One of Those Days...
Had one of those days. Mostly I plain forgot how long it takes to remove all the pins from the Jacket, run the base denim (in remarkable condition for its age…I dread it wearing out…) through the wash, and then put them back on again. I only pricked myself three times, at least.
So, one very late post for you all.
The Ark 2.9 “Cycle of Violence”
If you have to ask “Are we the bad guys?” the answer is always “Yes.” Every time.
This is the second time The Ark has explored that concept, the first by doing a Mirror Universe episode. This time, we find out what was going on on the lunar colony and why it had to be stopped.
(Also, the Earth melted?)
Trust is definitely one of the bad guys, but the clones have it right. Both sides are evil here.
Then we lurch right back into the bad science this show is known for. The EF captain dies, and the EF ship destroy Ark One.
He needs a new liver.
Fortunately for him, Spencer is dying too (no doubt because the actor’s tired of playing two characters) and the clones are gengineered to be universal donors. Captain gets Spencer’s liver, all is…
…brakes on.
“He can’t live without his liver.”
See, the thing about livers is they regenerate. In fact, liver transplants from a living donor who gives up part of their liver are more successful. The clones would still be the best source, but Spencer could have been perfectly healthy and agreed to give up a lobe of his liver for the captain.
I get the meta reason to kill him, but they should have picked a different organ. Sigh. Gotta “love” the science bloopers.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 2.16 “Plan 99”
The Batch’s dramatic escape goes poorly. Tech is apparently dead (No body, so I don’t buy it, even if the Empire has his precious goggles).
Then Sid, surprise surprise, turns on them, betraying them to the Empire. By the end of the episode, Hemlock has Omega to use as leverage on the surviving Kaminoans.
Of course, that also means Crosshair has Omega, and this is not likely to go the Empire’s way. It’s a very quiet end of season cliffhanger…kind of a middle movement feel to it…but still a cliffhanger. So, straight on to season 3.
Star Wars; The Bad Batch 3.1 “Confined”
Poor Omega. Trapped in an Imperial lab, used as a gopher…and a hostage. Crosshair’s in a cell. Can she get them both out?
The answer is not yet, but she does “domesticate” a hound like native, which I know is going to come back to her in the best possible way.
This episode feels far less mil SF than the show as a whole. It’s not really about action, it’s quieter and more reactive. Somewhere out there, the boys are looking for their sister, but we don’t see that. Just what’s going on in the prison-lab.
Not quite what I expected. This season has a total of 15 episodes.
Is Tech going to stay dead? I’m tempted to look up internet spoilers…
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.2 “Paths Unknown”
The only thing Hunter and Wrecker care about is finding Omega. No sign of Echo…off doing rebel stuff? They make a deal with a crime syndicate for the location of Hemlock’s base, but it turns out to be a previous location of Hemlock’s base, abandoned and destroyed after an experiment went out of control.
They rescue three young clones who were being used as test subjects and are going to drop them off on Pabu, but there’s no sign of Omega.
All they have for a lead is a sector.
Omega and Crosshair need to hurry up and rescue themselves at this rate…
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.3 “Shadows of Tantiss”
So, somehow Omega is key to Palpatine’s search for clone transfer immortality. Positive engram transfer…does she have somebody else’s thoughts in that pretty little head somewhere?
Either way, she and Crosshair have indeed proved to be quite self-rescuing. Should have trusted them, Hunter.
Okay, no, I don’t blame you for not relying on their abilities. Especially as you had no reason to think Crosshair would help her.
Now they’re on the run with the Empire after them, and not in contact with Hunter and Wrecker. Or Echo, for that matter.
I suspect that will resolve itself.
For now, it’s about Omega and Crosshair working out their dynamic, which has never been tested or developed. Luck to them!
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.4 “A Different Approach”
Omega and Crosshair, self-rescuing (along with the dog, because the thing this show most needed was a cute alien dog. It really did).
Crosshair wants to handle things by fighting. Omega wants to handle them by growing fins and teeth…turns out the kid is quite the card shark.
Which would have worked if what was left of their stolen shuttle hadn’t been stumbled on by patrols sent out by the corrupt local Imperial captain.
That gets him one of his ships stolen for his pains and the gang (minus Tech) is back together. But will Crosshair be able to reintegrate with the squad? They’d be forgiven for not wanting him around…
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.5 “The Return”
The space dog is really useful. Bark bark!
Crosshair and Hunter are…struggling to get back into old rhythms. Hunter is finding it hard to forgive Crosshair and Crosshair isn’t entirely comfortable with the squad.
When somebody gets out of radicalization, it can be very hard to forgive them the evil things they did while under the influence. And some people feel we shouldn’t. Once a Nazi, always a Nazi. But if the door isn’t open…then there’s no reason to change. I loved this episode.
And the space dog is adorable.
Things are also going to be really hard without Tech…
Also, I have a theory about why Palpatine wants Omega. The rapid aging of the clones, while valuable for creating a fighting force, isn’t what you want if your plan is to keep transferring your mind to new cloned bodies. And it’s part of the cloning process.
Echo doesn’t age rapidly. She ages at normal human speed…and that is what Palpatine wants.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.6 “Infiltration”
Dear Omega, don’t feed the space dog people food. It can’t be good for her.
The rebels capture a clone operative and manage to keep him from committing suicide. Unfortunately, they fail to notice his internal tracker with predictable results.
Trust Crosshair, people. I know it’s hard given he talks like each word costs about a thousand credits.
(As for him not knowing the coordinates of Tantriss, neither he nor Omega was paying that much attention when they left!)
Omega’s growing up a little…and very pleased to have a new, better energy crossbow to use. And a dog. Don’t forget the dog.
(Woof?)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.7 “Extraction”
Rex, ruining good clone troopers since…
Seriously, his diplomatic skills are what save them after a long slog through jungle to a compromised extraction point.
This is very much a vintage Clone Wars episode, pure military SF but hinging, ultimately, on whether people will do the right thing. On the fact that “just following orders” is never a defense.
No, it isn’t. Not now, not ever, not in the past or the future.
Crosshair acts almost human.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.8 “Bad Territory”
They do something very clever visually in this episode. Two of the boys are accompanying a bounty hunter on a swamp planet. The vehicle they rent is an air boat. Oh, it has Star Wars repulsor tech, but it was clearly just a riff on the air boats used for transport in the Everglades.
Then the bounty hunter tells them to be careful of the water.
When the space gators show up, it feels right. Most viewers wouldn’t be consciously aware of this, but by putting the characters in an air boat, they prime at least American audiences to expect space gators next.
It’s actually a brilliant piece of visual foreshadowing.
Now the question is…can they trust the bounty hunter?
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.9 “The Harbinger”
Oh, crud, midichlorians. Have you not forgotten nobody liked that? So, is Omega Force sensitive? Asada Ventress comes to test her…perhaps with the goal of taking her for training…and claims she failed, but I think the space dog says otherwise.
The Emperor is killing or bringing under his control all the Force sensitive people he can find. In the old EU he used them…and I could see the Empire doing that to Omega.
But for now, Ventress has her convinced she’s not. All dog-vidence to the contrary. (Come on, she tamed that thing way too easily).
Trying to ignore the midichlorians. Sigh.
The Ark 2.10 “It Should Have Been You”
Garnet and Ian are trapped in an empty ship. Actually, they aren’t. Turns out Marsh is a failed posthuman…with a deactivated mind control implant it wasn’t safe to remove. When all three are zapped by arcing energy from the FTL drive, he pulls all three into a shared dream.
In which Garnet and Ian spend their entire lives together before waking up. I think this is supposed to be romantic, but it doesn’t quite work for me at that level. It’s another episode where The Ark tries to be Star Trek, and most of them work better.
I’m more interested in the fumbling romance between Angus and Alicia. Much more interested in those kids because they are so cute.
Garnet and Ian? Who knows what’s going to happen there.
And should they…you know…
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.10 “Identity Crisis.”
Emerie talks Hemlock into promoting her, which means she now has access to Project Necromancer.
Turns out Omega isn’t Force sensitive, but has a mutation which can be used to…basically, clones can’t be force sensitive because midichlorians don’t pass through the process. To get a new body, Palpatine has to fix this.
He’s collecting kids to test it with, but needs Omega. We all know he succeeds…so…the question is how? I’m sure Omega isn’t going to end up dead…but maybe forced to donate a few pints of her blood.
When the latest specimen is an infant, Emerie starts to really have some serious doubts about what she’s doing…
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.11 “Point of No Return”
We all knew this would end badly for Pabu. Worse than that, the Empire has destroyed the Marauder…which felt like losing another character. Pabu’s fishing fleet is destroyed along with their ships, Wrecker is hurt, Hunter takes an unexpected bath…
…and Omega turns herself in. She had no real choice. She’s hoping they can track her to Tantris, but we know it won’t be that easy because there are four episodes left, one of them double length.
This feels like the start of either a series finale or a major change. The internet tells me this is indeed planned to be the last season.
I hope it won’t end as tragically as I fear.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.12 “Juggernaut”
You know, if the guy with the info is in jail and you want the info, getting out of jail is quite a reasonable request for him to make.
The Batch are closing in on Tantriss. Meanwhile, Omega has been consigned to the Vault with the m-count specimens.
This, by the way, is a really bad idea…for Tantriss. Not that they won’t get samples from her, because we know they do, but they’re in grave danger of losing all of their specimens.
Or this is going to be a tragedy…
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.13 “Into The Breach”
Or maybe Emerie knows it’s a bad idea and that’s exactly why she did it. As Omega plans her escape, the Batch think of a way to get to Tantris that’s absolutely crazy, but it’s them, so it’ll probably work.
Rampart is absolutely awesome in this episode, with lots of snark…ably voiced by Noshir Dalal. I wouldn’t want to hang out with him, but such an interesting character.
The episode cliffhangers on…did they make it or not? We know they did, because there are two more episodes. Or three, as one’s double length?
I’ll be able to fill you in…after Capclave.