The big brains at Disney have decided that for the next 4 weeks, Wednesdays will be Star Wars double-header day, with episodes of season 3 of "The Mandalorian" premiering alongside the ongoing season 2 of "The Bad Batch". It certainly makes for a very fun double-feature for Star Wars fans, but also makes covering those shows on the podcast slightly more complicated. As such, Julian and Rachel will be reviewing both series simultaneously. So look for more 2-part episodes of "Small Screen Star Wars" over the next few weeks. The episodes themselves lacked much of any connecting through-lines (except the inclusion of large space monsters). Mando kicks off with a reset episodes that brings some fun adventure, and The Batch is seemingly back on track with an "Alien" inspired episode that starts the process of looping the main cast back into the wider story.

With no ship, and no help from Cid, The Batch are all but stranded. But wait! Omega has a plan! They'll track their stolen ship by zeroing in on their defective power droid, Gonky. This takes the crew to a mining facility that has their own problems. Namely, a tale as old as time, in that the workers are being abused by a greedy boss. Fortunately, with the help of the thief who originally stole their ship, they're able to kill two birds with one stone - retrieve their ship, and solve the labor problem. This wraps up what appears to be a two-part arch (maybe there's a third next week?) that leaned heavily into character work, with sprinkles of interesting action in this second half. That all being said, the show seems to be lacking in stakes, making it feel a little weightless. Hopefully that changes soon as we are well into the back half of the season now.

It's back to our regular scheduled programming this week with another "mission of the week". Or at least so we thought. "The Crossing" starts off in a very unassuming way but as things go from bad to worse on a this gold rush era, western themed mystery planet, it becomes evident that this episode has a little more going on under the surface (ahem, pun not intended). In what can be described as a "bottle episode" the creative team at Lucasfilm animation chose to forgo the larger plot and instead concentrate on some character work, specifically Omega struggling with change and loss after Echo's departure, as well as Tech's inability to relate to her. It's a welcome change from the less-than-complex one-off episodes we've seen this season, even if it does still feel light compared to the highs of the the two-part episodes last week.

This season of 'The Bad Batch' has been a real rollercoaster. The highs of "The Solitary Clone" to the lows of episodes like "Faster". This week, the show once again elevated itself with a 2-episode drop that feels like a spiritual sequel to the great 'The Clone Wars' episode "Clone Conspiracy". In fact, the first part of this 2-part story arch, aptly named "The Clone Conspiracy", doesn't even feature our titular characters. These 2 episodes also felt like a great companion piece to last year's 'Andor' as we focus again on political intrigue and dangerous secrets. The tension is palpable and the presence of returning characters feel natural in this given situation. But the biggest revelation is that we finally have a clear understanding of the fate of the clones. There's still plenty to explore in this show, but after these 2 episodes, it has easily justified its status as must-watch Star Wars.

We are proud to be taking part in "Star Wars Podcast Day 2023", a celebration of all the podcasts who are covering the galaxy far far away. This is our first year taking part, and as a special bonus episode just for the occasion, Rachel and Julian look ahead at all the Star Wars content coming to Disney+ and beyond. 2023 is shaping up to be one of the best years for Star Wars content in some time, what with 'The Bad Batch' already well underway, and 'The Mandalorian' season 3 just around the corner, the hype levels are already through the roof. Looking later into the year with 'Ahsoka' and 'Skeleton Crew', and although little is actually known about them at this point, it's hard not to get excited about the prospect of live action Thrawn. That's without even mentioning 'Star Wars Jedi: Survivor' the follow up to the hit game from EA. Plus more 'Star Wars Visions'. It's almost too much! … almost.

Now we're cooking with gas! After two very insular episodes that felt very light and fluffy we're back to something with a little more (furry) meat on the bones. "Tribe" kicks off with a very moody space station sequence that leads up right into the reintroduction of a fan favourite character from 'The Clone Wars' in nonother than everyone's favourite Wookie Jedi, Gungi! He's is looking a bit older but still clearly an adolescent having dealt with a lot after Order 66. This episode does a nice job of adding stakes with the Wookies and injects some nice world building as we learn more about the state of Kashyyyk after the war. A nice change after both of those elements were barely seen in the last two episodes.

Sure, we were a little harsh on last week's episode, 'Faster'. It felt like a diversion that was unfortunately timed to come immediacy after a standout episode of the entire series in 'The Solitary Clone'. Coming off of this week's 'Indiana Jones' inspired treasure hunt episode, we learned the show was capable of being even more aimless than we already thought possible. Wanda Sykes' character Phee Genoa returns, and we learn she's less of a pirate and more of a treasure hunter, which admittedly is a cool refinement. Unfortunately, the nature of this "mission of week" which finds the Batch exploring a desolate uncharted planet means that there is little to no plot movement for the larger story. To make matters worse, despite some relatively interesting lore possibilities (hello 'Jedi: Fallen Order'), there's also no character work here either. It's the ultimate "filler" episode. I term I loath to use, as its meaning has largely been lost in the popular lexicon, but in this case, the shoe fits.

Last week's episode of 'The Bad Batch' gave us a topsy-turvy, through the looking glass examination of the jingoistic "adventures" of 'The Clone Wars', seen through the eye's of a compassionate, respected, and likely regretful, veteran of those wars. It was near perfect - chefs kiss*. This week... well this week we got a pseudo-podracing episode that attempts to flush out Cid's past, but unfortunately it doesn't do a great job at the racing OR the character building. Tech gets some interesting things to do, and the voice cameos are fun, but largely speaking this episode feels quite disposable.

Think back to ‘Revenge of the Sith’ - after Kenobi finishes off Grievous, Commander Cody, Kenobi’s good friend and colleague, gives him back his dropped lightsaber. This is only moments before he shoots him down when Order 66 is enacted. That moment is the last time we had seen Cody from a timeline perspective. A lot has happened since then: countless Jedi murdered, the rise of the Galactic Empire, and with it the iron boot of oppression. How does a lifelong soldier, and a man who believes he killed one of his only friends grapple with that? Well, this episode of ‘The Bad Batch’ asks those very questions as we are treated to a Clone Wars-esque mission, complete with a separatist planet and battle droids, all seen through the eyes of Crosshair. A clone who he-himself is struggling to understand where he fits into the Imperial machine. The rest of The Batch is absent from this episode but you won’t even notice in this action packed, emotionally charged installment.

After a short holiday break, Julian and Rachel return to Star Wars, this time in the animated form, to discuss the premiere of ‘The Bad Batch’ season 2, which encompassed two episodes, “Spoils of War”, and “Ruins of War”. The two-part premiere saw The Batch take on an extremely risky “get rich quick” scheme that takes them to the planet of Serenno, Count Dooku’s old haunt, to steal a fraction of his EXTREME wealth, which is being gathered up, and shipped off-world by the Empire. With plenty of interesting themes and story threads to digest, and even a new Clone Captain to meet, there’s a lot to discuss. Join us as we break it all down!