Awesome / Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Season 1

Episode 1: Aftermath

• We kick things off with some blasts from our past: A The Clone Wars -style intro that even gives us a couple of shots from Revenge of the Sith re-done in Clone Wars' style.
• The first episode begins with Jedi Knight Depa Billaba and her men about to be overrun by a massive amount of B1 battle droids. Then the young Caleb Dume arrives, claiming to have brought reinforcements. When asked where the reinforcements are... What appears to be a boulder, rolls down the hill and smashes several droids. Depa and her clones are shocked, when the Bad Batch reveals themselves, destroying all the battle droids in the process.
• The climactic moment of the fight, when Crosshairs tethers several AA Ts together, then Wrecker pushes the farthest tank off the nearby cliff, pulling the rest of the platoon over with it.
• It may be a case of Evil vs. Evil, but it is immensely satisfying to see Tarkin telling the Kaminoans - a race of Jerkass clone slavers - that no, they are not the be-all and end-all they think they are and that they can be replaced.
• The Bad Batch are put into a training simulation, which soon switches to live fire, with new droids that are immune to the Batch's training weapons. Nevertheless, the Batch adapt and still manage to come out of the fight on top. Tech and Echo hack one of the droids to shoot for them, and the droids are still vulnerable to their vibro-knives. Extra kudos to Crosshair's incredible shot, shooting Wrecker's tossed knife out of the air and into one of the droids' heads.
• The seemingly harmless Omega, managing to shoot Crosshair's rifle out of his hands during the Bad Batch's escape from Kamino. This was according to her, the first time she ever held a blaster in her hands.

Episode 2: Cut and Run

• Suu proving herself to be a handy sharpshooter when the Nexu threatens Omega. She's able to scare it off with a few well placed rifle shots.
• Tech's confidence in being able to forge chain codes when he's only just learned about their existence is pretty darn cool.
• Also humorous, Wrecker denting an astromech droid with one solid hit shortly before knocking out three clones just by casually extending his arms and knocking their heads together.

Episode 3: Replacements

• It's important to notice that Omega could have shot the creature, but instead finds another way to handle the Moon Dragon without hurting him. This serves as a strong parallel to Crosshair, who ignores his men's protests that they could arrest the refugees in favor of executing them in cold blood.

Episode 4: Cornered

• Hearing of Omega in danger causes all of her ori'vod'e (Mandalorian: older brothers) drop everything they were just doing in order to help.
• After how impressive an aged Fennec Shand already was in The Mandalorian, now we get to see her in her prime, expertly worming her way into Omega's confidence, matching Hunter in a shootout, taking down Wrecker with one expertly placed move, and giving her all in a car chase where she survives a crash with nothing more than a slight limp. She also shows she wasn't just a simple bad guy even back then, honoring her deal with the dock master despite the job not working out (not least because it leaves her with a reliable information source).
  • This is actually built upon on the next episode: the Internal Reveal suggests Fennec is in fact new to the bounty-hunting scene around this time. The fact that she has already built up such notoriety at this point makes her the equivalent of a newbie athlete outscoring veteran players.

Episode 5: Rampage

• Omega gets a big one when she sneaks into the Zygerrian slave camp and unlocks the Rancor cage.
• Hunter takes on the head slaver in a one on one fight and wins by toughing out the guy's electrifying whip, fighting through the pain to take him down.
• The titular rampage of the episode by the hand of Muchi, the baby Rancor, is a sight to behold as she single-handedly mauls the slavers and later goes toe to toe with the leader's pet, which is significantly larger than her, and actually wins. She later meets her match in the form of Wrecker... and only went down due to exhaustion.
• As if making up for his pitiful showing against Fennec in the last episode, Wrecker defeats a Rancor (albeit an adolescent one) in hand to hand combat.

Episode 6: Decommissioned

• Cid shows she's more than just Mission Control when she grabs the Zygerrian bow and effortlessly nails three bullseyes.
• Hunter and Rafa have a brief bout of Snark-to-Snark Combat before multiple droids show up and they wordlessly just start shooting past each other to take them down, covering each other before taking cover together, despite the persisting tension.
  • Afterwards, when Omega is in danger, Hunter swiftly comes up with an escape plan that takes out a lot of the droids in the process, leaving him free to help her. He hooks the support pillar up to the conveyor belt, causing some of the walkways to collapse and wiping out a good number of police droids (and almost Rafa, much to her chagrin).
• After Wrecker shakes off his chip starting to activate, he jumps in the middle of the police droids and takes most of them out in seconds, even using one as a shield.
  Rafa: Now this one I like!
• The Separatist battle droids, even in their half-assembled state, are still more than capable of handing a Curb-Stomp Battle to the police droids and they're ultimately the reason the Batch and Martez sisters make it out of the factory.

Episode 8: Reunion

• Tech improvising escape plans that save the squad from nigh-inescapable traps twice in one episode (the second time building on a question from Hunter).
• A villainous version - Cad Bane returns in grand fashion, dispatching an entire squad of clone troopers off-screen before casually shooting the breeze/threatening Hunter to give him Omega. He then engages in a Mexican Standoff with Hunter and proves faster and more accurate on the draw, blasting the clone dead-center in his chest, almost killing him, and seizing Omega. He’s only onscreen for a couple minutes, but it's evident his skills haven't dulled a bit since the war ended.
  • The manner of their Quick Draw is also worth noting. Hunter draws first, but as a soldier he instinctively brings his blaster up all the way to aim properly. Bane draws second and does a quick but accurate shot from the hip, hitting Hunter before Hunter has time to fire his shot.
  • The next episode reveals that Bane himself lured Crosshair to the planet, to keep the Batch distracted to he could capture Omega.

Episode 9: Bounty Lost

• We get what all the fans were clamoring for after the last episode's ending, as Cad Bane and Fennec Shand go toe to toe in a fight that takes up most of the episode, and shows both at the peak of their abilities. And while Fennec technically wins as simply getting Omega away from Bane completes her assignment, Bane still survives and is now very motivated for a rematch.
  • Cad Bane immediately recognizes Fennic and gives her a courteous tip of his hat, despite her earlier being established as having just started as a bounty hunter. This implies that the few jobs she's had were impressive enough that a legendary member of the trade saw fit to take note of her.
• Despite being mostly on her own until Fennec shows up, Omega shows remarkable bravery and cleverness trying to escape from Bane's ship and getting in contact with the Batch to tell them her location. Even later on with her hands bound, she manages to evade capture long enough to get into a flight pod and the Batch to rescue her before she crashed. She may still have a lot to learn, but she's not completely helpless on her own.

Episode 10: Common Ground

• Senator Singh refuses to submit to the Empire, choosing his people's sovereignty over cooperation. It may not have turned out well initially, but it's inspiring to see people who are willing to lead resistance to Imperial oppression.
• Omega turns out to be such a natural strategist that she can expertly play Dejarik, and by the time the Batch comes back has basically become the franchise's version of Beth Harmon, with people coming from far and wide to see her, and earning enough to completely pay off the Batch's debt to Cid even after negotiating her keeping a majority of the winnings.
  • Even better, when the Batch return, she's in the middle of a game with a Pantoran who is implied to be somewhat of a professional player (the Thrawn vibes are strong with this one). He spends a significant amount of time thinking about his next move and deciding upon it, only for Omega to immediately counter it and defeat him.
• The Batch rescuing Senator Singh from his heavily occupied home city, hijacking an AT-TE and repairing it under heavy fire, and escaping - quite likely without having to kill a single clone.

Episode 12: Rescue on Ryloth

• Howzer standing up to the other clones, saying this isn't what they were meant for and refusing to fight for the Empire. The others in his squad likewise lay down their weapons. They all know they're going to be arrested but are still willing to give up their freedom for what they believe in.
  • Plus, how it's all a grand distraction for the Batch to escape in a shuttlecraft. Crosshair looks actually impressed by this move.

Episode 14: War Mantle

• Seeing the elevator door open to reveal an Imperial commando with familiar black and yellow markings. Delta Squad, specifically Scorch, is back!
• Tech pulls off some really impressive maneuvers while piloting the Havoc Marauder - while under attack from a swarm of V-wings.
• Scorch manages to catch up with Clone Force 99 and Gregor, taking the drop on them.
• Just the sheer number of stun blasts Scorch was able to take before passing out. Gregor went down after two earlier in the episode, and Scorch’s Expy Wrecker went down after being hit once a few episodes prior, but Scorch took five stun hits to take down. Made of Iron indeed.

Episode 15: Return to Kamino

• Circumstances and conflicting ideologies aside, it's great to see Crosshair join the rest of the Bad Batch to fight against a room full of combat droids, complete with the Bad Batch theme playing in the background. Just like the old days.
• Bittersweet though it is (given the revelation of the Kamino cloning facilities' impending abandonment and destruction), hearing the Kamino leitmotif from Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones repeatedly throughout the episode is a nice touch.

Episode 16: Kamino Lost

• Wrecker chewing Crosshair out for his rant about being abandoned, pointing out that for all his talk about (dis)loyalty, he never made an effort to seek the Bad Batch out himself.
• Tech, despite his occasional obliviousness, shows a great deal of social awareness and joins Wrecker in calling Crosshair out. When the sniper mistakes this for defence and asks why he's being backed up, Tech quickly makes it clear he is done with Crosshair's nonsense.
  Tech: Understanding you does not mean that I agree with you.
• AZI once again proves himself one of the most selfless droids when he sacrifices himself to save Omega and get her to safety. When his own possible demise is brought up, he dismisses it, saying her safety is his priority... then Omega goes to save him herself. She almost drowns and has to be saved by Crosshair, but nobody could say the young clone doesn't have a good heart.

Season 2

Episode 2: Ruins of War

• Tech single-handedly taking out several troopers closing in on him, then a gunship and speeder bikes coming at him from front and back. All this while saddled with a left femur shattered by 150kg of cargo earlier on. This proves that he's not just brains, but is just as badass a fighter as any other clone commando. Likewise, Wrecker shows he's not just a muscle-head as, under heavy fire, he jerry-rigs a separatist tank cannon, turning it into a handheld artillery piece.

Episode 3: The Solitary Clone

• Governer Ames' putting Smug Snake Governer Grotton in his place by effortlessly having a droid army capture him and his troops.
• Crosshair manages to destroy an AAT by firing a perfect shot right down the barrel of its main cannon. Bonus points for being under heavy artillery fire and deliberately drawing its fire until it targeted him so he could make the shot, remaining as icily calm as ever the whole time.
• The droids manage to be more of a threat this time, especially a droideka which swiftly kills a clone and drives the others back in a confined space as its shield no sells a droid popper thrown too quickly. Not bad for cannon fodder.
• Crosshair and Cody destroying a droideka via shooting the battle droid next to it, then attacking a bomb to it and letting it fall through the droideka's shield to blow it up.
• Crosshair's Improbable Aiming Skills + the mirror discs he used in Clone Wars comes in handy to destorying the commando droids and the tactical droid.
• Cody deserting the Empire at the end.

Episode 4: Faster

• Tech winning the Riot Racing Race after a *day* of learning the sport.
  • Specifically, he wins through using the simple combo of speed, mobility and shields. Everyone else focused on trying to take out their opponents with their weapons. Tech ditched the weapons to lose the extra weight and that gave him the agility needed to dodge his opponents and clear the dangerous areas.

Episode 6: Tribe

• The Batch help a young Wookie attacked by slavers. It looks bad, the Batch outnumbered...and then the Wookie extends a hand, a device flies from one droid's belt and ignites into a lightsaber and the audience realizes it's Gungi from The Clone Wars, having survived Order 66 and helps the Batch take the droids down.

Episode 8: Truth and Consequences

• The Batch successfully steals evidence from Admiral Rampart's Venator implicating him in the destruction of Kamino, gets it to Senator's Organa and Chuchi, and exposes the slime for what he really is. It seems like a hard-fought victory...until Palpatine shows up. He not only has Rampart arrested, but uses the proof the Batch brought as a reason why the Imperial Senate needs to phase out the clones and pass the Defense Act to conscript Stormtroopers. It does, of course, but if there was any lingering doubt that Palpatine isn't The Chessmaster he was in the movies and The Clone Wars, this dispels it all. The Senate thought it could fight the Empire, but Palpatine is the Senate.

Episode 10: Retrieval

• Mokko threatens to drop Omega into a lava pit to get the Bad Batch to stand down. When his profit hoarding is revealed, he spitefully orders her dropped. Not content to be a Damsel in Distress, Omega grabs the droid by the arm, then pulls it into the pit with her, all while trusting Hunter to catch her mid-fall.

Episode 12: The Outpost

• Crosshair manages to wound a raider, allowing him to drip blood to see how they been getting past the sensors.
• Both Crosshair and Mayday taking on several raiders and coming out without a scratch after hitting several pressure mines.
• Crosshair shooting and killing Lieutenant Nolan after putting up with his attitude towards him and the other clones.

Episode 13: Pabu

• The Bad Batch, Phee and Shep all working together to evacuate everyone in lower Pabu to higher ground when a tsunami threatens them. Total casualties? Zero.

Episode 14: The Tipping Point

• Gregor, Echo, and a few other clones rescuing Howzer and his men at the beginning of the episode, complete with a narrow escape when a Star Destroyer shows up.
• While he fails to escape Mount Tantiss, Crosshair successfully gets a message to the Bad Batch that the Empire is hunting them.
  • Despite being delirious and weak from being tortured, Crosshair manages to escape his cell and kills a number of Stormtroopers. When bogged down in one room, he shoots the pipe above, causing steam to pour out giving him the opportunity to pick them off during the confusion.

Episode 16: Plan 99

• Hunter gives Crosshair a run for his money by managing to shoot down two V-Wings with just his blaster, all while the team is under heavy fire from stormtroopers in another car.
• While also very sad, Tech's completely fearless Heroic Sacrifice, shooting out the cable holding up his portion of the tram car to ensure that his squad can escape, is nothing short of badass.
  Tech: When have we ever followed orders?

Season 3

Episode 2: Paths Unknown

• Hunter and Wrecker capturing the Pyke who had Roland Durand's horn cut off and humiliated his family. Even reduced to two active members, the Bad Batch can still successfully cross one of the Galaxy's most powerful crime syndicates.

Episode 3: Shadows of Tantiss

• After receiving Nala Se's datapad, Omega manages to execute an Indy Ploy that, despite a few hiccups, ends with both her and Crosshair escaping Tantiss aboard a hijacked shuttle. They even manage to bring Batcher along for the ride.

Episode 5: The Return

• Even without Wrecker's muscle, Crosshair is strong enough to pull Hunter up out of the ice cave and away from the charging wyrm.

Episode 6: Infiltration

• Fireball intervening when Rex and the Bad Batch are pinned down. Attacking the X Trooper head on, charging at him while shooting at him with a flamethrower before he can kill anyone else. Sadly, not only is Fireball killed, but the accidental explosion of several bombs causes Rex and the others to get trapped. While the X Trooper manages to survive, in spite of Fireball's sacrifice.
• The X Trooper proves himself to be quite resilient. He gets blown up, a roof falls on his head, he gets blown up AGAIN and falls multiple stories, and gets washed over the edge of a sizable waterfall, and he still keeps up the chase.

Episode 9: Harbinger

• While the Bad Batch were never going to be at the same level as a Sith Assassin who's crossed blades with the likes of Obi-Wan and Dooku, they make Ventress work for the win when they get in a brawl. Even when she gets frustrated enough to draw one of her lightsabers, they don’t back down.

Episode 12: Juggernaut

• The Bad Batch may not know how to get to Tantiss, but there is one person who does: former Vice Admiral Rampart. How do they extract Rampart from the Imperial labor camp he's currently toiling away in? By outright hijacking the Juggernaut/Turbo Tank being used to transport him through said labor camp.

Episode 13: Into The Breach

• Omega isn't just waiting to be rescued. She's already formulating a plan to escape as well as acting as a leader and protector to the other children there. The Batch would be more than proud.

Episode 15: The Cavalry Has Arrived

• Omega's plan to create a distraction? Freeing the Zillo Beast from its confines and letting the giant absolutely wreck shop as it tears through the Imperials like tissue paper during its escape to the wilderness.
• Nala Se manages to take the opportunistic Rampart down with her, with him having only a few seconds to realize how badly he messed up before getting blown up. What's more, her thermal detonator also destroys Hemlock's research, setting Project Necromancer back by a considerable amount.
• The Bad Batch still performs admirably, considering that they get more and more banged up and even tortured as the episode goes on. Wrecker manages to power through the injuries he received from fighting the Dylax, Crosshair doesn't let X-2 chopping his hand off slow him down or affect his marksmanship, and one of the first things Hunter does when freed from Hemlock's mechanism is run X-2 through with an electrostaff.
• Seeing Hemlock, who spent the whole series acting like the smuggest snake alive, devolve into a Villainous Breakdown as his plans begin to fall apart around him, followed by Hunter and Crosshair finally shooting the life out of him after cornering him on the bridge. The twisted scientist plummeting into the darkness below after being riddled with blaster bolts is just the cherry on top.