Star Wars: The Bad Batch (1.1-1.3) Episode Recaps: The Start of Something New and Familiar

The first episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch set the tone for how this story has progressed so far. While it is a Star Wars story that is set in an uncertain time between the Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire, it opts to tell a personal story about a group of six clones (from Wrecker to Hunter to Echo to Crosshair to Tech to Omega). Whereas Dave Filoni’s previous storytelling adventure in the Star Wars universe happened on a much grander scale (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), this is a one that happens on a smaller scale. In The Clone Wars, we followed clones, droids, jedis, padawans, politicians, and more. It was not just one person or group’s story. The only connecting piece was The Clone Wars. It surged through each character and environment’s motive. It colored each background. The first episode of The Bad Batch is called “Aftermath” and it positioned both its audience and primary squadron right as the Clone Wars end. While this situation colors events, characters, and environments in a similar way to the Clone Wars in The Clone Wars, the first episode (and certainly the second and third) demonstrate a show that is more interested in investigating how its characters survive such a transient universe as outcasts.

The clones of the Bad Batch are no longer soldiers. Not after the events of the first episode anyway. Crosshair still is, but as the show unfolds more, we will spend more time with him. The second episode of The Bad Batch (while it is the weakest toward the overall story, it does contain a nice bit of characterization) positions this truth front and center. As Hunter insists are rescuing Omega in the first episode, he and the rest of the Bad Batch are now left with the consequences of that decision. She’s a child and it takes this realization over the course of the show’s second episode to both ground and give purpose beyond survival to our squadron. The show’s third episode draws inspiration from Alien as the squadron crash lands on an unknown planet with a creature that takes part of their ship. Here is where Omega starts to find her own footing. After Hunter is incapacitated by the creature, Omega follows the creature to retrieve the part. She realizes that the creature never meant them any harm and in doing so, gives it her flashlight (it feeds on electricity) in exchange for the part. That’s a dry synopsis, but it is telling of what life is going to be like for the Bad Batch moving forward. In the beginning of the show, they execute with a tactical precision rarely seen from clones. But at that time, their only roles were as soldiers. Now that they are something more, they must adapt. That principle appears to be at the core of the show through its first three episodes.

Watching this show is a particularly interesting experience for me as I am also currently making my way through a first-watch of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I inherently find myself making comparisons between the two shows, so these comparisons will no doubt come out over the course of these reviews. I was readily struck by how much more texture the animation delivers in Star Wars: The Bad Batch than in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In the first episode of The Bad Batch, the way the light hits the faces of our clone squadron illuminates their scars and unique characteristics. The character designs of each of the clones in the Bad Batch represent who they are. At each turn, even as the environments change from episode to episode, those physical characteristics are illuminated. Even more so in the close-ups of characters. It’s immediately noticeable as Hunter and the young padawan are facing each other at the waterfall in the first episode. All of these smaller things add to a dynamism in The Bad Batch that draws attention to the smaller details in a way not often seen in The Clone Wars.

Earlier, I briefly mentioned Crosshair and his position still being that of a soldier. The story is more complicated than that, and it has set up a terrific villain for the Bad Batch. The further he gets away from the Bad Batch themselves and the closer he gets to being a super soldier for the Empire, the more Dee Bradley Baker (the voice of all the clone troopers) changes his voice inflections. It’s a small characterization, but it cements Crosshair’s current state as cold, calculated, and unaffected by anything except completing his assigned orders. Crosshair’s transformation into servant of the ominous and (at the moment) vague Empire is juxtaposed against the transformation of the rest of the Bad Batch beyond soldiers and clones. Both of those journeys thus far continue to highlight just how much fun and how interesting it can be to mine the Star Wars universe for stories outside of the ones we know best.