‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ S01E01 “Aftermath” (review)

The Clone Wars was based on a simple and genius premise: What if Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader, was charged with taking on a Padawan?

The Bad Batch follows form with an equally simple and genius premise: How do Republic clones operate when programed outside of standard protocol?

The Bad Batch characters themselves explosively debuted during the premier arc of The Clone Wars seventh and final season. Each character popped and felt fresh and familiar at the same time.

Now the Bad Batch, also known as Clone Force 99, have been charged with taking on their own series on Disney Plus. The question is, can they hold their own?

With a premier exceeding a 1 hour run time, I’m pleased to report that the answer is an enthusiastic yes.

The show begins in exciting The Clone Wars fashion with Tom Kane’s standard “news reel” voice-over update; Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi have rescued Chancellor Palpatine from the evil separatist forces. Meanwhile, a particular clone battalion on the losing end of a battle.

The Bad Batch arrives in their true chaotic, surgically precise form to save the clone battalion with the elegant choreography we’ve come to expect from Dave Filoni’s team. While still basking in their victory, Order 66 is executed. We’re then finally given the scene we should have been given during the purge sequence of Revenge of the Sith: A Jedi not taken by complete surprise by the turning of her clones and certainly not going down without a thrilling fight. (Yes, Master Yoda sensed the turn, but Zett Jukassa’s scene in ROTS, the kid at the Jedi temple, was, hands down, the best purge scene in the entire movie.)

Since The Bad Batch are not standard clones, the Order 66 programing doesn’t fully take effect and our heroes are suddenly left more isolated than ever before, with no sense of belonging.

Well, most of them.

Like The Clone Wars that preceded, The Bad Batch is meticulously thought out. The premier, Aftermath, quickly sets up the theme of the entire series, alluding to a greater mystery and executes unexpected turns that make me want to come back for more. By the end of Aftermath, The Bad Batch have made their choices and suffer the consequences.

What sets The Bad Batch apart from The Clone Wars is its focus. While The Clone Wars could follow Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Ashoka or even Master Yoda at any given time across the Galaxy, here, our story is about this one particular group of clones on the run, trying to find their place in a galaxy where everyone considers them a threat.

While on paper each member of The Bad Batch is a cliché; a tracker (Hunter,) a sharpshooter (Crosshairs,) a smart guy (Tech,) an outcast (Echo) and the brawn (aptly named Wrecker,) they’re executed with personalities that charm and enthrall. Even Wrecker, who I have to admit can often be over the top to the point of being annoying, has character perfect moments that make you just love the guy=

My biggest worry coming into the show was a child character I had seen teased named Omega. My immediate thought was; dear God, not another Boxey or Cousin Oliver.

Expectations subverted! I should stop being surprised that the writers are good at subverting my expectations. I mean, really good.

Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that Omega is introduced to us in an easy to digest manner and that there’s an engaging twist that’s teased early on that I missed entirely. Omega is very likable and not what you expect.

Remember when I said earlier, “well, most of them,” in reference to Order 66? That’s the other twist to the story that makes The Bad Batch compelling. The Bad Batch are not a fully cohesive unit to begin with and Order 66 has affected one their own, pitting hero against hero.

With the high quality of storytelling that The Clone Wars delivered that only improved over time, and an outstanding premier episode, The Bad Batch has given itself ridiculously high standards to live up to. Given how obvious it is that the writers deeply care about Star Wars, I have little doubt we’ll be let down.

Especially now that the comically distracting and most non-threatening enemy battle droids are gone forever!

Still, the big question is, since The Clone Wars are over, and no more updates are needed for the Republic, now Imperial, citizens back home, is this the end of Tom Kane’s “news reel” updates?

Let’s tune in next week to find out.

Oh.

And there’s Padawan in the very beginning of the episode. He’s the one that brings in the Bad Batch. Pay attention to that kid.