Back in 2021, the first season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch concluded with several major narratives being teed up:
- The cloning facilities of Tapico City on Kamino were destroyed by the Empire.
- Kamanoan Prime Minister Lama Su was detained (and likely executed) for attempting to escape with his best scientists/personnel. Meanwhile, lead scientist Nala Se was taken to an Imperial facility on the planet Weyland, where we can likely assume she’ll be forced to conduct some unsavory experiments.
- Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, & Omega managed to escape the wreckage of the Tapico City along with Crosshair, who briefly rejoined his old squadmates for the sake of survival — and in the hopes of convincing them to join him in serving the Empire.
- The sociopathic sharpshooter also revealed that he’d secretly removed his inhibitor chip, thus making his loyalty to the Empire a choice of his own free will.
- Crosshair decided to ditch Omega and his teammates and return to the Empire (despite Vice Admiral Rampart leaving him for dead on Kamino). The Bad Batch allowed him to go, but not before Omega reminded him that they were still his family.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
- The Empire has decided to replace their clone soldiers with overwhelming numbers of natural-born (and much less effective) stormtroopers. That said, clone troopers still make up a significant portion of the Imperial military.
- Before she was shipped off to an Imperial facility, Nala Se revealed to the Bad Batch that their genetic mutations were actually purposeful alterations.
- Omega was one of two unaltered clones who were created by the Kaminoans from Jango Fett‘s DNA template — the other was Alpha, aka Boba Fett. While the reason for Boba’s creation is known (Jango wanted a son), the impetus that Nala Se and Lama Su had for creating Omega remains a mystery.
Got all that? Good. Then let’s dive into the second season, which opens with the Bad Batch still scraping by while doing odd jobs for Cid — and trying to stay off the Empire’s radar.
As always, the recap portion of this review will contain plenty of spoilers along with some brief explorations of Star Wars lore.
Clawing to Survive
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
The episode opens with the Bad Batch pulling a heist that has become complicated by the presence of some giant/angry crabs. Omega takes a break from studying a manual of Imperial ships to help her squadmates while Tech pulls them safely back into the Maurader.
Upon returning to Ord Mantell, they are greeted by Cid along with their old friend AZI and a pirate named Phee (who is clearly going to play a bigger role in things down the road). Cid then tells the team about a new job, which will require them to steal part of Count Dooku‘s war chest from his abandoned castle on Serreno.
*Side Note: For those who don’t know or remember, Count Dooku was a nobleman held in high esteem on his home planet of Serreno. He also acted as the Separatists‘ leader during the Clone Wars, all while secretly working with Emperor Palpatine to bring down the Republic — a ruse that he was promptly ejected from after Palpatine convinced Anakin Skywalker to chop his head off.
Hunter isn’t keen on going into such a heavily occupied area, but Cid and his teammates convince him that the massive payoff (and the subsequent freedom it could buy them) will be worth it.
Cid also points out that the Empire’s tightening grip on the galaxy may soon result in her not being able to hire the Bad Batch anymore.
Free Falling
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
On the way to Serreno, Echo tells Hunter that he thinks they should do more with Dooku’s war chest than simply continue hiding — like gather weapons/allies to take on the Empire. Hunter counters that Omega shouldn’t have to live the type of life that would entail. Echo responds that it’s because of her they have to live in hiding. He’s quick to add that getting Omega off of Kamino was the right decision, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are others out there who still need their help.
Predictably, Omega overhears this and is hurt.
After landing on Serreno, the Bad Batch trek to Dooku’s palace, which is surrounded by ruins thanks to an orbital bombardment by the Empire. They also spot the war chests, which are guarded by a squad of clone troopers. Tech, Wrecker, Echo, and Omega get to work locating/securing a high-value chest while Hunter splits off from the group to plant explosives on some parked V-Wings.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
Omega ends up finding a chest inside one of the cargo containers that’s filled with lots of shiny credits. In the process of making this discovery, Wrecker has to stun a patroling clone trooper. When the trooper doesn’t check in, this arouses the suspicion of the squad’s captain (Wilco), who tells his men to begin searching for infiltrators.
Realizing they’re about to be made, Tech calls into Hunter, who blows up the explosive-laden V-Wings. Wrecker manages to grab a war chest and leave the cargo container, but is separated from his teammates when Wilco orders the doors to be closed and the containers to be taken airborne.
Wrecker and Hunter engage the clone troopers before jumping onto the container with their friends inside, which is attached to a Class 4 Container Transport. As it rises into the air, the pair are forced to drop down onto Dooku’s palace. After recovering from the fall, Hunter radios Tech and tells him to find a way off the transport before it jumps to hyperspace. Tech replies that he and the others will attempt to access the container transport’s main hold and find an escape pod.
Hunter tells Tech that he and Wrecker will get to the Maurader to extract them once their pod lands — a task that immediately becomes more difficult when the palace is surrounded by clone troopers.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
Hunter and Wrecker make their way inside the palace and into Dooku’s ruined throne room.
*Side Note: If you’re a fan of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ then you’ll likely agree with Wrecker that seeing Dooku’s stronghold like this makes it somehow look even creepier.
When a group of clone troopers walks in and begins firing, the pair jump behind a control panel for cover. Hunter notices that they’re standing on a lift, but it happens to be jammed — a problem that’s forcibly remedied when Wrecker jumps on it, causing them both to plummet into darkness.
Meanwhile, Tech & Co. are engaged by clone troopers aboard the cargo transport. Upon hearing about this, Wilco orders all the escape pods to be released. At this point, Omega makes use of the foreshadowing from the episode’s opening minutes and recalls that containers on Class 4 freighters are equipped with independent re-entry thrusters.
The group is attacked again, forcing them to abandon the war chest and flee to one of the containers. With the freighter mere seconds away from leaving Serreno’s atmosphere, Tech hacks into its controls and releases all the containers including theirs, which begins dropping like a lead weight toward the ground.
The Verdict
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
It wasn’t the most explosive or exciting episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, but “The Spoils of War” still did a good job reminding us why we like these characters so much. It also looked absolutely gorgeous. The animation on Bad Batch has always been superb, but it seems to have somehow found a way to be even better.
I also like the slightly modified new looks that the Bad Batch are sporting — especially Omega finally getting some armor of her own. It still bugs me that they continue to wear their highly recognizable suits despite trying to hide from the Empire, but that’s a marketing decision that isn’t likely to change.
As far as the episode’s narrative is concerned, it would’ve been nice to see a bit more conflict outside the comfortable realm of yet another heist plot. I get that they can’t throw every twist and revelation at us in the first 20 minutes of the season, but one or two bombshells wouldn’t have hurt. As it stands, we got a great-looking season opener (in a wonderfully nostalgic location) that didn’t feel very different from what we’ve seen before.
Let’s hope that Star Wars: The Bad Batch is willing to use its fantastic characters to take more risks with the story as the season continues.
Next Episode: ‘The Ruins of War’
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