‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’: Everything We Noticed in Season 2 Episodes 7 & 8
This week’s two-parter Bad Batch installment had political intrigue, murder most foul, and so, so many cameos.
This week The Bad Batch gave us a two-parter, dropping both episodes 7 and 8 to the streaming service at the same time. And this was an especially good set of episodes for the series. If you, like me, have been a little disappointed with the ‘monster of the week’ style adventures that don’t seem to move the plot forward, these may be the episodes you’ve been waiting for. We got plot. We got galactic politics. We even got a Palpatine sighting. And of course, we got quite a few pretty great Easter Eggs.
In order to break down these episodes we’ll need to spoil large portions of what happened this week. If you haven’t watched yet, proceed at your own risk.
The Cameos
These episodes spent a lot of time in and around the Galactic Senate. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that we saw at least a few familiar faces. The most obvious was, of course, Bail Organa. The Alderaanian senator and father to Princess Leia shows up all over the galaxy and is one of the earliest leaders of the Rebellion. Here though, he’s just a kind and reasonable senator.
Most of the episodes follow Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora. We first met her in The Clone Wars where she was a relatively prominent secondary or tertiary character. Not surprising, given her bravery and commitment to doing what’s right in this episode, she was friends with Padme Amidala in the days of the Republic. Compared to Padme and Mon Mothma, Chuchi was a fairly soft-spoken character before, so it’s nice to see her coming into her own on the Senate floor.
Some other characters we saw were Senator Tynnra Pamlo of Taris, who you may remember from Rogue One, Grand Vizier Mas Ameeda, and Senator Halle Burtoni of Kamino.
Finally, Captain Rex shows up to try and help get to the bottom of the “storms that destroyed Tipoca City on Kamino” and calls the Bad Batch for backup.
The Martez Sisters’ Garage
When they finally capture the clone who’s been killing other clones in order to keep Rampart’s secrets, they need someplace out of the way to question him. And Wrecker knows the perfect place; the Martez sisters’ garage. We met the sisters in the final season of The Clone Wars when they befriend Ahsoka. But they also showed up last season on The Bad Batch.
Echo and Skako Minor
Echo quickly makes reference to his trauma from Skako Minor. And while this line would have been easy to gloss over, it is in reference to season 2, episode 7, “A Distant Echo.” Here Rex, Anakin Skywalker, and The Bad Batch travel to Skako Minor to follow up on a signal they’ve been receiving to find that a presumed dead Echo was still alive and had been subject to countless experiments resulting in his numerous prosthetics. It was a wrenching episode to watch in real-time as the series was being released, and it required watching for understanding Echo and his relationship with the Bad Batch.
This episode is also key in his decision to join the Batch instead of returning to “regs” clone duty. And in today’s episodes was the mission he referenced in justifying his decision to work with Rex going forward.
Palpatine (and His Voice)
Somehow Palpatine is always around. Because he’s the Emperor of the entire galaxy. In episode 8 he makes his first in-person appearance of the season, justifying the need for more conscripted Storm Troopers (not that he needs a reason, he’s the Emperor).
Often in animation, we hear Palpatine voiced by Sam Witwer. But in recent years Palpatine has been voiced by none other than Ian McDiarmid. Both actors are fantastic, but McDiarmid has been bringing Palpatine to life since Return of the Jedi in 1983. We’ve since seen him in the prequels, the sequels, and even on TV in Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s not surprising to see a Palpatine appearance. But it’s pretty cool when McDiarmid jumps in the recording booth for it.
Did you see this week’s episodes of The Bad Batch? What do you think? Where do you think the plot will progress from here? Let us know in the comments!
May The Force Be With You, Adventures!
