The Mosley Review: Star Wars: The Bad Batch: The Final Season
To say that the Star Wars fandom is splintered and untrusting of what has come and what is to be, is an understatement. The one place that has delivered consistent quality of storytelling, action and loveable characters, is the animation side of Star Wars. Ever since The Clone Wars began, it has been nothing but great adventures that had so much depth and love at its core. The Bad Batch carried on that love and care by following the titular characters on a journey that was unexpectedly heartfelt, tense, and above all, family driven. With this being the final season for the series, I felt the familiar sense of not wanting the curtain to fall on our heroes adventure. Even with that in mind, I still was excited to see how it would end for Clone Force 99 and it was truly an end worthy of rememberence. This cast of characters had a lot to pull off and I was over joyed with the stellar performances.
Dee Bradley Baker returns as the remaining members of the Bad Batch and it is his finest performance yet. You truly see Hunter become more than the leader of the team as he puts everything on the line to find and save Omega. I liked that he was worried and uneasy for the majority of the season. It made for an emotionally satisfying moment once he is reunited with her. For me, he has truly transitioned from the oldest brother to the ultimate father figure to Omega. Wrecker continues to be that big loveable brute and big brother that's always ready to fight for those he loves. I loved that he made smarter decisions this time around. He was so endearing and heroic toward the last half of the season. Crosshair truly had the most character development this season as we saw his redemption arc begin last season and now his penace for his actions are very visible. The amount of vulnerablity shown in his spirit was jaw dropping as he would always play it cool until now. There is a level of PTSD that truly hit home for me and I loved how it was not handled as only a disability, but also an advantage. Dee Bradley Baker delivered an outstanding performance as all of them and he should receive a standing ovation. Michelle Ang once again delivers a fantastic performance as Omega and I have been impressed with her growth. To see her go from a niave child to now a traveled and well trained soldier like her brothers, was something special. She never let go of that childlike sense of hope and seeing the goodness in others. I loved her steadfast heart and strong will. Noshir Dalal returns as former Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart and he was just as pompous as you remember. I enjoyed his hilarious freak out moments during his escape and it was great to hear Noshir hit a high note I didn't know he had in him. Jimmi Simpson returns as Dr. Royce Hemlock and he continues to be one of the most chilling, creepy and downright evil scientists the Star Wars Universe has ever seen. We get to delve deeper into his research and how truly cold of a human being he is. He has become one of my new favorite villains of the franchise.
Composer Kevin Kiner returns and with the help of his children Sean and Deana, together they deliver an eclectic and epic score for the final season. The emotional gut punch that is "Reunion" to the intense and thrilling "One Last Fight", Kevin and his children made a score that is up there with the great John Williams in quality. It has been an incredible journey for the Clone Wars era of animated stories. The Clone Wars series itself met a wonderful ending and this spinoff was no different. It completes the vision that George Lucas and Dave Filoni put together and it was heartfelt ending to such an amazing story. This was the best ending anyone could've asked and although there is a chance for it to continue for a certain character, I would hope that they would leave it as the perfectly wrapped bow it is now. Let me know what you thought of the series or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
