Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1 Episode 4 "Cornered" Spoiler Review

 I am not sure why I was so convinced that Fennec Shand appeared in episode three, I was convinced that she was one of the new recruits.  I knew Fennec was appearing in the series, I obviously was wrong since Fennec Shand made her Bad Batch debut in episode four.  The action continues to be a bright spot for The Bad Batch, we knew Fennec Shand was deadly, but she took it to a whole new level in episode four titled "Cornered".  No matter who Wrecker is paired with he is always so much fun in each episode, we never got a follow-up on Wrecker's headache from the last episode.  I am not sure his head will be any better after his encounter with Fennec, she used his own strength against him.  Hunter keeps showing that he thinks of Omega like his daughter, and for all we know maybe she is.  We still do not know much about Omega; she could have been cloned from Hunter's DNA.  Tech and Echo did not get a lot to do in this episode, but I enjoyed Echo's new crew of droids.  With sixteen episodes in season one, there are going to be bunches of episodes that will feature a good story, but not much else.

The Bad Batch feels a lot more similar to The Clone Wars than any of the other Star Wars animated shows like Rebels or Resistance.  Resistance and Rebels were shows that were entertaining, but they were also more for kids.  The Clone Wars was a show that had a lot of humor and kid-friendly action, but it also showed the dark side of the war.  The clones were pawns being used by Palpatine and as the show went on, we became attached to some of the clones, and it always had an air of despair hanging over the show.  We always knew what would happen to the Jedi and the clones, we are still learning what happened to the clones and the Jedi that made it out of Order 66 alive.  There is a lot of meat for The Bad Batch to dig their teeth into, but it will take its time to get there.  The first episode was the meatiest and since then each episode has some meat, but it is a lot less than the pilot episode.  I have not watched a lot of TV shows that have had more than 12 episodes in the last couple of years and I have realized why.  You do not need more than 12 episodes to tell a complete, anything more than will lead to a lot of filler material added.  The filler is not always bad, The Bad Batch is still giving us entertaining episodes despite the lack of answers or big plot revelations.  To fully appreciate the show, we will need to adjust our expectations, each episode is meant to be entertaining and the revelations will be given out as required.  

"CORNERED" RECAP

The episode starts with Clone Force 99 on the Havoc Marauder, they are trying to decide where to go, they agree on going to Idaflor.  Tech though points out that they do not have enough fuel or rations to make it to Idaflor, and Echo points out that the ship's signature is on the wanted list.  Tech will scramble the signature, but he needs to land to do the work.  The planet they are going to land on is Pantora, Tech and Wrecker will fix the ship, while Hunter, Echo and Omega sell items to get fuel and rations.  Tech and Wrecker encounter a greedy shipyard master who asks for a bribe to not register their ship.  The shipyard master then double crosses them and calls a bounty hunter who is apparently after Omega.  The bounty hunter is revealed to be Fennec Shand, who tells the shipyard master to keep CF99 on the planet until she arrives.  Echo, Hunter and Omega are bringing armaments to sell so they can buy fuel and rations.  Echo who is in disguise is thought by the shopkeeper to be a droid and so Hunter sells Echo to him.  While they are bartering, Omega got a new doll and while she is looking at a cute alien creature, the creature takes the doll.  Omega chases, but she eventually walks into someone and she gets scared.  Omega is helped up by Fennec Shand who pretends to be an ally, she helps Omega find CF99, but in reality, she is trying to bring Omega back to her ship.  When Hunter realizes that Omega is no longer in the shop he goes after her.  Omega is hungry and Fennec steals some fruit for her, Omega then offers Fennec Shand a place on the Havoc Marauder.  

Hunter arrives and orders Omega to get away from Fennec, Fennec shoots at Hunter but misses and then headbutts Hunter which knocks him out.  Hunter awakens and calls the remaining team to let them know Omega has been taken, while Omega runs away from Fennec.  Echo rallies the droids he is supposed to be supervising to help, while Tech is tracking Omega's movements using the security cameras.  Wrecker finds Omega, but Fennec shows up and takes out Wrecker using his own momentum to ram him head-first into a pipe.  Echo puts the droids to work repairing the ship, Fennec saves Omega from falling, but also starts shooting at Hunter again.  Omega tries to help Hunter by pushing Fennec off the barge, she ends up almost falling off, but Hunter catches her after he damages Fennec's stolen vehicle.   Hunter then uses a grenade to take out Fennec before he brings Omega back to the ship.  Omega and Clone Force 99 make it off the planet, they want to know who hired Fennec to go after Omega.  Fennec is okay, but we hear her tell her employer that the target got away but she will find her as the episode ends.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON EPISODE FOUR

We got a fantastic introduction to Fennec Shand, but as for the bigger story of the series, Cornered, did not deliver anything new.  Even though Fennec killed some security officials, and she shot at Hunter, I think she is not a true villain like the Empire is.  Fennec did not kill Wrecker and neither did she kill Hunter, if she killed them after she incapacitated them her mission would have been a success.  I know Fennec is a bounty hunter, but we have not had enough of a backstory for her yet to know much beyond that she is very deadly.  The action in this episode was great and it kept the pace high for the entire episode.  With the appearance of Fennec trying to hunt Omega we now have to try and figure out who put the bounty out on Omega.  The only likely candidate is one of the Kaminoans, Omega had limited interactions with Tarkin, and I don't think he would put a bounty on just Omega.  Lama Su and Nala Se said they needed just one of the enhanced clones to make it work, maybe they figured Omega was the easiest to acquire.  I am sure we will see Fennec again as she said she is going to continue searching for Omega, I wonder if Fennec will side with CF99 during their next encounter.

One of the biggest drawbacks to having a sixteen-episode season is that some of the episodes will be like Cornered, feature great action but be light on plot.  I like Cornered better than episode two, but I enjoyed the plot details about the Empire we learned in episode three.  In my review of episode four I liked that we got to spend some time with the Empire, I missed that in this episode.  The episode featured a great chase between Hunter and Fennec, and Hunter is showing how much Omega means to him.  Omega continues to be a standout, she is obviously naive since she spent her whole life on Kamino, but she is also very brave and manages to make a smart decision in each episode.  In Cornered, Omega flipped a switch that caused Fennec to be thrown from vehicle.  I like that the show continues to show the limitations of CF99, while each one has a special skill, they also have flaws and only when they team up do they become so formidable.  I wonder if we see that without Crosshair, they are a less effective group, they all complement each other well.  I have grown very attached to the characters in The Bad Batch, which is something I struggled with in The Clone Wars.  I have no idea what to expect from episode, but I can't wait for it.  Join me for review of episode five, thank you for reading, and let me know your thoughts on the episode in the comments.