Ryan Shoots First: The Clone Wars (S7 Ep3) “On the Wings of Keeradaks”
Welcome back troopers to our weekly recap of the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This week we wrap up the Echo and Rex arch with the Bad Batch as our team is helping out some local villagers. The episode begins right where we left off last week with the team looking to disconnect Echo from the computer system as the Batch holds off reinforcements. Wat Tambor himself shows up as the team seals themselves in the console room. They send in some weapon called the Decimator as Tech frees Echo to where he can be disconnected from the console. Echo helps them escape just before the device tries to go off as Wrecker hurls everyone out an exhaust vent. The weapon was interesting and seems to target organic life. I wonder if it will return in some form. It reminds me of the weapon Sabine develops for the Empire in Rebels.
As the troops escape through the cooling vents they are forced to tightrope across the support structures between the massive floating buildings. Surrounded on both sides Tech uses a recording call for the flying creatures to use as their escape plan. It turns out the Techno Union droids can fly. It’s cool to see a different droid type going back to Attack of the Clones when Tambor boasts about the Techno Union Army. I couldn’t help but call back to Finn’s “They fly now?” line from Rise of Skywalker.
The team is forced to return to the village they briefly visited last week and they are not greeted well after the droids follow them forcing the locals into the fight they were trying to avoid. After a rousing speech from Rex the locals are in the fight cause we only got 30 minutes here people. As the fight begins we get a very cool tracking shot showing the skills of the Bad Batch a la the Avengers films where we slowly move from one member to the other showcasing them and their abilities. As usual though some giant walkers show up to ruin everything. Anakin tells Rex he has one they have the other and Anakin proceeds to single handedly take down the giant walker like the legendary warrior we heard about for all those years. With the Technos driven back the team leaves with new found friends and allies. As they board the ship Rex tells Echo everything will be “Just like old times” Echo repeats the line but in a somewhat foreboding way with a sinister look on his face as the credits roll.
I assume the Techno Union has some control over Echo to make him a double agent or to sabotage the Republic’s plans. It looks like this story arc may not be over quite yet but I do hope we get a break from it for a bit as I would like to see what other characters from the season are up to. Perhaps Echo has some info on Order 66 and can reveal it to Rex. Either way it looks like we are likely done with the Bad Batch, again I would not be surprised to see them get fleshed out some more in other Star Wars media as they seem ripe for harvest. All in all a very action packed episode from start to finish with Anakin getting some shine as well as the batch. As I mentioned last week the animation is the best it’s ever been and this episode had a lot going on for the animators to keep track of.
Here is hoping we get some Snips action next week!