'The Bad Batch' S3 E09-15 Review: Drawing to a Close
Mysteries and action propel the Star Wars animated series. Plus: avoiding horror gets tough when 'X-Men '97' and 'Renegade Nell' sneak it in.
Now Streaming: In this week's episode, The Bad Batch introduced yet another mysterious character. And in upcoming episodes, more mysterious characters will be introduced.
Created by Dave Filoni, the show's saving grace is that each mysterious character advances the narrative. Each episode is also laced with a plethora of punchy action involving the core group of lovable clones. The adult clones are all voiced by the incredibly versatile Dee Baker Bradley, while young Omega is voiced by Michelle Ang with the utmost pluck and power.
As I wrote after previewing the first eight episodes:
"I can safely say that the series continues its run of high-quality animation with a plethora of action sequences that continually delight the eye.
"If you can adjust to the pace and the show’s perspective, it becomes much more engaging and entertaining; it’s not just explosions and weapon fire."
Watching episodes 9-15 reminded me that The Bad Batch team is very conscious of the dangers of repetitive action sequences in animated shows. Each action scene takes place in a rich variety of landscapes. The backgrounds, varying from jungle to open plains to open space to tight inner corridors, keep the eye engaged.
The action is often fierce but only occasionally deadly to the combatants, which is a failing in other shows, whether animated or live-action. Repetitive violence tends to deaden the senses. As adults, we know that every character is a collection of pixels (in animation) or a combination of pixels and padding and experienced stunt people (in live-action).
Even so, as the number of dead or injured bodies mount, the emotional effect is lessened, especially since nearly all movies and television shows aimed at family-friendly audiences avoid explicit violence. We're more likely to see heads clanking against hard surfaces or bodies crumpling with an outcry of pain, rather than heads exploding in a geyser of blood and guts.
As I've explained before: "After my stroke and the extremely personal effects upon my body and soul that I have been experiencing, I have no compelling desire to watch modern horror movies." That applies to television shows as well.
Most of the time, it's easy for me to decide whether I want to watch something, simply by reading the plot synopsis or seeing a trailer. Thus, it was easy for me to make a personal decision on movies like last week's Late Night With the Devil or Immaculate. It was a little tougher with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which sounds like it comes in very much on the light side of horror; I have watched earlier installments of the franchise, but this time decided against it.
So, yes, it's an evolving thing, but I'm sure it's the same question for everyone. No one pays me to write film reviews anymore, which means the decision on what to cover is left up to me.
Which brings me to X-Men '97 and Renegade Nell, both of which I watched in advance. In the case of the former, three episodes were made available for preview; in the case of the latter, all eight episodes were made available.
The first two X-Men '97 episodes, which debuted last week, are perfectly fine for kids who grew up in the 90s and wish to relive that era's blocky animation style (in 4K!) and a swarm of characters. Nearly all reviews have been mixed to positive, which is 'Fresh' in Rotten Tomatoes parlance; mine is the sole 'Rotten' review so far, even though I'm mixed as well. It's just that my feelings slid into the 'mixed to negative' side of things. Since I never saw X-Men: The Animated Series back in the 90s, I have no nostalgia for it, so a show that celebrates that era flies right over my head.
But the reason I didn't post my review on EverythingButHorror.com is due to Episode 3, which debuted this week and plunges the intrepid team of X-Men into Hell. It's akin to an illustrated version of Dante's Inferno. It's all through the mental gymnastics of an antagonistic character, so it's not "real," the team is rescued from their horrid living nightmare, and it doesn't last that long. All in all, though, it just didn't feel right for the environs I have constructed here for a horror-free zone.
As it develops, Renegade Nell, premiering tomorrow in its entirety, eventually becomes a dark fantasy, with an antagonist character calling upon "dark forces" to wreck havoc upon other characters in 18th century Britain. Again, since it's meant for younger audiences, it holds back from going too deeply into the "dark forces," which, to be fair, have always been an element in Disney's films and television shows, dating back to the 1930s.
In summary, I'll repeat my comment from my 'About' page:
"I search for new films and television shows that are targeted at the so-called ‘family-friendly’ audience and then, when I see something noteworthy, write about it from my perspective as a film critic for the past 20 years. So if I don’t find anything I want to write about, I won’t be cluttering up your in-box."
Sometimes, dear reader, I watch and watch, and sometimes I write, and sometimes I realize what I writing belongs on another outlet. That's a long-winded explanation for why I haven't published anything here for the past month. Until now! Sample The Bad Batch and see if you like its non-horror adventures. [Disney Plus]