*Warning: the following article contains spoilers for episode thirteen of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 2*
I give up. I’m throwing in the towel. Star Wars: The Bad Batch will never change. But why must it be this boring? Why should a show that focuses on clones become obsolete as the Empire takes its first steps to be so dull, with only a few good episodes per season? Sure, it explores brand-new worlds, but it’s also thunderously lethargic. Its pace puts me to sleep on every occasion instead of developing character relationships in interesting ways. But I try, week after week, to see if the show will be any better and, like the good soldier I am, report my thoughts here. I’m still not impressed.
Read: ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 2’ Episode Twelve Review: “The Outpost”
Last week’s episode was a side-quest, veering off from the main characters and showing a change of heart from Crosshair. It did it smartly and set up a brilliant finale that I hope will arrive because the fourth to last episode of season two does another detour we don’t need. Oh, great, they explore a new world they might live in after their stint with the Empire, and Cid (Rhea Perlman) is over, but so what? Is it that important right now, after the show continuously sets up its main threat and never pays it off? My patience is certainly wearing thin.
Again, I don’t mind filler. This week’s episode of The Mandalorian – Season 3 was pure filler. It veered off the main story by focusing on minor characters, and its results were thrilling. I wasn’t expecting such a detour, but this felt like the first time the show developed its storyline and characters in a post-Empire and pre-First Order world. After two forgettable episodes, it seemed like the right framing device to hook us in. Filler is good when it does something to develop the characters or has an interesting detour from the main story. Pabu barely develops the characters. It only slightly expands on Omega’s (Michelle Ang) arc, where she finally meets someone her age and could have a place to stay with people who can care for her more than The Bad Batch (Dee Bradley Baker) do.
But it’s also terribly uninteresting. It starts semi-promising, with Phee Genoa (Wanda Sykes) avoiding an assassination attempt three times, with the batch saving her inside a cantina. Then we get a confirmation that Cid and the clones are no longer working together and that she may reveal their real identities to the Empire after they double-cross her. That’s interesting, but then they go on Pabu to “lay low,” The episode’s pace screeches down to a halt and never recovers.
Pabu experiences a tremor, and the episode focuses on the clones helping the town’s citizens while Omega is still in trouble! Can we stop with this arc? Can you find something original and at least interesting instead of repeating the same plot threads repeatedly? It’s fine when you’re “back in the beat,” and it’s for the first few episodes. But when we’re two weeks close to the finale, it feels inexcusable. I know that next week’s episode will be a filler before the undeveloped finale arrives. Still, what a shame to waste such great potential in favor of aimless and boring side missions instead of developing an interesting threat and great character relationships. Too many of the first season’s best characters have been relegated to second fiddle and barely explored in this season, which makes The Bad Batch – Season 2 an even worse season than the first. Let’s see if the last three episodes will pick up the pace…somehow.
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The thirteenth episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.
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