Tune in for the numbers from your favorite Star Wars ranking team.
“This episode was really great at creating suspense.” - Amanda
Reunion turned it up a notch in terms of action and pace. With the batch scrapping for some valuable parts, Crosshair is preparing for a meetup worth watching. We all liked that Omega was the focus of this story. It was made obvious when Crosshair directed his troops to kill Omega right on the spot, in front of his former comrades. It’s at this point that Tim points out all attempts at redemption for Crosshair (and his reconciliation to the group) are out the window. It’s hard to picture him coming back from this, but maybe there’s still a chance and we just don’t care for it to happen. Brody mentioned that Crispy Crosshair is taking on a new identity now with his charred face from the ion engine. I was getting some serious Dengar vibes seeing how he was bandaged. Was that their intention?
“I need to watch the next one. What’s happening?” - Tim
Along with the hunt for Omega, we saw a new technical aspect introduced in the series: Hunter’s helmet point of view. Witnessing his wakeup after his loss to Cad Bane was a sobering yet interesting lure for the audience. It reminded Brody of the Republic Commando trailer and other video games alike. Oh yeah, Cad freaking Bane showed up in this episode! We got his corny theme to stick around as well. At least, for Amanda his theme kind of beats the dead horse. The hat, boots, gun, and toothpick are enough. The overdramatization of his return kills it for her, but not Brody and Tim. It was fun to see the bounty hunter back in action.
“Wrecker really loves ion torpedoes.” - Christian
With all the flak we’ve given Wrecker, we’ve got to hand it to him in this episode. It was his idea to go with Plan 7. His suggestion reminded me of Dirk and Al pulling off a Panama in the great movie Sahara. Is Plan 7 just a less creative name for the same maneuver? Along with improvements for technical aspects and Wrecker’s contributions, Tim loves that the credits music was different. It was much more somber after Omega’s kidnapping, and there was a real sense of desperation for the group.
“I felt like the stakes were higher.” - Amanda
Moving onto to Episode 9: Bounty Lost, Crosshair is even more demented than we thought. He’s scarred (still bandaged like Dengar), and in furious pursuit for his former comrades. Meanwhile, we get to see what it’s like for Omega to survive on her own. She is more than capable of figuring things out; she even aids the droid, Todo, with fixing its leg while she’s in captivity. It was made more explicit that she’s a pure first generation clone of Jango’s DNA, thus upping our ranks for both the story and lore. This got us thinking: could Boba Fett appear in season two? Or could we get Omega in live action elsewhere? It’d be great to see a live action energy bow, slinging some cool shots with sweet sound effects.
The animation for the action was well done, showcasing a real brutality with the choreographed fight. We could feel the punches exchanged between Cad Bane and Fennec. Despite the brutality, Amanda pointed out that Cad Bane tips his hat to Fennec, much like Maul pays a certain respect to Ashoka by calling her lady Tano. Look at these villains still treating women with respect. It’s interesting to think after this episode, Fennec is now Omega’s protector while Bane is still the hunter. Two bounty hunters, one prize. It was also sad that we lost Taun We. Or did we? We never actually saw what happened. We just hear a shot, and Taun We is lying on the ground. Am I supposed to simply believe my favorite Kaminoan is dead just like that? No, she’s still alive. She has to be, but I’m probably also wrong. It makes you wonder though why they did it this way. Even though they’re small parts to play, it makes for an intriguing situation having Lama Su’s assistants going against each other’s wishes.
Hot Takes:
Hunter is the easiest member to take down in a one on one fight.
Cad Bane should not have lost to dad-bod Boba Fett.
Cad Bane’s theme is too corny.
Tech is terrible at his job.
Hunter isn’t good at anything except smelling.
Taun We is still alive.
Is Hunter too overconfident in his abilities? We haven’t seen much of him worth noting, and Tim is starting to think he may be the least formidable of the batch. Though I disagree, I like his humble demeanor and even though he hasn’t demonstrated a lot of successes, he’s the breadwinner burdened with responsibility. He’s the only one watching out for the group in terms of paying bills and making sure they have a safe place to stay. I think we have bigger problems with Tech being the weakest link. During Episode 8: Reunion, he has too many costly assumptions to the group’s detriment. He assumed the ship locator wasn’t working when it actually was. He assumed jamming their signal and patching into Crosshair’s comms would help. He knew the ion engine was capable of activation and still led the group through the chamber for escape. All instances nearly killed the group.
These two episodes actually had us wanting more. With big cliff hangers and a cloning facility found by Omega, the pacing for this show is picking up quite nicely. Though we still have our critiques like how did the Marauder intercept Omega’s life pod? Did they catch her mid fall? It wasn’t made clear; in fact it was kind of brushed over rather quickly. But with more emotional tugs like Omega crying once rescued by Hunter and crew, how can one not feel attached to the gang? We look forward to hopefully ranking future episodes higher than these two.
Tim introduced a new segment titled “Well, technically…” where he reads a statement and we determine what is false about it. See below for this week’s fun brain teaser.
“Todo 360 is a techno astro(service) droid owned by the bounty hunter Cad Bane and in S1E9 we see them both as partners aboard Bane’s ship, the Xanadu Blood(Justifier).”
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