Review: The Bad Batch Encounter a Sinister Side of the Universe in Episode 10, "Retrieval"

REVIEW: Star Wars the Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 10, “Retrieval” by Darth Slobo

This week’s episode was a continuation of what happened to the Batch in the last episode as they adventure to reclaim their stolen ship. While last week’s episode wasn’t one of my personal favorites, this week’s episode was only slightly better. It has more excitement and progress, but still seemed to lack some connection to the broader story of the season, that is unless the broad story of this season is that the Bad Batch are still trying to figure out their place in this new galaxy.

Final Grade: This episode gets 6 RATIONS out of 10.

Stand out Scenes

Minor uprising, Major revelations?

At the end of this episode Tech and Omega have a brief conversation about the “Mokkos” of the galaxy, realizing that, while the Empire may be bullying the entire galaxy, there are many examples of what the Empire is doing on a smaller scale. This may be what the Bad Batch needed to see, that their interventions can have a tangible and positive impact on a malicious institution. This could be a catalyst for future uprising that pushed the Bad Batch towards the budding rebellion.

Episode Summary:

We open right where we left off last week with the Bad Batch sans Echo stranded from their mission to retrieve Ipsium for Sid as their ship was stolen. As the Batch looks to be repairing a skiff in the abandoned outpost in order to make it to another settlement on the planet, Omega realizes that she may be able to locate their ship, by tracking their Gonk droid: Gonky.

Back to the Marauder, we see the scavenger who stole the Bad Batch’s ship, Benni, flies to a populated settlement surrounding what looks like a large mine. As he lands the ship, he scarfs down scraps on the ships floor then reports to an alien Thug, Mokko who has a posse of droids and scavengers following him. It looks as though he is manipulating Benni and exploiting their relationship. He says the ship could draw too much attention to their operation, so he will need to sell it off piece by piece. As Mokko tells Benni he can keep the Gonk droid as a reward, Benni is much more concerned about getting water than he is about the droid, then the crew begins tearing down the Marauder.

Omega finds Gonky’s signal and the Batch are off to find their ship. As they find Gonky and Benni, the Batch interrogate Benni. Interestingly, we find out that the Techno Union ran the planet then Mokko took over control when the war ended.

The Batch are off to find their ship through the mine as they repel through an active exhaust vent to go after their ship. The Batch get a glimpse at the poor conditions of the mine and workers, and make their way to the Marauder only to find out that the Hyperdrive and other parts have been removed. To make things more complicated, they also need to shut down the ray shield in order to leave the planet, so Omega must go with Benni to the central tower where the shield controls are located.

In between scenes, we see Mokko in his quarters feasting.

Benni reveals that the tower can only be accessed via key-cards that Mokko’s inner circle has access to, so they must pick-pocket a card. While Benni is successful in grabbing a keycard, he gets side tracked by Mokko announcing who the top earner is, and while Benni had hoped that him stealing the ship would put him in the top earning spot—and receive more rations—it is revealed that someone else is the top earner. As an agitated Benni leads Omega to the control room, he begins acting more suspicious, and activates what looks like an alarm.

We have an interesting conversation between Benni and Omega which seems like a continuation of Omega’s feelings towards the ship from the last episode, where Omega views the ship as the only real home that the Bad Batch has. Omega gives Benni her rations as a reward for helping them. This sentiment is short lived as Benni’s signal warns Mokko, and Mokko captures Omega and confronts the Batch directly in the Ipsium mine on a small bridge far over the mine.

Just when it seems the Batch are in a tough spot, Benni comes out to confront Mokko about his greed at the miner’s expense in front of everyone. As the Miners begin to turn on Mokko, Mokko orders Omega to be thrown into the mine, luckily Hunter uses a grapple to repel and catch Omega in mid-air. Wrecker and Tech take care of Mokko’s droid security and the Miners close in on Mokko forcing him over the edge of bridge and to his demise.