Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 12 “Rescue of Ryloth” – SPOILER REVIEW by Adam D. Slobodzian
This week’s episode, “Rescue of Ryloth”, was easily one of my favorites, as it gave us many great and visually appealing scenes while continuing to build on the great story and connect with previous episodes. I particularly enjoyed seeing the conflict that the Clone Troopers are experiencing as the Empire continues to grow and the strategic game of cat-and-mouse that Crosshair and the Bad Batch are playing.
We return to Ryloth this week where we see the Bad Batch help a young Hera Syndylla, (Star Wars: Rebels), in need of aid. This week picks up right where last week left off, on an Imperial occupied Ryloth where General Cham Syndulla, his Wife Eleni Syndulla, and Cham’s Admiral Gobi Glie are being held captive by the Empire.
Episode 12:REVIEW
The episode begins with a brief interrogation of the Syndulla’s as the Empire searches for their daughter, Hera. We get a moment of interesting reflection from Clone Captain Howzer who fought alongside Cham to free Ryloth during the Clone Wars, which is another indication of the internal conflict these clone soldiers are experiencing, even with the inhibitor chip still in-tact. We also witness Howzer conflict with the Imperial Admiral questioning his reasoning for calling the Twi’Lek supporters of Cham insurgents. Crosshair then leads his unit of Stormtroopers to search the House of Syndulla for Hera.
Related Article: Ryloth Makes a “Devil’s Deal” on Episode 11 of Star Wars: The Bad Batch
The scene returns to the Batch and, what seemed like a minor interaction between Hera and Omega last week, turns into a significant point in setting up this week’s story as Omega gave Hera the Bad Batch’s “comm’s” channel in case of an emergency. This gives us another great interaction between Hunter and Omega, as Hunter is still struggling with his own identity post-Republic. Hunter tries to justify not helping someone in need, while Omega reminds him that helping people in need is what soldiers do. Omega’s reasoning seem to be enough for Hunter as the next scene cuts to the Batch arriving on Ryloth, which will again bring them face to face with their former ally, Crosshair.
On Ryloth the Bad Batch are highly skeptical of Hera and Omega’s proposed rescue mission and scout the capital city further to see what they are up against. This is where Tech begins to draw parallels between what happened on Separatist planet Raxus (In Episode 10) and the current Imperial occupation on Ryloth, which was a Republic planet. This sheds more light on the extent of Palpatine’s galactic dictatorship exerting control over all planets no matter their political affiliation. During their scouting mission, a probe droid spots the Batch and alerts the Empire of Clone Force 99’s presence on Ryloth.
The episode then takes us to Clone Captain Howzer where we see more signs of his struggle to cope with what is happening as he begins to vocalize his disagreement with the treatment of the Twi’Lek people who he fought with, and visits the captured Cham Syndulla to try and convince him to say where Hera may be hiding in order to protect her.
The Bad Batch with a “Rebels” twist!
Returning to the Batch, after a brief argument, Hunter begins to place even more trust in Omega’s strategic capabilities as he agrees to attempt the plan that Hera and Omega have constructed to recue Hera’s parents. While Hera and Omega infiltrate the Imperial facility to draw attention outside of the city, we get to see a series of fun sequences that are very reminiscent of the fun pace, spontaneity, and humor of Star Wars:Rebels with Chopper sneaking past the Imperial checkpoint only to run into trouble, and Hera and Omega changing the plan in an entertaining way in order to complete the mission. The sequences of Hera learning how to fly while disabling the cannons with the help of Tech and Wrecker gave us some incredible flight scenes with amazing visuals.
“What the Empire is doing, is wrong.” – Clone Trooper Howzer
Back in the capitol city, Hunter and Echo break out the Syndulla’s, but Crosshair recognizes the diversion created by the Bad Batch and sends a squad to intercept them. This gave us another great scene with Captain Howzer who warns them about the trap and explains his conflicting views about what the Empire is doing on Ryloth, and calls out to his squad to recognize that they fought against the separatists for the freedom of Ryloth and now they are targeting the people they fought. Crosshair then orders the arrest of Howzer and other Clone Troopers who have surrendered their weapons and watches Hunter, Echo, the Syndullas, and Gobi Glie escape on Senator Taa’s ship.
Two key interactions conclude this episode and set the stage for story:
– The first is an interesting conversation between the Syndulla’s and Hunter that continues to hint at the growing rebellion that is brewing on many different planets against the Empire, a rebellion that Hera Syndulla will play a major role in. While Hunter tries again to maintain his detachment from this rebellion and their fight, the Syndulla’s warn that he or the next generation (i.e. Hera and Omega) may not have a choice in fighting or not.
– In the final scene of the episode, Crosshair is finally given the task to hunt down the Bad Batch.
Stand Out Scenes:
Learning to Fly – Knowing how brilliant of a pilot Hera will become, it was fun to see her as a rookie learning how to fly with Omega and make mistakes along the way.
O Captain, my Captain! – All of Captain Howzer’s scenes were done extremely well, and really add to the complex ideological and moral issues that Clone Troopers face in the new Empire. Watching him struggle to understand why the people they fought to free were being treated as insurgents is exactly the kind of identity crisis and story building that has made the Bad Batch such a fun and exciting show to watch!
Crosshair on the Hunt – With the long game of Cat-and-mouse that Crosshair and the Bad Batch were playing, we finally see Crosshair get “let loose” and tasked with locating and eliminating Clone Force 99 set to some very sinister music, which should make for some very interesting story!
Speculations:
A Clone Uprising? – While Howzer may have been the first clone captain we have seen question the actions of the Empire against their former allies, will this be a symptom of a larger phenomenon happening among Clone Troopers in the age of the Empire?
Hera and Omega…and Ahsoka? – The interaction and connection between these two characters left me wanting to see more of them together in action. While we know that Hera had a successful career as a Rebel, even fighting in the Battle of Endor, we don’t yet know the fate of Omega. Does this open up the possibility of a future collaboration between the two based on their final scene in this episode? Will we get to see them in live-action in Filoni’s Ahsoka series? We know Ahsoka is, possibly, still on the hunt for Ezra Bridger, a close friend of Hera’s, and Ahsoka already showed up post-Empire with Grogu, a character whose story is very similar to Omega’s. Is this a subtle hint from Filoni? Only time will tell.
Watch Star Wars: The Bad Batch, streaming Fridays on Disney+
Adam D. Slobodzian
Not only is Adam, aka Darth Slobo, a lifelong Star Wars fan, he is also PhD a Candidate in Marketing at Smith School of Business. Researching Family Consumption and Brand Meaning. Big time Raptors, Marvel, and Star Wars fan. Proud Dad
