Thoughts on The Bad Batch Episode 14 - Flash Strike - A Discussion Post
This episode had my heart racing and I still cannot grasp the fact that this is the second-to-last episode. Let's return to the pre-finale filled with surprising and heart-racing moments!
(SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET! all screencaps from www.cap-that.com! https://www.cap-that.com/starwars/the-bad-batch/314/?page=1)
The boys and Rampart keep their shuttle attached to the Imperial ship that is on its way to Mount Tantiss, and the ship that Echo is currently inside of. Hunter plans to detach the ship and head into Tantiss, and they know that Echo will find a way off the ship safely.
It's so funny how Rampart has just been dragged into this mess and is on his way to Tantiss as well, as he likely never expected to get into this much chaos after the Batch got him out of that Imperial prison. He's probably preferring the prison now instead of going to Tantiss.
Hemlock enters the control room, inquiring about the status of the ship coming here. Scorch gives him word that the Batch had infiltrated the station on Coruscant with Rampart, and that certainly changes things. Hemlock orders fighters to launch into the airspace, preparing for the attack.
The ship exits out of hyperspace to enter Wayland (Weyland? It's spelled differently in Canon and Legends on Wookiepedia, and on the Star Wars website they spell it as Wayland), the planet where Mount Tantiss is located. Hunter and Crosshair pilot the ship in the front, detaching from the vessel and fighting the fighters that were sent out to attack them. The laser cannons attached to Tantiss start to attack them as well as Hunter pilots and tries to avoid the cannon shots.
The rumbling caused by the laser cannons are felt on Tantiss, and it was so cute how their little flat block structures broke because of the rumbling and Baryn (being the little playful baby he is) knocks over his structure and laughs. Omega feels the vibrations on the table and can tell that it is laser cannons. Emerie gets word that there is a security alert and she tells Scalder to watch the kids, which Scalder basically rolls her eyes at and says that they will be fine.
Omega knew that her brothers have come for her, and that just melted my heart.
The ship gets shot, and the boys and Rampart have to quickly get out before they crash land. Wrecker gets the cables out, and Crosshair and Wrecker go first, hanging off the ship, and they literally had me hanging on my seat in fear if any of them fell. Hunter jumped with Rampart (by jumped, I mean jumped and dragged him down to get him out because he wouldn't jump). Rampart's screams were everything this episode; shout out to Noshir Dalal for voicing him so greatly.
Hemlock sends out troops to find them, while the boys hide out in the jungle. It was hilarious how Hunter said "Unfortunately, yes" when Rampart survived, and Rampart heard him. For a second I really thought he didn't survive until Hunter said yes. The boys continue to head towards Tantiss, trying their best to be unseen.
I cried when Crosshair's hand started shaking again, he's so nervous to be back here.
Meanwhile, Echo disguises himself in stormtrooper armor and steals a droid's hand, and I was so happy that he finally got a robotic hand. All the theories about Echo wearing white armor just like Fives was before he died in his arc in The Clone Wars is freaking me out, I really hope it doesn't come to that in the finale.
Eva wonders why their vitals haven't been taken yet today as usual, and Omega decides to go into the walls of Tantiss and figure out what is going on (she is literally living in the walls of Tantiss and Hemlock's walls, it's so funny). She tells the kids to cover her, who all have no idea what that means.
While venturing through the jungle, Rampart talks with Crosshair, comparing how he saw him in the Empire versus now with his brothers. Crosshair says that Rampart is like him after the Empire had betrayed them both and that he has changed, and Rampart suspects if he really has. He's really scaring me with how that line was delivered, but I'm just hoping that it means nothing and everything's fine.
Omega carefully goes through the walls of Tantiss, trying to find out what is going on and any routes of escape. The boys and Rampart continue to navigate themselves through the jungle, while Rampart grows tired and lays near what he thinks is probably a rock. He rests near a large beast, as it awakens and Rampart starts freaking out, running away. The boys try to fight it without blasters, but eventually the blasters are used and their position is given away.
Rampart gets caught by the Imperials while running away, as he will likely be taken to Hemlock for questioning. I'm so worried that he will betray the Batch.
The kids try to come up with ways to keep Omega from being caught, as Baryn drifts off to sleep. Dr. Scalder comes down to take the kids' vitals with the usual droid, while Omega is missing. Sami tries to stall Dr. Scalder by telling her that she is still hungry, and Scalder replies, "It will pass." She was really willing to let the kids starve and didn't care; her and Hemlock are at the top of the list as the worst doctors on Tantiss. Jax asks if he can go next, but Scalder becomes frustrated with the kids, going in order and doing her job.
Luckily Omega managed to get back in time, acting like nothing happened.
While in the walls, Omega passes a room that holds a contained Zillo beast, likely the same one that the Batch had seen before. I'm so happy the theories about the ZIllo Beast being in Mount Tantiss's basement came true, and if the prayers about it eating Hemlock come true that would just be funny. I'm so ready for Omega to let it free and allow it to cause chaos on that mountain with the Batch watching.
Echo gets in the room where the blood samples are tested, and views all the files of every clone on Tantiss, even Omega's. Emerie comes in and sees him in his trooper disguise, and Echo tries to lie his way out (and of course, we know that clones are unable to lie). Emerie manages to recognize Echo from what Omega has told her about him, and Echo gets to meet the Emerie his sister has always talked about. Echo gets upset with Emerie since she is playing a part in all of this, and Emerie says that she was just doing her job. I feel so bad for her and all the lies she's grown up with while likely growing up under Hemlock, but she's starting to wake up. Emerie tells Echo about the other children on Tantiss, and they plan to get them out. I'm so excited to see their dynamic next week.
Omega regroups with the kids, and the kids are happy to see that she is fine. The kids ask her if she found something, and Omega says that she found something big and is ready to get them out with a plan. She looks so ready, I'm so ready for my little girl to cause havoc on that mountain and make every doctor on Tantiss go insane.
I can't believe we're reaching the finale now, and I'll only have one more discussion to write. I'm so excited and greatly nervous for the finale, and I am so sad that this show is coming to an end soon. I'm hoping we can see CX-2 again, where did he go and please reveal your face! Still praying the finale is over an hour...
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more seriously, I don't know if I like the closer shots in this format during the full group scenes. It's felt more natural in terms of the more single-character beats in the past, but it isn't working for me in fuller group scenes.
I'm not super sure if I like the half-screen blends either. I don't really feel weird about the just full top-bottom table shots, but when the background doesn't match due to the blend, and maybe because of the flat background, it kinda suddenly makes me feel like I'm watching a call-in to a news desk show. The blend with the GM half-screen also feels... I don't know the word. I never was a fan of it in gifsets to begin with.
I also haven't missed the table in similar editing styles from other channels, like D20, but every time they do it here, I genuinely find myself missing someone else. Like, it keeps making me feel like I'm missing something just-offscreen. I think it hasn't helped there's a couple of instances where a character talks entirely from off-screen (like Cosmo), and I did very much miss some of them while they were off-screen.
It's odd, because I didn't miss people during the cuts and table close-ups during the Chapter 2 epilogues, but I wonder if that was because they were more single-character focused and the others were full OOC, where many of them are still IC here. on that note, though, I don't know why it doesn't manage to sit as well for me as some of the better edited D20 seasons though. it just doesn't feel graceful, somehow.
And, it's nice to see the performers up close for some more intimate moments, but sometimes due to their posture (esp the way Noshir leans forward in over the table), they're not even framed gracefully, so I end up finding the framing extremely distracting.
It's still early, so I might get used to it, but it feels odd in a lot of small ways and it's really distracting.
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