Bad Batch Spoiler Recap: Cut and Run

Well, here we are. Three days after the series premiere of The Bad Batch, we’re back with another episode (this time in the regular time slot), and things pick up pretty much exactly where they left off.

When we last saw the Batch, they were making their escape from Kamino, and headed to mysterious coordinates to rendezvous with an old friend. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I thought - hoped, really - that the old friend was Rex. I can’t help it, I just love that character so much, and really want him to come back. Which he will, at some point, according to the trailer. 

It wasn’t Rex, after all (boo) but it was a former Clone. Namely Cut Lawquane, who Clone Wars fans will remember as the deserter Rex encounters on Saleucami in the season two episode “The Deserter”. The Batch go looking for him because first of all they’re friends, and as a deserter from the Grand Army of the Republic, Cut knows a thing or two about staying under the radar. Which is exactly what our crew needs right now. 

As it turns out, they get to Saleucami just in time for everyone involved. Cut, along with his wife Suu and their two children are looking to get offworld as soon as possible. Republic...that is...Imperial troopers have shown up on their homeworld and are making life more than a little difficult. So the family wants out, but there’s just one problem: they don’t have chain codes.

Now that the Empire has well and truly taken control of the galaxy, their next step is simple: take control of the people who live there. While the idea of all citizens registering for Imperial chain codes seems fine on the surface - you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide, right? - things aren’t so simple for a military deserter like Cut. One thing that carries over from Republic to Empire is that his actions were against the law.

Fortunately for the Lawquane family, the Bad Batch has arrived just in time, and resident computer expert Tech is confident that he can forge chain codes for the whole family - despite having only learned about them moments ago. 

Where in the last episode Hunter and Wrecker took centre stage, this time Echo and Tech got their chance to shine. I’m especially interested in Echo’s arc moving forward, as he’s something of an outsider no matter how you slice it. He wasn’t genetically altered at birth the way the rest of the Batch were. To them, he’s more Reg than one of them, and his way of thinking reflects that. He still thinks like a soldier in the 501st. But to the other Regs, who now serve the Empire, Echo isn’t one of them either. So where does that leave him?

Today’s episode also gave us more scenes between Omega and her new father figure Hunter. We get a lot of really precious scenes, not only between the two of them, but between Hunter and Cut where the old hand teaches the new, reluctant father a thing or two about parenting. Despite his hesitation, Hunter actually takes to it fairly quickly. Sure, he doesn’t know how to comfort a freaked out kid, but he does have the parental instinct of wanting to do whatever is best for the child, no matter what. 

In a scene I think we all knew was coming, Hunter arranges with Cut for the Lawquanes to take Omega with them wherever they wind up. After all, they’re more of a stable family, and even have two kids about Omega’s age. Omega, understandably, doesn’t want to go. She is already very attached to the Batch and to Hunter in particular, and comes running back to them after they thought they’d said goodbye forever. 

I’ll admit, I thought this plot point got resolved extremely quickly, considering how reluctant Hunter was to have Omega come with them. That said, I do recognize it’s a show for kids, and it could be very stressful for a child’s in-universe surrogate to have her fate in limbo for so long. But I also like that we aren’t prolonging the inevitable. We all knew Omega would be embraced by them sooner rather than later so might as well get it out of the way so the story can progress.

Also as a final note: Wrecker in a giant hat and poncho was everything I didn’t know I needed. Thank you for this, Lucasfilm.

What did you think? Were you excited to see Cut and Suu again? Were they the “friends” you were expecting? Join us for Bad Bitches on the Bad Batch, our biweekly livestream 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.