Review: Star Wars: The Bad Batch “Entombed”

After last week’s excursion to galactic Churchill Downs, it’s good to get back to the plot.

What The Bad Batch has done so far has run different type of treasure hunting genres to great effect. “Spoils of War” and “Ruins of War” both showcased a action set piece, where the team severely fucked up an extraction of Dooku’s treasure. This allowed us to get us familiar with the team, and get us reacquainted with the Empire.

What “Entombed” did really well was create a 30 minute Indiana Jones movie in the Star Wars universe. Phee Genoa kind of entices Omega into getting the rest of the team to make their way to Kaldar Trinary, where promises of valuable treasures lie. And, holy shit, there is a “treasure.” However, it isn’t what they thought it was, or wanted. I was hooked for the whole episode, and was a definite step up from “Faster.”

The travels down the tunnels from landing on the planet, all the way until the giant mech lights up runs out of control was a text book Indy plot. Hell, even how the mech shuts down is kind of an Indy plot ending. The exploration through the tunnels was great. There were traps, puzzles, and unexpected party splits. The only thing we needed was a kidnapping, and it would have been a very expedited “The Last Crusade.”

Yet again, the writing is the star of the show. The writers showcase another way to do a treasure hunt, with no flaws. I’m just waiting for a National Treasure-esque heist episode next, and I’m all set. The only thing that makes “Entombed” falter is that it’s another disconnected episode…for now. I know the giant mech is a big hanging chad of a plot device that could be used by either side, and could be a thing. Unfortunately, The Heart of the Mountain (the key to make it start) melted.

It feels like there is a lot of setup for the later episodes. However, in the now, I can’t help but feel that “Entombed” like a really well written filler episode. Until the whole season comes out, I just don’t know. Each episode has been really well written. Unfortunately, there is a feeling of spinning wheels that I can’t shake, and I can only hope the series of individual episodes come together in a really strong crescendo. Let’s hope we’re getting the strings starting to come together soon.