Star Wars: The Bad Batch: “Retrieval” review!

The Bad Batch is back, with the tenth episode of the season today, taking the spotlight for one final week before it runs simultaneous with The Mandalorian for the rest of its second season.

This week’s episode picked off where last week’s left off, with the squad stranded on a remote planet without their ship (as it had been stolen) and without a way off the planet. So what will they do about it? That’s where we pick it up this week.

So let’s not delay any further and let’s dive right in to the review of this week’s episode, “Retrieval”, and like always there are full spoilers ahead.

SUMMARY:

As Tech works to get a speeder working so the squad can travel across the planet, Omega asks whether they could track Gonky aboard the Havoc Marauder – something Tech hadn’t considered but that might work. Omega gets it to work, tracking the ship on another part of the planet. It turns out that it has been stolen by a kid named Benni Baro, who works for a crime boss named Mokko. The group of miners has to work just to try to survive, and Benni hopes that by stealing the ship he’ll earn more favor from Mokko – which means more food.

But the Bad Batch infiltrates the mine and apprehends Benni, forcing him to take them to their ship. They sneak inside through a smoke stack, with Hunter repelling down the wall in-between blasts. They find their ship, and Tech gets to work fixing it up. Omega, meanwhile, goes with Benni to attempt to disable the ray shields. While she does, she discovers how Mokko mistreats the kids, and Benni is surprised how well the clones treat Omega. But it’s too late, as he has sold them out to Mokko.

Mokko captures Omega and threatens to throw her into the ipsium mine, but Benni discovers Mokko’s deception and lies, finding out that the boss is far richer than he lets on. He’s been cheating the others, and Benni makes that known. Hunter rescues Omega while the miners turn on Mokko, sending him falling to his death in the mine. In the aftermath, Benni returns the stolen items to the batch and thanks them. Omega confesses to Tech that she’s saddened to realize it’s more than just the Empire that’s hurting people, but Tech responds that, while true, there’s more than just them trying to help people too.

REVIEW:

This week’s episode was a satisfying conclusion to the story that began last week, and while it’s not going to go down as one of my most favorite stories of the show it is nonetheless an entertaining episode that picks up some important themes and honors the themes from the previous episode too.

Most prominently is the fact that the Empire is not the only evil in the galaxy. Star Wars doesn’t always dive into this as much, but it’s not just the Empire that is oppressing people. There are those throughout the galaxy who capitalize on the Empire’s rise to mistreat people all on their own. Mokko stepped in after the Techno Union was overthrown, and he’s a greedy, gluttonous sluggard who only looks out for himself. There are lots of people throughout the galaxy just like him, and we see him eating to his heart’s delight while being needlessly stingy providing food to those he leads. He lies about how much profit is coming in, all while rolling in the money himself.

Yet while Mokko isn’t aligned with the Empire, the squad does note how similar he is to the Empire nonetheless. As Tech says, “Mokko appears to be using his power and means as leverage over his workers. It is a similar tactic used by the Empire. Although this operation is on a smaller scale.” But that’s basically the point: when you see the evil of Mokko, it’s supposed to remind you of the evil of the Empire, because they’re doing much the same thing. Andor showed us the selfish oppression of the Emipre in some tremendous yet haunting ways, showing how the Empire uses their power to keep people in fear and captivity. The Bad Batch is picking up on the same thing, just for a bit of a younger audience.

There is a clear contrast throughout the episode that is a major heartbeat, seeing the vast difference between how Mokko treats Benni and how the Batch treats Omega. Mokko doesn’t care for his workers, but the Bad Batch is a family. They care for Omega, and she cares for them. I love seeing the increasing levels of trust that the squad has in Omega, and the similar trust she has in them. Hunter lets her go on her own (which he never would have done a season ago), and when Omega is in trouble the look on her face is perfect, as she knows Hunter’s going to rescue her. She’s truly become a part of the team, a member of the family, and not just the kid they’re trying to protect. But make no mistake: they will do whatever it takes to protect her, whether that be Tech jumping into an unknown chasm like last week or Hunter leaping to save her this week. Mokko would never do that for those he leads.

And it’s that love, compassion, and care that ultimately helps get through to Benni, as he sees that it doesn’t have to be the way he’s always known it. Mokko doesn’t have to keep dominating them through power and fear. Good people will fight, if they are led and inspired, as Poe Dameron will say decades later. So, it seems, one of the big themes of the episode is summarized at the end. Tech and Omega share another brief conversation, and I think in it we see how Tech is trying to grow after last week’s conversation. Omega again confesses her fear and worry to him, but rather than dismissing it, he answers well this time. She sees how it’s not just the Empire hurting people, and Tech agrees that she’s right – but then tells her that they aren’t the only ones helping people either.

Yes, the galaxy is filled with people like Mokko, and the Empire is the strongest example of it. But there are also plenty of people like the Bad Batch, and like Benni embraces, and like more and more people come to see. As people see the oppression of the Empire, and then are shown a better way, they will rise up against the tyranny. They will take a stand. That’s what the whole Star Wars saga is about, and Omega – and the rest of the squad – have come to realize that in a deeper way through this adventure.