Max Nocerino 
I couldn’t stop grinning as The Bad Batch brought back fan-favorite Asajj Ventress, a former Jedi turned Sith apprentice and bounty hunter.
“Stop smiling. It’s unsettling.” I honestly could not stop smiling as The Bad Batch resurrects a Clone Wars favorite. Former Jedi turned Sith apprentice and bounty hunter Asajj Ventress mysteriously appears in a cave on Pabu. She is seemingly the person Fennec Shand contacted at the end of the last episode. She has information for the Batch about M-counts, and the clones finally learn why Omega is so valuable to the Empire. It’s a shocking revelation, and Omega adorably thinks she is automatically a Jedi. Ha! Naive youngsters.
VENTRESS RETURNS!
However, Omega’s curiosity is piqued, and she begs Ventress to determine whether her M-count is high. God, I don’t understand why they can’t just call them midi-chlorians. We all know what the M is short for. Disney has been hesitant to bring up the topic of midi-chlorians because of fan complaints since 1999. Yet, many fanboys and girls don’t understand that the biological aspects of the Force do not diminish its mystical nature. There is room for both science and religion!
Anyway, back to Ventress. Christie Golden’s novel, “Dark Disciple,” reveals that Ventress was killed by Count Dooku and buried on Dathomir by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yet, before she “died,” Ventress turned away from the dark and sacrificed herself to save the man she was working with. Jedi Master Quinlan Vos. However, it seems Disney has pulled a Houdini trick, and Ventress is alive and more than capable of kicking clone butt. She even still has her yellow lightsaber.
A VENTRESS MYSTERY
The mystery around Ventress is incredibly compelling, besides the fact that she is alive. Why is she on Pabu? Who is she working for? Why does she take an interest in Omega? All these uncertainties are buzzing around in my brain, and I couldn’t be more exhilarated. Usually, I roll my eyes when Star Wars brings back characters from the dead (they do it all the time). But this time, it’s different. Ventress wasn’t cut in half or thrown down an elevator shaft.
It’s possible to survive Force Lightning and then enter a Sith hibernation trance to fake her death (she does this amazingly in her Legends end). So, I am fully on board with bringing her back. It seems like she is searching for a new apprentice to help her overthrow the Empire. She informs the clones that the Empire is much more complex than they can imagine and that she is loyal to only one person: herself.
OMEGA
I must take a moment and praise the animation for this show again. The water lapping against the rocky shores near the cave on Pabu is so photo-realistic and beautiful. The water looks like a translucent liquid. I also love how when Hunter, Crosshair, and Crosshair “Google” Ventress, they are entirely pummeled by her in hand-to-hand combat, even though they are three enhanced clone soldiers. She kicks their butts, and I have to remind myself how dangerous Ventress still is.
Yet, Omega wants to trust her, and the magic of Omega is this. She is a ray of sunshine, a beacon of pure good energy. She brings out the best in everyone, and that includes Ventress. I LOVE her as a character. Her positivity and purity are refreshing in a galaxy with so much darkness. I hope she is indeed Force-sensitive, and perhaps one day, she will be apprenticed to Ventress and wield a pink light whip or something. Only time will tell.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch is streaming exclusively on Disney Plus now.
FORCE FACTS
Throughout the episode, we noticed various Force facts, Easter eggs, trivia moments, and observations. How many of them did you see?
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This is the first time I’ve ever heard a character in TV or movies use the term Force-sensitive. It’s thrown around in the books but never on the large or small screen. But keeping true to the lore is very important, and I appreciate that it’s in there.
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Ventress and Omega run afoul of a disturbing sea monster turtle octopus thingie in the Pabuan waters, and as Wrecker said in Episode 5- why is there always a giant monster? The Star Wars galaxy is overflowing to the brim with megafauna and it really is quite frightening if you think about it. It’s like if we humans had to co-exist with a T-Rex or sabertooth tiger. I prefer smaller animals and scarcities of monstrous ones.
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Ventress tries to test Omega in an eerily similiar way that Luke will test Rey decades from now. Omega gets frustrated with her inability to produce results and at the end of the episode, it is unclear if Ventress is lying or not that Omega is a Force-dud.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
