Last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch concluded with Clone Force 99 helping a tribe of Wookiees defend their home from a group of Imperial-backed Trandoshans. The battle also served as a reminder of Echo’s call for their team to do more to fight back against the Empire.
This week, we dive headfirst back into the series’ overarching mythology with a double episode feature. We also get a good look at how things are running in the newly formed Empire.
As always, the recap portion of this review will contain plenty of spoilers along with some brief explorations of Star Wars lore.
Fatal Move
The episode opens on Coruscant in a bar frequented by clone troopers. One of the clones (Cade) tells a fellow soldier (Slip) that he can’t keep quiet anymore about what they witnessed while serving on Vice Admiral Rampart‘s star destroyer. Turns out that both clones were serving aboard the ship when Rampart ordered the annihilation of Tipoca City on Kamino (back in season 1 episode 15).
As we’ll learn here in a bit, most of the galaxy believes that the Imperial-ordered massacre was actually a devastating storm.
Cade informs Slip that he sent a letter to Rampart urging him to do the right thing and reveal the truth. Predictably, Slip isn’t thrilled that his friend put himself in such a perilous position. After the two head outside, Slip’s concerns are validated when Cade gets gunned down by a sniper.
Slip manages to escape moments before more clones swarm in to secure the area.
Meanwhile, the Galactic Senate debates a Defense Recruitment Bill put forward by Rampart. Many of the senators believe that a volunteer/conscripted army is necessary now that Kamino won’t be making any more clones due to the “cataclysmic storm” that destroyed their facilities. When Senator Tynnra Pamlo counters that the galaxy has more pressing needs than the commissioning of a new military force, another senator replies that insurgent attacks are increasing in the Mid Rim and Outer Rim Territories.
*Side Note: Senator Pamlo appeared as one of the politicians working with the Rebel Alliance in ‘Rogue One.’
Senator Bail Organa responds by pointing out that the clone army was created as a result of the Emergency Powers Act. He then takes things a step further and says that creating an army to which soldiers swear their allegiance goes against everything the Senate stands for.
*Side Note: Make sure no one tells Senator Organa about nearly every modern military in existence.
With the debate showing no signs of letting up, Organa asks Mas Amedda where Emperor Palpatine stands on the issue — something they don’t have any idea about since the dude never shows up for floor debates anymore. Amedda responds that the Emperor trusts the Senate’s process/wisdom (HA!).
The tension immediately ratchets up again when Senator Riyo Chuchi asks who is looking out for the remaining clones. Despite serving the Republic (and now the Empire) dutifully, the Senate appears fully prepared to cast them aside — a fate made even more heartless due to the clones’ accelerated aging.
*Side Note: Senator Chuchi showed up a number of times during ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars.’ Despite being one of the more intelligent and principled senators, she unknowingly voted to help Palpatine gain complete control of the Republic’s finances.
Rampart finally decides to speak up, assuring Senator Chuchi that plans are in place to take care of the clones after they’re released from military service. When Chuchi asks if the clones have any say in the matter, Rampart offers to work with her on a plan to help them. This leads to Senator Organa motioning that the Defense Recruitment Bill be tabled until the next session.
Later, Amedda privately expresses concern to Rampart about his ability to get the bill passed — especially after he appeared to acquiesce to Senator Chuchi’s concerns. Rampart assures the Emperor’s consigliere that he’ll handle it.
Inside Job
Senator Chuchi heads to the clone bar from the episode’s opening, where she pitches her idea for a pension plan to help take care of them once they’re drummed out of the military. The soldiers aren’t crazy about living a life beyond what they were born/bred for, but they’re also receptive to the senator’s earnest concern for their welfare.
Once the meeting is over, Slip manages to speak to the senator alone and reveals what really happened on Kamino. Chuchi is skeptical, pointing out that someone would’ve surely come forward by now. Slip counters that any clones who saw what happened and expressed concern had disappeared or were killed. Before Chuchi departs, he encourages her to look up his service records, which will prove that he was on Rampart’s star destroyer when Kamino was bombarded from orbit.
That evening, Slip contacts someone asking for help getting offworld.
The next day, Chuchi meets with Rampart, who puts up surprisingly little resistance to her request that the decommissioned clone troopers be given a full pension. When this fails to put her completely at ease, Rampart asks what’s troubling the senator. She responds by asking how Rampart survived the storm on Kamino. Rampart claims to have been on an offworld training exercise — a story she’s understandably hesitant to take at face value.
Later, Senator Chuchi meets in a back alley with Senator Organa, who rasps a bunch of cryptic stuff that pretty much confirms every conspiracy theory that’s out there about the Empire (including Slip’s version of events on Kamino). When Chuchi reveals that she’s trying to track Slip down again, Organa warns her that others are likely looking for him, too.
Dying for the Cause
Rampart orders a masked assassin to hunt down the clone he saw with Cade. When the assassin informs him that Senator Chuchi is looking for the same person, Rampart says to take care of her, as well.
Meanwhile, Chuchi manages to find Slip, who is waiting to meet his contact. The senator pleads with him to stay for the sake of those whose lives were lost on Kamino. Slip still decides to flee, but informs Chuchi that he made a backup log of his time on Rampart’s star destroyer, which is stored in the ship’s central system. That will provide her with all the evidence he needs to take the Vice Admiral down.
Seconds after this revelation, Slip is shot and killed by the assassin along with one of Chuchi’s guards. She and the other guard flee into an abandoned factory, but the assassin tracks them down. He kills the guard and is about to execute her when a hooded figure stuns him. The soldier steps forward and reveals himself as Rex (who was also trying to help Slip get offworld). They then remove the assassin’s helmet, revealing him to be another clone.
The pair take the unconscious assassin to Trace Martez’s repair shop. Rex attempts to interrogate him after he wakes up, but the clone refuses to answer anything. He then declares himself to be a “believer” before biting into a suicide capsule and electrocuting himself.
The Verdict
It would’ve been pretty boring (and narratively confusing) if the assassin turned out to be Crosshair. Thankfully, this episode kept up its great momentum until the very end.
Although it’s a bit of a stretch that the Empire could keep the Kamino massacre quiet, it did make a fascinating starting point for what turned out to be a great story. We all know that the Empire is evil/corrupt, but “The Clone Conspiracy” also showed how unwitting actors helped move things along through the bureaucracy.
We also got to see Star Wars: The Bad Batch continue doing a fantastic job bridging the Empire’s transition from clones to natural-born troopers. While most of us likely assumed the clones simply aged out, the series has turned this bit of lore minutiae into a truly compelling plotline.
We’ve even started to get some good reasoning on why clones would rebel against the Empire and its programming.
While it may be the case that “good soldiers follow orders,” leaders like Vice Admiral Rampart have ordered them to do things that go against everything they’re supposed to stand for. Keep in mind that Order 66 was tied to the Jedi being accused of active treason. Lying about actionable intelligence and obliterating their home (which was still full of innocent civilians) is a tall task for an inhibitor chip to override — especially when the clones were specifically bred to have a degree of autonomy in the battlefield.
On the negative side of things, Organa was relegated to being a much less interesting Deep Throat, which made it even more frustrating when he kept being vague with someone who’s clearly on the side of good. Thankfully, that wasn’t enough to keep this from being one of season two’s strongest episodes to date.
Before we move on to the next episode that aired this week, it also needs to be noted just how gorgeous Coruscant looked. Just when you think the animation on Star Wars: The Bad Batch can’t be any more beautiful, the series manages to one-up itself again.
Next Episode: ‘Truth and Consequences’
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