It’s A Return To Kashyyyk In ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Season 2, Episode 6
by Frank Martin
When Star Wars is broken down to its core, it’s essentially about fighting back against tyranny. A lot of times that message can be drowned out because of the franchise’s expanded universe. Between lightsabers, the Force, starship battles, and everything else that comes with a gigantic sci-fi space opera, the simple template that was generated in the first Star Wars movie can get muddled. Nevertheless, there’s a certain brilliance when Star Wars returns to this formula. That’s exactly what this week’s episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch accomplished.
While on an assignment, Omega (Michelle Ang) stumbles upon Gungi, a young Wookie being traded away by some smuggler droids. Not wanting to see another living thing trafficked, the Bad Batch (Dee Bradley Baker) stepped in and dispatched the droids. They then set out on a mission to return the young Wookie, who also happens to be a Jedi, back to his home planet, Kashyyyk. Sadly, the planet is overrun with Imperial forces and Trandoshan mercenaries. Teaming up with some local resistance fighters, the Bad Batch battles the forces of tyranny in order to deliver the Wookie safely.
This isolated episode feels detached from the larger story that involves Crosshair and the other clones, which hasn’t been featured in many episodes. It’s certainly bound to happen eventually — especially as the season moves towards its finale — but until that time comes, the side stories have been more or less entertaining. This one doesn’t try to tap into any ancient Star Wars lore like the last episode did. Instead, it simply has this band of ragtag clones trying to do some right in the galaxy. They saw someone in trouble and jumped in to help. That’s pretty much it, and while it is awesome when Star Wars gets deep and philosophical, sometimes a simple story about standing up against injustice provides just the Star Wars boost fans need.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch streams Wednesdays on Disney+.
