Hello and welcome to Laughing Place’s weekly recap of Lucasfilm Animation’s original series Star Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney+. This week’s new installment, entitled “Reunion,” is the eighth episode of the show’s first season.
“Reunion” begins on the planet Kamino, where Crosshair (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, as are all the Jango Fett clones) reports the news that the scrappers on Bracca have found Clone Force 99. Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal) says he has no interest in bringing in the group of deserters alive, and orders to have them terminated. On Bracca, Wrecker is showing Omega (Michelle Ang) how to disassemble a thermal detonator when Echo shows up to bring them back to the Jedi cruiser. The Scrappers Guild members watch from afar as our heroes walk through the junkyard landscape, but Echo spots them and enacts an assault. Wrecker grabs onto the scrappers’ skiff as it takes off and gets thrown clear as he takes them down, knocking them unconscious. Later, Echo tells Hunter they should leave Bracca due to this new danger, but Hunter says they need money and they can make it on this planet.
He explains that scavenging the leftover weapons from the derelict Jedi cruiser should clear their debt with Cid, and Tech adds that the intel from the ship’s systems could be worth even more. Inside the cruiser, Omega and Wrecker find a large stash of explosive weapons while Tech turns the power back on. Echo tells Hunter he wishes they had left with Rex instead of continuing to work for Cid, and Omega joins tech on the ship’s bridge as he copies the files from its computer system. Omega asks Tech what the war was like, but he’s not very forthcoming. A button starts blinking on the bridge’s console, and Tech says it’s the proximity sensor that signals when there’s an approaching vessel. Three ships suddenly enter the atmosphere and Tech identifies them as Imperial. Back on Kamino, Prime Minister Lama Su (Bob Bergen) says he needs to call upon further assistance, despite already having bounty hunters working in the field to collect Omega.
On Bracca, Hunter spots Crosshair emerging from one of the Imperial ships, but Tech says he’s blocking the Empire’s scanners so he won’t be able to detect them. On the ground, Crosshair immediately figures out that his team is having their signal jammed. He readies his weapon and orders the other clone troopers to take a shuttle and find the Havoc Marauder. Inside the Jedi cruiser, Clone Force 99 comes up with a plan to further evade detection and make their way back to their ship. The clone troopers find the Havoc Marauder and secure its perimeter, while Tech taps into the regs’ comms to monitor their movements. The Bad Batch discover that they’re being herded toward the hangar, so they divert their course to the cruiser’s artillery deck. As they search for a way out, Crosshair enters the room and confronts them. “Tapping our comms? So predictable,” he says. “Nice to see you too,” replies Wrecker.
Tech tells Echo to fire up the cruiser’s artillery cannons in order to collapse the deck, while Hunter and Omega try to convince Crosshair of the reality that he’s being controlled by an inhibitor chip. “Aim for the kid,” Crosshair orders his troops in response. Suddenly one of the cannons fires, causing chaos to erupt among the various clones. The room starts to collapse and Omega uses her crossbow to help take out some of the opposing troopers. Wrecker throws a proton torpedo he collected from the ship’s hold at a flametrooper, and our heroes escape to the cruiser’s ion engine chamber. On the ruined artillery deck, Crosshair regains his composure and orders a shuttle to come pick him up. He also tells his troopers to get to the cruiser’s bridge and await his orders. Meanwhile, Clone Force 99 makes their way out of the ion engine and promptly comes under fire from Crosshair’s sniper rifle.
The Bad Batch starts doubling back through the engine, but it starts coming online thanks to the troopers on the bridge activating it. The team decides to use the explosives they took from the ship to break the engine apart before it kills them all, which works but results in our protagonists falling to other parts of the cruiser and Crosshair being bombarded with ion energy outside. Crosshair orders the engine turned off, while the separated members of Clone Force 99 plan to meet back at the Havoc Marauder. Clone troopers land a shuttle to retrieve Crosshair and find him immobile, but he orders them to stop the Bad Batch before they reach their ship. The troopers call to their comrades who were guarding the Havoc Marauder, but there is no response. Hunter and Omega reach the hangar and discover that the troopers are all dead at the hands of bounty hunter Cad Bane (Corey Burton).
“I’ve taken down so many clones over the years. Once you figure out one, the rest are easy,” Bane tells Hunter, who replies, “You’re in for a surprise.” Hunter asks Bane who hired him, but the bounty hunter says that’s confidential information. Cad Bane demands Hunter hand over Omega, but Hunter of course refuses and the two formidable warriors face off against each other in a high-noon-style shootout. Bane outdraws Hunter and shoots him square in the chest, though Hunter shoots a booster off of Bane’s droid Todo 360 (Seth Green). A distraught Omega weeps over Hunter’s body and then gets out her crossbow to shoot Cad Bane, but Todo swoops in and knocks it out of her hands. Bane stuns Omega, presumably taking her into custody. Outside, a heavily bandaged Crosshair stands up and orders his shuttle brought to him again.
We see Hunter’s point of view as he regains consciousness and the other members of the Bad Batch bring him aboard the Havoc Marauder as they fight off more clone troopers. The ship takes off successfully and Clone Force 99 escapes, with Hunter explaining that Cad Bane took Omega. “We have to find her.”
New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiere Fridays, exclusively on Disney+.