Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 2 Episode 7: The Clone Conspiracy
What is it ? : We begin in a bar on Coruscant, where two Clone Troopers are talking, Cade tells Slip about his concerns about what Admiral Rampart did on Kamino, and says that he is going to tell the Senate. Slip warns him not to as there could be danger involved, but when they head outside they come under fire from a sniper, and Cade is killed, with Slip grabbing a Speeder Bike and losing himself in the heavy Coruscant traffic.
In the Senate, the Banking clan brings up the "Storm" which destroyed the cloning facilities on Kamino, and without them how the Republic supply of fresh troopers is in danger. So Admiral Rampart introduces a bill to fund the recruitment of civilians into the military, but this gets blocked as Senators Chuchi and Organa point out that the crisis of the Clone Wars are now over and the need for the military is now ending. It is also brought up that the bill offers no support for the existing Clone Troopers, who are aging and if discharged have no lives to return to, so require specialised help.
Afterwards Senator Chuchi visits the bar and speaks to some Clone Troopers, who indicate they would appreciate her help, although most would rather just remain soldiers, as that was what they were bred for. As she leaves she spots Slip who takes her aside to speak to, telling her that Kamino was destroyed in no storm, and that Rampart ordered its destruction.
Chuchi meets with Rampart, discussing a full pension system for the Clones, but presses him on what happened on Kamino, but he explains he was away at the time so can offer no further insight. But when she leaves he contacts the Sniper ordering him to follow her to find Slip, and kill her if required.
Chuchi is told by one of her guards that she has a communication from her homeworld, but when she goes to deal with it she finds Bail Organa, who she informs of what Slip told her, and he warns her to be careful.
Meanwhile Slip is in contact with someone who he is arranging to get to safety with, but Chuchi's guards discover him, and she goes to meet with him. He doesn't feel safe, which is proven right as the Sniper opens fire, and his last words are to check the logs on Ramparts ship as they will corroborate the attack on Kamino.
Chuchi's guards get taken out by the sniper one by one, until she is left by herself, but is rescued by the person Slip was in contact with, who reveals themselves to be Rex. He stuns the Sniper, and they retreat to the undercity to question the Sniper, who it is shown to be another Clone, but he refuses to identify himself, telling Rex only that he is a true believer before killing himself with a shock device concealed in his tooth. . . .
High Points : A pretty interesting episode, with a absolutely riveting ending to it. The idea that not only were some clones programmed by the chips in their heads, but have been converted into a cult like following of the Empire is really interesting, and could prove to be Ramparts solution to clones going rogue as shown in the last episode with Crosshair.
It was also nice to see Chuchi return, having featured in a few episodes of The Clone Wars, she was often a background character in senate scenes, but was important enough to have gone on missions with Ahsoka, and negotiated a peace with the Talz on one of the moons of her homeworld in a fairly memorable episode.
I was also very impressed by the heroic actions of one of Chuchi's bodyguards, who actually made sensible decisions, acted heroically and effectively, although sadly seems to have died off camera.
Low Points : Odd that one of the better episodes this season doesn't have The Bad Batch in it at all, not even a mention. In fact the main character has only really featured in a very few episodes of the Clone Wars, and the big star of the episode is probably Bail Organa.
But not much to complain about, it was obvious that it was going to be Rex at the end, as it was so clearly telegraphed, but this is supposed to be a kids show, so being an adult who guesses it's twist ending is no big sin.
So what do you really think ? : I enjoyed this episode, and although I guessed Rex was the person at the end (we've seen in the trailers that he calls on the Bad Batch to rescue someone, and although a few episodes ago I thought that would be Cody, it now seems clear it will be Chuchi), it did manage to surprise me here and there. I thought the sniper was going to be Crosshair proving himself loyal to Rampart as his personal assassin, but that was proven wrong, and the entire cult of clones idea delighted me and makes me really want to see what happens next.
Final Words : For some reason, this episode and the next were released on the same day (because they're a two parter?), so another review tomorrow. But absolutely fascinated to see where the storyline goes, and whether this is going to be a new and interesting direction for this season of the show.
Score : 8.5/10
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