'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' Season 3 Episodes 9-14 Lacks Creativity

I'm growing weary of seeing a Star Wars televised series that goes nowhere. The Bad Batch Season Three does little to build up to anything thrilling. It's a shallow repetition of rescue missions and prison breaks that should now be forbidden in Star Wars. The Star Wars franchise has been rocky with its shows. Season Three of The Mandalorian was a dull mess that had a villain of the week in Moff Gidian's masterplan. The Book of Boba Fett disneyfied the Galaxy's greatest bounty hunter beyond recognition. Ahsoka started out promising but ended feeling hollow. If you weren't a fan of Star Wars Rebels, how could Ahsoka win you over? The one Star Wars show that has anything going for it is Andor, a series that blurs the lines between good and evil, bringing some nuance that Star Wars could desperately use. I'm not asking for Andor levels of storytelling, but at least Clone Wars levels of it. Especially since this is a continuation of that show, it should live up to its name. 

The Clone Wars was thrilling because we saw the downfall of the Republic through Ahsoka Tano's point of view. Due to the inhibitor chip placed in every clone's brain, they were programmed to kill the Jedi at the call of "execute order 66." Through The Clone Wars, the Clones were no longer CGI copies of one actor. They were individuals. When they turn against the Jedi, that tragedy is felt more through the show than it is in Revenge of the Sith. The Bad Batch fails to reach a greater conclusion. Even as corny as it was, Obi-Wan had a huge finale filled with payoffs. From cutting Darth Vader's mask open to Obi-Wan exclaiming "hello there" the first time he meets Luke Skywalker, Kenobi delivered. The Bad Batch Season Three, the final season, lacks any payoff. 

I was sent Episode Nine (which is already on Disney Plus) to Fourteen. The final season is supposed to contain fifteen episodes. Unless episode fifteen is an hour or longer, like the show's pilot was, I will not be impressed. In this season, a majority of the plot focuses on how the Empire is conducting scientific experiments on children. This builds some intrigue. The experiments on the kids are the better parts of the show that still feels too familiar. Whichever child has the highest M count, M, being slang for Midi-chlorian, has their blood drawn every day so it can go into an experiment the Emperor is extremely invested in. 

If you've seen The Rise of Skywalker, then it's not hard to guess what the experiments are for. Something I pointed out in my review of the first eight episodes of this show. Palpatine always made plans to return. But how they were executed is a mystery for Dave Filoni to solve. Either way, it's such a stupid plot point that I don't see Filoni being able to write his way past it. The idea of a roided-up M count Palpatine is laughable, but that's the corner Disney wrote themselves into with The Rise of Skywalker. 

Like how he made the prequels cool for some people, Filoni will attempt the same with the sequels. The long road to a payoff is probably set up in some future show. But what of the Clones? What is their fate? Isn't this show supposed to be about them? Not just the Bad Batch, but all of the Clones? Approaching Episode Fifteen, Episode Fourteen wraps on a cliffhanger leading to another prison break, as if we didn't have enough of them since Luke Skywalker busted out Princess Leia from the Death Star. Haven't we been here enough times before? 

I know I praised Andor while also being aware it has a prison break, too. But the way that show handled it was something Star Wars usually lacks. Tension and thrilling dialogue. Kino Loy's (Andy Serkis) speech to the freed prisoners is quote-worthy, rousing stuff. In The Bad Batch one of our character's attempts to break from prison is tiring, lazy writing. It's so copy and paste. Almost anyone with knowledge in Screenwriting 1-0-1 could pen it. A month plus from now, will I really remember or care about The Bad Batch to see what's in the series finale? Not likely. If only they told the story of a Clone Rebellion that led to their extinction. 

I don't mean to be the critic who pouts when they don't get the plotline they wanted, but a Clone uprising would make for a much grander, more enticing story. The final episode of the Clone Wars featured an army of men who were once on Ahsoka's side, brainwashed to kill her. There was the spectacle of thousands of rounds of blaster fire being hurled toward Ahsoka as she narrowly escaped certain death that was emotional and riveting. Here, what do we have? A bunch of people trapped in a prison who want to break out? Been there, done that. Give me something new and exciting. 

I really thought this show was going to spell the fate of the Clones. It should have, as there's nowhere else to go. After having seen Episodes One through Fourteen, I don't think we're going to get a Clone Rebellion. Could you imagine an epic scene of thousands of Clones storming the Imperials as the Clones are singlehandedly wiped out through the fire of a Star Destroyer laser or early-developed Death Star? Imagine the scale of such an ending. 

Throughout the series, there have been episodes where the Bad Batch communicated with other Clones, making them question what orders they've been given. But a potential Clone siege takes a backseat to a much smaller, inconsequential story. Will the entire Fifteenth Episode be another rescue mission and/or prison break? If so, that's a very weak way to end your series. It may be time to put the Clone thing to rest.

The series writers certainly seem aware they're out of ideas, which is why they're ending the show here. I hope Episode Fifteen is going to be some grand finale. What I'm expecting is a mere thirty-minute forgettable ending that leaves nothing new or intriguing to the overall Star Wars canon. 

There's no real hook to make The Bad Batch a recommendable show like The Clone Wars or Rebels were. Even for their filler content the shows ended on a thrilling conclusion. Where The Bad Batch will leave us is everyone reuniting and heading off once more to space. Please prove me wrong because what has been delivered so far is underwhelming. 

I wonder who this show is marketed to. Is it the fans of all the Dave Filoni cartoon shows? If it is, then the ball has been dropped. This show lacks the stakes those shows had. We know everyone will come out okay. Hunter, Echo, Rex, and Crosshair (voiced magnificently by Dee Bradley Baker) will be all right. Not a scratch will be left on Omega (Michelle Ang). We already lost Tech in Season Two, so no more Clones will die. Even if a Clone dies, it won't leave much of an impact in this dull conitinuation to The Clone Wars. 

I gave this show a chance. I hung in for all three seasons and have regretted it all three times. The Bad Batch Season Three has some small moments of intrigue that are lost in infiltration and rescue missions. With low stakes and limited imagination, The Bad Batch is a failed experiment.