‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ season 3 episode 4 ‘A Different Approach’ recap/review

An incredible premise is squandered by a mediocre and predictable narrative.

February 29, 2024

Last week’s installment of Star Wars: The Bad Batch concluded with Omega and Crosshair escaping the Tantiss Mad Science facility along with an adorable lurca hound named Batcher. Hemlock could’ve had them shot down, but Emerie Karr discovered that Omega contained the necessary M-Count to help achieve Emperor Palpatine’s goals for Project Necromancer.

Now Hemlock has the Empire trying to recapture Omega as she escapes with her new pet and an estranged/homicidal family member.

As always, the recap portion of this review will contain plenty of spoilers along with some brief explorations of Star Wars lore. The order of events has also been streamlined a bit for the sake of clarity.

Prisoners In Different Cells

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)

As you might imagine, Hemlock is not happy about losing Omega along with Crosshair. He also rightfully suspects Nala Se for helping the potentially Force-sensitive clone escape. The Kaminoan scientist tries to play dumb, but it’s not fooling anyone. She also attempts to explain Omega’s surprising M-Count test results as a false positive. That lie also fails to trick the sociopathic doctor.

Before leaving her cell, Hemlock implies that Nala Se’s days are numbered.

Meanwhile, the damage Hemlock’s V-Wings did to Omega and Crosshair’s stolen shuttle forces them to crash land on the planet Lau. No one’s hurt (including Batcher), but they don’t have the time or resources to repair the ship. Luckily, Crosshair scanned a spaceport as they entered the planet’s atmosphere.

Upon their arrival, Omega notices a ton of TK-Stormtroopers on patrol. Crosshair is ready to start taking them out, but she convinces him they should steal some clothes and try a more subtle approach to getting off the planet.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)

Omega attempts to bribe a nearby ticketing agent for a ride offworld. In response, the agent demands an insane price to secure their passage. Crosshair is once again ready to kick names and take ass, but Omega remains firm in her commitment to a bloodless solution to their predicament.

Her next idea involves going to a local cantina and hustling people at a card game. This works out fine until an Imperial officer (Mann) walks in and decides to play against her. After pointedly remarking on Batcher’s distracting presence (forcing Crosshair to take her outside), Omega beats the officer and wins substantially more credits than were needed to bribe the agent.

Unfortunately, Officer Mann goes full corrupt small-town cop and threatens to arrest them for illegal gambling if she doesn’t return a chunk of her winnings. It’s a dick move, but Omega goes along with it — especially when his demands still leave them with more than they needed to get off the planet.

When they walk outside, however, Omega notices that Batcher is missing. As if that weren’t bad enough, a kid who saw what happened forces them to hand over 5,000 credits before revealing that Mann’s troops took Batcher away. Despite this run of bad luck, they still have just enough money to get off the planet.

Predictably, Crosshair is ready to ditch the hound while Omega refuses. She tosses the bag of credits at him and goes to rescue her friend.

No One Left Behind

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)

Omega arrives back at the space station docks to find a ton of animals being kept in electronically locked crates — including her beloved Batcher. Before she can try anything on her own, Crosshair shows up and begrudgingly agrees to help. As they’re looking for a way to free the hound, Mann shows up with a squad of troopers and reveals that he connected them to the downed shuttle that was recently reported outside the city…and that Hemlock was looking for a pair of escapees in a stolen vehicle.

Mann even went as far as contacting Hemlock, who was arriving on the planet any second along with Scorch and a lot more troops.

At this point, Omega finally agrees to do things Crosshair’s way, which involves him mercing every Imperial agent in sight while she gets the cages open. Once she does, the animals flood out and overwhelm the stormtroopers.

After finding Batcher, the trio is able to board and steal a shuttle while Mann gets eaten by a rathtar. Hemlock misses catching Omega, but appears more confident about his chances after ordering Scorch to contact and activate all Imperial operatives that they have in the area.

Meanwhile, Omega sends an encrypted transmission to Hunter and Wrecker to meet her at a set location. When they arrive, she’s overjoyed to see her family again. The happy reunion immediately turns tense when Crosshair disembarks from the ship.

The Verdict

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)

I’m a sucker for dogs (or dog-like aliens) and happy reunions. You’d think an episode like this was tailored for my enjoyment, but I actually found it pretty disappointing.

As frustrating as the paint-by-numbers narrative was, I’m even more annoyed that we barely got to see the dynamic between Omega and Crosshair play out. We all knew things were heading toward a reconciliation (which would soon lead to a redemption arc), but “A Different Approach'”had less conflict than me and my family arguing about politics. The most interesting part of the episode BY FAR was the final five seconds. That cliffhanger (and the look on Wrecker’s face) was more than enough to get me excited about next week’s installment.

I also have to give the episode some credit for that wonderful reunion. Both the voice acting and animation made it as good as any emotionally impactful moment in a live-action series. Unfortunately, it was the only thing that really grabbed me. The rest of the episode served as yet another sign that this season of The Bad Batch will continue the series’ trend of being wildly inconsistent.

Let’s hope this week’s episode means we’re due for a great one next Wednesday.

Next Episode: ‘The Return’