The Bad Batch has been developing nicely in the last few episodes. While it still hasn’t reached the potential it should with the material it’s been given, the slow but sheer improvement over the walking collection of stereotypes we were introduced to in the last season of The Clone Wars is more than measurable.
Ironic as this episode reintroduced two character from the last season of The Clone Wars that I could… not… stand. Trace and Raffa, the Martez sisters or, as I like to call them, the dumbest characters that The Clone Wars has ever had on the show and, yes, that includes Jar Jar Binks.
I have to say, though, the Martez sisters weren’t horrible in this episode. The plot was so simplistic, I imagine it was jotted down on a napkin during lunch. Cid (who is becoming my favorite character on the show) tasks The Bad Batch with retrieving a decommissioned tactical droid from Corella where the remains of the droid army are being destroyed. While there, they run into the Martez sisters who are doing the same thing and so, it becomes a game of hot potato with a droid head until the police units show up and the Bad Batch and Martezes have to join forces against a never-ending assault of police droids.
While the endless action sequence does get old after a while, there is enough goodness inside it to make the episode worthwhile. For one, I am really enjoying the development of Omega more than any of The Bad Batch because her development feels more natural than any other character. She’s not instantly good at everything she tries, she has to practice and learn, and she screws up but, on the other hand, she’s not an idiot and is rarely written as the annoying kid character. She’s smart, she’s capable, she’s naïve, she’s wide-eyed… she’s unprepared until she becomes prepared. What’s more is that The Bad Batch doesn’t patronize her or treat her like a weakling. They see her as a member of the team and treat her like a member of the team.
I will fight anyone who says that she’s not a good character.
Secondly, the imminent activation of Wrecker’s inhibitor chip is building like a dark dangerous cloud and I’m really enjoying the way that the show has been building it over the last few weeks. It’s borderline chilling as Wrecker is the big teddy bear of the group.
So, even though the episode was fairly simplistic and got a little old, I enjoyed the character development enough to put this one in the positive column even with the Martez morons in tow.
Jason Gaston 