Star Wars: The Bad Batch has returned for its third and final season with a solid first four episodes. In a lot of ways, The Bad Batch is a successor to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It fleshes out the very beginning of the Empire era following Revenge of the Sith, just like Clone Wars fleshed out the period after Attack of the Clones.
The animated series has honestly been more enjoyable than a lot of the live-action Star Wars content Disney+ has been giving us, so it's a shame that this will be the final season. At least it starts with a quality group of episodes. Let's take a deeper look:
Star Wars: The Bad Batch review, Episode 301, "Confined"
Season 2 ended with Omega getting (somewhat foolishly) captured by the Imperial scientist Dr. Hemlock. Now we pick up with her being forced to assist in the various operations around Hemlock's secret facility Mount Tantiss. Although she isn't being held in a cell, Omega's presence at the facility provides motivation for her former guardian Nala Se. Hemlock has threatened to hurt Omega if Nala Se doesn't work on his project.
As a Kaminoan cloning expert, Nala Se's work includes collecting and testing blood samples for high midi-chlorian counts. We saw last season that when clones like Crosshair begin to question orders, they are sent to Hemlock and held prisoner at Mount Tantiss.
This is a catch-up episode for Omega and Crosshair meant to tease what exactly is going on at the secret Imperial base and how long Omega has been there, which has been months according to the tally marks on her bedroom wall. Despite the odds not being in their favor, Omega is as determined as ever and she tries to convince Crosshair to help her escape. But after last season where Crosshair witnessed the Empire's complete disregard for Clone life, he seems to have lost all hope.
Omega could try to escape at any time but it's endearing that she refuses to leave without finding a way to bring Crosshair with her. One of the big reveals last season is that Hemlock's assistant Emerie is also a female clone; that comes into play as she slowly grows affectionate towards Omega, who is essentially a younger sister to her. I smell a redemption arc for Emerie by the end of the season since she returned a doll to Omega after it was confiscated earlier in the episode.
Although Hunter and Wrecker were nowhere to be found, I do respect the fact that we didn't have to sit around and wonder what was happening with Omega for half of the season. We know she's fine, she's hatching an escape and Crosshair will likely be along for the ride. Solid stuff.