The Bad Batch Series Finale

(Guest post by Ben)

NOTE: This article contains spoilers for The Bad Batch. You’ve been warned.

Clone Force 99 came to us at the end of Clone Wars, fulfilling a niche purpose that, as far as I was concerned, was finished when that series ended. But Dave Filoni had other ideas, and The Bad Batch gave us three glorious seasons of good soldiers who didn’t always follow orders. With the series finale a good month behind us (as of this writing), it’s given me some time to reflect on the emotional rollercoaster that was The Bad Batch.

When we lost Tech in Season 2, I realized that all bets were off. Who else of Clone Force 99 could be taken from us? I know—knew—Omega wouldn’t make it. She was going to die in a blaze of glory saving her brothers. If not, then Crosshair would die in a blaze of glory saving Omega. Regardless, someone was going to die in a blaze of glory.

As it turns out, nobody else did. And yet, the tension of knowing it could happen kept me rooted to my seat. Because, you know what? I liked these characters. I was attached to them. So knowing they could be killed of was emotional enough. I’m not sad they survived, though. In fact, I’m relieved. I’m also excited that Omega grew up and went to fight with the Rebellion. Does that mean we could see her in a live-action film or show later on? That would be awesome. 

The series finale also brought some fun Easter eggs, such as the Zillo beast. First appearing in Clone Wars, it was kind of a throw-away monster—a cool one, yes, but it died with a random mention by Mr. Palpatine that it should be cloned. Well, after many years, we finally saw it again in Season 3. And, while not necessarily unique to the series finale, seeing the workings of Mount Tantiss was super cool. That mountain was first mentioned in Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, published way back in 1991. I love that Dave Filoni canonizes those bits of “legends” that we once knew and loved. They could have had that facility anywhere, but, blessed be the Force, they chose Tantiss. 

Speaking of the Zillo beast, they did use it as a narrative turbo boost to help Hunter and the others get in. I’m OK with that. I mean, it’s a short episode. Once inside, the CX troopers attack and, ultimately, capture our heroes. Yes, Hunter and the others are so good at what they do, but they’re outnumbered, injured, and probably a bit constipated, too. That takes a toll on a battle-hardened veteran.

Constipation aside, Hunter et al. needed to be out of the picture so Omega could shine. She is no princess in distress; rather, she is a capable kid, and this is, ultimately, her story. Omega breaks out, and Omega saves the kids. (And dang, the fact that there were kid prisoners being tested really hits the feels.) Omega is a hero, which we see more of during the epilogue when she goes out on her own. In a world where we are always looking for more strong female main characters, why aren’t more people talking about Omega?

The Bad Batch was always something I looked forward to after a long day (week) of work. If you’ve read this article and think, “Man, this guy’s delusion; doesn’t he hate anything?”, the answer is...not really. I do recognize that the show wasn’t perfect, and that some arcs were slower than others. But what we got from The Bad Batch heavily outweighs any possible complaints. I mean, having Ventress show up and work with Omega? That’s awesome! It’s the small things in life, folks, that make Star Wars what it is. It’s a space opera, and as such, isn’t to be taken as “hard” science fiction. Now that the series is over, though, I’m back to not watching TV...although The Acolyte is just around the corner!