IR TV Review: THE BAD BATCH - EPISODE 10 (“Common Ground”) [Disney+]

Finding an aspect of usefulness is an ongoing motif in "The Bad Batch". Like most of his animated series, David Filoni has made, it is all about pace. One episode moves the story forward while another builds character with a side mission that doesn't necessarily reflect the overall structure. This is a lesson "Star Trek" in its most recent from can learn about structure over a season simply to manage breathe and let things sink in (which even "Voyager" did). The character structure here works on two different fronts in Episode 10: "Common Ground". It is both about pride and what duty means but also understanding the strengths of others, even if it is a different approach.

The episode returns the Batch to Praxis, which was the capitol of the Separatists which in interesting considering that name hasn't really been mentioned lately. The mission itself, like one with Echo in the last season of "The Clone Wars" points to a bigger structure of what is to come but it is more about understanding character traits. This is why the more subtle character work is back at their home base with their employer babysitting Omega to a point which plays the idea quite well in terms of resolution (even down to the last shot). The episode is filled with metaphor while functioning as a stand-alone while still moving everything forward. B+

By Tim Wassberg