– Spoiler Review –
The Clone Wars‘ final season continues with the next installment of the Bad Batch arc, “A Distant Echo,” where Rex, Anakin, and Clone Force 99 narrow in on what could be a fallen comrade, while Anakin and Rex get some emotional and important moments, as Anakin learns to support his friend more like he has supported him all this time.
The opening has one of my favorite scenes of the episode, and the season so far, when Anakin sneaks away to Rex’s barracks, with Rex outside to warn him, so he can have a little chat with Padmé. The moment involves all of the most important characters of the show, including Obi-Wan, and speaks to the central narrative regarding Anakin’s fall gaining far more complexity thanks to events within the show, but it’s also a deeply touching and funny scene for everyone involved. Outside the barracks, Rex is both understanding but slightly uncomfortable with the situation he’s in, especially once Obi-Wan approaches and begins to playfully question the visibly nervous Rex. Inside, Anakin comes to Padmé for the help he needs that he can’t get from Obi-Wan, bringing to the table his concerns about Rex’s personal feelings mixing with their latest mission. Padmé instantly calls him out on his blatant hypocrisy, but she does it in such an amazing, nurturing way, pointing out how Rex has stood by his side when he’s gone on personal crusades, so he needs to be there and do the same for him without question. Their tender “I love you” to one another strikes an emotional chord (at least it did for me) considering how close we are to the events of Revenge of the Sith. Just as Rex’s “defense” is about to crumble, Anakin comes out and dispels the situation with Obi-Wan, which is where the best exchange of the entire scene, and episode, occurs. Obi-Wan tries to tell Anakin the Council’s feeling about the mission, but he already knows what his friend is going to say so he blows it off before Obi-Wan can tell him not to go…but Kenobi does manage to tell Anakin he hopes he said hello to Padmé for him; the look on Anakin’s face, a mixture of gratitude and shame, speaks louder than any words. It’s the galaxy’s worst best kept secret, and Obi-Wan’s comment reveals both how willing he is to look the other way but also the simple fact he knows means he could always use it against Anakin if necessary, while for Rex, his complicity shows how loyal he is, no matter the situation or his personal feelings, which is why Padmé’s words are so important because Anakin needs to reciprocate.
In the season premiere’s The Clone Wars Download featurette, Dave Filoni mentioned they were changing these episodes a bit from their story reel state and the scene above is an important and wonderful change from the original opening of this episode. In the original, Obi-Wan confronts Rex and Anakin about the mission and tells them the Council doesn’t agree with it, though he relents when Anakin takes Rex’s side, despite any misgivings. This is somewhat similar in that Anakin defies what Obi-Wan tells him, though in the canon version Obi-Wan doesn’t even get to say anything. But the only Padmé appearance in the original episode was far less emotional, and while humorous, maybe not in the best light, as she appears as a pin-up on Clone Force 99’s ship, irritating Anakin to no end. The change gives us a much better, and important, appearance from Padmé, and it makes far more sense considering this episode has been moved further up in the timeline of the show, as it originally would’ve been part of an earlier season; imagine one of the few times we’ll get to see Padmé in this final season is only her as a pin-up, knowing how close ROTS is…such a moment would’ve left a bad taste in the mouth. I also like how the new version keeps Anakin’s support of Rex, but layers in some of his doubts and hypocrisies, while it’s nice to have a more emotional beat to open this episode full of 80’s action movie heroes being 80’s action movie heroes, and is nicely bookended with the emotional reunion of Rex and Echo.
The new moment also makes it more impactful when Anakin calms down Rex after Crosshair picks at his insistence Echo is alive, as Padmé’s reminder gives Anakin the clarity he needs in helping Rex begin to accept everything might not turn out how he likes it. Plus, having Anakin lecture someone else about learning to let go, learning to accept things going against his desires, shows how close he was to avoiding his fall if only he could’ve practice what he preached. Rex’s reasoning for being so obsessed with finding Echo alive is a heartening, wrenching moment, as it speaks to the coldness of war and the cost it has on those who survive. If he can save just one, any one, he’ll feel much better about all the loses he’s suffered so far, a sentiment building on the series’ modus operandi with humanizing the clones, revealing them as unique and engaging individuals with their varied personalities and feelings, making the cost of this war and every little loss harder and harder to ignore; it also shows how desensitized the Jedi have become, allowing and supporting such a conflict with a high loss of life, clone or not. When Rex and Clone Force 99 rescue Echo, his confusion and likely imprisonment in stasis for such a long time means he doesn’t quite understand the passage of time, thinking Rex did come back for him at the Citadel, allowing Rex to gain closure on what he considers one of his greatest failures. As I said, it’s an emotional bookend to the retooled opening and serves as an excellent way to wrap up some of the heavier threads of this arc as we delve into the last two, dealing with their escape and going after Admiral Trench.
In the infiltration of Wat Tambor’s floating city/labs, the Bad Batch gets to display some more slick moves, but the episode doesn’t do much to further their characters which at times feels at odds with all the character work with Anakin and Rex this arc. There’s an introduction to a new battle droid, the D-wing units, lanky, skinny things that eventually will be revealed can fly; it’s a design I loved in the in the original story reel animation and I wish would’ve been seen more across TCW, but I’ll just have to enjoy them while we get them in these next few episodes. And if you didn’t like Tambor yet, you’re really going to hate him/seeing him as a true villain very soon…
Here are a few other things:
- Some of the minor things I loved: being able to see the translations on Tech’s visor, both from the inside and the outside; the little hint of the “Across the Stars” theme in the opening moments; that Wrecker is also holding a “chicken” wing will lifting the GONK droid.
- The episode guide goes up on Monday, so I’ll update this as soon as I can after it’s out! UPDATE: The episode guide is out, once again full of interesting trivia and commentary, plus another installment of The Clone Wars Download, digging into the opening scene.
“A Distant Echo” brings us closer to an Echo, while has some excellent scenes involving the series’ most important characters.
+ The whole opening scene
+ Rex’s desire not to lose another friend
+ Finding Echo!
– Clone Force 99 focus is action only so far
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
THE CLONE WARS REVIEWS
Season Seven: Ep. 1 “The Bad Batch”
Legacy Impressions: Crystal Crisis | The Bad Batch