The seventh episode of The Bad Batch is almost a turning point for the series! Yes, the threat of Crosshair, the Imperial Elite Squad, and who is Fennec Shand working for is all pending. There is enough episodes to develop those storylines, plus I think the real focus is the Bad Batch exploring the post-Republic universe! I wonder about the opening title and military snare drum music, I think the Bad Batch are moving away from a simple, military outfit. Over a green planet, the Havoc Marauder is pursued by three, smaller patrol ships. Hunter is using the shuttle’s rear cannons to try to hold them off. Echo is trying to restore the hyperdrive. Omega puts down the crash chasis, the lizard creature in a cage next to her squawks, she calls it Ruby. Tech clarifies Wrecker’s statement that they stole the lizard from the Rohkai. The cage falls and Ruby leaps onto Wrecker’s face! Kinda funny. He slams his head into a chair, Ruby scampers off, and Tech throws the ship into hyperdrive!
Cid stares at the lizard in the cage and tells the Bad Batch that she doesn’t care about the fate her client intends for it. She has them carry the cage in the back. Hunter notices a hooded figure in the cantina. Omega wants to leave with Wrecker after the mission, it’s their tradition. The stranger stares at them Strider-style. Cid gives the Bad Batch a finger full of credits minus their debts. She has been paying for their fuel, gear, and 20 cartons of Mantell Mix. At a booth, Wrecker and Omega share a box of Mantell Mix, it looks like the multi-colored Outpost Mix Popcorn, reddish and yellow kernels, at Galaxy’s Edge! The Ithorian wants the stranger to leave his seat, mistake. Cid asks them for a big score like the tactical droid head they didn’t return last episode. Then, they hear blasterfire outside. The stranger pulls off his hood, it’s Captain Rex! He was the first clone trooper officer that we identify in the Star Wars: Clone Wars (2008) movie fighting alongside General Kenobi, General Skywalker, and Commander Tano on Christophsis through the entire Clone War!
We saw him bearded and free from the inhibitor chip in Star Wars: Rebels. Also, the fateful last episode of Star Wars: Clone Wars, “Victory and Death” (2020). Later, over drinks, Rex explains that he was “keeping a low profile” after the war. He found the Bad Batch through Trace and Rafa. It looks like the hologram glimpsed at the end of last episode was Rex and they Montez Sisters retrieved the tactical droid head for him. Wrecker is surprised to see Rex and gets him into a bear hug. Omega instantly recognizes Rex as a generation one clone. He wonders at Wrecker’s head pain and begins to reach for his blaster when the finds they have not removed their inhibitor chips. Wrecker’s head was struck in the third episode, “Replacements”, during a crash landing, and continued to have problems. Rex leaves them to work out how to help. The Havoc Marauder jumps through hyperspace. Hunter tells the suffering Wrecker that they are going to meet Rex on Bracca. It is a Mid Rim planet first hinted at with the Resistance Reborn (2019) novel and seen in the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019) video game. Tech has finished with his chip scanner.
The ship reaches Bracca orbit and begins its descent into the rusty hulks of starships and green pools of water. There have of course been starship graveyards, but this vision is more rusty, broken down, like sci fi art. The shuttle lands next to Rex’s Y-Wing. Rex points out the Venator-class Star Destroyer. Hunter gives out a warning. A hovering group, the Scrapper Guild, patrols the graveyards. Rex points out when they enter the interior that it was an original, Wrecker compares it to Rex. Hunter watches the shifting waters at the bottom of the ship and tells Tech to be careful. They fire a cable to cross a chasm, but Wrecker falls towards the water. Tentacles drag Wrecker down, a Watcher in the Water, or Dia Noga! They lift up a door and rat creatures scamper away. Echo works on the surgical pod. Tech tries to scan Wrecker, Omega is worried that if they fails, she will be alone.
Wrecker groans seeing the light from the surgical pod. Tech tries to sedate Wrecker and suddenly he goes into Order 66 mode! Suddenly, the strongest member of the Bad Batch has turned against them! Wrecker is about to choke Hunter, but Omega sends off a blast from her energy bow! She has to run from her best friend. When they stun Wrecker and treat him, Wrecker is unconscious, and Omega refuses to leave him! Rex still wants in on the fight and would need the Bad Batch. They in turn have Rex as yet another ally. The Bad Batch has fulfilled one of its concepts from the start of the show, what happens to their inhibitor chips?, and now we have them truly out of the control of any army or group. There still remains the mystery of Omega. We still have missing Wolfe and Gregor that turned up in "The Lost Commanders" (2015) of Star Wars: Rebels. The greatest action the Bad Batch can do to save the ideals of the Republic? Baby Yoda!
Four Vibro Knives out of Five!
#StarWarsTheBadBatch, #BattleScars, #MantellMix, #CaptainRex
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