Review: Star Wars The Bad Batch “War-Mantle”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The Batch tracks a mysterious distress call to a top-secret facility on Daro.

Our Take:

It’s always important to realize that you never leave a soldier behind, even though the odds seem to stack up against you. This week’s episode is one of those cases. With only two chapters left until the big finale, it’s no surprise that this episode wanted to deliver the tasty appetizers before the main course, along with a tease of what’s to come later on.

The episode started with a scene resembling almost every prison break movie, with a clone trooper being hunted down by stormtroopers. Sadly, the trooper’s escape attempt failed as he got captured again, but not before placing a distress signal. This has Captain Rex enlisting the Batch to find Clone Trooper CC-5576 (aka “Gregor”) and retrieve him from the Empire. Yes, Captain Rex made a return in this episode, but only for a brief moment. It’s not surprising considering the show’s obsession with introducing several characters from the other Star Wars properties. The Batch managed to track the signal on Daro and discover that he’s held captive in a top-secret Imperial Base inside the mountain.

The episode followed the same formula as some of the other ones. They go on a search and rescue mission, get themselves in hot water, and then escape with their lives. The end. For a show about wars and galaxies, it’s as traditional as a daily morning routine. However, the formula usually has enough merits and thrills to keep things enticing, and this episode is no exception.

Along with some exciting action scenes, the chapter featured a couple of minor surprises that were handled well. One of them was the stormtroopers guarding the base. It turned out that they weren’t clones at all. Instead, they turned out to be replacements who were hired by the Empire. The other surprise happened when Hunter got captured by the stormtroopers near the end and ordered the Batch to escape without him. This part served as an excellent tease to how the team will function without its leader and Hunter’s encounter with Crosshair in the upcoming episodes.

Overall, the “War-Mantle” episode offered the usual ingredients that made the show entertaining to solid effect. Plenty of action, suitable animation, and heart-pounding thrills. Not only that, but it also represented a decent starting point for the season’s epic confrontation between Clone Force 99 and the Empire. After seeing the cliffhanger ending, we can only hope that the series will deliver on the “epic” part.