Thursday, July 18, 2024

Clone Wars Episode Guide- Bad Batch Season Three

February 21st- May 1st, 2024. 15 Episodes

OK, Dave Filoni, I don't care how you continue your Clone Wars stories anymore, now including animated. Granted, I will keep watching them and reviewing them, like I did with  Ahsoka aka Rebels Season Five. However, as you've reached the end of this tale, here is my final foray into an Episode Guide.

The show ended fantastically, with many call backs to it's own past and the serieses that led up to it. It was a great send off for the Bad Batch, with villains all getting what they deserved, and Omega positioned for future appearances.

Here's what happened:

1 "Confined"
Omega is still captured by the Empire, who are doing blood tests. Nala Se the last(ish, maybe?) Kaminoan, and Emerie, the older female clone like Omega are doing the tests, and showing some  compassion to her. She displays her own trademark compassion for the also captured Crosshair and one of the base protection Space Dogs. Hemlock, the Imperial in charge, is a HUGE jerk, as to be expected


2 "Paths Unknown"
The remains of the Batch, Hunter and Wrecker (Crosshair- was Imperial, now a prisoner, Echo- joined Rex's team rescuing other clones and working with the nascent rebellion, Tech- I should have believed it...alas.) get information from a crime family it felt like we've seen before (but we haven't... maybe because it's leader was Angelica Houston)  where the Imperial Omega holding place could be. The information is past its expiration date and the base has long since been abandoned. While there, they fight a killer vine-vegetable-sarlacc... thing with some left behind kid clones. Everyone leaves with minimal information. The kid clones are taken to live on the "safe" island town on the planet the Batch now operates off of.


3 "Shadows of Tantiss"
Tantiss is where the bad guy base is now. The Emperor comes to check on the "M-count" experiments, because everyone is afraid to say "Midichlorians" after the prequels. Nala Se continues to be cool, Emre, not so much. Omega escapes, brings Crosshair and gets helped by her Space Dog. There was a time jump before this as Omega has been here long enough to grow a ponytail.


4 "A Different Approach"
Omega, Crosshair and Space Dog (Batcher) crash and find yet another crime and corruption ridden craphole of a planet, because these persist no matter who is in charge of the Star Wars galactic civilization. They try to escape off planet using subterfuge, sneakiness and gambling skills. This fails apocalyptically and they escape by shooting Stormtroopers and blowing stuff up, which works far better. (Woo!) The reunion with Hunter and Wrecker is sweet (Omega) and awkward (Crosshair.)


5 "The Return"
Omega convinces the gang to go back to Tantiss and rescue the other prisoner clones, because of course she does. There is one problem, they have no idea where it is. They go to where Crosshair shot that guy in the face to use the electronic thingy she stole and access the Imperial Database. The base is abandoned because of an enormous Snow Worm, just in case the Dune parallels weren't obvious enough with the new movie out. Crosshair apologizes for not realizing the Empire is evil and everyone bonds over giant monster fighting.


6 "Infiltration"
Rex and company are protecting Senators Chuchi and Singh. (Seen in previous episodes and shows.) The meeting is attacked by a CX Clone, a new kind of super assassin created by doing cruel things to clones using Hemlock's ultra jerky ways. Omega and Crosshair knew about this but didn't think to mention it until one showed up. Well done, team. Crosshair's twitchy hand is blamed on his resistance to being made into a CX.


7 "Extraction"
The Batch and Rex's gang escape from the CX and some Imperial Troops. Much running, shooting, and yelling happens. Crosshair takes out, or at least slows down, the CX. Our heroes are stopped by the Imperials. However, their troops are led by Clone Commander Wolffe, who because he is a clone and not a Stormtrooper is also not a jerk, and lets them go.


8 "Bad Territory"
The Batch talks to Pirate Lady Phee about finding information about the M-Count stuff. We haven't seen her since before Tech died and she's understandably still really sad. She connects them to Fennec Shand (Yay!) who continues to be awesome. She trades them information for helping her capture an evil praying mantis man. Omega helps Crosshair work through some stuff. Space Dog is still there.

 
9 "The Harbinger"
Fennec Shand's information came from Asajj Ventress, who we haven't seen since Clone Wars Season 5! She lands in a cave hidey hole and explains Midichlorians (without calling them that) and the Force to Omega. Omega's blood is the only one that transfers M-Count when cloning...or something, but she shows no force powers. The Batch assumes Ventress is up to no good (which is a fair assumption) but her keeping Omega safe from being eaten by a giant fish monster loosens them up a bit. Omega is awful at all her forcing tests, except one where she gets help from her Space Dog instead of the Force. (Or did she get help from her Space Dog BECAUSE of the force?)


10 "Identity Crisis"
Villain episode! Hemlock continues to be a jerk. Nala Se is in jail, Emre is now head of research. She learns the extent of the jerkiness- finding out the M-count experiments come from kidnaping force sensitive children from their families (which the Jedi also did, but never mind that now) and keeping them in a little baby jail area. (which presumably the Jedi did not do.) More evidence shows up that this is the "Clone Wars Final Roundup" as we get a cameo of Cad Bane kidnapping one of the children. The CX tells the jerk that he has a lead, and Tarkin acts like himself, threatening to pull all the funding if there aren't better results soon. Oh, in case Hemlock's jerkiness is not obvious enough, the M-count thing he's working on is called "Project Necromancer."


11 "Point of No Return"
The CX finds out where Omega and the Batch live by sneaking onto Pirate Lady Phee's ship... because all Star Wars tech continues to be based on line of sight. He hides in the same hidey hole cave we've seen already, before blowing up the Batch's ship (awwww) which injures Wrecker to keep the fights from ending immediately. The CX brings down a HUGE Imperial presence to the less safe than everyone thought planet. Omega gives herself up to save everyone, but first hatches a plan AND a back up plan with Crosshair to find her. Both fail epically, but no one else gets caught, partially due to the efforts of Space Dog.


12 "Juggernaut"
Omega is back in "Baby Jedi Jail" on Tantiss. Emre confirms her M-count transferring blood. The Batch comes up with a plan to find her, involving breaking Rampart, the main bad guy from season one and part of season two out of an Imperial jail. He is a huge pain, and rude. These cartoons have always done a much better job than the films of showing the bad guys are not people to be emulated and are far less cool than the live action villains were. Wrecker tossing him around makes him somewhat helpful, and for entertaining viewing.


13 "Into the Breach"
Omega meets the other residents of "Baby Jedi Jail" and immediately starts on escape plans, because she is awesome. Our heroes (and Rampart) meet up with Echo on Coruscant to steal the coordinates to Tantiss. This fails utterly, because, unlike every other Imperial system, the security set up is actually useful here. The coordinates are only transmitted right before ships head into hyperspace. Instead Echo sneaks on board the Tantiss bound ship, turns off their "something is stuck to the hull detector" and the Batch sticks their ship to the hull before it goes into hyperspace.


14 "Flash Strike"
We learn even the Empire isn't THAT stupid, and they know the Batch is coming. Our heroes (and Rampart) get shot and and crash yet another ship, leaping out of the craft before it goes down. (OK, Hunter and Wrecker leap, they throw Rampart, screaming, out of the hatch. Ha ha!) Rampart wakes up a forest monster who continues the trend of injuring Wrecker to keep the fights from ending immediately. (as Wrecker decided riding it was the best way to fight the monstrosity, we can spread the blame around on this one) The creature then runs off to eat Stormtroopers. Echo, still on the bad guy ship, steals a Stormtrooper's armor and a Death Star Droid's hand to let him sneak into the Tantiss Base. He meets Emre who decides its time to stop being a jerk to her fellow clones. Omega sneaks through the walls to find an escape route and instead finds (the now full size) captured and tortured Zillo Beast. (The Star Wars Godzilla analogue) which is pretty much the same thing.

 
15 "The Cavalry Has Arrived"
Double length series finale! WOO! An EPIC ENDING! The Zillo beast is released to wreak havoc (and chow down) on the Imperials. The Batch is captured and tortured but Omega frees them and along with other released clones, they defeat a gang of CXs and the few Imperial Stormtroopers that haven't already been eaten or stepped on. Crosshair loses his twitchy hand in the battle. Rampart tries to betray EVERYONE and rejoin the Empire but Nala Se in a repentant moment of awesome blows up him, herself and all evidence of project Necromancer with a nicely palmed thermal detonator. Rampart's reaction when she rolled it at his feet was quite cathartic. The good guys escape, but first have a tense stand off with Hemlock that ends with the apparently ambidextrous Crosshair recovering his crack shot ability, Omega stabbing the jerk, and Hunter and Crosshair swiss cheesing him with their blasters before he falls off one of many of the Empire's non OSHA standard platforms! YAAAY! 
The Batch happily retires to the safe island on the planet that we assume that the Empire forgets about.
Tarkin takes all the Necromancer funding for the Death Star. (I mean... It must have come back later. "Somehow Palpatine returned," right?) A nice little end section references the Batch still happily retired in their old age, and a grown up Omega flying off to join the Rebellion.



BONUS CARTOON-

Tales of the Empire was a well done bit of fill in for two characters. It was more focused than its predecessor, Tales of the Jedi

The first three episodes are at various points in Morgan Elsbeth's life, filling in the back story of the villain in Ahsoka and the Mandalorian. Diana Lee Inosanto returns to provide the voice. Woo!

The second three parts follows up the tale of Barriss Offee which ended in Season 5 of The Clone Wars. It details her fall into becoming an Inquisitor and eventual redemption. 

Both were well done, dripping with Star Wars Lore, and filled with top notch emotional content.

Click for season index of Clone Wars, Rebels and Bad Batch

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