Star Wars Universe Expands to Include the Familiar Adventures of The Bad Batch | TV/Streaming

This one unfolds in a very different era from “The Mandalorian,” which was initially set five years after the end of “Return of the Jedi.” “The Bad Batch” picks up much earlier, after the end of “The Clone Wars,” which places it between the prequel trilogy and the original “Star Wars.” (In fact, Lucasfilm has even named these eras—this one is called Reign of the Empire as evil forces grow stronger in the run-up to the action of that first film.) The final season of “The Clone Wars” opened with a four-episode arc that essentially served as a long pilot for “The Bad Batch.” In those episodes, Filoni introduced a group of clone troopers called Clone Force 99 a.k.a. The Bad Batch—Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair, and Echo, all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. These troopers have unique powers that separate them from average clone troopers. They’re sort of the X-Men of troopers, with unique powers, and, importantly, more of their own free will.

That last part matters because “The Bad Batch” opens with the legendary Order 66, when all of the troopers turned on and murdered the nearest Jedi they could find after a hidden programming forced them to do so at the will of Grand Moff Tarkin. As most troopers learn they have programmed codes they’re expected to follow, the Bad Batch discovers that they can go their own way. Well, most of them can. Without spoiling anything, the initial action of “The Bad Batch” centers on a rift in the titular group regarding whether or not to heed the instructions of Order 66.

The issue of whether or not to follow unjust orders provides a strong dramatic thrust to the first episode (and is a theme throughout many of the SW films) but the introduction of a Kaminoan child named Omega (Michelle Ang) works decidedly less well. Omega ends up befriending the Bad Batch and becomes a sort of sidekick. While a new kid protagonist is clearly a way to try and get younger viewers engaged, older ones may regret how much focus she steals from the Bad Batch themselves. There are also some clunky extended action sequences in the premiere—a lot of repetitive shooting and clanging—that lead to an episode that drags at times. Over the run of its existence, “Clone Wars” was a remarkably fast-paced show, and so it’s not great to see “The Bad Batch” slow down and spin its wheels in the first episode, which really could have been half as long.

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