Episode 14 of The Bad Batch laid to rest any worries that the remaining episodes in the first season would contain any more “filler” along the lines of episode 13.
The episode opens with a clone trooper being hunted down by the Empire on an unknown planet. The trooper manages to send a signal but is ultimately captured.
Cue Captain Rex getting in touch with The Bad Batch, asking for their help in rescuing the stricken trooper. He and Rex clearly have some history. Omega convinces Hunter that they need to help, a trope that is getting a little tiresome. However, prior to that is a wonderful sequence of point/counter point being raised by everyone and Wrecker pointing out to the viewer how every single, differing view has merit and is worthy of consideration.
So the Batch go to Daro to rescue the trooper, who we soon learn is Gregor. He has appeared in both The Clone Wars, ultimately seemingly being blown up in season 5, and also in Rebels as an old man shoulder to shoulder with Wolffe and Rex. So the episode really serves as a callback to the earlier series as well as laying the foundation for his reunion with Rex.
This episode may not have been the best in the series but it was a lot of fun whilst also containing some beautifully presented ethical and moral dilemmas along the way. Hunter is constantly being tested and is having to evolve from being a pure soldier, leading his unit, to being a father, not only to Omega but indeed to the whole Batch. Although I bitched about it earlier, he is having to be constantly reminded that orders aren’t everything, that emotional attachments, friends, companionship and love are all required to make rounded decisions based upon all considerations. During the war, he was a soldier and followed the orders of his generals (the Jedi). He’s struggling to make the transition in a very different galaxy to leading a ‘family’ more than a military unit.
There was a sub-plot in the episode regarding what is happening on Kamino and how the Empire no longer has use for it or the Kaminoans. For a show aimed at children, this really did not pull punches and a scene featuring Prime Minister Lama Su is genuinely disturbing in its brutality. Of course, there is nothing graphic but the inference of what takes place is pretty horrific in itself. This is the Empire committing full-on genocide on a species. That is brave on the part of Lucasfilm but also necessary, particularly given the cloning plotlines of both The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker, set many years in the future.
The ending of the episode is essentially what everyone has been waiting for and sets up the finale beautifully. Overall, this episode was exquisitely executed but only goes further to ask questions about why episodes like 13 were in any way necessary. The series could likely have benefited from being 10 or 12 episodes long rather than 16 with the remaining fat simply cut.
