The Unhealthy Batch delivered, as soon as once more, an episode that summed up my points with its issues of its personal as a sequence in that the Batch hardly ever characteristic themselves and the present spends far a lot time establishing characters which might be greatest saved in components, for different exhibits when their story has been advised. It’s extra excited by being a sequel for The Clone Wars and a prequel for Rebels than its personal factor, and that’s why, eleven episodes in, all the pieces feels overwhelmingly lacklustre with no actual company for the Batch. They’ll’t do something to outsmart the established characters – a Tech episode for instance, ought to have occurred by now and even Hunter’s fallen by the wayside, Wrecker had that one the place he fell beneath the spell of Order 66 however other than the primary episode, I’m failing to consider that many huge character moments for the crew – even Omega feels paper-thin to date and that’s due to this present’s countless devotion to cameos. There’s even time for Chopper, Cham, Gobi and even a Senator from the prequels – given the truth that this episode is in regards to the Twi’leks, that’s no shock.
I really like Hera in Rebels – she’s among the finest characters within the Star Wars universe, however I virtually groaned when she confirmed up right here as a youthful self on Ryloth, all the time the adventurer and a dreamer for the celebs. We get to see one other planet beneath Imperial occupation, and Ryloth appears to be like set to be a key location for the back-end of the season which we’re now in with 5 episodes to go. The placement is good and it offers depth to Cham, a Clone Wars veteran – but when something, this episode feels much less of a typical Unhealthy Batch episode and extra one the place they’re the visitor stars reasonably than anything. After sitting on the side-lines Cham is pulled into motion when Hera finally ends up smuggling for the Batch, and we get to see a conflict of dynamics between the 2 – Hera is extra rebellious, while Cham is extra prepared to work with the Empire in favour of peace. The Clone Wars went on for a very long time, and most within the galaxy are uninterested in them. And so they nonetheless don’t understand how harmful the Empire really is.
Loads of the episode has been slowly establishing the very days of the Riot and placing the items collectively. I do like a number of the early character work that we get with Hera, her dynamic with Omega works for essentially the most half and I’m wondering if we’ll see Hera meet Kanan sooner or later within the present given how the present is insistent on cameos I’m shocked Kanan hasn’t returned but, and at this level a cameo within the finale is all however a given. “She’s kinda unusual, I like her,” Omega sums up Hera properly.
Crosshair too comes again into play right here as a sinister operator within the shadows. I’m a bit combined on him and also you sort of know what he can do by now. Just like the Batch themselves, he doesn’t actually have a lot of a function and there’s not an actual sense of thriller round any of them robbing me of a cause to maintain watching. As quickly as The Unhealthy Batch learns to cease counting on cameos or hold a constant group of characters round I’m certain it can flip good and so they’ve carried out spectacular work with Omega to date. However it simply feels prefer it’s taking its time – time that it’s quickly operating out of.