By Ben Wright (@iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
After last week’s cliffhanger, we continue on with the story, as the Batch set about finding the ship thief and retrieving the Marauder. This journey leads them to another, but active, mining facility and eventually to the thief, a young worker called Benni. While retrieving the ship was the narrative framework, it was actually more of an examination of how bad life in the galaxy has gotten for the ‘everyman’. Fighting to survive, taking whatever they can just to be able to access the basics of rations and water. In many ways, this reflects the type of tyranny that the Empire is inflicting on those outside of the indoctrinated. It was also interesting seeing the difference between the haves and have-nots. While not quite the Rebels against the Empire, there is a different kind of rebellion as the workers rise up against their overindulging masters.
This was also another big episode for Omega, who has a significant realisation and before she can get too lost in the magnitude of the Empire’s power – she is brought back into the light, thanks to Echo. This, again, was the right character for that conversation, as you can tie it back to their interactions last week. So they, themselves, have their own mini character and story arc that is really rewarding.
The location, a working Ipsium smelting mine, was really interesting, visually, and I adored the lighting throughout the episode. The orange of the molten lava really lit up these scenes and covered everything in a sinister glow. The music was also, as always, really on point.
Another highly enjoyable episode of The Bad Batch that uses a job to allow time for reflection and growth, which will undoubtedly push the Batch towards their main season goal in the upcoming collection of episodes.
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