The Bad Batch The Bad Batch Season 2 Discussion (Spoilers Allowed)

We know there are more people who don't watch "cartoons" than those who do. Those who watch animated Star Wars aren't stopping. The Zillobeast is back and now we got a Crosshair episode locked and loaded. I'm seeing recommendations on that Twitter thread to watch this after Mando.

 

Hemlock is a poison, right?

I assume the missing "asset" Hemlock referred to was the Zillo beast?

 

Season in a nutshell: Everything Crosshair > Everything else in the show.

 

I disagree Ryo Chuchi episodes were great..

 

Both the Crosshair episodes this season where better than the conspiracy/Palpatine thing. Crosshair himself is also the most interesting character on this show.

 

I’m digging it myself. Allows me to watch Bad Batch on my lunch break (the perks of working from home) and then Mando in the evening with the wife.

 

I thought it was a very well done philosophical, episode. Obviously Crosshair is a divisive character. As recently as the last episode he was in, he still just "followed orders" and killed that Governor in cold blood. But obviously his feelings are gradually shifting; he's realizing that the clones are considered less than expendable, barely human. He sees clones being "retired", and you immediately get that feeling that this lieutenant that he's been assigned with will push him just too far. By the end of the episode, when we see the stormtroopers, I was actually surprised that at least a few of them weren't more sympathetic to him. They're soldiers, but unlike the clones, they're more human and you'd assume can think for themselves. Part of me thought Crosshair would've just died by the end of the episode, but it looks like there's more story for him. He's detained by the Empire obviously for killing the officer. Are they just going to rewire him so his attitude of "good soldiers follow orders" is back to square one? That would be kind of a downer and pretty much make his previous episodes obsolete.

 

I think that the importance of this episode is that they see that despite turning the chip up to 11, it still can't fully control the clones. Plus in the empire's eyes, clones just aren't important anymore, not even him. They are fully moving away from them and if not for his usefulness to Omega, I suspect he would just been disposed of quietly on that planet.

 

So we’re the mining planet episodes. Most of the season was great

 

The “filler” episodes were much more character driven and were mostly great.

 

Yeah, even episodes like Faster and Entombed appear to be building towards something. I've noticed that Clone Force 99 haven't been getting Cid any credits. They didn't secure any of Dooku's assets, they didn't recover any valuable artefacts from the tomb, and they didn't mine any Ipsium.

With Millegi warning us about Cid in Faster, I'm suspecting she will sell Omega out to the Empire now that they're looking for her.

 

Agree and the quality gap between crosshair episodes and the rest are outrageous.

 

Episodes after The Clone Conspiracy duo have been connected and character-driven in my opinion. And the setup for Cid's betrayal has ripened.

 

The Bad Batch dealing with Echo leaving or them coming to terms with Cid being a scumbag and all that entails might not necessarily be “filler” but it’s far less interesting to me than Crosshair’s story and what is says about the plight of the clones within the Imperial army.

 

The Bad Batch outside of Crosshair are the least interesting thing in their own show. Notice how the best episodes are those where they aren't on screen much?

 

I mean, episode 11 was good and it had the Bad Batch involved. It's just that the plot itself was intriguing and it was relevant to the bigger picture. It just feels like Cid storyline has overstayed its welcome. I hope the next episode will also have relevant storyline and intrigue, so that the show doesn't break the pacing after two back-to-back great episodes.

 

I think next episode we might see Cid and Bad Batch breakup.

 

The episode would have been better if the Lieutenant wasn't such a caricature. (In a cartoon, lol!)

But it was a good episode that fits in with TCW story-telling style nicely.

 

the Lieutenant comes off as someone who bought his way through.

 

He definitely did. Has no idea how to lead and is entitled to the max.

 

he reminds me of the nobility of the Empire from "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", who have 0 military experience and see their troops as cannon fodder who should be honored to die for them.

 

I’m quite a few episodes behind on this latest season. Just haven’t had the time. I think my last episode watched was perhaps that death racing one or perhaps the one after that. Scratch that. I did watch the one where they went into some giant robotic tomb to get some mysterious and valuable crystal before leaving it. Felt like an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade callback to me.

It’s felt a bit too meandering and random for me so far. Not enough of a large goal that they’re aiming for to drive plot. Beyond gaining some financial freedom their desires seem unclear. No big mystery (so far). Hopefully that changes. I do like these characters and the general premise.

 

Spoilers (?) Thought they were going to leave this ambiguous tbh but here it is.

Spoiler

 

In contrast to the statement that the core of Bad Batch is uninteresting, I find it exciting that the characters have to find their way in their chosen reality of life.
In contrast to the obedience of a clone trooper, the meaningful episodes are a preparation for the finale.

Evaluating the season before the end only makes you meaningful

 

I still think this show is great and it's telling a story fine.

You know in The Clone Wars, Rex's development came time and time again from bouncing off more interesting characters than he was. Rex started off as a badass which in a franchise full of them doesn't make him that much of a standout. Rex's dark horse ensemble status uniquely comes from his growth in learning from those more interesting characters. They all challenge his views, and the meaning he finds in being a soldier which forces him to reevaluate and change. Rebels continued this trend. Any live-action appearance is going to have to be able to continue that trend to write him well. He can't just come in like some old man badass.

The Bad Batch arc in The Clone Wars when it finally came out was the one exception to this. Clone Force 99 or Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair were not introduced in The Clone Wars just to become a spinoff. They weren't there for Rex to bounce off of. They were introduced as a group of defective clones who kept to themselves and were as equally shunned by the Regs as the other way around. Jesse was plenty keen to pick a fight when Wrecker was just trying to be friendly. It's a testament to the character work in The Bad Batch that now these guys have character development and actual personalities. When I go back to that arc I understand their characters. Where they were coming from. The point of this was to deconstruct the Clone Brotherhood. To cast a light on how much like Crosshair is in this episode, Rex was exceedingly lonely. To the point, he pulled out all the stops to rescue Echo hoping he was alive. Echo didn't even stick with him. Rex winds up closer to Ahsoka than any of the surviving clones which helps him choose to stick with her in "Shattered"+"Victory and Death".

I don't find Clone Force 99 uninteresting. Season one developed Wrecker from just an idiot. To a lovable goof of a big brother. Yes, it gave Hunter his singular goal of protecting Omega but he couldn't save either Caleb and probably feels the same way about Crosshair so I can see how he got into this high-functioning Heroic Blue Screen of Death he has been living in. It's not a surprise they are stuck as mercenaries.

Omega when they met her and took her with them didn't know what dirt was. Has there been a more wholesome moment than the first time Omega stepped off the shuttle and kicked around the dirt? She was ridiculously smart and gifted with talents. This was all part of what made her interesting and mysterious. Something the show is coming back to but had to let go of for a while.

None of them knew the galaxy outside of missions and being soldiers. Or being a kid stuck in a boring white box. That made them easy for Cid to take advantage of. Now with repeated missions and failures. Their fed up, less naive, and have learned they can survive on their own. Omega has been teaching them the value of helping people. The Bad Batch has helped people, made connections, found allies they'll call on soon enough, and found places they can take sanctuary though they have been warned there is nowhere to hide from the Empire. The warning came from the most predictable person who will put the knife in their backs now that they have outgrown Cid.

Tech has been quietly fed up for a long time. He was over Crosshair in season one. Season 2 gave Tech a little of his own development. His skills can help a lot of people. Tech was the one who suggested they be diplomatic and go on the last mission for Cid because she knows too much about them. He may get a real MVP moment. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one who has been making them money on the side.

Season two has pretty much run with the deconstruction of the clone brotherhood in that it is gone. Echo got the short end of the stick last season and only got as far as being the group curmudgeon. This season Echo finally went back to his dad unable to ignore his sense of duty and what's right. Pretty heavy stuff for a guy who suffered a fate worse than death and had seemed to start over with The Bad Batch. But the line between Regs and Defective clones is gone. Echo may have been made a cyborg but he's a clone and is going to help his brothers get out. There is another line drawn now with the "Believers".

That is exactly the leap Crosshair made. Arguably the best developed. He was just an ******* I wanted Rex to deck in the original arc. And at times that need to be a jerk and better than everyone seemed to be Crosshair's motivation. That's why it was possible to believe Crosshair wasn't being controlled by a chip in his head before he revealed he took it out. But, he still loved the rest of The Bad Batch. All he wanted was for them to be good soldiers with him for the Empire. The side he picked. He wouldn't go with them to live as a common thief and they abandoned him to his fate now. When he became so lonely he was befriended by a Reg he never would have given the time of day before. The final straw that broke Crosshair. Crosshair has probably been spared to be used to get info and as bait or motivation.