The Batch reach out to an old friend as their flight from the Empire continues.

The pilot for this show felt decent enough without being anything special or unique, and risked just being something done for the sake of it. This second episode doesn’t really do much to convince me my initial impression was wrong, being pretty much more of the same.

Landing on Saleucami to catch up with a former comrade turned deserter, the gang are seeking this person out to – ostensibly – get tips on how best to avoid the attention of the authorities now that they have gone rogue. The issue with this character –  Cut – is that he really sits rather oddly in the whole scheme of things when you stop even for a moment to think about it. If he deserted as long ago as the Batch imply, that was back during the time of the Clone Wars and the Galactic Republic – why did he desert? Why are the Batch OK with this? And most important of all, if he’s so successfully hidden himself for so many years, how are they able to locate him so easily?

Of course these are the sort of details the show doesn’t want you to think about, because they would get in the way of the key narrative thrust of the episode which is Hunter’s protectiveness towards Omega, and the misguided choice he makes as a result. It can be seen coming a mile away, it makes very little sense, and then it gets resolved in a way that makes even less sense, but these are details the show deems unimportant as long as it gets to tell the story it wants to – the big rugged soldier going soft because he’s feeling paternal towards the cute little girl.

The frustration is that there’s hints here to the wider universe and a bit of world-building that could genuinely be interesting. Chain codes are suddenly a thing as the Empire tightens its grip on its domain. The galaxy is rapidly changing and there’s a palpable sense of the dissonance of things as the new regime asserts itself still clothed in the uniforms and tools of the previous one. Unfortunately, that aesthetic feels a little wasted in service of a narrative which runs in place, doing very little of note as it winks to camera with all the little nods and fan-pleasing references.

It reminds me in a way of Rogue One – a nice bit of fan service that will appeal to long term franchise afficionados, but lacking anything that will drag in new comers. A shame.

Verdict: Still coasting on its looks and the general appeal of the franchise rather than justifying its existence with anything especially new. Needs to up its game fast. 6/10

Greg D. Smith