With the fifth episode of its second season, Jennifer Corbett and Dave Filoni's Star Wars: The Bad Batch continues to evolve and embrace the organic growth of its characters, themes, and influences in authentic and moving ways. The result is a series that feels like it has well and truly found its footing and a place to call its own within the larger Star Wars canon. Beyond being a follow-up to The Clone Wars or another notch on Lucasfilm Animation's belt of Filoni-shepherded series, Episode 5, "Entombed," helps show how The Bad Batch has genuinely blossomed into a remarkable work all its own.
In "Entombed", the Bad Batch travels with Phee to a barren planet on the hunt for some unexpected treasure. Despite the majority of the Batch's misgivings -- especially Hunter's -- Omega convinces them all to go, as she grows closer to Phee. However, Phee's archeological escapades take them down some unexpected routes, and the Batch faces external and internal challenges anew.
The last three episodes of The Bad Batch are such a perfect encapsulation of the expansive tone and authentically mythic storytelling that Star Wars is known for. Where "The Solitary Clone" was a deeply serious rumination on trust and loyalty in the face of wartime tragedy, "Faster" was an eclectic and colorful burst of energy with some of the most well-executed gags in the history of Lucasfilm Animation. Now, "Entombed" brings an altogether much pulpier tone and adventure serial energy to its story, with remarkable effect.
Even when taken in isolation, "Entombed" proudly wears numerous seemingly diverging influences on its sleeve. It's Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones films meets Ridley Scott's Prometheus meets Jackson'sThe Fellowship of the Ring meets Ishirō Honda's Godzilla, all as seen through the distinct lens of not just Star Wars but through The Bad Batch itself. Christopher Yost's script gleefully plays within the sandboxes of these genres and influences but never for a moment loses sight of the characters and relationships at the heart of this show.
Truly one of The Bad Batch Episode 5's greatest strengths is Michelle Ang as Omega. While it would have been all too easy for Corbett and the writers to keep Omega as a largely stationary, status-quo character, they have instead allowed her to grow and change substantially, essentially now positioning her as the lead of the entire series. It's still an ensemble show, but one whose focus falls more and more on the increasingly active portrayal of Michelle Ang as Omega. This works immeasurably well, allowing Dee Bradley Baker's phenomenally varied performances as the titular batch more room for experimentation without the burden of single-handedly carrying the narrative.
Though introduced in the season premiere, Wanda Sykes finally gets a chance to truly shine in "Entombed" as Phee and absolutely nails it. Phee is a wonderful Star Wars riff on the character of Indiana Jones -- so much so that there are entire sequences of editing here that are pulled straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark -- and Sykes proves once again why she's such a notorious scene-stealer.
After two exemplary episodes that had the team separated in one way or another, it is wonderful to see "Entombed" bring them all back together without missing a beat in terms of maintaining the intimacy of those prior episodes. The character-driven thematic work here feels every bit as meticulous and sculpted as it did in "The Solitary Clone" and "Faster," with director Nathaniel Villanueva balancing the increased number of characters and threads exquisitely.
As a result of all of this incredible craftsmanship and hard-earned work, "Entombed" is a wonderful entry in The Bad Batch story. It takes the goodwill and creative inspiration earned over the course of the last few weeks and invests it back into itself, with an episode that goes big on jaw-dropping spectacle and vividly impactful action sequences, but never at the cost of intimacy, emotion, characters, or theme. With "Entombed", The Bad Batch continues to confidently carve out its own distinct niche within the Star Wars universe in a delightful fashion.
Developed for television by Dave Filoni and Jennifer Corbett, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, "Entombed" is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes released each Wednesday.