– Spoiler Review –
The Bad Batch arc hits its penultimate episode, “On the Wings of Keeradaks,” full of some thrilling action sequences, but a key deletion from the episode’s story reel holds it back.
It’s an interesting situation to have these first 4 episodes of the final season of The Clone Wars having already premiered in an unfinished, story reel fashion, as for those who have watched them before will notice most of the changes, but for the larger audience seeing these episodes, it might be for the very first time so they wouldn’t notice anything amiss. The first episode’s changes were minor, but impactful, while the second’s new addition brought an incredible new scene between TCW’s major players. As for the changes in “On the Wings of Keeradaks,” this might be the first example of where I wish I hadn’t watched these as story reels, as they take out several minutes which add context/stakes and sell viewers on Wat Tambor’s villainy. Originally, the decimator, the ball droid Tambor sends into the room to kill the heroes, was called an organic decimator, and to prove how deadly the machine could be, Tambor uses it on a captured Poletec, frying the individual and raising the stakes as it approaches the lab with our heroes and Echo. In this version of the episode, it’s simply sent in the lab without any context for what it can do, so it’s no surprise this machine is dodged by our heroes and destroyed moments later, robbing the scene and moment of any real stakes. During the story reel’s presentation on the organic decimator, Tambor and Anakin have a conversation regarding how Tambor/Techno Union’s neutrality, given to him by the Republic, basically allows him to do whatever he wants, exposing the ways the war has allowed villains to thrive in unexpected and hard to prevent ways instead of outright warfare. In the finished version of the episode, this conversation never takes place, and instead Tambor is just another goofy villain without any motives or characterization. Considering Disney wants Disney+ to be full of “family friendly” content, I could see them removing the death of the innocent prisoner, but if this is the reason why, I’d be concerned about what that means for the rest of the upcoming episodes, while arguing The Mandalorian and many of the Avengers movies have far more violent content, so I’m hoping this isn’t the reason. Considering the cut scene is a lot of dialogue, I could maybe see cutting it to keep the episode fast paced, but it comes at such a price that decision doesn’t quite make much sense either. This was the first disappointing change to the episodes, but for those who never watched the story reels, this episode might be a little more enjoyable.
With conversations taking a back seat, there are several fantastic looking action sequences, from the team doing a balancing act while attacked from both sides, the flight on the keeradaks, and the battle at the end. I particularly liked seeing the Bad Batch and regular clones working together, alongside the Poletecs, with Anakin on support in the final battle, as it was impressive how they held back the droid invasion force together, though the scene felt a little excessive, especially considering the missing scenes taken out earlier in the episode. It was also a little weird how the pursuit by the D-wings stops so suddenly while chasing the team on keeradaks, as Anakin says they need to lose them, one crashes, and then the scene’s joltingly over; then the clones are surprised more are on the way, as if the Separatists or villains have ever given up that easily. Great action, to be sure as The Clone Wars always delivers, but it feels like the scenes come at a cost.
Rex’s relief at having Echo alive and well is palpable throughout the episode, and is a much needed win for the character after having lost so many friends throughout the war. I enjoyed their brief bonding, basically allowing them to pick up right where they left off, though while Rex believes that’s how it’ll be going forward with them, Echo isn’t as sure considering what happened to him. I like the hint at how this experience might’ve affected Echo overall, as otherwise it feels far too easy and far too quick that Echo is basically back to normal, glossing over more nuanced threads for his return.
Here are a few other things:
- The episode guide is up on the official site, though it’s not as much of a deep-dive as the previous entries, but I do appreciate how The Clone Wars Download goes into great detail on the animation and sound design processes!
- The final season on Disney+ isn’t the only TCW content we have on the way: There’s IDW’s upcoming 5 issue miniseries, The Clone Wars: Battle Tales, releasing in April, for which we’ll have an interview with series writer Michael Moreci on the site soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that!!; and later this year, there’s The Clone Wars Anthology book, which takes specific episodes and presents them in prose form, though doing so from one person’s point of view, giving the story a new twist.
“On the Wings of Keeradaks” is a solid enough episode, though it relies a little too heavily on action and feels incomplete with missing scenes.
+ Rex and Echo reunited
+ The episode’s final battle
– Missing scene robs context, stakes
– Relies too much on action
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” | Ep. 2 “A Distant Echo”
Legacy Impressions: Crystal Crisis | The Bad Batch