🎬 Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

Bad Batch Season 1:

Bad Batch Season 2:

Bad Batch Season 3:

Ok, no offense, can we take a break from Star Wars? Probably not, unfortunately. Which, yeah, great, I guess.

🧭 What’s the Setup? More Clone Drama!

So what happens in these 3 seasons? Well, glad y’all asked. In Season 1 the clone’s inhibitor chips have turned on and Order 66 happens, the Bad Batch doesn’t get affected for some reason. They head back home to Kamino to join the Empire, and get a taste of it.

Along the way they meet this clone girl named Omega, and she kinda gets adopted into their crew and becomes their like, baby sister-slash-clone daughter, and suddenly everyone’s playing dad.

Are they gonna survive this chaos? Stick around. Spoilers coming fast.

🎯 Overall Rating: 5/10

This series just doesn’t do it for me. Yes, it has the same animation as The Clone Wars. Yes, there are some great moments. And yes, it continues The Clone Wars storyline.

But to me? It just feels like one giant filler episode. I’m calling it “Filler: The Show.”

⚠️ Spoilers Ahead. Ya’ll Been Warned ⚠️

🚪 Season 1 Recap: Errands and Betrayals

So after the Empire tries recruiting them, the Batch is like, “Yeah no thanks,” and bounces. Crosshair? Not so much. His chip goes full red-alert mode, and boom—he’s turned into Empire’s favorite little narc.

The rest of the team hides out at this shady bartender lady named Cid. She’s like, “Sure, you can stay here… but you’re gonna be doing fetch quests for me.” And yup, that’s the whole vibe of the season. Like imagine if Star Wars turned into Clone DoorDash: The Series.

🎯 The Few Moments That Slapped (Season 1 Highlights):

💥 My Favorite Moment #1 – The First Episode Special

It’s a 75-minute special, super atmospheric, and full of tension. We’re on edge because we KNOW what’s coming.

💥 My Favorite Moment #2 – Cad Bane’s Return

At some point in this season we get a surprise cameo from one of my favorite Bounty Hunters, Cad Bane himself.

“I’ve taken down so many clones over the years, once u figure out one, the rest are easy.”

Shit, try telling me Cad Bane isn’t a badass without telling me he’s a badass?
Also, the last time we saw Cad Bane was back in The Clone Wars season 4 which aired back in 2011. And this show aired in 2021, so we’ve not seen him for a decade, glad to see they brought him back and show us what he’s been up to.

He’s here to kidnap Omega because one of the Kaminoians who raised Omega wants her back to protect her because get this—the Empire is planning on getting rid of the Kamino factory along with the clones because it’s just too expensive.

Wanna know how tough Cad Bane is? The only reason he loses and Omega gets saved is because Fennec Shand comes to save her. Turns out that the person who raised Omega wants Omega to stay safe and out of the Empire’s hands, while the scientist who hired Cad Bane wants Omega to study her.

Anyway, why was Fennec Shand (that Bounty Hunter first shown in Mandalorian Season 1) able to defeat Cad Bane? Because on a technical level, she’s equally as good as Cad Bane.

💥 My Favorite Moment #3 – Captain Rex Returns

🎖️ Right.  Forgot to mention, later in this season they meet Rex and he helps get their inhibitor chips out because he knows what those chips will do. So anyway back to Crosshair, apparently even though he had his chip out this whole time.

He’s still been working for the empire because he believes in loyalty, so he’s just a piece of shite got it. Anyways the empire showed up in their republic ships and blew up the Kamino base.

💥 My Favorite Moment #4 – Kamino Goes Boom

💣 The Empire just straight-up nukes the cloning facilities, and Crosshair refuses to leave. Like bro, they literally just blew up your entire home and you’re still on Team Empire? What even.

📚 Lore Violation Alert! Breaking Book Lore

We get to see a young Kanan Jarrus. Somehow, according to fans, this breaks lore because of a book? Idk I’ve never read the extended lore—I’m not deep in the archives like that.

💔 Season 2 Recap: Betrayal Hits Hard

So in Season 2, again, nothing really important happens until near the end when the group gets cornered by the Empire and now must escape on a tram.

During a desperate escape, Tech realizes the tram car they are on is overloaded and will crash, potentially killing everyone. He cuts the cable holding the tram car together, sacrificing himself to keep the rest of the Bad Batch alive.

The Bad Batch, reeling from Tech’s death, return to their base on Ord Mantell—only to be betrayed by their long-time confidant, Cid, who sells them out to the Empire.

What a traitor. Anyway, Omega gets taken away by the Empire and is put in a cell next to Crosshair. The gang now has a clear goal: to go save Omega, which sets up Season 3.

Also, another thing I did enjoy was seeing Captain Cody again. This time, we get to see that he actually has regrets about being a part of Order 66.

And I will say—this show does know how to flesh out the clones after Order 66. It makes them feel like real characters, not just mindless drones doing whatever Palpatine says. Like, these guys have guilt. They’re thinking about what they did. And that? That actually hits.

🔄 Season 3 Recap: Redemption, Retcons, and Rise of the Nonsense

So in Season 3, Omega tries to get Crosshair to help her escape and join her. Btw, why is Crosshair in prison if he’s an Imperial now?

Well, it’s because he’s witnessed how the Empire has been treating clones—basically getting rid of them and treating them like nothing. So he betrays the Empire and kills an Imperial officer, and now he’s arrested for defending his men.

Oh, also a side thing—but this season our main Imperial officer (Rampart), who’s been a thorn in the Bad Batch’s back this entire time, finally gets some justice handed to him.

In an epic episode, we see the Senate put a meeting together. Senator Chuchi brings out claims that Rampart has been behind all these awful things. Palpatine shows up and assures everyone Rampart is gonna face consequences for these heinous acts.

So his men arrest Rampart. The Emperor isn’t doing something kind—he’s manipulating everything, making it seem like there’s still some power the Senate has, like voting is still a thing.

This is what some dictators do. Also, here’s that scene:

I get shivers every time I watch this scene.

Also, last thing I’ll mention before I forget—we get to see the return of Assaj Ventress in one episode. She now has hair and a yellow lightsaber. How did she survive when there’s a book that says she died?

Uhhhh, I don’t know—retcon? This show doesn’t go into how she’s alive. She’s barely important in this season, but I assume at some point they’ll try to keep her book lore intact.

They did it for Cad Bane. In a book, he faces off against Boba Fett and gets shot in the head. So in this show, he has a metal plate on his forehead where he got shot.

Don’t ask me how he survived getting shot in the head.

Anyway, Omega and Crosshair escape pretty early on in this season. Well, so much for any tension.

Crosshair makes amends with the Bad Batch (or what’s remaining of them since Tech’s dead).

I’ll give this show this—it didn’t do a fake-out or resurrect a dead person. They committed and killed off one of the main characters. That’s ballsy.

Crosshair tells Hunter why he betrayed the Empire and all that. Anyway, we come to the final act of this season. The gang plans to try to stop the Empire’s current plan.

What’s their current plan? Well, glad y’all asked.

The Empire’s current plan in this season revolves around Project Necromancer and Project Stardust—both related to Emperor Palpatine’s desire to survive and prolong his reign. Project Necromancer focuses on utilizing Omega and other Force-sensitive individuals.

Yeah, remember in Episode 9 Rise of Skywalker, how the Emperor came back and the film didn’t explain how? Well, seems now Disney is trying to allude to how he survives.

No matter how much they try, it ain’t gonna fix that lazy writing in Episode 9.

Nor is it gonna make Episode 9 any better. So why does the Empire want Omega? Well, funny thing—turns out she’s the perfect clone, and her clone template has a specific thing to help the Empire in cloning the Emperor.

Ain’t no amount of rewording of that sentence gonna make that sound any better.

🔥 Final Scene: Campfires and Goodbyes

Anyways show ends with a bit of a time jump where we see an older Hunter sitting near a campfire that’s outside his ship.

Just then an older 20-something-year-old Omega tries sneaking out, apparently, she wants to go out by herself to join the rebellion, she wants to do something with her life.

Honestly fair, but joining the rebellion?

Anyway so after some talking, Hunter changes his mind and allows Omega to go and explore the galaxy on her own.

She leaves the pet space dog she found in this season with Hunter. While she takes a smaller ship to join the rebellion, how sad but how sweet.

🧹 Final Thoughts: Some Gems Buried in a Stinkpile of Filler

So yeah. There were high highs, and then there were Cid’s fetch quest lows. This show had so much potential, but most of the time it felt like it was just stalling for something bigger. Like The Clone Wars had stakes. This? This had side hustle energy.

And the worst part? I didn’t hate it. I just wanted it to go somewhere. More heart, less errands. More Cad Bane, less busywork. More Tech, less… everything else.

🧼Where do we land on the Jarrodism Meter?

See y’all next time.
And May the 4th be with y’all.