Star Wars: The Bad Batch (1.7) Episode Recap: A Familiar Face

The Batch is back! So sorry for that joke, but I am not sure how long this show is going to run, and I have been waiting to make it. Plus, this week’s episode was the strongest episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch since the pilot. It only felt right. Some of the best lore in the Star Wars universe draws on the past to understand the present and move toward the future. This week, Star Wars: The Bad Batch followed in that tradition.

This week brought back one of the most prominent clones from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rex. Rex helps the Bad Batch deal with the issue that arose last week (and as it turns out, has been lurking all along): the inhibitor chips. In this episode, both the audience and the Bad Batch themselves find out they are not immune to the inhibitor chips that turned all the clones against the Jedi at the end of the Clone Wars. The premise is simple enough in this episode. Hunter, Echo, Tech, and Wrecker all need to have their inhibitor chips removed, so they leave with Rex (with the addition of Omega) to do just that. What results is perhaps the most emotionally resonant work in Star Wars: The Bad Batch up to this point.

From the outset, emotions are running high with Wrecker suffering from migraines and Rex on high alert because of the inhibitor chips. Just as the tension in the episode starts to break on their journey to remove the chips, Wrecker nearly falls prey to a tentacled monster in the sea. Each moment of tension builds to a crescendo as Wrecker grabs Tech’s throat when his inhibitor chip finally turns on. No one in the Bad Batch wants to kill Wrecker, but throughout the whole sequence, he makes it increasingly difficult not to go to that length. Omega eventually has to take a shot near his head just to keep him from killing Hunter. The ensuing chase scene stands out in a show that to this point has had quite a few memorable ones. As Omega is pleading for her life, Rex is finally the one that puts down Wrecker, fortunately only stunning him. The team finally moves him into the machine to have his inhibitor chip removed. While the operation is initially successful, the team then has to wait for Wrecker to wake up. The camera cuts between each member of the Bad Batch as Wrecker lays on the table and nobody says anything. It’s a moment that allows the magnitude of what has just happened to sink in not just for the audience but the characters experiencing it. When Wrecker does finally come to, the reveal is not from his perspective but Omega’s. He pats her on the head as she sleeps next to him. It’s not just a satisfying moment to watch Wrecker come to, but for him to both immediately offer comfort and be comforted by the person he was just trying to kill is an emotional gut punch.

The end of the episode raises a few questions. Who exactly spies Hunter and Rex from far away and moves to alert the Empire? (Which admittedly feels like a weird command to give given there is no single person at the Empire taking these calls about the Bad Batch. Is there a special secretary?) While that question feels far more pressing, it is not the one on my mind going into the 8th episode of this first season. At one point, Rex is asked about how they knew about the inhibitor chips. He responds, “Omega.” The topic is never followed up on, but you can bet as this season continues, we are going to figure out exactly what he was talking about. To this point, Omega has comfortably been the most empathetic clone from pleading with Crosshair not to doublecross the Bad Batch to her worry over animals they encounter to even in this episode with her immediate forgiveness of Wrecker. Each time her voice gets soft and she speaks in that empathetic tone though, it feels like there is something more there. That Omega senses something deeper as she interacts with others. Regardless of speculation, we will certainly find out at some point as Hunter makes it clear at the end of this episode that helping take care of her is integral to the Bad Batch now.