Confined and Isolated. This is how Jennifer Corbett, Matt Michnovetz, Brad Rau, and the rest of the brilliant team at Lucas Animation choose to begin the third and final season of The Bad Batch, which premiered on Disney+ yesterday. Dave Filoni knew what he was doing when he assembled his team to tell the further adventures of Clone Force 99 in this spiritual heir to his timeless classic The Clone Wars. When the credits roll on the finale on May the 4th, it will be the end of an era.
Omega, literally marking time in confinement, will seem familiar to fans of “the sequels,” as it will as well to film nerds that remember the Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman classic Papillon. Omega, the end of a line of cloning research that began with the original “Alpha” clone, Boba Fett, is now a prisoner in The Galactic Empire’s secret research facility, Mount Tantiss. The clones of Jango Fett that once comprised the Grand Army of The Republic are now subjects for all of Emperor Palpatine and The Galactic Empire’s twisted science experiments.
Is this a show for kids? Not really, but yes, is my best answer. It’s dark. Corbett and Michnovetz establish a very bleak tone as we reunite with the divided Clone Force 99 at the beginning of season 3. After thirty-two episodes, and another four from the final season of The Clone Wars, I thought I knew these characters inside and out. But Crosshair as the defeated, imprisoned, broken man pierced me with understanding and empathy. This is what Lucas taught Filoni that Star Wars can do. 8 to 13-year-old fans of this show will view it repeatedly throughout the course of the rest of their lives, and these dark lessons will become ingrained into their character. George Lucas for the Win.
Whether it be The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, or previous seasons of The Bad Batch, there have always been episodes that fans have called “filler”, isolated stories that don’t advance any greater overarching plot, typically featuring lighthearted character moments and life lessons. “Omega goes fishing and learns a lesson about community” and such. Those days of lighthearted adventure while navigating the galaxy appear to be a thing of the past for her. Like the formative years as a laboratory assistant on Kamino during the war, her life has returned to a similar, yet much more restricted and controlled existence.
The clones walking the hallways of Mt. Tantiss are not the proud heroes that walked the halls of their home on Kamino. They walk past, heads down, shoulders slumped. The boisterous, colorful, multi-cultural, multi-species days of The Galactic Republic have become the black, white, and grey emptiness of The Galactic Empire. The Imperial Stormtrooper wears armor that strikes fear into the citizenry, while also mocking and bastardizing the heroic image of the clones. The lessons of how a democracy dies, and the horrors of a society slipping into authoritarian fascism, are chilling.
Omega can not redeem Crosshair, but as an audience, we now hope that she might inspire him to forgive himself for the mistakes that he’s made. She wonders if something bad has happened to the rest of Clone Force 99, or even possibly wonders if Crosshair is right and she has been abandoned. But at her core, she still believes. I wish I was that hopeful, and this is why I love Omega.
Jennifer Corbett has grown into one of my all-time favorite writers. Truly masterful. Like Filoni did with Lucas when the two created Ahsoka Tano, Corbett has made Omega into an enduring, timeless character in fiction that can serve as a vehicle to inspire generations to come. Before the end of this season, she’s going to make me cry like a baby, as well as jump to my feet shouting “Fuck Yeah!”, more than once. She’s done it before. She’s going to cut my heart out. (She better not kill Omega.)
Dee Bradley Baker, the voice of the Clone Army in animation dating back to the beginning, is absolutely awe-inspiring in his performance here, as always. If there were a Mt. Rushmore of voice acting, he’s on it. Michelle Ang’s performance as Omega is pitch-perfect. Her hopeful determination in the face of impossible odds can easily get me choked up if I’m not careful. The great Jimmi Simpson is creepy as fuck as Dr. Hemlock, making for another classic villain whose horrible demise I pray for. Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine/Sidious is the Voice of Evil. What is wrong with me that I could listen to Palpatine all day? Vader, much?
The animation itself is amazing. More than 15 years on, Lucas Animation is still doing work that is more than a decade ahead of anything else. Virtual camera placement and movement is astounding. It is cinematic storytelling told in the same way that Lucas taught Filoni at the beginning. The backgrounds are expansive and breath-taking, and the individual performances are captivating. In my opinion, the work done by Lucas Animation continues to stand far above anything done in live-action or publishing by Lucasfilm since Lucas sold the company to Disney. It is long past time for feature directors applying for work on a Star Wars project to have a knowledge base beyond “I love the 1977 original.”
We old-school Star Wars fans recognize Filoni’s long game here in trying to make the plot of 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker actually make sense for the entire audience. Operation: Necromancer is revealed to be the purpose behind all of this advanced cloning research. For those of you who don’t have a clue as to what I’m referring to, I’m jealous. You’ve got a pretty full weekend of Disney+ ahead of you. I wish I could watch all that stuff for the first time again.
I’ll keep you updated in the coming weeks as season 3 of The Bad Batch unfolds. Here’s to a Springtime of Inspiration! Life should be joyous and hopeful, and not so bleak.
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