Omg I am so disappointed.
I had high expectations.
He took his helmet off WTF!!!!!
Where are the grunts?? I only sa elites.
It’s notebable that the dint researched the original ip.
Again Hollywood took an ip and did there own cheap thing with it. To get maximum money out of it. With less effort. generic story writing. Human on human
Baby sitting a human girl. Do I need to go on?
Only plus point is the look of the Spartans
Action it self is good.
Everything else is bad generic cheap writhing.
A whole season and the main plot has not advanced an inch. It ends in the same point as season one. The episode was more entertaining that others of this season, which has been really boring and I would say even bad written. As a whole, I find season 2 very poor.
This whole is season is like untangling a ball of yarn as soon as you untangle a knot 54 four new knots are created.
I've never played the game. Season one was watchable, enjoyable at moments. Season two occasionally entertained without eye rolling. As many sci-fi shows go, the story gets too convoluted. This pretty much guarantees what I got for the season finale. A hot mess poured into a blender and creating a lukewarm broth of indifference. That pairs well with my confusion. What a massive let down. If there's another season, it will be hard for me to care.
I, who have never played games before, can't even understand what the tv show is about.
Everyone is just saying random shit and then "puzzle solved!" I don't know if I should laugh or cry :sob:
Why did they change Cortana? Was it because in the first season she was CGI and now she's a real actress? Budget cut?
Anyway, I liked the first one better... Sigh!
They had to make it WOKE of course. They needed to ruin a good show of course.
It would have been far better if they condensed the last 2 episodes into 1.
This show would have really benefited from longer episodes. By itself, this episode does barely anything other than showing the bad batch sneaking around and omega planning to escape (again). If they just made an hour long episode showing the omega rescue mission from start to finish it would be great. Instead, we are getting drip fed small parts that are boring by themselves.
[7.1/10] So here’s the problem -- I don’t really care about Pabu. That's not necessarily The Bad Batch’s fault. I think the show has dutifully established what this town means to Omega, Hunter, and Wrecker, and what it represents for them as a safe haven. But the other side of the coin is that, given the passage of time between seasons, I’m not sure I could name a single one of the characters who resides there, or recall what exactly their significance is to our heroes. (I vaguely remember Omega being friends with Lyana and Wrecker having a moment of camaraderie with Mayor Shep, but that's about it.) That means it’s more of a generic setting than an important place to me as a viewer. So for me at least, the idea of “Pabu is home” works in theory, but not really in practice, lacking the impact that, say, watching the Empire destroy the Marauder has.
Which is all to say that I get what The Bad Batch is going for here. The Shadow Agent has arrived! He’s brought Stormtroopers to their safe and sacred place! They’re hurting innocent people! Omega has no choice but to go with them to stop the suffering!
But it doesn’t really land for me emotionally. Some of it’s just that the pacing of this one is all over the place There’s a long slow build, and even once the Empire arrives, it’s a bunch of muddy and indifferent action, without much to latch onto as a viewer. I can, in principle, appreciate Wrecker getting incapacitated in the explosion, Hunter getting sidelined trying to grab a transport, and the locals seeing their livelihood destroyed. But without a more personal connection, much of this feels like standard piece-moving and table-setting for the final stretch of the series. I understand why the show needs to do these things, and the violation it’s supposed to feel like, but the stakes don’t really land and neither do the emotions.
There’s a few points worth noting. For one, the fact that the Shadow Agent is able to snipe a stormtrooper from seemingly miles way strongly suggests he’s a clone of Crosshair, which portends interesting things. While I can see the seams a little too plainly, the best thing this episode does to establish Pabu as important is making it the home for Tech’s glasses and Omega/Wrecker’s plush, sacred objects in The Bad Batch’s corner of the universe.
Most of all, I appreciate that on Omega’s journey to maturity, she is now willing to give herself up, put herself in harm’s way, both to save the villagers of Pabu, but also in a bid to rescue the clones who are still trapped on Tantiss. There is a selflessness, a courage, a righteousness to Omega that bears out. The interplay between ehr perspective and Crosshair’s this season ahs been a particular highlight. The way he tells her this isn’t a viable plan, and she responds “It’s all we have” shows not only how Omega’s grown, not only the bravery she displays on a daily basis, but the sense of self-sacrifice she’s picked up from Tech.
The most tension “The Point of No Return” can offer comes in the plan to track Omega’s jaunt to Tantiss. Her giving up her comms to the Shadow Agent as a feint, only for Crosshair’s secondary tracker to miss comes freighted with expectation and disappointment. And Omega’s sigh when she’s on the Shadow Agent’s transport, suggests there’s another layer to the plan, but also perhaps just a sense of exhaustion, of resolve, of that franchise trademark hope within the young clone heading back to the site of her captivity.
I can't say I loved this one. It strikes me as a more functional episode than a purely riveting one. But it does leave me impressed with the show’s main character, and excited to see what happens next, so it must be doing something right.
[7.9/10] A funny thing happens as you get older. Children stop being peers. They stop being those bratty things you have to put up with as a teenager. They’re no longer the little ones you see, but aren’t really responsible for as a young adult.
And somewhere along the line, they start becoming these small people that you need to protect, to look out for, to support, to nurture. You recognize, in a way that's hard when you’re younger, how vulnerable they are, how much they depend on the folks who’ve been through the wringer and know the perils of the world to make sure they’re okay.
Kids are not naive innocents. They have the same vibrance and diversity of thought and feeling and attitude their grown-up counterparts do. But they need help, your help, and that realization is humbling and more than a little scary.
Which is all to say that “Identity Crisis” hits harder when you realize you’re no longer a ten-year-old imagining what it’d be like to be Luke Skywalker hacking and slashing through stormtroopers, and instead, you’re a crusty old grown-up struck by what it’d be like to be the Luke Skywalker who’s been entrusted to look after his nephew and see that he goes down the right path.
I assumed that what lie behind the trooper-protected doors of “The Vault” was something expected: a bunch of jars of pickled Snokes, a few budding attempts at cloning Palpatine, maybe a few more deformed Clone Troopers or something. The last thing I expected was a small collection of imprisoned children, and it draws out the evil of the Empire in a way that few things could.
This is one of the more harrowing episodes of The Bad Batch. I can easily stand blaster fire and dogfights among commandos. I can readily handle life-or-death fights between good guys and bad guys, even if feisty Omega is in the fray. What’s harder to withstand is a toddler, who weeps without his plushy, being torn from his mother. What’s more difficult to stomach is seeing young force-sensitives imprisoned, who only want to return home, and are treated like indifferent property rather than people.
It’s devastating to watch, and The Bad Batch is counting on that. This is (I think?) the first episode of the show that doesn’t feature a single moment of Omega or Clone Force 99. This is all about Emerie Karr stepping into a bigger role and realizing the horrors it would require of her. It is seeing the depths of what she’s participating in, trying to suck it up and do her job, only for her to be moved by the plight of the young souls she’s supposed to treat like chattel.
There is great power in that. “Identity Crisis” has some cool moments for longtime fans. Tarkin’s appearances are always a pip. The back channel negotiations and rivalries of Imperial politics always intrigues. We learn that Omega isn’t necessarily a force-sensitive herself, but rather her genetic material can act as a “binder” for DNA from other force-sensitives, which is a welcome swerve. And The return of Cad Bane and Todo is always a plus. (I should have known Bane was in the offing once I heard Seth Green voice one of the random villagers.)
But for the most part, this is a more stark story, about someone recognizing the abject cruelty they’re a part of, and not being able to turn their heart away from it once they do. The callousness with which Dr. Hemlock encourages Dr. Karr not to become attached to tiny people asking for help and solace, the casual dispassion with how Cad Bane kidnaps a child and practically taunts Emerie for asking too many questions, all reveal a rot in the soul that must have taken hold for someone to be so unconcerned with the welfare of blameless children caught up in the machinery of the Empire.
Not for nothing, there’s a political charge to this story. It is hard to see children ripped from their parents, families ratted out by opportunistic neighbors, and most pointedly, kids in cages, without thinking about the current moment. The Bad Batch is not the first show to suggest a regime is evil by treating young ones this way, but it comes with extra bite in the wake of American policies that are not so different.
The message here is affecting -- that it’s hard for anyone with a heart not to be moved by such terrible things being visited upon little people who don’t deserve it. Dr. Karr wanting to step up, to replace Nala Se, only to see what the Kaminoan saw and realize why she did what she did, makes her change of heart palpable and meaningful.
Because she sees little Jax try desperately to escape and be harshly stopped and punished; she sees little Eva ask plaintively when she gets to go home; she sees a small infant torn from its mother whose tender age is treated like a boon to compliance, not a crime against an innocent, and cannot help but care.
I still love the stories of heroes choosing good with lightsabers and magic powers. I still love badasses leaping through the galaxy and fighting for the good. But the more real acts of evil, and more mundane acts of kindness move me more these days. And all the more, I understand how what could turn your heart, are these tiny beings who need your help, and witnessing an institution that would ignore their suffering, or worse yet, make it the point.
Wow that was good, one of the better episodes this season. Reminded me of Andor. Really captures the loneliness and the quiet, controlled horror of the empire.
I thought they're not after her for having a high M-count, but for her ability to retain any transplanted. And, ultimately, so they can take her apart, see how she ticks and modify Snoke (Palpatine's clone) to accept "M" transplants successfully, so they can supe up his M-count.
Back to filler episodes.
Omega meditates with Crosshair to help with his tremor - a shout back to the Jedi apprentice on Kashyyk who presumably told her how to meditate... Would have wished we'd actually seen her meditate before, maybe during her captivity in her cell, instead of just out of the blue being told. However, I love Crosshair, and it's good that it's recognized that what he went through was no picnick either.
Hunter and Wrecker helping Fennec with one of her bounties in order to find out about the m-count... hm... a bit boring to be honest. And I'm wondering if Rex shouldn't know about midichlorians - I mean Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan must have mentionned something about them at some point. Instead they involve someone who isn't really trustworthy? Questionable.
What an amazing ending to a beautiful tv show.
The background score for this episode was just fantabulous.
Loved how they ended it. Absolutely amazing.
10/10
Great show from beginning to end. Band of Brothers is still superior but I did enjoy this a lot. The actors did a fantastic job and the CGI throughout the show was amazing as well.
I particularly liked how they closed it out with the references to the real life people. As the grandson of two WW2 US Army veterans in the European and Pacific theaters, this is a generation that sacrificed so much for us to preserve our way of life, and we owe such a debt of gratitude to them.
Loved this series it was awesome
A glimpse of D-Day from the air..and they are saving up everything for the final episode. Can't wait to watch the last episode also kinda sad that it's going to end.
[7.6/10] I appreciate that this one focused both on Crosshair’s recovery from his trauma, particularly when returning to the place where his heart fully moved, and on his tense reconnection with Hunter. Neither is easy.
For the latter, the show does some of its best work. There’s something very understated about Crosshair’s pain at returning to the location where he realized the Empire saw clones as disposable property. The way he’s tense even stepping onto the site comes through clearly to the audience. The way he looks around, the sense memory flooding back, is palpable. And my favorite moment in the episode is where he stacks the stormtrooper helmets on the storage container, a quiet tribute to his fallen comrades for no one but himself. Crosshair is taciturn, unemotional, but you can tell this place had an effect on him, one that he’s still reckoning with, and the show doesn’t flinch from that.
“The Return” doesn’t shy away from the lingering friction between him and Hunter either. In some places, the episode lays it on a bit thick, but there’s a core of truth that bears out. Hunter’s right in his reluctance to trust Crosshair after the way he turned on them and even helped hunt them down. And given that Crosshair went to work for the Empire, it’s not crazy for Hunter to wonder why Crosshair’s not telling them the whole story and harbor his suspicions.
Crosshair is equally justified in feeling like his onetime brother is giving him an unnecessarily hard time. He rightfully points out that, whatever the rest of the Bad Batch may think of him, Crosshair sent them the message about Omega. You can tell both that whatever his protestations, Crosshair still harbors plenty of affection for the young girl (who amusingly points out that she’s technically older than Crosshair), and that he blames his brothers for not acting to save her before she was captured.
Most importantly though, having seen Crosshair;s journey, we know that he’s not keeping details close to the vest because he’s trying to deceive his comrades. He’s holding things back because they hurt to talk about, because he’s as bred soldier who’s not equipped to express basic emotions, let alone complex ones like, “I thought I was being a good soldier, but I committed acts of evil and realized I was being used as a weapon to be used up and then discarded.” Both he and Hunter are sympathetic here in why they’re not on the same page.
Of course, what gets them on the same page is fighting a giant ice worm.
The defense and attack of the Dune-esque oversized wiggler is creditably done. The script sets up the threat subtly, lets it escalate, and gives our heroes goals both immediate and longer term that drive the action. The fights are generally well staged, with the worm looming over our heroes and causing a ruckus even when he’s not in frame. And Crosshair and HUnter having to work together, rebuilding their trust in the process, gives the action a point.
I’ll admit, after decades of watching Star Wars, and years of watching the animated series, I’m just inured to most of the action now unless it’s especially well done. The worm fight is the kind of interstitial battle where you know everyone’s going to make it out unscathed, and it’s just something action-packed to drive Hunter and Crosshair closer. So while I can appreciate the work, it’s easier for me to zone out during these moments.
Still, I like that through the work the pair come to trust each other a little more, and Omega, who’s still learning and growing, recognizes that it’ll take time, but that two people she loves are starting the rocky path to loving one another as brothers again. I’m more in it for the deep psychological examination of trauma and rebuilding of shattered relationships than I am fighting gigantic bugs at this point, but thankfully The Bad Batch has both.
(As an aside, I’d assumed that Crosshair’s shaky hand was a physical ailment or clone degradation he wasn’t allowing himself to treat out of some kind of penance. But now I’m beginning to suspect it’s psychosomatic, and a reflection of his internalized guilt over his past actions. I’m interested to find out!)
It just gets better and better so looking forward to next week !!! Looks fab
Crap episode this show just keeps getting worse with every episode sigh
THIS SHOW IS STARTING TO SUCK REALLLLLLY QUICK! Remove Kwan's side story and every other side story and focus on master chief's story. People watch halo to watch master chief, not all these dumb ass side stories.
Kwan: Take the helmet off, they'll notice you. Kid takes helmet off and holds it. There is no way they can see the helmet when he is holding it....... dumb.
I do not like the "new" cortana. Stop fixing shit that ain't broke.
Unimpressed with the "build up" to the covenant attack. THIS ALL SEEMS SO DAM CHEESY!
MASTER CHIEF SHOULD HAVE NEVER TAKEN HIS HELMET OFF!
Dam Liberal Hollywood has to make every white role an ethnic one. So old!
Lowered my rating as I was so bored on S2E1 I turned it off.
They managed to turn the epic story of Halo into the same nonsense that US has been pushing out the last few years:
"Let's make everyone corrupt, there are conspiracies everywhere, everyone is evil, and everyone whines a lot! We're such great writers, wow!"
Oh look another show that has its natural flow interrupted by the same ol' industry standards plaguing everything else in the last few years. Hire hack writers who don't care about the source, hire every checkbox in the book, and then blame it on the fans for not liking it. Next.
Are lighting guys in short supply or something? I can't see shit this episode. :person_shrugging:
