This week, we get two episodes of “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” as Episodes 7 and 8 tell a two-episode arc.
Vice Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal) is working with the Imperial Senate to pass legislation to formally fund his stormtrooper program, even though he has already been siphoning off of funding for Kamino for about a year prior to its destruction to get it started. In his way is Senator Riyo Chuchi (Jennifer Hale), who wants some form of a pension plan in place for Clone Troopers as theh age out of combat. She’s also suspicious of his explanation that Kamino was wiped out in a storm.
A few clones who were aboard Rampart’s ship last season when be destroyed the cloning facilities on Kamino want to leak the truth to the senator, though one gets killed soon by an assassin. Episode 7 focuses on Chuchi trying to find this clone, who ultimately reveals that he created a backup log on Rampart’s ship. In Episode 8, Captain Rex (Dee Bradley Baker) orders the Bad Batch to retrieve it in a covert mission.
Spoilers ahead.
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The Bad Batch sucessfully recover the data in time for the Senate vote, which draws a rare appearance from Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who throws Rampart under the bus by claiming that he acted alone, but found it concerning that the clones followed orders without question. He twisted the truth to get what he wanted, while giving people the appearance of accountability.
As a whole, these are really strong episodes, but they are nowhere near the best animated “Star Wars” we’ve gotten. They mark the formal beggining of the rise of the Stormtrooper program, which is what this show is really all about — showing the twilight days of the clone army and the dawn of the Empire we know from “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.”
Too many loose ends were left over from “The Clone Wars,” specifically in regards to the clones’ story, which is where this show comes in. With Rampart out of the way, one major villain remains — Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker).
“Star Wars: The Bad Batch” Season 2: Episodes 7 and 8 get an 8/10
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