Bad Batch Season 3 Review by the Hobbit. This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.
Know Before You Watch
Series: The Bad Batch
Rating: TV-PG
Age Suggestion: 8 and up
Running Time: Varies by episode. Generally, about 30 minutes
Release Date: February 21st, 2024
Where to Watch: Disney+
Warnings: Perilous situations; lots of violence but nongraphic. Carnivorous plants.
Quick Bad Batch Summary
The Bad Batch is a group of clones who are different – thus the name. In the beginning years of the Empire, they are faced with numerous challenges. These lead us to several interesting questions.
Background on Bad Batch
In seasons one and two we learn that Clone Force 99 (The Bad Batch) is a group of clones who are different. The cloning process was not always accurate. In the case of the members of Clone Force 99, they had unique abilities. In the wake of Order 66, most of the group found that the inhibitor chips planted in the clones were not working in them. There is one member, Crosshair, an expert marksman, who does want to strictly follow orders. The other members of the group are joined by Omega, a young girl clone who has long admired Clone Force 99.
Over the course of the two seasons, Clone Force 99 seeks to find a new identity. The members of the group, especially Hunter, its leader, become parental figures for Omega. At the end of the second season, Omega is kidnapped by the nefarious Doctor Hemlock, who’s conducting experiments on clones.
Bad Batch Season 3 Review by Episode
Bad Batch Season 3 Review – Episodes 1-3
The first three episodes of the final season, season three, contain two episodes where Omega and Crosshair are the primary characters. They are imprisoned in Mount Tantiss on the planet Weyland, an inhospitable world that is not well known. The middle episode deals with Hunter and Wrecker, two of the surviving members of Clone Force 99, seeking to locate Omega. In the 1st and the 3rd episodes, we find that Doctor Hemlock is engaged in a number of experiments and that his prime objective has been given to him by the Emperor. It is to produce a clone that can maintain the midichlorian count of the original host.
For anyone who has seen the final three movies in the trilogy, this is the basis for how the Emperor manages to return in The Rise of Skywalker. In the second episode, Hunter and Wrecker discover a base that has been abandoned by Doctor Hemlock. Some young clone survivors are still alive, although the area around the facility and the facility itself are infested with slither vines. These are carnivorous plants and are needless to say, quite dangerous.
It is hobbit-safe (Okay for younger viewers). A fair amount of peril and violence, but none of the violence is graphic. What you would expect in PG. One of the best things about the Bad Batch series is the voice of Dee Bradley Baker, who voices all of the major clone figures and gives each a distinct personality.
Bad Batch Season 3 Review – Episodes 4-7
Having escaped from Mount Tantiss, Omega and Crosshair are reunited with Hunter and Wrecker. While Wrecker simply trusts Omega’s opinion, Hunter is much more cautious. He and Crosshair both feel betrayed by the other. This is compounded by Hunter’s attachment as a father figure to Omega. He was unable to help her escape, but Crosshair did.
Eventually, Crosshair helps save Hunter’s life, and this facilitates a reconciliation. These two episodes are a great miniature lesson in forgiveness, how hard it is, and why it is necessary.
In the second two episodes the team goes to assist Captain Rex. The facility on Mt. Tantiss has created “shadow” clones. They have taken clones, wiped their memories, and programmed them to be assassins. One was captured by Rex and his group of clones. Another assassin is sent to eliminate the first. He spots Omega, and there is an attempt to recapture her. We see again in these episodes that the clones had, because of their situation, banded together as a family (clones usually refer to other clones as “brother”.
Bad Batch Season 3 Review – Episodes 8-11
The members of the “Batch” are trying to find out why the Empire is so interested in Omega. They seek help from treasure hunter/pirate Phee Genoa. She knows that the Empire is hiring Class One Bounty Hunters to pick up M-Count targets. They then find Fennec Shand. (another tie-in to the larger Star Wars universe, and to the Mandoverse in particular). She does not have the information, but, back on Pabu, they are visited by…Asajj Ventress!
How she is now alive is not explained (there are allusions of a future explanation). She tests Omega and finds that she has a relatively low M-Count (which the viewers know is Midichlorians). Omega trusts her (the others do not), and she leaves – with a warning that, if she could find them, others can.
We switch in episode 10 back to Mt. Tantiss and Emerie beginning to have doubts. She is placed in charge of the young children with high M-Counts who have been brought in. We get to see Cad Bane bring in another child. And we see that Dr. Hemlock is under increasing pressure to produce results. The assassin from episode 10 is sent to retrieve Omega. He succeeds in finding Pabu, calls in the Empire, and re-captures Omega. Leaving us almost where we were at the beginning of the season (one suspects that there are some tricks for the next episode).
Bad Batch Season 3 Review – Episodes 9-15
Omega is taken back to Mt. Tantiss, where she is placed with the other children. She immediately begins plotting to escape. The Bad Batch frees an imperial prisoner – former imperial officer Rampart – and through him are able to eventually find Mt. Tantiss. As they arrive, the children escape. Omega had previously found an imprisoned Zillo Beast (introduced in Clone Wars) – an almost invincible creature. They free it and it goes on a rampage through the facility.
Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair are captured by Hemlock’s brainwashed clone assassins. Echo and Omega free Nala Se, Rampart, and the other clone prisoners while Emerie takes the other children to safety. Nala Se attempts to destroy the research, and Rampart kills her, but she uses an explosive to destroy the data and kill Rampart.
Hemlock takes Omega hostage, but she helps Hunter and Crosshair kill him. The Bad Batch, Emerie, the clones, and all of the children escape to Pabu.
With Hemlock dead and Mt. Tantiss in ruins, Tarkin shuts it down and sends its funding to Project Stardust (which, you may recall, is the Death Star).
In a final scene set years later, an adult Omega leaves to join the rebellion against the Empire.
Bad Batch Discussion Guide
The series as a whole has raised some questions. What exactly does it mean to be human? The concept of “soul” is never discussed (a topic that never comes up in the Star Wars universe). However, are clones human? Are they somehow inferior? In looking at how clones are treated we get a lot of callbacks to how blacks and indigenous people in particular were perceived. Inferior, no problem using them for medical experiments. In exploring the question of the clone’s humanity (which is something the series creator, Dave Filoni, also did in Clone Wars), the series is somewhat subversive, as it does make us ask the question of what makes someone human.
In all three of the episodes, we see a great deal of loyalty and sacrifice. The series as a whole has dealt with, and continues to deal with, the creation of a “found family”. Betrayal played a large role in the first two seasons. It will be interesting to see how reconciliation plays out in season three.
As previously noted, Betrayal played a large role in the first two seasons. Forgiveness and reconciliation have played a huge role in episodes 4-7.
A couple of things to discuss from story arc one:
-Which characters do you see growing? How are they growing?
-Where do you see sacrifice?
-How does Omega’s treatment of the lurca hounds differ from that of the others? What does this tell you about her?
Episodes 8-11 bring back several familiar characters. Cad Bane and Fennec Shand (both of whom will survive the Empire as we have seen them in the Mandoverse series). More importantly, Asajj Ventress. She has always been a complex character but is even more so now. It has certainly been hinted that she will make future appearances.
Episodes 9-15: Are the creatures in the forest or the Zillo beast more frightening? Why? Are these more frightening than Dr. Hemlock? Again, why?
A couple of things to discuss from those:
Omega has an unbelievable level of maturity. It shows itself in a couple of ways. One is her level of trust. Why is she able to judge character and trust so easily?
Another is her self-sacrifice in episode 11. What strikes you about her decisions in that episode?
Final Thoughts on Bad Batch Season 3
The series overall has been praised for its excellent stories, voice acting, and animation. It helps fill in the period between the end of the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy (still stories to be told from there). I suspect that the character arc for many of the main characters is now primarily done (It appears that they will peacefully live out the remainder of their lives on Pabu), Omega could definitely fit into the Mando-Verse. There are rumblings that perhaps she will be a character in Skeleton Crew.
I think perhaps the one big takeaway – which is not a new one – is looking at the heroes and villains. Our heroes are clones. Are they 100% human? They were bred for one purpose – fighting. Can they overcome that? On the other hand, our primary villain, Dr. Hemlock, is human – but his actions betray little humanity, and he is perhaps best described as less than human. Who is the true monster? is a recurrent theme that certainly goes back as far as Frankenstein (and perhaps there are some parallels there). This variant of who is truly human? is very well played out in this final season.
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