The Bad Batch: “The Summit” & “Plan 99”

Welcome to my weekly review of The Bad Batch, where I will be walking us through each episode and giving my thoughts on the show. My reviews will follow my usual format: an overview of the plot (so be aware, there will be spoilers!), my review of the show, then a few “Moments in canon” – references that link to other media and the galaxy as a whole. Today, we’ll be looking at the final 2 episodes of season 2: “The Summit” & “Plan 99″.

Plot Summary

On Pabu, Tech is updating the Bad Batch that he has been able to find nothing that allows him to track down Crosshair or Hemlock, but Echo finds information that Hemlock is scheduled to attend a conference at Governor Wilhuff Tarkin’s compound on Eriadu, so suggests planting a tracking beacon on Hemlock’s shuttle during the summit and using it to find Hemlock’s base. Hunter is skeptical, but the rest of the team support trying to rescue Crosshair, so he agrees. Hearing that the team are about to leave, Phee says farewell to Tech.

Hemlock’s shuttle arrives at the compound on Eriadu and is escorted to the meeting room, where Tarkin and a number of other Imperial officials are waiting.

Using a code supplied by one of Echo and Rex’s contacts, the Bad Batch manage to land on Eriadu on the outskirts of the Imperial base, and successfully infiltrate the base via a rail system. 

In the meeting, Hemlock provides updates on his cloning work. At his talk of using decommissioned clones as his test subjects, Hurst Romodi expresses concern about the senate finding out, while Barton Coburn questions the willingness of his peers to move on from clones in the military, to which Tarkin blames the Jedi for making them too individual and unpredictable. Coburn asks what will happen if the clones learn what is happening and take up arms against the Empire, which Hemlock acknowledges has already happened in the case of some clones, while Tarkin adds that the Empire will take swift and unilateral action against any clone uprisings.

Arriving in the hangar, the Bad Batch split into 2 groups: Hunter, Tech and Echo go to the control room to access the manifest and identify Hemlock’s shuttle, while Wrecker and Omega remain in the hangar to plant the beacon. Once the shuttle is identified, Omega sneaks out and plants the beacon, but when she finds herself unintentionally pinned down by patrolling stormtroopers, Echo is forced to take control of a crane to create a distraction.

In the control room, a technician informs his lieutenant about the crane malfunction in the hangar and offline surveillance systems in Sector 4. The lieutenant dispatches a squad of troopers.

As Hunter and Echo make their way through the hallways, they notice more disabled security systems, while Hunter finds a thermal explosive.  They quickly discover those who planted the bomb: Saw Gerrera and another Partisan, disguised as TK troopers. Saw explains that a group of them are setting up explosives in order to take out some of the Empire’s top officials, and refuses to abort in order for the Bad Batch to track Hemlock back to his base. The argument is cut short as a legitimate TK trooper finds them, beginning a fight that draws more and more troopers. While TEch and Hunter fight back, Saw and the Partisans use their disguises to slip away and steal a shuttle to get off-world. The Bad Batch fight their way back to the rail line though the hallways (joining back up on the way) and begin to make their escape in the rail car, continuing the shootout with a handful of troopers who managed to access the car too before Tech can override the controls and have it leave the compound.

After being informed of the insurgents, Tarkin orders that all communications be switched to encoded channels and tasks the stormtroopers with finding the intruders, while arranging for the conference room to be sealed. The room is sealed just in time, as Saw detonates the explosives that his Partisans placed, causing extensive damage to the compound but not the conference room. The explosion causes the rail car to lose power, while one passing the opposite way on the other line is also brought to a halt nearby.

Echo is unable to reboot the rail car, so Tech clubs up onto the rail track and goes to the nearest terminal, where he can access the system to get the rail working again, while the rest of the team provide cover fire against the troopers in the other rail car. A nit of V-wings arrive and, under orders from Tarkin, open fire on the rail car, causing damage to the rear car where the TK troopers had been, just as Tech gets the line activated. As Tech gets back to the rail car, another pass from the V-wings damages the rear carriage, causing it to hang loose and resulting in Tech falling out, though he uses his grapple cable to grab the rear carriage. The weight of the rear carriage starts to pull the front carriage off the rail, and as the Bad Batch try to rescue Tech, he warns them that any further moves could cause everything to fall. Tech tells them to cut the connection between the carriages to save themselves, but they refuse, so Tech proceeds with “Plan 99”, sacrificing himself by shooting out the connection himself, causing the rear carriage (and as a result, himself) to fall away. New freed from the extra weight, the remaining car speeds away, but picks up too much speed and can’t be stopped, resulting in it crashing through the next station. As an injured Omega drifts in and out of consciousness, Hunter and the rest of the team collect her and they escape on the Marauder.

“There is no time, Wrecker. Plan 99.”

Omega regains consciousness to find herself in the back rooms of Cid’s parlour, where she is being looked after by Hunter and AZI-3. Hunter is himself injured, as is Wrecker, who arrives and expresses joy at her recovery. Wrex and AZI leave as Omega grieves for Tech, while Hunter tells her that they don’t intend to waste Tech’s sacrifice, suggesting they return to Pabu and settle there.

On the Marauder, Gonky alerts Echo to the arrival of Imperial forces. Echo tries to warn the others, but communications are blocked, so he tells Gonky to stay with the ship and runs off to warn the team. Wrecker is drinking at the bar with a sad-looking Cid. Cid confesses to Wrecker that she has sold the team out to the Empire, just as a unit of clone commandos enter the bar, along with Hemlock. Hearing the disturbance gives Hunter just enough warning to take out the first commandos that come to him and Omega. Hunter opens up the passage to the underground tunnels and tells Omega and AZI to escape and get to Echo, but after he leaves the room, she refuses to leave and instead hides in the ventilation shafts, where she can watch what happens in the bar. Hunter enters the bar to find Wrecker held at gunpoint. Hemlock presents Tech’s damaged goggles as a gift while reflecting on his passing, and tells Hunter that he will spare the team if they hand over Omega. Hunter surrenders in order to stop them executing Wrecker, but the commandos soon report to Hemlock that Omega is gone.

As Hunter and Wrecker are led off, Omega sends AZI to find Echo and reveals herself to the Imperials. She demands that Hemlock release Hunter and Wrecker, but Hemlock proposes a trade. If she surrenders, he promises to spare her friends. Hemlock claims that Nala Se needs her help and promises that Omega will be safe, but she rejects his offer. She is caught from behind by Scorch, who knocks her out. Hemlock orders his troops to search the city for the third clone and to bring them back to Eriadu where Tarkin intends to interrogate them personally. Echo soon comes across the Imperials, and he and AZI hijack an AT-AC and use it to attack the Imperials. Hunter and Wrecker use the distraction to escape their bonds and take out their prisoner escort, and after the walker is crippled, the group rush to rescue Omega. However, Hemlock and his forces manage to take off with Omega before they can catch up, so they are forced to fight their way back to the Marauder and escape Ord Mantell by jumping to hyperspace. Echo notes that they were unable to track Hemlock’s ship, but Hunter resolves that they will not rest until they rescue Omega.

Hemlock’s shuttle arrives at the Weyland facility and Omega is led out to a welcoming group that includes Dr Scalder and Nala Se. Hemlock has Scalder and the commandos bring Omega to Emerie Karr for medical treatment. Hemlock reminds Nala Se that Lama Su spoke of her attachment to Omega and asks her to reconsider working for the Emperor’s project. Nala Se responds that what he seeks is not possible, to which Hemlock tells her to make it possible or Omega will suffer.

Omega is led to a laboratory where a number of clones are lying on operating beds, while other humanoid shapes can be seen in storage tanks. Omega sees Crosshair unconscious on one of the beds and goes to him, just as Karr arrives. When Omega demands to speak with Nala Se, Karr remarks that it is ironic that Omega trusts the Kaminoan but not her, and reveals that they are sisters.

Review

It’s the hope that kills you. I’d hoped that a great finale may be able to rescue the season. But nope, I just found myself so disappointed.

With so many things left open-ended, this felt more like a mid-season finale than a season finale, which really highlights just how much crap we have had to sift through this season, as if we only look at the episodes that benefited the season in some way, we probably would only be at about the halfway mark! And what adds to this feeling even more is how with these final few weeks we have returned to the season 1 antagonist’s plot of “We need Omega but we won’t explain why”. Not only that, but with the big setup of Rex’s team, leaving them out (except Echo) again just lowered the level of these episodes and made them feel small-scale.

But let’s get to the big story here: Tech’s death. And honestly, I don’t believe it for a second. The show has just gone through the effort (well… minimal effort) to set Tech up for a romance, so to kill him off in the very next episode just feels wrong, while Hemlock finding Tech’s goggles feels like set-up for a reveal later this season next season that Tech was not actually killed and was instead taken into Imperial custody, like Bucky Barnes in the MCU. Not just that, but from a narrative point of view, Tech’s habit to explain everything is a perfect and natural way of exposition, so killing him off just seems to make things more difficult for the writers.

Moving on and there was just so much else that felt off about these 2 episodes. The Bad Batch needed a code supplied by an informant to get through, and even then couldn’t risk landing too near the compound, so how have Saw Gerrera and his Partisans managed to not just infiltrate the compound, but also plant a number of explosives, just seems wrong. Similarly, if the Bad Batch want to escape to somewhere safe, why go back to Cid when you know that A) she can’t be trusted, and B) she’s mad that you have abandoned her? It makes no sense, especially when Pabu appears to be a safer and more remote option, and where they plan to return to long-term anyway.

And then those final scenes as the Weyland facility didn’t give us any answers (except for why Karr was given such a prominent accent), but just gave us more questions. It’s OK to carry some questions over to the next season, but they have left us with so many:

• What was the deal with that sniper in the mid-season? You know, the one that has never been mentioned again
• What is being done to Crosshair
• What is being done at the Weyland facility
• Why was Omega created as a second unaltered (but female) Jango Fett clone?
• Why was Karr created? And when (is she older or does she have growth acceleration)?
• Why is Nala Se so protective of Omega?

And those are just the ones that immediately come to mind, which is too many in my eyes.

Moving onto the positives, and the action was good, with some variety given to the fight by the different location on the rail car, while the reasoning for Tech to sacrifice himself is well set up, even if I don’t believe that Tech is dead. And it was great to see a couple of familiar faces at the top of the Imperial hierarchy in Tarkin, Krennic and Romodi, as it helps to make clear the level that Hemlock works at that he can speak to these people as his peers rather than superiors, while also  allowing for a few different point of view to the clear evil of Hemlock and Tarkin.

So now we’re gonna get a season (I assume), and it feels like it will be more action-heavy and more focused on the main main plot, as I imagine that it will focus mainly on the clones coming together and rebelling, leading to a sad end that will set up the few remaining survivors (Rex, Gregor and Wolfe) setting themselves up in isolation. The bigger question right now is will I be able to get excited for another season of the show after how badly burned I was by this season?

“We will resume momentarily. Take your seats, gentlemen. As you can see, we are perfectly safe.“

A few final thoughts from the episode:

• 2 seasons in and Omega still can’t follow orders, that just feels like poor character progression
• The Kiners killed it with the music once again, really adding to Tech’s sacrifice

Moments in Canon

• Though this may be its first time on screen, Tarkin’s life and history on Eriadu is deeply explored in James Luceno’s novel Tarkin
• Orson Krennic is at the meeting to give an update on “Stardust”, the codename given to the creation of the first Death Star
• The AT-AC seen in “Plan 99” is a precursor to the AT-DP (seen commonly in Rebels) and the AT-ST that most fans would recognise.

What did you think of the episode?

Thanks for reading. Rebellions are built on hope….

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