Every time an episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch lands, Fantha Tracks will be giving their responses, and here are our initial gut feelings, deep dives and thoughts on episode seven and eight of season two, ‘The Clone Conspiracy’ and ‘Truth and Consequences’. Beware of spoilerific elements in here.
Mark Newbold
The Bad Batch has done double headers before, opening the second season with the double-tap of Spoils of War and Ruins of War, and here – already at the midpoint of the 16 episode season – we have the second duo of episodes, and as the season very clearly ratchets up the stakes and the tension we’re treated to some of the most devious politicking this side of the Clone Wars as Palpatine not only reminds us how he took the galaxy, but more vitally how he kept it.
The plight of the post-Clone Wars clone is evident. On the cusp of being phased out, what does that mean? They’re not droids to be decomissioned as Senator Tynnra Pamlo (Sharon Duncan-Brewster returning to the role after she originated it in Rogue One) states, but genetically bred loyal soldiers with purpose. As an increasing number rail against their inhibitor chips, questioning the validity of their orders Admiral Rampart plots their doom, secure in his power and lofty position and keen to see the Defense Recruitment Bill enacted. Meanwhile, the familiar blue features of Senator Ryo Churchi becomes increasingly aware of the lies told and the clones plight. Snipers take out clone rabble-rousers, sending one clone Slip into the underworld of Coruscant where he explains the truth behind the destruction of Kamino and the bleak future ahead for his clone brothers. The senator is keen to help, but coming under attack her guards are murdered as is Slip. Saved by a returning Captain Rex, the shocking reveal isn’t that the deadly sniper wasn’t Crosshair, but a regulation clone, who bites down on a tooth to electroshock himself into oblivion.
No sign of Clone Force 99 in The Clone Conspiracy, but Truth and Consequences has them front and center as the story continues. Contacted by Rex they are called to Coruscant – the one world in the galaxy they’d be best served to avoid – to steal the command log from Admiral Rampart’s Venator-cruiser while it’s in drydock. A more perfect mission it would be hard to envisage for the Batch, and working in concert they manage to retrieve it and get it to Senator Churchi as she stands alongside the venerable Kaminoan Senator Halle Burtoni in the senate chambers, just in time for Palpatine to rise from the center pod and play the masterful stroke of blaming the destruction of Kamino on a bemused Admiral Rampart and in turn making the introduction of the Defense Recruitment Bill a near certainty.
As we know, that starts a series of events that not only leads to countless clones ending up like the lost, forgotten clone we saw briefly in Obi-Wan Kenobi but (and stay with me on this one) saw heroes like Han Solo and Cassian Andor trained to fight and inspired to rebel. Yes, billions of disaffected youths across the stars will leave their mundane lives behind for a shot at destiny, adventure and galaxy-spanning missions, but with no war to fight and only a galaxy to subjugate to his will, we may well look back at this moment as a huge marker in the machinations of Palpatine as well as the fate of the pre-Yavin galaxy.
As for the Bad Batch both as a unit and as a show, the departure of a clearly disaffected Echo to stay with Rex and fight for his clone brothers signals a sea change in the series and the relationships within. Once five, they are now down to three original members of Clone Force 99, and while Omega has become a valued member of the team we still have Crosshair on the periphery and dark times ahead. What lies in store for them next could be the making – or breaking – of them.
Jen Sopchockchai
An idealist politician pleads on behalf of the voiceless in the Galactic Senate. A mysterious assassin lurks in the shadows, trying to silence those who threaten the Empire’s agenda. Palpatine twists the truth to get what he wants, tricking the galaxy into thinking he’s keeping them safe.
No, I’m not describing Attack of the Clones or an episode of The Clone Wars, but it does sound like it, doesn’t it?
A lot happened in this two-parter, but, to me, the most compelling aspect of these episodes was the political intrigue and suspense over whether or not Senator Chuchi would be able to take down Admiral Rampart. If she would be able to come up with enough evidence in time for the vote. The suspense here was top notch, from the assassination of Cade, to Chuchi seeking out the clones in the clone bar on Coruscant, 79’s, to Slip whistleblowing to her about Rampart, and, most chillingly, to the reveal that the sniper after them all was a fellow clone all along. I, of course, was happy to see Bail Organa again, but I was even happier to hear him tell Chuchi to “follow the money.” My genre nerve endings tingled in that moment.
Chuchi does get the evidence in the eleventh hour, and Rampart does go down, but then the Emperor uses Rampart as a scapegoat and a cautionary tale, highlighting the clones’ supposed ineffectiveness and unreliability. The recruitment bill “decommissioning” the clones will presumably go through anyway, and Chuchi and The Bad Batch’s efforts will have been for naught. I felt the same queasiness and sense of defeat here as I did at the end of Revenge of the Sith when Palpatine executes Order 66 and launches a rhetorically manipulative misinformation campaign about The Jedi being the real enemies of the Republic.
As much as this episode, especially in its political thriller elements, reminded me of the Prequel Era, it prompted me to think about post-Empire stories like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor as well. There’s a 19-year period that all of these shows have been shading in — the time in between the rise of the Galactic Empire in Revenge of the Sith and the the destruction of the first Death Star in A New Hope. This season of The Bad Batch takes place in 18 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), Obi-Wan Kenobi takes place in 9 BBY, and Andor starts in 5 BBY and plans to take us all the way to the events of Rogue One, which we know directly precedes the start of A New Hope. It was surreal to see staples of one era of Star Wars fusing together with touchstones of the other, and these two episodes mark the first time at which this sense of a much broader pre-Original Trilogy timeline emerged for me.
While “Truth and Consequences” showed me that Omega would make a great senator, able to appeal to the good in people as she does with Kaminoan Senator Halle Burtoni, I have to remind myself that in this two-episode arc, Omega and the rest of the Bad Batch do not appear in the first part, “The Clone Conspiracy,” at all. And if I consider these two episodes in tandem and consider the type of story it’s trying to tell about the clones’ rights and post-Empire politics, the noticeable absence of Clone Force 99 seems very purposeful.
Since this is their series, episodes should, in theory, privilege their point of view — they’re our main characters, our heroes. But completely removing them from the plot of “The Clone Conspiracy” shows us that in this Empire, they can’t have complete ownership over their story because the galaxy does not recognize them as people. Yes, we do see other clones, but they’re all helpless pawns in Palpatine’s political chess game, relegated to dying off one by one or becoming “decommissioned” once Rampart’s Stormtrooper recruitment bill passes.
As usual, Omega’s sincere, emotional response to Echo leaving was the heart and soul of this scene. The hug she gives Echo is perfectly timed, and such a great resolution to their misunderstanding in the premiere when Omega overhears Echo say to Hunter that they’re in “this situation” because of Omega. Many on the Internet are assuming that since we do not see Echo with Rex in the animated series Rebels, that he must bite the dust at some point between this point and that, which is 13 years later. An eternal optimist, I’m hoping that this just means that Echo has an amazing arc on his own that makes it so that he is alive and well by the time we see Rex and the gang deep sand fishing — he’s merely ended up somewhere else. I’m eager to find out, whether it’s in this series or another, where that journey takes him.
(This is condensed and edited – with permission – from Jen’s The Long Take review, which you can subscribe to here)
Eric Onkenhout
The second season of The Bad Batch has reached its halfway point with the release of two episodes this week: ‘The Clone Conspiracy’ and ‘Truth and Consequences.’ Technically two separate episodes, both episodes were exceptional in a season that some might argue has been a little underwhelming. Having said that, every episode serves a purpose, but it’s concerning that the best episodes this season do not feature Clone Force 99. During the first season, Hunter stated that their goal was to try and improve the galaxy a little at a time. For that to happen, some things need to change.
Part I, ‘The Clone Conspiracy,’ opens at the 79s bar on Coruscant with two Imperial clones, Slip and Cade, discussing what they did on Kamino (see Season one: ‘Return to Kamino’). According to the episode guide on starwars.com, the 79s bar first appeared in season 6 of The Clone Wars. What’s interesting about what some of the clones are going through now, with the war being over and clones getting phased out of service, is that despite the inhibitor chip still implanted in their brain, some clones are beginning to see the error of their ways.
What does this mean exactly? Have the inhibitor chips stopped working? Were they designed to turn off once the war was won? Did Palpatine have the Imperial stormtrooper in mind way earlier than first thought? Why would certain clones, who were programmed to follow orders and kill the Jedi, suddenly decide what the Empire was doing was wrong? Clearly, not all clones have woken up, but many have realized that their usefulness is quickly running out. What’s awful about this scenario is that they have no representation in the Senate, so no one can speak for them. And two: the exact thing they were created to do is being taken away from them.
Luckily, Senator Riyo Chuchi (lovingly known as blue Padme by some fans) from Pantora has stepped forward to speak for the clones when no one else would. Having no purpose in life can be terrifying and depressing, especially when all you’ve known is gone. The clones are faced with having to adapt to a world that forgot about them while aging twice as fast like Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor. The clone Obi-Wan sees on Daiyu could be their future: down and out and homeless.
A lot is going on in these two episodes, but the main focus deals with the ramifications of Palpatine’s war. Senator Chuchi’s (Jennifer Hale) support for the clones and her point that clones are not droids that can be decommissioned brings to mind Yoda’s point that every clone is different despite their genetic makeup. They have different personalities, and their presence in the Force is like fingerprints: no two are alike. Senator Tynnra Pamlo (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) argues that another military is unnecessary since the war is over. Yeah, good luck with that argument.
Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal) proposes a Defense Recruitment Bill with provisions to ensure the clones are taken care of. Of course, Rampart has no intention of following through with his veiled promise. Rampart’s apparent downfall lies in his overconfidence, however.
Star Wars is at its best when exploring such topics because it proves it’s more than faster and more intense. Like Bail Organa (Phil Lamarr) says, the clone issue is part of a larger story. The Emperor is afraid. Think back to Andor, when the Empire eliminated an entire level to keep the prisoners in line. That is fear. The Emperor and the Empire are afraid of a revolt, and fighting a war you’re not willing to fight is like having one foot in the grave.
Slip has been secretly meeting with Chuchi to discuss Rampart’s part on Kamino until Slip (CT-0409) is assassinated by a sniper hired by Rampart. It’s easy to assume the sniper was Crosshair or even Ochi of Bestoon, but he’s actually a clone. Rex arrives and stuns the assassin, but he later commits suicide by biting down on a capsule called a suicide shocker.
Part two, ‘Truth and Consequences’ does feature the Bad Batch, and like Wrecker says, “Finally”! While the previous episode leaned heavily into the spy, political intrigue genre, ‘Truth and Consequences’ returned to its action routes. The Bad Batch is recruited by Rex to retrieve the command log on Rampart’s Venator-cruiser while it’s in drydock on Coruscant.
Former Kaminoan Senator Halle Burtoni appears for the first time since season two of The Clone Wars. The Bad Batch successfully completed their mission, as they usually do, but the most exciting part of the episode came near the end with the appearance of the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid) at a Senate hearing. The way the music and all other ambient sounds stopped when he spoke was eerie. Such a great idea by the creators. When Palpatine spoke, you listened. Palpatine manipulated the Senate to get what he wanted by acknowledging Rampart’s crime and had him arrested so he could engage his Imperial stormtrooper program. Brilliantly evil!
Again, every high point of this episode had nothing to do with the Bad Batch, and it’s designed that way. They’re not directly fighting the Empire, which leads Echo to leave with Rex so Echo can directly combat the Empire and help the clones. There are three left, plus Omega, while Crosshair’s path remains murky. Next week’s episode is called ‘Crossing” whether this is misdirection or not, the way Star Wars operates, it’s entirely possible.
- Hardcover Book
- Horton, Cole (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 03/21/2023 (Publication Date) - Insight Editions (Publisher)
