Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 3 Episode 1: Confined
What is it ? : A Nu Class Shuttle approaches Weyland and is caught up in a storm, causing it to crash in the Jungle near to Mount Tantiss. The Troopers call for support, but Doctor Hemlock orders them to be abandoned, saying they'll be dead before help can reach them.
Omega awakens in her cell where a tap drips, looking out of her window at the Jungle, when the door opens and Emerie Karr escorts her out for her duties. As they walk through the facility Omega sees Crosshair also being escorted through the base. Omega asks why she never say Karr on Kamino, and is told that Hemlock saw something in Karr, and that Nala Se sees the same in Omega. Omega and Karr then take samples of blood from Clone Troopers, and Karr takes one from Omega, saying it's routine. Omega takes the samples to Nala Se, who notices one if from Omega and she destroys it, telling her that it is safer that way.
Hemlock arrives and takes Nala Se to the vault, and Omega is sent on to other duties. She goes to feed animals used to defend the base, Lurca Hounds. One of the animals refuses to eat the food they give the animals, but Omega shares some of her own food with it, even though it snaps at her, the droid warns her that if the animal doesn't eat and becomes weak they will destroy it.
Omega then visits Crosshair, he warns her that escape is impossible as he already tried, but she promises that she will find a way of getting them both out, perhaps with the help of Karr. Crosshair warns her that not every clone is her friend, and that she is too trusting, but she responds that he is not trusting enough, and he tells her to leave before they both get in trouble.
The next day the routine continues, she awakens in the cell, marking off another day in the stone next to the window, she uses straw stolen from the animal cells to complete a doll she has been making, and she conceals some of her food. Karr comes for her, she sees Crosshair in the corridors, takes blood samples, Nala Se destroys Omega's sample, and she visits the animals. This time the hound is wounded, the droid warns that if the wound causes it to be weak then it will be destroyed, but she treats the wound. Later she tells Crosshair of what she did, and Crosshair becomes angry, telling her to stop wasting time on lost causes like the hound and himself, but she refuses. Before she leaves, he tells her to focus on escaping herself, and to forget about him as he belongs here.
The next day, Omega is rudely awoken as Clone Commando's do a surprise inspection, they discover the doll and Karr tells her it will be destroyed before they head off for their days duties. Hemlock meets with Nala Se, and they discuss that the cloning has been successful, but the M-Count is not high enough. Nala Se says they are making progress, and is told that the Emperor will not be happy, and that he is not as patient as Hemlock.
Later when working in the animal cages, Omega is glad to see that the hound is healing up. But the droid tells her it is to be destroyed anyway as her treatment of it has made it weaker. Omega tries to take the control pad to free the hound, but the droid fights back pulling a stun baton, but she crushes the droid under a cage and uses the baton to shut it down, before freeing the hound into the wilds.
Hemlock enters, and tells her that she has been cruel, as the wilderness around the mountain is dangerous and the hound will be hunted and killed by the wildlife, and it would have been a kindness to put it down. Omega disagrees, and tells Hemlock she realises that there's nothing he can do to her, as he needs her to keep Nala Se working for him. But he points out that the friendship she has with Crosshair is her own weakness, and while he won't hurt her, he can hurt or kill Crosshair.
He tells her actions have consequences, and those consequences often are unknown.
Omega is taken back to her cell, and finds that Karr has returned her doll, and as she sits, she hears the hound she saved in the distance. . . .
High Points : A really solid and really dark episode. The repetition of the routine is soul crushing, and it's obvious that Omega has no control here and no power. And the mysteries emerging are fascinating, and I'm guessing connected with Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian, as we see the cloning experiments which lead to Palpatines return and those of Moff Gideon.
Low Points : No major low points, just some nitpicks really.
Hemlock copies Vader in threatening people that the Emperor is not as patient as he is, but Hemlock is no Darth Vader, and the copy (even though chronologically it's Vader copying Hemlock) just makes him look weak. From Vader it hammers home that no matter how powerful Vader appears to be, Palpatine is even more dangerous. Whereas from Hemlock it just comes across as "My daddy is bigger than your daddy".
Hemlock also doesn't seem to understand Animal Training. He thinks Omega befriending the hound makes the hound weaker, but the Hound received better food, better treatment from Omega, therefore making it stronger. The teamwork between an animal and it's trainer to the benefit of both is exactly why we keep and train animals.
In fact Hemlock is the weak point of this storyline, as he just doesn't cut it as a villain.
Finally as we move around Tantiss, we see Clone Commando's, LOADS of Clone Commando's. There are rooms with around a dozen in them, there are pairs guarding doors, there are groups escorting prisoners. The Clone Commando's were supposed to be special forces, and in Republic Commando where they originate they were important enough to report directly to members of the Jedi Council. Now they're common as dirt, we don't see ordinary stormtroopers, themselves supposedly a elite force of troopers, we see Commando's, even Scorch a main character in the game is relegated to being just Hemlocks bodyguard.
Unless of course we find out some of the cloning experiments are churning out new commandos.
So what do you really think ? : I really enjoyed this one, there's enough mystery to keep you interested, and the repeated day is crushing enough to make you wonder how they're going to get out of this as everything seems to be stacked against them.
Final Words : Outstandingly good, and part of the three episodes released together to start season 3, lets see if they can keep up the standard, because this was an amazing start.
Score : 9.25/10
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