Last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch was arguably the weakest of the entire series. Aside from a key character moment between Tech and Omega (which happened two episodes ago), the bland story arc was also completely pointless. At least the team got their ship back, though.
This week, we get back to the series’ core narrative (THANK THE MAKER) while also picking up a long lost plot thread from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
As always, the recap portion of this review will contain plenty of spoilers along with some brief explorations of Star Wars lore.
“They’re Coming Out Of The Walls!”
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
The episode opens with a derelict ship floating through space. It appears to be abandoned at first, but that notion is quickly obliterated by screams of agony and fear. A lone surviving clone commando is eventually taken and eaten by an unseen creature.
Meanwhile, a group of shuttles arrives on the planet Wayland, where we saw at the end of last season that the Empire had set up a covert cloning facility on Mount Tantiss. A man named Dr. Ryan Hemlock exits one of the ships and goes to the cell where former Kaminoan Chief Scientist Nala Se is being held. When she refuses his request to work for a “higher purpose” with the Empire, Hemlock threatens to make her comply via more forceful methods.
As he’s about to leave, another Tantiss staff member (Scalder) informs him that they’ve lost contact with one of their transports. Hemlock responds that they need to prioritize finding the ship and containing the specimen that was held inside it. He then asks if any other Kaminoans are alive who he might be able to interrogate. When Scalder replies that Lama Su is available (!), he requests that the former Kaminoan Prime Minister be brought to the facility.
*Side Note: Well, it looks like the rule about not believing a death on a show unless you see the body has proven true once again. While it sure did look like Lama Su was executed in the penultimate episode of season one, I should have known better than to assume it happened.
Elsewhere, the Bad Batch are giving Cid a piece of their mind while flying back home on the Marauder. She tries to shrug off her lack of action when they were stranded as no big deal, but the team isn’t buying it. She then attempts to make things right by offering them a seemingly easy/lucrative salvage job she just heard about. When she sees how pissed off the Bad Batch still are, she offers them half of whatever they find.
After Cid signs off, Tech points out that cutting ties with her could be a problem since she knows so much about them. He then suggests that they do this one last mission for her before diplomatically breaking things off. Hunter isn’t thrilled with the idea, but still agrees to it.
USCSS Nostromo II
Upon finding the ship (which has crashed on an unidentified planet), the team notices that something that definitely wasn’t human (or humanoid) caused a massive amount of damage. There’s also no sign of the crew, leading them to believe that they all perished.
Tech decides this is the perfect time to prove he’s never watched a horror movie and goes off by himself to see if he can reconnect the ship’s power. While he’s working, a droid pops out of the wall and warns him of imminent danger before running out of power. Predictably, this does nothing to sway his resolve.
Meanwhile, Hunter, Wrecker, and Omega search the ship and eventually find a lab. Omega recognizes the equipment as Kaminoan technology, although it’s configured in a way she’s not familiar with. Wrecker then notices slime on the reinforced walls that have been completely battered.
Sure enough, a monster slithers down from the ceiling and attacks.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
Wrecker attempts to hit the beast with an electrostaff he found (from the doomed clone commando in the episode’s opening), which the creature easily devours. They eventually manage to drive it off with their blasters just as Tech gets the ship’s power restored. When Tech calls in to say that he thinks the ship was a research vessel, Hunter responds that whatever its crew was researching has escaped…and it’s headed his way.
The other three chase after the monster, which they find feeding off the ship’s power supply. It also looks significantly different and larger than it did just moments before. Before the creature can attack them, Tech flanks the beast and fires at the ship’s generators, causing a massive explosion that blows a hole through the hull.
The creature immediately takes off into the forest, moving at a furious pace toward a nearby village. Hunter and Wrecker decide to go after it while Tech and Omega stay behind to access the ship’s files on the creature — and maybe figure out why their blasters only seem to piss it off without causing any damage.
It’s Alive! It’s Huge!
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
Hunter and Omega attempt to track and shoot the creature in the Marauder, but it easily evades their cannon fire. Just to rub salt in the wound, the monster totally pulls a Cloverfield and jumps onto the ship’s canopy, roaring at Wrecker before leaping back down and continuing toward the village.
Meanwhile, Tech and Omega discover that the ship’s lab was being used to extract genetic data from a host. She’d heard about the Kaminoans doing offworld experiments like this one, but had never been allowed to learn about them. After decrypting the files, they discover that creature was being used to develop armor plating due to its nearly indestructible scales. It also feeds on energy, which is what caused its rapid growth.
After reading a bit further, Tech radios in to tell Hunter and Wrecker that this is the same type of creature that attacked Coruscant during the Clone Wars. He also warns them not to let it get to the village’s power grid.
Unfortunately, the Zillow Beast is already there and feeding like it’s at a Denny’s buffet.
*Side Note: YES! After thirteen years, we finally have a follow up to one of the best arcs from ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ uneven early seasons.
Although a Zillow Beast popped up once in the comics since then, seeing one on screen again is a real treat. For starters, it’s just plain awesome, as evidenced by the ‘Clone Wars’ clip below.
But even if you aren’t a kaiju fan, you can likely appreciate seeing this dangling plot thread get picked back up over a decade later.
For folks who aren’t familiar with ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ the Republic captured a Zillow beast and brought it back to Coruscant. Chancellor Palpatine (who wasn’t revealed to be a Sith Lord yet) claimed that the creature’s nearly indestructible scales made it worthy of study to develop better armor for their military. The Jedi were opposed to sacrificing what appeared to be a sentient creature for their own benefit, although they did admit that better armor would save more clone lives in the long run.
Before the creature could be executed (via poison gas), it escaped and wreaked havoc on Coruscant while seemingly targeting Palpatine. After the beast was brought down, the Republic scientist who’d been studying it was stunned when Palpatine secretly ordered her to clone it.
We’ve heard nothing about that wonderfully tantalizing plotline since then…until now.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
As if things weren’t bad enough, Hemlock’s forces managed to track the ship and the creature, as well. Despite having a mission to detain the Zillow Beast, the Imperial forces have no problem going off-script and firing at the Marauder.
*Side Note: Is their ship so recognizable that the Empire would shoot at it on sight? Maybe it’s just because they are trying to kill all witnesses to this incident.
At least some of the Imperial fleet remains on mission and heads off to destroy the downed ship. Tech wants to stay and download the rest of its data, but Omega convinces him to leave. Her instincts turn out to be pretty solid when they barely manage to escape before the ship gets obliterated.
Meanwhile, a squad of gunships takes out the power generators before a specialized transport ship uses a sonic weapon to bring down the Zillow Beast. It then uses a grappling line to snag the creature and pull it up into its cargo bay. As all this is going on, Hunter and Wrecker manage to evade the ships chasing them long enough to extract Omega and Wrecker, break the atmosphere, and escape into hyperspace.
You Still Don’t Understand What You’re Dealing With, Do You?
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
After the Imperial transport lands, a squad of clone commandos led by Scorch rounds up the villagers and forces them onto the ship. Meanwhile, another group of commandos puts the Zillow Beast in a tank filled with a substance that causes it to go to sleep.
*Side Note: Scorch is (or maybe was) a member of Delta Squad, who were the main characters in the popular ‘Star Wars: Republic Commandos‘ video game. There is a lot of Legends (i.e. non-canonical) material about them, but they have only made a few onscreen appearances. The last time we saw Scorch, he was training stormtroopers for the Empire.
Back aboard the Marauder, Tech reads the data he was able to extract. He then theorizes that the Empire’s decision to destroy Kamino wasn’t to eliminate cloning — it was to make sure they were the only ones who could do it. Hunter responds to this by telling him to send all the data he has to Rex and Echo and see if they can help.
Later, Scorch and his team arrive back at the Mount Tantiss facility. He confirms to Hemlock that the villagers saw the Zillow Beast, but assures him that they’ll be “dealt with.”
*Side Note: SCORCH! YOU’RE BREAKING MY HEART!
He also says that a military aircraft escaped, which Hemlock tells him to track down. He then turns his attention to Lama Su, who has just arrived. After a bit of persuading, Hemlock is able to convince the former Kaminoan Prime Minster to help him lean on Nala Se to work with the Empire.
Lama Su also tells him that if he wants to make her do something, his best bet is to find and capture Omega.
The Verdict
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
Last season, I stated my desire for Star Wars to explore some of the other weird and potentially horrific things that the Kaminoans might have been doing with their cloning technology. While this isn’t a direct answer to that request, it’s still a really good one. “Metamorphosis” wasn’t perfect, but it was a badly needed shot in the arm for a series that has been lagging of late.
Beyond the great action sequences and moments of fan service, it utilized one of the franchise’s long-forgotten plotlines while still putting a fresh spin on things. Even if you’ve never watched Clone Wars, you can still understand what’s happening and enjoy the heck out of it — especially if you’re a fan of horror or monster movies.
There were a ton of Easter eggs to pick out, including:
- Multiple visual references to the first Alien movie.
- The sound of people screaming on the ship’s monitors like in Event Horizon (but obviously not too much like it was in that film).
- Albert Frock’s death in The Relic (which thankfully didn’t go all the way through with Tech).
- The aforementioned Cloverfield air attack.
It’s still hard to figure out how this storyline is going to fit since we know stormtrooper armor is notoriously awful. It’s also weird that the Imperials began firing at the Bad Batch on sight. You can say it’s because they were trying to kill any witnesses, but if that were the case, then Scorch and his crew should have gunned down the civilians immediately, too.
And then you have the Bad Batch’s decision to continue working with Cid. It may have helped lead us into a really good plotline, but it just didn’t ring true.
Those minor quibbles aside, however, this is one of the season’s strongest episodes by far — and not just because of the great action and consistently superb animation. The quiet moments were more intense than we’ve ever seen. That’s obviously due in large part to the genres they were paying homage to, but it’s something I hope the series will do more of in the future.
In the meantime, it looks like we’ve got a reunion with Rex and Echo coming up soon. Combine that with the return of the Zillow Beast and you’re bound to have a lot of very happy Clone Wars fans…and maybe some new Bad Batch ones, too.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.