Review: Star Wars: The Bad Batch “The Clone Conspiracy” / “Truth and Consequences”

Now this is what I’ve been wanting for weeks. After the last few weeks of disconnected episodes of varying degrees of quality, we’re finally getting back into the meat of the season, and the connections back to season one: the destruction of Kamino.

One clone already got killed less than five minutes in, then during hearings on what to do next since the clone trooper factory on Kamino got destroyed, Dave Filoni and his team did something in a season and a half that JK Rowling couldn’t do in over 20 years in the Harry Potter universe: show that characters (test tubes or otherwise) have rights. It’s a novel concept, I know. As a side note, this scene into the senate post Empire takeover is a great look into what the bullshit in the American government is.

In theory, that’s what Star Wars has been good with. People can watch the various shows and get a great level of escapism. For others, like myself, we see these scenes find eerie parallels to real life. And I’m all for this.

The plot is really fun. You get these parallels, and then you get the entire plot of getting the conspiracy of Rampart’s attack on Kamino to end the Clones. In another question answered, all of this is an extended answer to “Why are there no more clones in Episode IV?” Senator Riyo Chuchi was a great tool to get the plot through to the end of the episode. The boogieman of the episode was a great mystery.

There was always something shrouding them. Given the armor, I would have bet that it was Bullseye until he was unmasked. This opened up so much, and gave us something bigger than a trooper/trooper fight at the end of the season. There’s something like an elite group of troopers, and I can just take it all in, man.

There isn’t a lot going on in “Truth and Consequences,” but it’s a lot of action. I loved that the big focus was bringing the crew in to break into Rampart’s ship to get the evidence to take him down. Then there’s the juxtaposition of Riyo and the former senator of Kamino, who led Riyo and Omega down the path to get the ball rolling on Rampart.

I really enjoyed these two episodes. I needed a return to the greater world of The Bad Batch, and the return of characters like Captain Rex and Senator Organa. The ability to get the story back on track with lasting effects on the plot moving forward is key. We got ties back to last season, and that’s the world building we need to keep us invested. These diversions are nice and all, but these Power Rangers-esque filler break for three weeks is back-breaking. Let’s get more plot!