Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the show Star Wars: The Bad Batch! 

During the summer of 2021 Disney+ streamed the newest Star Wars show, Star Wars: The Bad Batch. It follows a group of clones introduced in season seven of Star Wars: The Clone wars called The Bad Batch. Originally consisting of four members, Hunter, Crosshair, Tech, and Wrecker, they were then joined by a fifth, Echo, completing the squad. The show follows their adventures after order 66 as they try to find their place in the galaxy. There were several familiar characters that showed up as well as some old. We also had a chance to see species and planets never shown in the original movies. 

Aftermath

This episode was the start of the show and right away there were so many familiar names and faces. Very similar to the Clone Wars it had a recap at the beginning of the episode as well as showing some scenes from Revenge of the Sith animated. We then see Jedi Master Depa Billaba, first seen in The Phantom Menace, and Captain Grey, first seen in the comic Kanan 1. Seconds later they are joined by padawan Caleb Dume more famously known as Kanan Jarrus from Star Wars Rebels. 

Not too much later in the episode Order 66 was executed and Crosshair utters the line “Good Soldiers follow orders”. This brought all Clone Wars fans back to season six episode one of the clone wars when clone trooper Tup says that after his brain chip activates.

Later in the episode we see Kamino which was first seen and mentioned in Attack of the Clones and also all the home to all the clone troopers. While on the planet the Bad Batch attends an assembly where Palpatine is giving a speech and the lines said were taken directly from Revenge of the Sith. Also during the assembly Hunter sees a young girl who is later revealed to be a female clone named Omega. Another familiar face on Kamino was a droid first seen in the first four episodes of season six in The Clone Wars, AZI-345211896246498721347. He was the droid that assisted Arc trooper Fives uncover the plot with the inhibitor chips.

Another familiar face in this episode was Saw Gerrera. This infamous rebel first showed up in Clone Wars Season five episodes two and then later showed up in Rebels. However his most famous appearance is in Rogue One which came out in 2016.  

Cut and Run

In this episode The Bad Batch is making their way to Saleucami which was a planet first seen in the episode “The Deserter” in The Clone Wars season two. They land and mention they are going to meet with a deserter, and fans of the Clone Wars can assume who they’re going to talk with. Clone trooper and deserter Cut Lawquane who’s just a simple farmer. He is married to Suu Lawquane and the father to Suu’s two children Shaeeah and Jek. Cut ends up dropping the name “Rex” which fans know to be Captain Rex from The Clone Wars and later Rebels. He was one of the few clones that managed to get saved from the influence of the inhibitor chips. 

Later in the episode Omega is playing catch with Shaeeah and Jek when the ball goes beyond a fence. She goes to retrieve the ball when she finds herself being stalked by a Nexu. Nexus were first seen in Attack of the Clones while Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan were in the geonosis arena. Hunter saves her and that’s when he starts on the path to being like the father/uncle figure we were promised before the show came out. 

Another thing mentioned in the episode are chain codes. They are part of a system to give every member of the Empire a number so they are easier to find. Admiral Rampart, one who will become the main villain of the show, was talking about. Regarding the chain codes Echo says “It’s ironic, Clones wanted names instead of numbers, yet now people are signing up to be given numbers.” If you’re a fan of Clone Wars and you remember back, the clones were all about their individuality. A big part of that was going by names instead of numbers. 

Replacement

In this episode we get a chance to see more of Crosshair and Admiral Rampart. Another thing we got to see was the original stormtrooper. Their armor doesn’t look quite as it does in the original trilogy but they are the first four stormtroopers. However instead of having the TK designations that those in the original trilogy have they have ES designations. One of the troopers that can be seen has been theorized to be a character from the comic The Will of Tarkin: Predators named Commander Ilyz Zarah who is pretty ruthless. Crosshair and the new troopers head back to Onderon where they are supposed to kill Saw Gerrera. They don’t find him but we do get to see the more ruthless side of Crosshair as he murders innocent people. 

In this episode Wrecker also hits his head and spends the episode complaining about a headache. Now the place that he was holding is exactly where the inhibitor chips are inside every clone. And we saw with Crosshair that the chip can cause headaches. This is showing that Wrecker’s chip was starting to activate but not all the way. 

Finally in the episode we get a chance to see some of the members of the Bad Batch pick up the father role even more. At the end of the episode we see Wrecker had put together a room for Omega since she had nowhere else to sleep. He also gave her his stuffed toy, Lula. We also see Hunter caring about Omega and worrying about her instead of snapping at her like he did the previous episode. There is definitely some character development happening for both Hunter and Wrecker. 

Cornered 

As we have had a chance to see in other previous episodes we see another familiar face in episode four. The infamous assassin from Fennec Shand, first seen in the Mandalorian, made a cameo in the episode. In this episode we got another reminder of just how ruthless Fennec is, and we can see she doesn’t change much between the time of The Bad Batch and the Mandalorian. It’s pretty funny however just how in both this show and the Mandalorian she is hunting down children. 

The planet this episode mainly takes place on is the planet Pantora. This planet is the one that Senator Riyo Chuchi, whom we see in the clone wars, is the senator for. There are also several other times Pantora is seen or mentioned in clone wars. There is one episode where Padme Amidala visits the planet however she is in the more formal part and the place the Bad Batch visited was more underworld. 

Something heartwarming about this episode that many fans enjoyed and appreciated was both Hunter and Wrecker stepping up to their father figure roles. When Wrecker went to save Omega she seemed overjoyed to see him showing how in just a few episodes they have already grown so close. Hunter as well stepped up when it came to finding her. The worry he showed reveals just how much he has also come to care for Omega making him seem similar to another crowd favorite father figure, Din Djarin. 

Rampage

Finally episode five had several things fans enjoyed. The first was Omega receiving Crosshair’s old comlink. This is showing that Omega, in some ways, is slowly replacing Crosshair. It is saddening to hear that the Bad Batch seems to slowly be forgetting about Crosshair and pushing aside all their past relations. Speaking of the Bad Batch we also get to see that Wrecker’s head is still hurting right where the inhibitor chip. Foreshadowing that his chip isn’t as defective as Tech claimed in episode one. 

The planet that the Bad Batch visits is Ord Mantel. This planet was first mentioned in the Empire Strikes Back when Han Solo and Leia Organa are arguing in the hallway. The planet is also a key location in the book Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. That book was published in 1996 making it one of the original Star Wars books to come out. That also means that the story told in that book is no longer canon. 

Finally, in this episode we also got to see some Zygerian Slavers which we first saw in The Clone Wars during the escape from Kadavo arc. In those episodes Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Captain Rex manage to kick the slavers off of the planet. The slavers also have a Rancor they are keeping that goes by the name of Muchi. This rancor is later shown to be picked up by Bib Fortuna who works for Jabba the Hutt. Now this brought up the concern that Muchi is the rancor that Luke Skywalker kills in Return of the Jedi. However it is believed that is not so since the rancor Luke killed was a male named Pateesa while this is a female rancor named Muchi.

The first five episodes were only the beginning revealing that the show was only going to get better from there. So many fans fell in love with the show and loved the episodes to come! It certainly lives up to the title many fans were jokingly referring to it as, Clone Wars season 8!