This week the Bad Batch undertake a daring mission to rescue Hera’s parents. Hunter is initially sceptical of the plan, but Hera and Omega convinces him otherwise.
This episode was a perfectly fine conclusion to last week, and hopefully sets up things to come.
The clone captain Howzer realises that the Empire is not what he first thought it was and convinces some of his brothers that the orders they were given were wrong. Crosshair also makes an appearance, however he has very little to do, which is disappointing.
There are however a couple of developments within the episode, coming from Howzer and Crosshair, which will be discussed later in the review. Hunter however, displays unusual reluctance to helping Hera’s parents, even though they have regularly undertaken similar missions in the past.
They comment that the planet has similar security to Raxus, however they took to that mission extremely quickly. To me it seemed like forced and manufactured conflict. The Batch are specialised soldiers, they are made for this kind of heavy security missions.
Notably, Omega and Hera’s friendship continues to develop throughout this episode. Omega continually sticks up for Hera and pressures the rest of the Bad Batch to rescue her parents. The duo also get to do part of the mission themselves, with Hunter trusting Omega to do it herself.
The pair attack the refinery, with Hera getting to pilot a shuttle to develop her flying skills. They are extremely rough, with a dodgy take off and Tech commenting that her flight patterns are confusing to the enemy and him, which made me chuckle. Hera clearly has some way to go before becoming the pilot we see in Rebels.
This is a decoy, however for Hunter and Echo to get into the capital and rescue Cham, which they do without anything going wrong. Crosshair realises the attack on the refinery is only a distraction and orders his troops to block Hunter’s escape.
Howzer however, who has been questioning orders for most of the episode, stops Hunter and Echo and from walking into Crosshair’s fire. Howzer proceeds to walk out and talk to the troopers, managing to convince some of them to lay down their arms, meanwhile, they are arrested by Crosshair.
This brings me round on Howzer’s character from last week, though I would have still rather him be a familiar clone, this act lays potential groundwork for a clone rebellion later down the line, and also for the Empire to discard clones.
While they may still have their inhibitor chips, it shows they are weakening. It was definitely the best part of the episode. Howzer also gives a nice contrast to Crosshair, who refuses to question orders.
While I mentioned that Crosshair has little to do in this episode, which is true, at the end he does get permission to hunt down the Bad Batch. This should have been set in motion a couple of episodes ago, but I am glad that it has started now.
Admiral Rampart is a character that did get a lot of screen time, and it is clear he is a calculating villain. No doubt he will use Howzer’s break from control to justify a further break from the Kaminoans.
Howzer and all the scenes he was in elevated the episode, as well as his interactions with Rampart and Crosshair. The ending reinforces a message that the Batch needs to hear. Hunter clearly thinks his fight is over, and just wants to protect his crew. However, Cham reminds him that sometimes that means getting back into the fight.
Overall, this episode was one that landed in the middle of the pact, as the manufactured tension between Hunter and Hera dragged the episode down. On top of that, the action was average at best which is unfortunate for the series, as it doesn’t give us the anticipation of action-packed moments which we crave to watch on screen.
With Crosshair now hunting the Batch, hopefully in next weeks episode, he will have a more active role in the story and will provide the much needed dose of action for us viewers.
By Kieran Burt
Feature image: Disney