With the end of Season 2 near, it’s about time the show start getting its endgame set up. But first, we get to see what Echo, Gregor and Howzer (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) have been doing.
Echo and Gregor have been helping Captain Rex’s clone network. This episode, they break Commander Howzer out of a prison transport set for the same imperial science facility Crosshair (also voiced by Baker) is being held at, run by Dr. Royce Hemlock (Jimmi Simpson), who was dismissed from the equivalent Republic science team for his unethical experiments. Hemlock is a “Bad Batch” exclusive character, which is totally a formula that bodes well for his longevity in the franchise — just ask Vice Admiral Rampart.
Echo recovers some data from the ship, but it’s encrypted. So he passes it off to Tech (also voiced by Baker), who cracks it, which reveals Crosshair’s turn on the Empire.
Meanwhile, on Mount Tantiss, Hemlock is interrogating Crosshair in hope of gleaning useful bits of info on how to capture Clone Force 99. Crosshair is not cooperative, having lost his trust in the Empire as he finally understands that they see him as a piece of property, not a person. He breaks free briefly, sending out a distress call to his former squad, but is recaptured.
This clearly sets up a Bad Batch rescue of Crosshair, but I do fear that his turn came too little, too late. I stand by my earlier prediction that Hemlock is converting disobedient clones into the first series of dark troopers — a line that started as cyborg soldiers, and later morphed into the black imperial droids we saw in the finale of “The Mandalorian” Season 2. I fear the Bad Batch will come to rescue Crosshair only to find out that their friend is long gone.
As a whole, this was an above-average episode, though it’s essentially 30 minutes of finale setup. Still, it has some interesting tidbits and seems to promise an even more exciting episode next week.
“Star Wars: The Bad Batch” Season 2: Episode 14 “Tipping Point” gets a 7.5/10
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