Episode six which was called Decommissioned was a much better episode, not only did the story keep me interested, but more characters from The Clone Wars made their Bad Batch debut. In Decommissioned Clone Force 99 (CF99) had to complete another mission for Cid, the mission caused CF99 to bump up against Rafa and Trace Martez. I had mentioned earlier that I was finding the previous few episodes slightly boring, after Decommissioned I am feeling rejuvenated. Again we get no appearances by either the Empire or Fennec Shand, but it was good to be seeing CF99 look competent once more. The last few episodes seem to be CF99 getting into trouble and Omega stepping up to save them, I like Omega but I was getting sick of watching CF99 not kicking some ass. Episode one is still my favourite episode, but Decommissioned has now moved up to number two on the list.
EPISODES 5 AND 6 RECAP
Episode five starts with CF99 trying to find out why a bounty hunter is after Omega, they travel to Ord Mantell to meet an informant who can help get them the information they are seeking. In Ord Mantell they meet Cid (voiced by Rhea Perlman), Omega somehow is able to identify that Cid even after Cid denies her identity. Cid was an informant the Jedi used, which is how Echo knew about Cid, and with the Jedi gone Cid is now not as busy. Cid wants CF99 to do a job for her, CF99 is supposed to rescue a kid named Muchi. Wrecker is again seen struggling with a headache, but he won't tell Hunter what is wrong. They scout the city where Muchi is being held, and they think it will be a simple smash and grab but Hunter still refuses to let Omega join in on the mission. We see that Cid is rescuing Muchi for someone who speaks Huttese. The mission goes badly and CF99 is captured, Omega is able to hide when the slavers come to search the ship. Omega uses stealth to make it to CF99, but she comes across a cage and she unlocks it before she herself is captured. Muchi is the creature in the cage (a Rancor), and once free Muchi takes out the slavers and runs away. The leader of the slavers fights with Hunter while Wrecker and Tech go after Muchi. Wrecker then starts fighting Muchi until he and Muchi are too exhausted to stand. Cid gets a visit from Bib Fortuna, it turns out that Muchi belongs to Jabba the Hutt. Cid tells Hunter that the bounty hunter is Fennec Shand, and that she is working a private commission. Cid offers CF99 a deal, she will give them the credits they need to survive and stay on the run if they do jobs for her.
Episode six starts off on Ord Mantell, we see Echo giving Omega training on how to use the weapon Omega took from the slavers. Even though Omega has hit the target Echo asks her to keep shooting, he tells her that soldiers need to be consistent. Cid arrives and gives CF99 their next job, they are to break into a decommissioning factory on Corellia and retrieve a tactical droid before they are all destroyed. CF99 sneaks onto Corellia, the factory is being patrolled by police droids, but Tech comes up with a way to get inside the factory. There is only one tactical droid left that has not been destroyed, Omega locates the droid but someone else takes the head and runs away. It turns out that there are two thieves and they encounter CF99, Omega's weapon shoots and causes security to lock down the facility trapping CF99 and the thieves inside. The thieves and CF99 team up to take out the security droids, but they also both keep trying to steal the tactical droid head from each other. Wrecker bumps his head and starts to say "good soldiers follow orders" before he passes out. Echo activates the tactical droid and uses it to activate the battle droids waiting to be destroyed and they use the droids as cover to escape. CF99 give Rafa Martez and her sister Trace the droid head to help with the fight against the Empire. As Rafa and Trace are leaving they contact someone to tell them they got the information and that encountered rogue clones who helped and they know where to find them. We never see who Rafa has contacted as the episode ends.
THOUGHTS ON "RAMPAGE" AND "DECOMMISSIONED"
I am not sure how much I enjoyed Rampage, it felt like a bland episode that was definitely more appealing to children than adults. While watching The Bad Batch I keep having to remind myself that it is a children's show, and that I am not the target audience. There is a lof of material in The Bad Batch for me to enjoy, there is a lot I do not care about. I am confident that the season as whole and the story they are telling will appeal to me, but I know that not all of the 16 episodes will be enjoyable for me. Rampage was an episode that was not bad, but I had a problem keeping my focus while watching it. I am also wanting to see CF99 being the elite combat unit that we saw in episode one. If more were being made out of them no longer being a full team without Crosshair I would understand that they are struggling without him. The last few episodes have made it seem that Omega is the main character on the show and that CF99 are background characters, especially Echo and Tech. Omega is cute and likeable, but she was not the character I want to spend most of every episode with. If we learned more about Omega's history I could see myself becoming more invested in her, but right now we know almost nothing about her. Omega is being portrayed in the last few episodes as being better than CF99 despite her being a child and having no training. I think Rampage was essential only because it brought CF99 to Cid who will possibly be a recurring character.
Decommissioned was such a different episode than the previous two, it was a little more intense and we see more of what is going on in the galaxy now that the Empire has taken hold. Omega was a key member of the squad again, but this time it was her that needed saving which is a difference than the previous three episodes. I know I have been a little negative of the last few episodes, but that is because I was getting bored with the episodes. I wanted more Star Wars lore and I was hopping for the show to fill out more of the canon from this time period. I have felt that episodes 2, 4 and 5 were not going into canon enough for my taste. Decommissioned delivered with us learning that Corellia was where the droid army was sent to be destroyed. We also met Rafa and Trace Martez, and now we are curious who sent them to Corellia. We also saw again that Wrecker is being affected by the inhibitor chip, which I have been waiting for them to dive back into. In episode three we saw Tech working on a device he was going to use to inspect all of their inhibitor chips. Nothing has been mentioned about that device since episode three, I know it is likely to come back I just don't see how Hunter has not put Wrecher's headache issues as being related to the chip yet.
It has been small quibbles like Omega constantly saving CF99, the lack of time with the Empire or the lack of follow up on Wrecker's headaches that has kept me from enjoying the show more. I know a lot of those answers will come soon, but with 16 episodes in season one I just need to be patient. I would have preferred a ten episode season over this, but I was not consulted by Disney on this matter. Join me for my review of episode seven which comes out on Friday. I will also being doing a review of the Marvel Disney Plus show Loki. Thank you for reading and let me know what you thought of episodes five and six.
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