Review: Star Wars: The Bad Batch “Faster”

So, Dave Filoni improves, yet again, on the dome of the bullshit we’ve been given in the prequels of Star Wars. What did he fix this time? Well, remember the crescendo of the first act of The Phantom Menace? I know I remember that shitty, like 15 minute, pod racing scene with Jake Lloyd as tiny Anakin racing that piece of shit around the track trying to beat Cebulba. Well, Dave took out the pod racing! What was it replaced with? I think it was called riot racing. It’s racing, but with guns on the speeder!

The feeling I got during most of “Faster” was the entirety of the before and pod race itself during The Phantom Menace. The setup, plucky driver, rag tag team of crew/supporters, villainous rival that doesn’t speak the English-like common language, and the higher than normal stakes of the race itself all harken back to the divisive movie. However, like I said before, this is how the pod racing sequence should have been done.

Tech taking the lead and getting into the pilot’s chair for the riot race was different. It showed that the clones were able to do more than just shootie bang guns with other people who also shootie bang guns and do military exercises. The only thing I can get out of this is that the further “Faster” got into the story, the more it felt like a filler episode. There was a plot with only 3/5 of the team, there wasn’t really earth shattering stakes, and the villainous rivals were forgettable.

After three episodes of reintroducing the pieces to the gameboard, it was nice to get a rather fun diversion. I just wish there was more of a faint effort to tie something into what’s going to be the greater plot of the story. Like, what’s going on with Hunter and Echo? What’s Crosshair doing with the hunt for former Commander Cody? Having the full meat of the episode was great. But giving us a faint taste of the greater plot to at least tie this filler in would have been better.

All in all, “Faster” was a fun retread of a really boring segment of The Phantom Menace. There wasn’t a lot to go off of, but seeing Tech get some time to shine and show he’s got something to give outside of tactics from the back line was fun to watch as well. But the fluff still needs to be connected to the rest of the season.