The Bad Batch: A Different Approach: S3E4

Following a stellar beginning, The Bad Batch stumbles in the forth episode of its final season.

After the stellar beginning to The Bad Batch's final season, featuring three solid episodes, the fourth installment is a letdown. "A Different Approach" could best be described as a filler episode designed for viewers to catch their breath and the result feels a little flat.

The episode plays like I've always described "The Rise of Skywalker" - it contains a lot of stuff I liked, but as a whole, it felt like it didn't measure up. The third episode of the season, "Shadows of Tantiss," was a hard act to follow being an almost perfect 26 minutes of Star Wars, and following it with slow, plodding episodes wasn't a great call, in my opinion.

"A Different Approach" picks up where we left off in "Shadows of Tantiss" with Omega (Michelle Ang) and Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker) fleeing Dr. Hemlock (Jimmi Simpson) and Mount Tantiss in a stolen ship. The ship sustained damage during their escape and our duo ends us crashing on the planet Lau. Once there, they must find a way off the planet with no connections, no credits, and a different approach on how to proceed.

They find a way on a transport, but it'll cost them $30,000 credits, so Omega does what any red-blooded human would do - they hit the bar and hustle some money. She makes quick work of a Trandoshan, but an Imperial officer takes the Trandoshan's spot and suffers the same fate. Not happy with the outcome, the officer imposed a fine to get his money back.

With enough money to get off world, Crosshair wants to keep moving, but when Omega's Lurca hound is stolen by the Imperials, she convinces her reluctant counterpart to free the hound before they depart. Crosshair continues to remind Omega that his skills are being wasted. When they realize they've fallen into an Imperial trap, Omega suggests they try things his way, to which he hisses… "finally” and is the best moment of the entire episode.

The shipping dock is filled with exotic animals from around the galaxy, and during the firefight, the duo frees them and uses the animals as cover to help with their escape. After securing a ship (once again), Omega and Crosshair flee (once again) and head to a remote planet for a reunion with Hunter and Wrecker, which is emotional for Omega and uneasy for Crosshair.

"A Different Approach" isn't a bad episode of "The Bad Batch," but it's certainly not one of its best. The relationship between Omega and Crosshair, including their banter, is excellent. Also, the reunion was nice (but brief) and overall the episode played too slowly for me. There was no urgency for characters desperately needing to get to where they were going.

We have Hemlock in pursuit, but we don't see him until the very end of the episode which was pointless. Intercutting scenes of him getting closer and closer with Omega and Crosshair's story would have given it that urgency, but they chose not to. This episode is filled with a lot of “what ifs” which is surprising for a show that’s been so good up to this point.

With this being the final season, an episode like this is a waste. Sure, we need some moments to catch our breath and let our characters continue to evolve, but when you spend 30 minutes in one location with not much going on, for me, that's a waste of 30 minutes. I don't need action at every turn, but I want the story to move along, and with stakes so high, that shouldn't be difficult to do.

The final season of "The Bad Batch" endures a letdown with the episode "A Different Approach” and fails to live up to the high standards set by its predecessors. Let’s hope it’s a momentary hiccup and not a trend.