Review of 'The Bad Batch' Season 2's Two Episode Premiere

 The Bad Batch Episode 1 "Spoils of War" and Episode 2 "Ruins of War" do a superior job at telling the story, furthering the plot, providing exciting action sequences and showing the growth in all the main characters than Season 1. There's plenty going on, but nothing to bore us even for a second. At the same time, enough meaningful interactions are included between Omega and her brothers to give us an idea of where all their relationships stand at this point.

 The Bad Batch, including Omega, have to go on a mission to Serenno, Count Dooku's home world. Count Dooku is a name I wasn't expecting to hear in these episodes. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one! The group is on a mission to steal Imperial War Chests before the Empire gets to them all. These chests contain riches stolen by Dooku from different worlds, as well as from his own people. Clone Force 99 needs the riches to help buy their own freedom and live life on their own terms. Hunter wishes to use the money as a way of settling down somewhere so he can give Omega a different life, better than the one he knows. Echo, on the other hand, believes the Empire has grown too strong and would probably like to use the riches to fund an attack on them.

 Things take a difficult turn as the Batch gets separated into two groups, and finding their way back together isn't very simple task, thanks to Captain Wilko, a fellow Clone, and other Stormtroopers. The episode highlights how little Omega knows of what it's like to be a child. When an elderly Serenno man, who gives them shelter, offers her a toy, she doesn't know what to do with it. Omega feels like a burden on her brothers who have to live in secrecy in order to keep her hidden and protected from Imperials. Echo later explains to her that he doesn't regret choosing to live this way, and it's a sweet moment in an episode that shows well how much these characters care about Omega. Even Tech has grown more protective towards her, and for a character that's mostly seemed focused on calculations, you can tell he has a good heart underneath it all.

  The end of the episode hints at Crosshair probably having lied to  Vice Admiral Rampart that The Bad Batch perished on Kamino. Rampart knows that if the information about their deaths is proven false, he will be in big trouble. He asks Captain Wilko to change the report to keep the truth from being revealed. When Wilko refuses, Rampart takes him out, and shows no signs of having any remorse. Will Rampart and Crosshair face off next week? That remains to be seen.

 Overall, these two episodes did an outstanding job as furthering the plot but still showed exceptional  growth in all the characters. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season unfolds!