Star Wars the Bad Batch Season 1 Episode 15, RETURN TO KAMINO has finally been released,
beginning the two part finale to the series, and giving us a glimpse into the future of
the Clones..
The episode is packed full of incredible moments with massive consequences on the galaxy, So,
lets break down everything that went down in the episode, and what might go down as
we move into the finale . And make sure you’re subscribed for more awesome Star Wars lore
content.
So the episode begins back inside of a dark prison cell on ship racing to Kamino, where
the captured Hunter has been transferred to after his capture on Daro.
Crosshair wants to lure the rest of the bad Batch to Kamino using Hunter’s comms device,
in order to setup a huge standoff.
Back on Ord Mantell with the remaining Bad Batch members, Echo is working on repairing
the ship, but Omega is getting extremely impatient and is worried about Hunter's safety.
Things quickly change when the Batch get a message from Hunter’s comm unit, making
them rush over to Kamino.
And we also learn that Gregor is still with the Batch at this time, but has been left
with Cid while they rush to Kamino to rescue hunter.
Arriving on the dark, rainy world, we are immediately met with a huge imperial blockade
of the planet, clearly preparing for something major.
Immediately after landing with the imprisoned Hunter, Admiral Rampart greets Hunter and
lets him know that his antics on Ryloth gained some significant imperial attention, before
leaving Crosshair in charge of the situation.
But before the rest of the Elite Squad walk off, one of It’s members voices her concern
to Rampart about Crosshair’s true motives and warns her to keep an eye on him…
As the Bad Batch crew arrive on Kamino themselves, Omega informs the rest of them about a massive,
hidden platform, deep beneath the water, which is very difficult to activate normally.
Luckily, Tech’s piloting skills get the Job done.
After that, we learn even more about Kamino’s deepest secrets, with Omega letting the Batch
know that there is an underground tube system for transport around the planet’s rough
oceans.
The tube that the group are in now has a direct route to Nala Se’s research lab, which Omega
is obviously very familiar with.
Following that, Hunter notices that there are no regs, no Kaminoans, no young Clone
Cadets, meaning the cloning facilities on Kamino are being decommissioned.
Hunter tells Crosshair that he should be terrified of what that means for him, but Crosshair
believes that he will be fine since he’s a clone that matters…
After travelling through the underwater tube system, we finally enter the personal lab
of Nala Se, where we see the exact spot both Omega was created, and where experimental
Unit 99, or the Bad Batch had all of their modifications done.
Every single person inside this room, was created in this room.
Pretty cool to think about.
The members of the Bad Batch were sent back to be with the regs soon after their modifications
were made, but Omega on the other hand was the personal project of Nala Se, so she remained
here for quite a few years.
While they are discussing this, Wrecker is in shock, but AZ the awesome Kamino meidcal
droid, who you will obviously remember from the Earlier episodes of this season, as well
as the Clone Conspiracy Arc with fives, makes his return, but is unfortunately in hiding.
AZ informs omega that Imperial soldiers were just seen deactivating almost all Kaminoan
droids, and herding key Kaminoan Medical staff onto transports, to get them away from the
planet.
We can pretty safely assume that this is going to tie into Palpatine’s whole cloning fiasco,
and probably explain a few big questions about how he returned, which haven’t yet been
answered.
Following this, Hunters pleads with his old friend Crosshair to realize that he is being
controlled by the inhibitor chips, but before he can break through with him, they are interrupted
by the arrival of Omega and the rest of the Batch.
Omega and AZ lead the squad through the white passageways of Kamino, spotting some very
concerning movements of TK troopers, but ultimately manage to make their way deep inside the facility.
Soon after this, they detect Hunter’s signal right above them, which happens to be in the
open ground of the training arena.
We have seen the Citadel training arena plenty of times now, featuring both in the show,
and the awesome episodes of the Clone Wars where the Domino squad come together.
The group knows they’ll be sitting ducks up there, but really they have no choice at
this point.
While Echo, Wrecker and Tech go up to face down crosshair, Omega goes back to the ship
to contact Rex for help.
Unfortunately when they face down Crosshair in the arena, things go instantly wrong, leading
Echo to contact Omega.
AZ wants to follow protocol by returning to the ship at once, but Omega knows that something
isn’t right and they must return to help their friends.
Underneath the arena, we see the very familiar arena droids, which are incredibly close to
the training units used by Thrawn in Star Wars: Rebels, as well as the Dark Troopers
used by Moff Gideon.
Dark Troopers originally come from the Dark Forces game, and the Phase 0 ones actually
had Clone Troopers inside armor…
Pretty creepy stuff.
Following this, Crosshair voices his heartbreak at Hunter and the rest of the Batch leaving
him behind, and telling him that the Batch never gave him a chance at his darkest moment.
Crosshair then tells him that he will give Hunter something that he himself was never
granted, another chance.
Crosshair again expresses that he along with the other Batchers are superior to the regs,
and can help enforce the will of the Empire on the Galaxy with their extreme strength.
The sharpshooter then extends his hand out to give the Batch a chance, but the members
of the Elite Squad are not going to stand down, leading Crosshair to take a single shot
and kill four members of the squad.
After much more painful arguing between Crosshair and his old squad, the Sniper reveals that
he has had his chip out for a very long time, and is acting completely through his own will.
It’s not fully clear if he’s lying about this, or he does actually have his chip out,
but there are a few options.
One of course is that he’s completely telling the truth, and simply wants to remain loyal
to the empire, another is that the Empire told him his chip was removed, but it actually
wasn’t, or of course he’s just lying to himself in order to convice the Batch to flip
sides.
We’ll see next week what the answer to that actually is.
While this is happening, Omega releases the training troids out into the arena, forcing
the Bad Batch to fight alongside their former ally once more and they eventually.
After hearing that the situation is completely out of control however, Rampart orders all
of the non Clone Units to leave the arena, and let the Clones Die together.
Crosshair does eventually get knocked to the ground, but the members of the Bad Batch aren’t
going to leave their man behind, despite everything he has done and the fact that he still desperately
wants to serve the empire.
Hunter also inspects his old Friend’s head while he’s on the ground, but doesn’t
manage to conclude what really happened to Crosshair’s chip.
While this is happening, he receives a holocall from Tarkin, who orders the Orbital bombardment
of Kamino, after confirming that all essential personnel are off of the planet, using his
very famous line “you may fire when ready”.
As soon as Rampart gets the orders from Tarkin, he Orders his fleet of Venators to fire on
Kamino, unleashing an absolutely tremendous amount of fire down onto the water below,
completely glassing the planet and killing any unlucky souls who were left behind.
Even though there are still many Clones serving and hiding across the Galaxy, this is truly
one of the ending markers of the Clone Trooper Legacy on the Galaxy.
The home, birthplace and training place for the Troopers is now completely shattered and
only very few of the Kaminoans have been taken away, in order to be used by the Empire.
And the most heartbreaking thing about it all is that when Rampart orders his men to
open fire, the men pulling the trigger aren’t TK troopers or enlisted recruits.
They are Clone Troopers firing on the very place where they were raised and training
for almost their entire lives.
Such a sad moment to see Clones destroying their home, but with the ruthless Empire you
can expect nothing less.
After giving the order, a barrage of blue canons rain down on Kamino, while the Bad
Batch and Omega are stuck inside the facilities, desperately attempting to escape.
Pretty much every facility on the planet is now completely destroyed, and there won’t
be any cloning taking place there for a very long time.
This is a huge deviation from the old legends timeline where a Kamino Rebellion happened
on Kamino itself, and Commander Cody was even training stormtroopers on one world, but a
rebellion could definitely still happen on another world.
The music, the animation and Rampart’s absolute coldness all make for a very somber end to
the home of the Clones.
But as for the batch themselves, well sadly we already know they will make it out and
live to fight another day, since just yesterday we were told that there will be a season 2
of the Bad Batch coming out next year.
So I want to know what your predictions are for next week’s episode and whether or not
you think there will be a major tragedy or we’ll get the return of Crosshair into the
main bad batch.
So that was my full breakdown for Star Wars the Bad Batch Season 1 episode 15, Return
to Kamino.
Thanks so much for watching, I really hope you enjoyed the video.
Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one!