Last year on Star Wars Day (May the 4th), Lucasfilm Animation surprised us with 'Tales of the Jedi' a mini-series of shorts dedicated to showing some untold stories from before the fall of the Jedi. This seems to have become somewhat of a tradition, as this year, on the same day, we got 'Tales of the Empire'. A darker twist on the same concept. This time though, it was bit more focused. Two stories, told in three parts each, for a total of six shorts. The first story follows Morgan Elsbeth and her journey of revenge, which begins with her as a young girl on Dathomir to where we fist met her in 'The Mandalorian' season three. Unfortunately, despite another noticeable step forward in animation quality throughout, this first story-arch leaves a lot to be desired. While 'Tales of the Jedi' revealed secrets of Jedi's pasts, Morgan's doesn't really provide the audience with any new information. Instead, just expanding on a lot of which we already knew or could have inferred. The second half of 'Tales of the Empire' however does pack more of a punch. We follow Barriss Offee, a young Jedi Padawan we had not seen since she framed Ahsoka for the Temple bombing in 'The Clone Wars', as she's recruited to become an Imperial Inquisitor. These final three episodes are filled with fascinating glimpses into the Inquisitorius Program, insightful dialogue into the psyche of the fallen Jedi that make up their order, and some genuine twists that keep you guessing throughout. Listen as Julian and Rachel unpack each mini-episode, and discuss the package as a whole.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch Series Finale
It's with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Clone Force 99, and their adorable clone sidekick. It may be somewhat surprising that none of our heroes met an untimely end in this series finale. Sure, maybe we should have guessed as much, considering this is ultimately a kids show, but after last season's shocking death of Tech, the stakes felt more real here than they have in Star Wars for a long time. It's those stakes that allowed me, after coming out the other side of the emotional rollercoaster that was the last few moments in this Bad Batch saga, to take a breath and appreciate what a wonderful show we were treated to for 3 glorious season. No, it's not the most dramatic decision to leave the full cast alive, but after some time to sit and think, I can honesty say that I can appreciate a happy ending for Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair. As Omega rightly points out, they've fought enough. So few characters in this world get to retire peacefully. Yes, the door is open for some final adventures, assuming Omega one day still needs their help, but their mission is ostensibly complete, and their retirement is well earned. As a whole, this final episode, "The Cavalry Has Arrived", delivers on the action, while taking just enough time to wrap up the lingering character work. Crosshair being the beneficiary of much of that. This is Star Wars though, and that means that there remains more than enough story threads for future creators to pull on. Where does Lucasfilm Animation go from here? We don't know yet, but whatever it is, you know we'll be there for whatever and whenever it is. Bravo, this was a finale to remember.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E14 "Flash Strike"
There are few words more exciting to use in the context of a television series than, “penultimate”. The word itself seems to exude excitement, suspense, and it comes with a heavy sense of inevitability. Unfortunately for ‘The Bad Batch’, the penultimate episode to this series instead calls to mind comparisons to ‘Game of Thrones’ final season. Which with every passing moment, audiences got more and more worried that there just wouldn’t be enough time to complete the story in a satisfying way. We may know how that ended up, but ‘The Bad Batch’ still has a chance to land the plane with an episode in length similar to it’s series premiere, if they choose to go that way. Unfortunately, this week’s shorter than average, 22 minute, setup episode did little to quell those anxious feelings of an impending flop of a finale to a show that has been near excellent it’s entire three season run. We aren’t here to say that length equals quality, but with so much left to be wrapped up, anything less than an hour next week will likely mean that a few story threads are left dangling. “Flash Strike”, does just enough to set up the pieces, but spins it’s tires on some repeated beats and a few action sequences that could have been better spent on suspense or character. Will they cap off this season with a bang like they started it? Only time will tell.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E13 "Into the Breach"
As we close in on the series finale, you'd like to see episodes with longer runtimes. The concern being that we might run out of time to effectively wrap up all the story threads before the series wraps up. Despite only coming in at 26 minutes this week (about average for the series), "Into the Breach" gets a pass on this nitpick for two main reasons. Firstly, the pacing is near perfect. There isn't an ounce of fat in this episode, and the momentum caring the viewer into some extremely tense final moments is masterful. Secondly, they nailed the Star Wars tone here. Despite extremely high stakes, the general sense of adventure is maintained, and Rampart's humorous interjections keep things from getting too dark. As a whole the episode feels exactly as long as it needs to be and is an extremely compelling installment in the Star Wars saga. If you can't find yourself investing in these characters after these nail biting moments I'd recommend checking your pulse.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E12 "Juggernaut"
After this week, 'The Bad Batch' is only left with three more episodes before the series wraps up entirely. Last week's two-parter set the stage for a clear endgame - The Batch need to find Tantiss Base and rescue Omega. With that in mind, this week sets up an intriguing idea off the jump - perhaps the former Admiral, now prisoner, Rampart, knows the location. Unfortunately, the episode spins it's wheels with a "mission of the week" format without really moving the plot along in any significant way, and uses information the audience already knows as if it's a big reveal. This would have been a great episode in the middle of the season, but not for the fourth from last episode. The action and visual fidelity were top notch as always, but at this point in the series that's not enough to carry the story at this critical stage.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E10+11 "Identity Crises" & "Point of No Return"
This final season of 'The Bad Batch' is coming at us fast. It was less than a month ago that we were treated to a dramatic two-part episode that left the team reeling, and now again this week another two-part episode drops, and it's another doozy. First, with "Identity Crises" we spend time back on Tantiss with Doctor Emerie Karr as she takes over for Nala Se on Project Necromancer. It's the first time a current or former member of The Batch doesn't appear on screen, as we instead spend the entire episode on Tantiss learning more about the insidious work being done there. It's gripping dramatic television. Next, with "Point of No Return", the stakes ramp up to 1000 as the Empire strikes out against Pabu in an attempt to recapture Omega. The action here is stunning and where the episode leaves off sets up a thrilling final few episodes as we lead into the series finale.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E9 "The Harbinger"
The trailer for this final season of 'The Bad Batch' teased the return of a fan favourite character from 'The Clone Wars'. A Sith assassin who has been part of Star Wars since the Tartakovsky animated shorts, who seemingly died in a novel adapted from an unused story from an animated series, only to return in all her glory as neither Sith nor Jedi. That's right folks Asaj Ventress returns to the screen as the titular "harbinger" of bad news. Julian and Rachel discuss Asaj's big return, what the information she delivers about the "m-count experiments" means for Omega, and whether we think this is the last we see of this assassin turned bounty hunter.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E8 "Bad Territory"
After an exciting two-parter last week, where the larger clone conspiracy plotline was brought to the fore, we return to something a bit more quaint. This week's episode falls more into the "mission of week" type format. Something we got pretty used to from seasons 1 and 2, but haven't seen much of this season. That is likely due to the fact that this is the final season, and there just isn't as much time to spend on episodes that don't really drive plot or character development. This week's A and B plot format attempted to tackle both of those tasks, but largely fell short of being a satisfying enough on either level. We see Hunter and Wrecker working with fan favourite bounty hunter, Fennec Shand, as they look for clues on the Empire's "M-Count experiments". Meanwhile, Omega tries to help Crosshair heal is hand tremors. Julian and Rachel unpack the episode scene by scene as well as discuss the first trailer for 'The Acolyte'.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E6+7 "Infiltration" & "Extraction"
The larger clone struggle returns to center stage with the return of some fan favorites, in what feels like a sequel to the stellar “Clone Conspiracy” episode from season 2. This two-part episode ramps up tension quickly and then relieves it with exciting action set pieces framed by gorgeous scenery. Crosshair and Omega continue to play a vital role at the center of the plot, and with the assassin clones becoming a larger part of the mystery, we are eager to learn more about how everything ties together. These episodes do a great job of clarifying the stakes for the remainder of the season while also planting seeds for things we know are still coming.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S3E5 "The Return"
The exciting escape last week left us with the unresolved conflict between Crosshair and the rest of his former squad. In the podcast we discussed how it would be a good idea for the show to slow down for a moment and let Crosshair hash things out with Hunter and Wrecker before jumping back into a larger plot driven narrative. Fortunately it seems like the folks over at Lucasfilm Animation were way ahead of us, as they did just that this week. With a return to Pabu for a reset, the team meets up with Echo to gather additional intel on the whereabouts of Tantiss. The mission takes Crosshair back to the events of "The Outpost" for a spiritual sequel, which feels more than appropriate considering where Crosshair is now in his character arc. Julian and Rachel break down every moment of discord whilst Crosshair does the difficult work of earning back trust.
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