The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 3 Review
Credit to: Disney and LucasfilmThings are about to get hairy… Cross…hairy. Get it?
Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re revisiting Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2, for its third episode. I know, it’s weird to see an article about a single episode, it’s unlike what I usually do, but that’s because I think it’s for the best to just watch or play a project, and give you my immediate (almost immediate in this case) reaction to it when it comes out. Makes it a lot more genuine. Now, remember how I said I was worried about this second season back in my last season 1 article? With the episode, all of my worries have been washed away. I won’t say anything more than that, because I have plenty to say about this badass episode. I’m done wasting your time, I’m ready to just talk about this banger. Alright, without any further ado, let’s just jump right into it.
Episode 3: The Solitary Clone
Based on the title alone, you can kind of already tell this episode has everything to do with Crosshair. Well, that, and the fact that I have Crosshair as an image up top. Huh. Anyway, let’s talk. So, we start the episode with some townsfolk out in a desert-like field, harvesting materials and taking breaks, when we suddenly hear an alarm blaring in the distance. One of the villagers looks toward their city, and turns around as their hear an Imperial shuttle flying overhead. The people scatter as it draws near, and we change our perspective to the inside of the shuttle, where we see a group of human stormtroopers and a nervous Imperial governor. The people run to their homes as the Imperials land, and make their way to the city’s largest tower. A group of three helmeted people exit the building to meet the governor and his troops. The one in the middle introduces themselves as Tawni Ames, the proper governor of the planet, now explained to be named Desix. The Imperial governor, being the Imperial he is, tries to explain that even if Desix claims to be independent from Imperial jurisdiction, she is still being relieved of duty, being replaced by himself as the new governor. Thinking nothing of it, Tawni activates a beacon on her arm, activating a few dozen battle droids that completely surround the area. Tawni and her two allies draw their blasters on the governor and his troops, forcing them to surrender. We change perspectives to good old Crosshair, lying in his bed, waking to the sound of an alarm. He makes his way to a mess hall, where he sets his food tray down in the corner of a table where two regular clones are sitting, and upon seeing Crosshair, the two stop their conversation and move to another table. It’s a lonely life for Crossy. Anyway, the PA system announces that Vice Admiral Rampart is requesting the presence of CT-9904, Crosshair. Keep in mind that the officers in the Empire really don’t care for nicknames, you’re just your designation, and that’s all. Crosshair answers the call and visits Rampart in his office, where we as the audience learn that he was stuck on Kamino after the orbital bombardment for an entire 32 days. Yikes. Crosshair is informed that he’s now medically cleared to return to combat, with his first mission being on the planet Desix, which is actually a Separatist planet, explaining the presence of battle droids. Instead of leading his own squad, Crosshair is assigned to another squad under a commander: Commander Cody, from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This is huge for fans, including me, as we’ve been waiting a long time to see Cody again. The two meet near some shuttles before the mission, where they discuss the fact that the Batch have gone AWOL, including more regs (regular clones). Crosshair calls them traitors, like the Jedi, and we see an interesting reaction from Cody, before he and Crosshair head to their ship for the mission.
While on their way, Commander Cody debriefs his team on what the plan is. The Empire has made it seem as if the shuttle will be a diplomatic envoy, while in reality, they’re sending troops to launch an attack on Desix for capturing the Imperial governor, Governor Grotton. As the shuttle enters the atmosphere of Desix, a tactical droid spots it, and radios in Tawni, informing her of their arrival. She gives the order to fire on the ship. A small squad of battle droids with rocket launchers ready themselves atop the city’s wall, and take aim at the shuttle. They let loose a barrage of rockets, while a Separatist tank delivers the final shot, bringing the ship crashing down into the field. A group of battle droids investigate the crashed ship, and upon seeing a few dead clones, they deem that their are no survivors. Them being as sloppy as they’ve always been, are immediately taken out by Cody and Crosshair, along with a group of their surviving men. Being forced to continue on foot, the group pushes up the field, using any cover they can find, but with the battle tank guarding the city, they’d be immediately blown away if they continue. Crosshair being quite the tactical genius, decides to be a distraction for the group to push up. He fires a few rounds at the tank, drawing its attention as the rest of the team moves up with Cody. The tank fires round after round, just barely missing Crosshair who doesn’t move a muscle. He steadies his scope, takes aim at the tank, and as soon as the tank points it barrel at the sharpshooter, Crosshair fires a perfect shot down the barrel of the tank, hitting its vitals and destroying the tank and its crew completely. Badass. Skipping ahead quite a bit, because it’s all just some lovely tactical combat scenes, we see Cody, Crosshair, and two other clones push into the tower, taking out waves of battle droids and a few destroyer droids. We later find ourselves with Cody and Crosshair, pushing up the tower, climbing a spiral staircase, trying to handle commando droids. As the reach the final few stairs, they find themselves nearly overwhelmed. Crosshair is forced to take cover after a tussle with one of the commando droids, but has a trick up his sleeve. His throws a small mirror to Cody and tells him to throw it as far up the stairs as he can. With the tactical droid and the remaining commandos, upstairs, he has to make this shot count. Cody throws the mirror, and Crosshair takes aim, waiting for it to spin just enough to get the perfect angle. For a split moment, the tactical droid is seen in the mirror, and Crosshair pulls the trigger. The shot ricochets between the last few commandos, and pierces through the tactical droid, taking out all immediate threats, and cutting off communication between all droids in the area. Cody and Crosshair climb to the top, meeting Tawni who’s holding Grotton hostage. After a bit of sweet talking from Cody, who understands Tawni’s view of the Republic and her hatred of the war, Grotton is finally let go. Immediately, Grotton orders Cody to execute her, but Crosshair does it himself with no question. Cody can only stare at the lifeless body as the two leave him, and we see Desix become yet another Imperial territory. The next day arrives, and we see Crosshair reporting to Rampart yet again, who places him under a different clone’s command. When Crosshair asks why he isn’t with Cody, we learn that Cody has finally gone AWOL. Oh. My. Goodness. End of episode.
Boy this episode was SPICY wasn’t it? I mean, I can only talk about so much, but just from this summary here, doesn’t this make you wanna watch it? I mean I would hope you watched it already, why would you beat yourself up like that? Go watch it. I’ll wait right here for you… sniff… ahem… you done? Cool. Now that you’re back, let me say this. I loved this episode. So much. So, so much. We got Crosshair, we got to see Commander Cody after such a long time, we got some really great action, we got some emotional value from this episode, we got to see another Separatist point of view on the war and how Count Dooku was right about the Republic, and so much more. It was a lot, and I mean that in a good way. Now we’re really kicking things off, man. I’m craving more already, same as the rest of you. This episode was an absolute banger.
Final Thoughts
This episode really washed away any worry I had for this season. I know it’s early, I know I gotta pump the brakes a little bit, but man, this episode was really that great to me. Especially with Cody, because you see him execute Order 66, no question at all in Revenge of the Sith, but here, you see him start to question it. Maybe the chips degrade over time, maybe it’s just willpower of the chip’s control, I really don’t know which road I’m going on, but all I can say is that I’m happy. I’m happy because I imagine him and Rex, uniting after all of this mayhem the Empire has already caused. Anyway, as you can see, I’m clearly happy with this. But what did you all think? Let us know on Instagram, and make sure you’re following the page so you stay up to date with the latest and greatest entertainment news and reviews! But that’s all from me, this has been The Wolf Den!
