Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 2 Episode 15: The Summit
What is it ? : On Pabu Tech continues his briefing about Crosshair being a prisoner of the Empire, and they decide the best way to get information is to trace Royce Hemlock when he is at a summit at Governor Tarkins compound on Eriadu. Hunter is still hesitant, but the rest of the team is keen to help their brother.
Outside, Phee Genoa spots that they are preparing to leave and presses Tech for information, hinting that she is concerned for him personally as she has feelings for him.
On Eriadu Hemlock arrives and when he meets with Tarkin is scolded for being late, but he just points out there were matters which required his attention. The Havok Marauder emerges from Hyperspace, and Echo uses a false code to allow them past the guarding Star Destroyers to land.
They gain access to cable cars and ride up to the compound on the peak of a mountain on the side of the cars,
Inside Hemlock briefs Tarkin who seems unimpressed, and turns to the next briefing, which is by Director Krennic about project Stardust.
Arriving at the hangar they spot numerous Shuttles, and need to identify which one is Hemlocks to plant the tracer onto it, so Tech, Hunter and Echo head to the control room, leaving Wrecker and Omega to plant the tracer when they determine which ship is the right one.
Tech discovers that the security systems seem to be shut down in various areas already, and they discover explosives planted around the compound. After letting the pair in the hangar know which ship is Hemlocks, they discover their raid is running parallel to one being run by Saw Gerrera, they ask him to stop his sabotage as they need to trace Hemlock not kill him, but Gerrera refuses, telling them he cannot stop his mission for just one man. But they are discovered and combat breaks out.
Tarkin is notified that insurgents are in the compound and he orders it locked down, and large blast shields close over the windows and transport in and out is stopped.
Gerrera flee aboard a shuttle from the hangar and detonate their explosives which rip through the compound including the hangar, destroying the tracer and Hemlocks shuttle is was attached to. However the shielding around Tarkins chamber protects him and the other officials.
In the confusion the Batch return to one of the cable cars and reactivate it, but as they move back down from the mountain the explosives damage the power systems and the car stops with another nearby. . . .
High Points : A solid episode moving towards the finale, leaving us on a cliffhanger with the batch still trapped on Eriadu due to the actions of Saw Gerrera. We get a nice evolution of the relationship between Phee Genoa and Tech, something he obviously is enjoying but confused by.
Now, this episode really seems to be based on the Alistair Maclean novel and movie "Where Eagles Dare", cable cars up to a mountain top impregnable fortress, conflicting missions, etc. This is no bad thing as it's an excellent movie, but while really enjoyable this is a pale imitation of some truly iconic scenes.
I also enjoyed the double meaning of the title, which seems very "The Mandalorian", where the summit of the title can refer to the meeting of the Imperial officers, or the peak of the mountain which is to be infiltrated.
Low Points : Difficult to criticise too much as this is the first part of a two part finale, so without seeing how it all plays out I can't comment on some things.
But one thing I question straight away is the timeline of Saw Gerrera. So Saw fought alongside the clones and Jedi during the Clone Wars, and continuing to defend his world from the new oppression of the Empire, he becomes a Rebel/Partisan warrior.
And while the Bad Batch were sent against him before they rebelled against the Empire, this action of his seems very organised for the small group he commanded only a short time before.
It just seems very early for Rebel activities to be starting given how Andor is supposedly describing the beginning of the Rebellion a decade or so later.
On timeline things as well, while it was nice to see Krennic once more, it again seems very early for the discussion of Project Stardust, as the Death Star won't be ready for another 16 or so years. Although perhaps this is a very early planning meeting and most of the time will be spend hiding the funding from the Imperial Senate?
So what do you really think ? : A solid set up for the episode, and I'm very interested in seeing how it plays out, although it's sending out a lot of cliched signals about how things are going to be resolved. But I'll leave comment about that until the next episode where I can say whether it was cliched or not.
Final Words : Well only one episode to go, the resolution to this one, "Plan 99". Which I can only assume relates to the Batch themselves (Clone Force 99), and I'm guessing Royce Hemlock's plan to deal with them he alluded to when he arrived to his meeting with Tarkin.
Score : 8.5/10
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