Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Bad Batch episodes 1 & 2
The Bad Batch season 2 confirms the biggest problem the Star Wars series needs to overcome. Focused on the rogue Clone Force 99 during the rise of the Empire, the Bad Batch are doing all they can to survive and protect Omega, an unaltered female clone of Jango Fett. However, it’s becoming clear that the series needs to go deeper if it wants to remain engaging.
In the premiere episodes of The Bad Batch season 2, Clone Force 99 embarks on a mission to recover war treasure from the fortress of Count Dooku on his homeworld of Serenno. Once a critical world for the Separatist Alliance, Dooku’s lair has been largely abandoned ever since the end of the Clone Wars and the Sith Lord’s demise at the hands of Anakin Skywalker. However, the episodes are very straightforward and hardly provide anything that hadn’t been seen before from the first season.
The Bad Batch Season 2 Needs To Find Its Greater Purpose
Given their heist job from their Trandoshan informant Sid on Ord Mantell, this 2-part mission could have easily been part of the series’ first season. Predictably, the job goes wrong which requires the squad to improvise in order to escape with their lives. However, there was no point in these first two episodes to help define why the Star Wars series is having a second season at all. As such, there needs to be a greater meaning that goes beyond just revealing the Bad Batch’s fate during this era in the Star Wars timeline.
In order to continue being compelling and entertaining, The Bad Batch season 2 needs to find its greater purpose beyond survival, protecting Omega, and tensions with their former squad mate Crosshair who stayed with the Empire. While those narrative elements can continue and should progress, there should also be something more to justify the shows’ existence and keep audiences invested. Finding its core purpose will be The Bad Batch’s biggest hurdle to tackle following a fairly lackluster premiere.
The Bad Batch Season 2 Still Has Potential (With Echo)
That being said, there are a few moments where the premiere does tease new territory for The Bad Batch. Most of these come from Echo who joined the squad near the Clone Wars’ end. Formerly an ARC trooper, Echo was tortured by the Separatists before his eventual rescue. Now, Echo is motivating new conflict in the series between the rest of the squad and their leader Hunter. Not only do the other clones call for a vote to take the Serenno job after Hunter said it was too dangerous, Echo voices his desire to use the treasure to build their numbers and weapons, wanting to do more than just survive.
Echo’s desire to fight the Empire carries the most potential for The Bad Batch season 2. If cultivated, Clone Force 99 could become an integral part of the Rebels’ origins. The trailer also featured Gungi, a Jedi Purge survivor. Perhaps Clone Force 99 helps form the Hidden Path network seen in Obi-Wan Kenobi? The possibility of the Bad Batch becoming more of a family unit (complete with family dysfunctions) is exciting. Likewise, the opportunity to start fighting the Empire also carries new and personal stakes that would certainly give the Star Wars series more meaning and purpose than what’s been seen so far in The Bad Batch season 2.