Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 delivers a thrilling, twisty finale

The final two episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 — “The Summit” and “Plan 99” — are mashed together to make one hour-long finale, and it’s a grand old time.

“The Summit” opens with the Bad Batch scouring through old files to find out more about the Advanced Science Division and Dr. Hemlock. Echo finds out from a contact that Hemlock will be attending a summit at one of Tarkin’s compounds on a planet called Eriadu. The team decides to infiltrate the summit to place a tracking beacon on Hemclok’s ship to learn where his secret base is. Echo is along for the ride on this one, but Rex and the rest of his crew are on the sidelines for now. Before the Bad Batch leaves Pabu, Phee tells Omega she wants a good story when they get back.

After a classic shuttle clearance code scene, the team lands on the outskirts of a forest and begin moving toward Tarkin’s compound for their covert operation. After hitching a ride on one of the cable cars, they infiltrate the facility and send a few stormtroopers to their doom off the mountain.

In the summit meeting, Tarkin is feeling autocratic and begins outlining his goals for “galactic unification” and quelling decent. Hemlock presents his report about his efforts to uncover the secrets of cloning, which was previously only known to the Kaminoans. He explains that he is using the clones as test subjects. A general is worried about the Senate finding out, but Hemlock assures him that the secrecy of his base and research will be enough to keep away prying eyes.

Another general is apprehensive about kicking the clones to the side so quickly, but Tarkin promises to quell any potential clone uprising. He tells Commander Krennic to give his report about project star dust; Ben Mendelsohn, who played Krennic in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, returns here.

In the hangar, the Bad Batch split up. Echo, Hunter and Tech find a control room while Omega and Wrecker try to plant the homing beacon on Hemlock’s ship. Tech finds out that the surveillance of Tarkin’s facility has not been functioning properly, which is highly unusual given the many high-ranking officials present. Echo distracts the stormtroopers in the hangar by making a crane malfunction, giving Omega an opportunity to plant the beacon successfully.

Hunter and Tech find a bunch of explosives planted in the bowels of the compound. They run into rebel Saw Gerrera, who is minutes away from leveling the entire place. Hunter tells him to stop since they still need to track Hemlock, but the stubborn Gerrera is unwilling to let the high-ranking Imperials at the facility walk away alive just to save a few clones. As they argue, Gerrera’s lieutenant enters the room and says a security team has been alerted to their presence before getting shot in the side. Gerrera helps her out of the room while Tech and Hunter deal with the troopers. Alerted that something is up, Tarkin and the officers are safely locked inside his war room with blast doors and extra security.

The Bad Batch retreat to the cable cars while Gerrera and his crew make a hasty escape on a shuttle. When they are in the air, Gerrera activates the explosives he planted at the compound and blows up most of the lower half of the mountain, including Hemlock’s ship. Tarkin and the officers, however, are safe inside his bunker.

The episode concludes on a cliffhanger as the Bad Batch’s cable car is disabled and about to be boarded.

Plan 99

Plan 99 picks up with the Bad Batch trapped on their cable car with nowhere to go. Tech goes out to return power to the line while Tarkin scrambles a group of V-Wings to shoot them down. Tech successfully returns power to the line and begins making his way back to the car, only for it to be shot by the fighters again. He grapples himself to the car, which is hanging by a thread and stopping another car from moving, and from allowing the rest of the group to escape. Tech then sacrifices himself by shooting his side of the car off the track, allowing his friends to escape while he and the back half of the car plummet to their doom. The Bad Batch’s car then shoots too fast down the line and crashs into the station. Omega wakes up in a daze while the rest of the group gets her back to the Marauder and escapes.

Omega wakes up to find everyone injured, and remembers that Tech sacrificed himself. She demands they go back to try and save him, but Hunter says it’s too late and that he’s gone. Hunter explains that Tech knew what he was doing, and that he put the squad ahead of himself. Hunter then reveals that he and Wrecker believe that they should stay in Pabu and stop trying to be soldiers, which Omega agrees with.

The scene cuts to Wrecker sulking at Cid’s bar. She serves him a drink on the house and says she’s worry about Tech. Echo is sitting in the Marauder when he’s alerted about an Imperial cruiser above them. Cid reluctantly reveals that she ratted them out to the Empire, and a group of Commandos capture Wrecker. Hunter sends Omega and AZI through the mining tunnels to find Echo, but when Hunter closes the hatch, Omega goes back. When Hunter moves into the next room, several Commandos have Wrecker on his knees and Hemlock enters the room. Hemlock pays Cid a briefcase of credits and tells her to leave. He then demands that Hunter turns Omega over and gives an empty apology for Tech’s death before revealing he has Tech’s broken goggles. Hunter puts his gun down and allows himself to get captured to save Wrecker’s life.

Omega orders AZI to find Echo while she foolishly begins firing on Hemlock and the Commandos when they get outside. She demands Hemlock let them go without anything up her sleeve, and then gets easily captured by Scorch. Meanwhile, Echo commandeers an Imperial walker and blows up a bunch of stuff, allowing Hunter and Wrecker to escape. The three of them try to get Omega, but they watch as Hemlock’s ship flies away with her. The three of them make their way back to the Marauder and flee the system. Hunter vows to get Omega back and not stop until she is safe.

At Mount Tantis, Omega is briefly reunited with Nala Se. Hemlock urges Nala Se to continue her work, which is presumably to clone Palpatine. If she refuses, Hemlock threatens to hurt Omega. Inside the facility, Omega is moved into the room where Crosshair is being held. She demands to talk to Nala Se, and one of Hemlock’s female assistants says it’s ironic that Omega trusts the Kaminoan but not her. Omega contends that she doesn’t know the girl, but the girl reveals that she is wrong because she is also a clone, meaning they are sisters.

Verdict

The events of these two episodes certainly threw me for a bit of a loop. I went in expecting the clones to mount a full-scale assault on Hemlock at Mount Tantis, but this did not happen. I was also anticipating Crosshair making a big sacrifice in order to protect Omega or the rest of the Bad Batch. However, it was Tech who made the big sacrifice. I enjoyed the fact that Cid’s betrayal was fully set up, and the entire time I was on the edge of my seat as another big death seemed plausible. I hope that Tech’s sacrifice was not a ruse; we never saw his body and Hemlock said “this was all I could recover,” which makes me a bit nervous. Faking a main character’s death is not cool.

One thing I did not enjoy was Omega making an incredibly naive mistake to further the plot. That’s weak writing. I do like the fact that the rest of the group is in a position to team up with Rex and his clone syndicate to take down Hemlock.

The big reveal at the end was the fact that one of Hemlock’s female assistants, and possibly all of them, are also clones of Jango Fett, meaning that Omega is not the only female clone as previously thought. I’m not sure what this means for the future or why there were other female clones, but my jaw hit the floor nonetheless.

Episode Grade: A

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