Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 8 “Reunion” is a “Bane” to Hunter by Adam D. Slobodzian
This series has been a great ride from the get-go! We have picked up right where the Clone Wars has ended and Dave Filoni has taken us on an adventure with one of our favorite clone squadrons, Clone Force 99 — The Bad Batch.
This week picked right up where last week left off with the Bad Batch (from now on “the Batch”) still aboard the scrapped Jedi Cruiser on the planet Bracca, fresh off having their inhibitor chips removed with the help of Captain Rex. But first, back on Kamino we get to see Crosshair still hot on the tail of the Batch where he was informed by the scrappers of Bracca on the Batch’s current location. We also get to hear an interesting conversation between the Prime Minister of Kamino and Admiral Rampart about how the Empire wants greater involvement in the activities of the Kaminoans. This scene sets the stage for the entire episode as we see both the Empire and the Kaminoans attempt to get closer towards their respective goals. For the Empire and Crosshair, this is the elimination of the Batch, and for the Kaminoans this is to try and preserve the Batch and re-acquire the unique clone Omega for their Phase 3 and contingency plans.
This was an extremely fun episode where we see Crosshair again in action chasing the Batch through a Jedi Cruiser, as the Batch attempts to loot gear and weapons to erase their debt with Cid. In this episode we again get to see some great relationship development between the members of the Batch with Wrecker training Omega on bomb diffusion, and neat on-the-fly tactical planning to get the crew out of some intense situations. What I have liked about this series is the back and forth between Tech and Wrecker in what seems to be meta-comedic explanation on the inner working of the SW Universe. Tech often gives us interesting details and information about how things work, to which Wrecker immediately ignores or disregards. This is a very clever way to keep us informed while keeping things comedically light.
It is great to see Omega continue her development in both her failures and successes with the squad as she starts to develop her own unique role on the team. I also enjoy seeing each member of the team cope with the end of The Clone Wars differently, and the identity crisis that each of them face as they continue to try and figure out who they are and what their role is post-Republic.
This episode had a lot of action! Watching the team maneuver, escape, and fight their way through an Empire ambush was exciting, and seeing Crosshair using the team’s own tactics against them, pinning them down in the Ion Engine was brilliant. Near the end of this episode we see The Batch escape the Jedi Cruiser Ion Engine by partially blowing it up, which results in the ignited engine severely burning Crosshair. It will be interesting to see if Crosshair will make it back to his peak form, as it looked like his eyes were damaged from the engine.
And CAD BAIN (and Todo 360)! I did not expect to see our favorite alien cowboy bounty hunter back in action in this series! Cad Bain is back in full force as it turns out he was the bounty hunter that the Kaminoans hired to get Omega back. And he succeeded (so far), as he out-dueled Hunter blasting him right in the chest plate and knocking him out cold, then stunning Omega and getting away as Clone Force 99 scrambled to escape Bracca alive.
The Exciting Stuff
Cad Bain (and Todo 360) and Hunter Standoff – While the episode was filled with great scenes, the standoff reveal of Cad Bain was the absolute best! Cad Bain, the notorious sharpshooting bounty hunter that has caused many issues for the heroes of the Clone Wars (even breaking into the Jedi Temple) is back and has a very cool “Western” style standoff against Hunter. We know Filoni loves taking inspiration from Western cinematography (see The Mandalorian), and this was a brilliant scene where we get to see Cad Bain in his element, besting Hunter. I can only imagine we will get a re-match where Hunter will get to highlight his grappling capabilities.
From the Visor of a Clone Trooper – This was another cool scene as we take the point-of-view of Hunter (thankfully) waking up from taking a blaster to the chest-plate. We get to see Hunter’s disoriented perspective from behind his helmet as the Batch makes their escape from the Empire and Bracca.
What Next?
- What is Omega’s role in the Kaminoan’s contingency plan!? Are we going to see some sort of cloning experiments similar to the Empire’s facilities in The Mandalorian or on Exegol in Episode IX? We may get to see this soon as Omega is heading back to Kamino with Cad Bain and Todo 360.
- What was on the Jedi Cruiser hard drive that Tech and Omega were copying? Will we get to see?
- Crosshair’s condition. Will he be able to come back from his injuries? Or will the Empire cast him out leading him back to the Batch?
- Cad Bain and Hunter Re-match… This must happen!
Overall, this episode was a fun and suspenseful ride with very good animation and impressive voice acting. Filoni is definitely stepping his game up with this series because none of the episodes thus far have felt like “filler” episodes, and the characters are easy to relate to and fun to watch in-action. Bringing back Cad Bane in full Western style was brilliant and continues adding to this already exciting story!
See the NEXT episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney+ FRIDAY!
Adam D. Slobodzian
Not only is Adam a lifelong Star Wars fan, he is also PhD a Candidate in Marketing at Smith School of Business.