Bad Batch Spoiler Recap: Aftermath

Happy Star Wars Day, everyone! 

Last year, the team at Lucasfilm Animation made us all cry by wrapping up the unexpected seventh season of their long-running series The Clone Wars with a spectacular finale. This year, they brought the high stakes action and emotion - and yes, tears - that we’ve come to expect from them with the 70-minute premiere of their new spin-off series The Bad Batch.

This series, focused on the titular Bad Batch whom we first met in their 4-episode arc in the final season of The Clone Wars, begins right where the story left off: the execution of Order 66. 

We find the Batch - Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair and Echo - on the snowy world of Kaller, providing some much needed aid to overwhelmed Jedi Master Depa Billabaand her young apprentice Caleb Dume. Yes, that Caleb Dume. The same that would eventually go by Kanan Jarrus, and whom fans will recognize from Star Wars: Rebels. While Kanan’s past, and the trauma of losing his Master at the hands of the Clones they trusted was only hinted at before, The Bad Batch kicks off with the emotional suckerpunch of making us experience it in full. 

Though the Batch are present when everything begins to go wrong, they don’t carry out the orders the way the “Regs” (regular troopers) do. After all, they were built different. 

Mostly anyway.

Though Hunter, the leader of the Batch, wants to ensure Caleb’s safety, Crosshair is not so easily convinced, repeating the chilling refrain “good soldiers follow orders” before immediately trying to end the young Padawan’s life. Caleb manages to escape, and Hunter covers for him, saying he fell to his death in the nearby gorge, but Crosshair isn’t convinced. 

Pretty chilling stuff, and we’re not even 15 minutes in. 

The Batch return to their homeworld of Kamino, where they realize that something is, in fact, very wrong. with the Regs. Though they’ve always been held apart from the other Clones due to their enhancements, things have changed. When the Clones all learn that the Republic they once served has been restructured into the Galactic Empire, the Batch are rightfully horrified, but the Regs seem thrilled at the prospect.

Things go from bad to worse when Admiral Tarkin shows up to halt the cloning program, making the case that the expense is unnecessary. He is especially skeptical of our titular gang, given their tendency to disobey orders, and sends them on a “special mission” to eliminate a “separatist threat” on Onderon.  

Fans of The Clone Wars might have perked up at the mention of Onderon, since that’s the homeworld of none other than Saw Gerrera - who also appears in Rebels and Rogue One. Sure enough, once they arrive they realize the “Separatist threat” that they were sent to eliminate are none other than refugees trying to stay safe under Palpatine’s new regime. Most of the Batch refuse to have any part in the murder of innocents, but Crosshair is not so easily convinced. After all...good soldiers follow orders.

They return to Kamino and are immediately taken into custody, though Crosshair is singled out and taken away. His inhibitor chip - the one that makes Clones susceptible to following orders - is intact enough that it can be enhanced to a level of compliance that isn’t possible in the other members of the Batch.

I can’t believe I’ve come this far without mentioning one of the standouts of this first episode, and that is the introduction of a brand-new character named Omega. Omega is a young girl who lives and works on Kamino, ostensibly as a medical aide. She has a particular fascination with the Bad Batch, and quickly develops an attachment to Hunter. But Tech quickly realizes there’s more to Omega than meets the eye. She’s not just an ordinary assistant. She’s a Clone. An altered one, just like the rest of the Batch. 

It is this realization that prompts them to go back to Kamino at all, after they disobey their orders on Onderon. After all, Omega is one of them, and they can’t leave her behind. Not when the anti-Clone Admiral Tarkin is still sniffing around. They orchestrate a jailbreak and escape Kamino with Omega in tow, but with Crosshair now left behind. 

I love a little bit of angst in the morning.

Though I didn’t really mention him at all in my recap, I suspected before the show started that my favourite member of the Batch would be Wrecker, and I was right. I love a giant softie, and Wrecker is the softest boi, for all that he “likes blowing things up”. For crying out loud, the man has a stuffed Tooka Cat (named Lula, no less. He gave it a name. Come on, now). He was also the much needed comic relief in this episode, his loud, brash, oblivious nature pairing quite nicely with Tech’s deadpan delivery. 

I cannot wait to see more of the Batch over the next 15 episodes. I’m especially curious to see who this mysterious friend of theirs is that they’re currently on their way to see. 

What was your favourite part of the premiere? Who’s your favourite member of the Bad Batch? Join us Friday nights at 10pm Eastern on YouTube for Bad Bitches on The Bad Batch to dive in! And for more Star Wars discussion, don’t forget to subscribe to “Space Waffles”, our Star Wars focused podcast!

The Bad Batch is streaming now on Disney+, with new episodes every Friday.