The final season of The Bad Batch is a resounding success story. The season-long arc of how Clone Force 99 rescues Omega from the Empire brings with it a clearer focus than the occasionally scattershot season two. Season Three does not get lost in side quests. Instead, we get The Bad Batch at its most action-packed, emotional, and stylish, which is not bad for a show focusing on a group of relatively minor spin-off characters.
The Bad Batch achieves tonal and thematic consistency despite the episodes feeling wildly different. Some are thrilling in their scale (with the finale pushing the limits of PG-restricted violence). Others are unbelievably tense, while others are almost unbearably sad. The events of the previous season seem to have focused the characters as much as the story, with every one of them – particularly Crosshair – having to look inward at themselves. It never slips into despair, though, thanks largely to Michelle Ang’s bubbly but increasingly steeled performance as Omega.
Rarely do you find any Star Wars property that balances all three eras so capably, drawing on the best of all to maximise detail and enjoyment. The connections to the wider universe are clear (don’t think this is the last you will hear of Project Necromancer). Everything from the script to the animation effortlessly captures a world – and characters – in a state of flux. In many ways, with its profoundly human focus and near-perfect final note, this is Star Wars at its most pure and satisfying. The Bad Batch cuts through the mess of everything around it to deliver a thrilling, heartwarming, and rousing story.
STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH Season Three is out now on DIsney+.
