Today saw the release of the penultimate episode of Lucasfilm’s acclaimed animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, entitled “Flash Strike,” on Disney+, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
“Flash Strike” picks up immediately where last week’s episode left off– with Clone Force 99’s ship magnetically attached to the bottom of an Imperial science vessel as it hurtles through hyperspace to the planet Weyland and the Mount Tantiss cloning facility. Aboard their shuttle, Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) debate with their captive ex-Imperial Vice Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal) about what their plan should be when they actually arrive. Meanwhile, Echo (also Baker) sneaks around the Imperial ship, knocks out a stormtrooper, steals his armor, and hacks into the computer system. Down on the surface, the villainous Dr. Royce Hemlock (Jimmi Simpson) is alerted about the possible security breach in the aftermath of the Bad Batch’s orbital station incursion in the previous installment. In the sky above the planet, Clone Force 99’s shuttle disengages from the vessel and is immediately set upon by Imperial fighters, which shoot it out of the sky, causing a crash-landing in the Weyland jungle.
Meanwhile in the Vault, Omega (Michelle Ang) hears the laser cannon blasts from outside and rightly assumes that her brothers in the Bad Batch have tracked down her location. When the science vessel lands, Hemlock orders the ship to be searched thoroughly and the crew scanned with Echo still aboard. In the jungle, the other three members of Clone Force 99 reunite after the crash, and Hunter admits that Rampart “unfortunately” also survived. They head toward Mount Tantiss, dodging the Imperial craft buzzing overhead, and wind up encountering one of the fearsome beasts that wreaked havoc in this year’s season premiere. Rampart runs away screaming and the others are left to fend for themselves against the creature, while on the ship Echo is accosted by a protocol droid who he blasts and takes its robotic hand to use as part of his disguise, joining a squadron of other troopers.
Omega starts crawling around in the ductwork adjacent to the Vault like a little John McClane, and eventually finds her way to a vent through which she can see the Zillo beast in an enormous tank, being zapped by lasers any time it tries to escape. In the jungle, the Bad Batch manage to use the other creature’s rampage to their advantage, siccing it on some troopers who are in pursuit of them. But bad luck befalls Rampart and he gets captured by the Empire, while Omega’s friends in the Vault try to stall Dr. Scalder (Helen Sadler) in a desperate effort to cover for the clone’s absence. In the lab, Dr. Karr (Keisha Castle-Hughes) encounters Echo scomp-linking into the computers and hunting for information on Omega’s whereabouts, but she approaches him as a potential ally instead of an enemy. After she safely returns to the Vault, Omega tells her companions that she “found something big,” and asks for their help in the next step of the plan. This episode was mostly about getting all the pieces in place for next week’s big series finale, but for what it was it was still fairly exciting to watch these characters arrive at their season-long destination at long last. The animation, direction, and voice-acting here were all top-notch, and I can only guess what The Bad Batch’s creative team has in store for us as the show wraps up forever seven days from now.
The series finale of Star Wars: The Bad Batch will be released next Wednesday, May 1st, exclusively via Disney+.