REVIEW: The Bad Batch – Season 2, Episode 10, “Retrieval”

"You definitely aren't ipsium miners." "Nope. You stole the wrong ship."

Television Reviews

***SPOILERS***

In the aftermath of “The Crossing,” the Batch repair a speeder and track their Gonk droid in hopes of locating the Marauder. Meanwhile, Benny, the thief, hands his catch off to his boss, Mako. Mako’s crew sets to stripping the Marauder for parts. The Batch finds Benny and forces him to lead them to the ship. Omega and Benny deactivate the shields while the others rebuild the ship. However, Benny reports Omega to Mako. Benny soon learns that Mako has been exploiting him and the others to keep the profits for himself. He then turns coat again, helping the Batch by exposing Mako’s treachery to the other miners. Mako is pushed into the mine’s geyser, and the Batch flies away in the Marauder.

My first thought was that I was wrong about the thief; Benny, a human, is obviously not Hondo Ohnaka. Some will be thrilled with “Retrieval” for introducing new characters rather than relying on cameos. I’m sure some people will be disappointed, having expected to see a favorite character. I feel torn because season 1 relied heavily on near-weekly cameos, some of which worked better than others. I should praise The Bad Batch for surprising me with a new frenemy for the Batch instead of rehashing a popular character. However, I don’t know what to make of Benny. He’s a lot like Lando in the movies or Hondo in Rebels, betraying the heroes until he has a change of heart (or luck). But in execution, he doesn’t do anything for me. I never felt that bad for his situation or wanted better for him because I didn’t like him. Despite following up on a pretty great episode in “The Crossing,” “Retrieval” paints a predictable, one-dimensional picture of life in the mines. Mako is all bad, a manipulator who thrives thanks to workers he doesn’t adequately reward. This character has no redeeming traits, but worse, he’s not compelling or fun to watch. Mako isn’t all that intimidating and lacks the screen presence of a character like Millegi. That was another one-note (so far) antagonist, but at least he was scary, and there was an interesting cadence to his dialogue. The show didn’t convince me to fear or hate Mako, nor to like and sympathize with Benny, so how am I supposed to get invested in this conflict? The best part of these “mission of the week” style episodes is usually the person(s) the Batch helps. With no significant plot or character development and no such cool allies and enemies, what are we left with?

They contrast Omega’s life with the Batch to Benny’s with Mako. You know how it goes. The Batch care; Mako doesn’t. Omega is provided adequate food and care; Benny isn’t. Again, I’m reminded of superior examples of the same concept, like Agent Kallus realizing the Empire doesn’t care about him in Rebels. That was brilliantly contrasted with Zeb’s situation, essentially having a family with Kanan, Ezra, etc. Heck, even in The Bad Batch, Crosshair got this treatment, and it was handled better. I’m not criticizing the tropes and archetypes as much as how they play out in “Retrieval.” I have no problem with predictable story beats when done well. Story and character formulas get reused so much because some truth lies in them; they speak to us on a deeper level. We fear betrayal, so our modern myths revisit the notion and present a way forward. I get that. It just feels like every time The Bad Batch takes a big step forward, it then takes another back, and I would consider “Retrieval” a step back after the last three episodes. 

I want to talk about what Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker got up to in “Retrieval,” but I already did. All they do is find their ship, repair it, and split. I’m beginning to wonder if they’re splitting the Batch up (like sending Echo off) because they don’t know what to do with so many characters. Sure, Omega just played out a familiar scenario with an uninteresting new character, but at least she was doing something. The writers sometimes allow most of the Batch to fall into their basic tropes of strong, intelligent, perceptive, etc. After learning more about Tech this season, I expected less of that kind of characterization. Tech does have one small moment with Omega, where he tells her she’s brilliant for having the idea to track Gonky. This shows that he appreciates her skills, and they’ve grown closer. But it’s also all we get from the characters in “Retrieval,” aside from Omega’s silent shock at being betrayed by a stranger who already stole her ship/house. 

It goes without saying that the music and animation are on point in “Retrieval,” but I’m saying it anyway. Technically, this is a good-looking episode with another masterful score from Kevin Kiner. But with the larger plot, I’m starting to question where this season is headed. Where is Phee Genoa? Why did we spend so much time with her if she isn’t going to be a bigger player, or one at all, this season? What’s Crosshair up to? When will we get some Echo and Rex team-up episodes, or at least subplots? The Batch didn’t talk to or even mention Cid in this episode, so I also question whether she still intends to help them. Is a much worse betrayal looming? Instead of checking in on any of this critical plot content, we get Benny and Mako in “Retrieval.” 

Overall, I enjoyed “Retrieval,” but not much. This is definitely a weaker installment for season 2 and The Bad Batch overall. I didn’t hate this episode, but I would gladly call it filler if they didn’t find their ship. I hesitate to use that word most of the time, either because of good character-building or potential setups for down the line. But with “Retrieval,” it feels like the writers needed the Batch to locate the Marauder and simply wrote a C-level story around that to fill 25 minutes of airtime.