Bad Batch Ep. 2 - "Cut and Run"

Bad Batch Ep. 2 - "Cut and Run", written by Gursimran Sandhu, directed by Steward Lee

This was a great episode! We see some old familiar faces, go through a heart-breaking near goodbye, witness tons of action, and watch dystopia unfold before our eyes! Clone Force 99 wants to figure out the best way to hide from the burgeoning new Empire so they go to the one person they know who is really good at hiding, Cut Lawquane!!! I cannot believe they took this character from ONE episode of "The Clone Wars" TV show (he's a clone deserter who married a Twi'lek named Suu on Saleucami and became a loving step-father to her two half-human/half-Twi'lek children) and carried him over to "Bad Batch"--this is simply epic storytelling and I am so here for it!! See Suu and Cut in the image above.

Omega is super precious in this episode. She brings me so much joy as a character and I cannot wait to find out more about her background!! First we have her setting foot on Saleucami and reaching down to pick up a handful of dirt, absolutely amazed at the substance (see image below). Second we have her completely confused about the point of the game catch but taking to it quickly. She's always wanting to help, always wanting to do the right thing, is super curious, and is just the sweetest kid. She deeply cares for Clone Force 99 and I cannot wait to see how their relationship with her evolves over the course of this show!!

Another fascinating aspect of this episode was the overall feeling of Imperial domination brought about by extra rigid and rule-enforcing clones. Talk about creepy. I can't imagine what Clone Force 99 is experiencing, seeing their brothers act SO differently. We even get to watch individual chain codes become a thing as Cut and Hunter are trying to work out getting passage off-planet. To get Imperial credits, people must take their Republic credits to Imperial officials and register for a chain code. Talk about dystopia!! Echo makes the great point that clones named themselves in defiance of being given numbers from birth...and now people are lining up to get numbers...*shiver*!!

A surprise in this episode was the revelation that Rex of all people had visited Cut just the day before Clone Force 99 showed up!! Ahhhh!!! He apparently told Cut about the inhibitor chips, warning him about the change in attitude of all clones due to the execution of Order 66. Now I'm wondering if we're going to see Rex show up himself in a future episode--I would be over the moon!!

Overall this was a really solid episode with some fantastic story and character development beats that deepened the plot as a whole. I am loving this show so far and cannot wait for the fourth episode in just two short days!! Be sure to come back Friday to check out my review of the third episode of this fabulous new series!