It's not difficult to find a Star Wars fan complaining about some new entry into the universe. However, the animated fare from Lucasfilm is far less contentious than the live-action projects. The only true complaint about The Bad Batch is the over-reliance on the "Filler Episode." Thing is, there's no such thing as a filler episode. Not anymore.
One of the many valuable skills TV writers employ is padding out some stories in shows that need to go on longer than they may have story or budget for. In the golden age of TV, it was usually the latter reason. It was very common for popular series to air true filler episodes: clip shows. Typically framed with one or two principal characters "sharing stories" for some reason, it was an excuse to save some money by re-airing popular or funny clips from past episodes. How the content demands of TV have changed. The Bad Batch does none of this. The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels were closely tied to saga lore, so any episode that wasn't usually caught the "filler" label. However, The Bad Batch is even more disconnected than those stories and more connected to the Clone-level struggles. What fans dub filler are typically episodes dealing with characterization or trial balloons for new settings and concepts.
The Bad Batch Season 1 Was All Thriller, No Filler
The Bad Batch series is like Rebels in two metatextual ways, both dealing with fan expectations. The first is fans see these series as effectively a "sequel" to The Clone Wars. Rebels debuted after the former series was unceremoniously canceled after Disney bought Lucasfilm. The Bad Batch, however, is a direct sequel to the final season of The Clone Wars. Its premiere happens concurrently with the final episodes and Revenge of the Sith. When it comes to saga lore, The Bad Batch is truly only illustrative of the dénouement for the Clones. There are also episodes where fan-favorite characters like Cad Bane or Hera Syndulla appear.
Fans look at episodes like Season 1, Episode 3 "Replacements" as filler because the plot just follows the team crashing on a planet, avoiding alien fauna and fixing their ship. However, it is a pivotal character episode for Omega, because it's the first time she's able to solve the problem in a way a soldier wouldn't. Also, this episode features effectively the first-ever Stormtroopers mission, so it's not exactly insignificant to Star Wars history. Episode 5, "Rampage," also leads to a dead-end on the season-long story. Yet, it introduces Cid, features a Bib Fortuna cameo and a baby rancor.
The Star Wars animated series can deeply enrich the films or even the series on Disney+, but they're also primarily space adventures for kids. The Bad Batch is the kind of show fans thought Rebels was going to be. It's a group of skilled operators traveling about the galaxy, getting into scrapes and sometimes being heroes. Legacy characters come in and out of the series, but none are central to it.
The Bad Batch Season 2 Won't Change Its Formula
The Bad Batch returns with its second season, and from the trailers the series looks to be intense. Emperor Palpatine will return, according to the trailer, as well as The Clone Wars character Gungi, the Wookiee Jedi. Yet, there is no reason to believe it will change its formula, especially since this series seems designed to go on much longer than Rebels or The Clone Wars. This series has 15 years to catch up to the next chronological one, and there's no reason The Bad Batch Season 16 can't run concurrently with that series. This feels like a show that can live in the time between the trilogies forever.
The Clone Wars saw a slight shift in Season 2, to put it indelicately, as Lucasfilm got better at making animated series. They introduced Star Wars zombies, Mandalore, the Zillo beast and young Boba Fett. It was still a Star Wars adventure show for kids, but it began to expand the stories of the prequels. Similarly, Rebels Season 2 brought in Darth Vader, Maul, Ahsoka and the surviving Clones. Through its run, Rebels enriched the original trilogy, giving more context to the struggle of the Rebellion. Something, coincidentally, Andor is now doing for Star Wars adults. The Bad Batch doesn't have any movies to recontextualize or add layers to.
It's free to continue to deepen fans' understanding of the early Empire, but primarily telling stories about their central characters and their adventures. The Bad Batch feels like a show meant to run for a lot of episodes. None of them will be filler; they'll just be what happens.
The Bad Batch debuts its two-episode Season 2 premiere on Disney+ on Jan. 4, 2023.