Star Wars the Bad Batch Season 1 Episode 14, WAR-MANTLE has finally been released, and
with it were given a glimpse into the opening stages of the Imperial plan to eliminate most
clone troopers and replace them with natural born recruits.
The episode has some awesome connections to the other Star Wars tv shows and even the
games with a cameo from someone massive, So, lets break down everything that went down
in the episode, and how they will affect the series going into the final 2 episodes of
the show . And make sure you’re subscribed for more awesome Star Wars lore content.
So the episode begins with a rogue clone trooper sprinting through the dark forests of Daro,
being eagerly chased down by Imperial Clone Troopers from all directions.
He is eventually stunned to the ground and caught by his fellow brothers, before they
take him to a hidden imperial facility, carved into the face of a mountain.
Back on the Bad Batch’s ship, they get a transmission from the man himself, Captain
Rex, who is in dire need of help.
Rex just received a distress signal from the Rogue Clone Trooper we saw earlier, but unfortunately
is a bit tied up right now, so he asks the Bad Batch to lend him a hand.
Rex can’t go into any further detail and he is in a dicey situation himself, and instead
patches through the signal to the bad batch…
As tech pulls up the signal on the location, he quickly realizes that it is coming from
a clone trooper called CC-5576, which is the code number of Commando Gregor, who we all
know from his heroic appearances in the Clone Wars series, as well as in Star WArs: Rebels,
where he has met up with Rex and Wolffe to live in a walker on Seelos.
Gregor’s signal is coming from the planet Daro in the Outer Rim, which causes Tech to
protest and stress that they are right in the middle of a job for cid, so they should
really be taking another mission.
Thankfully however, the group eventually decide that they will try to rescue the stranded
Gregor, regardless of the risk.
Following this, we return to Kamino, where Crosshair is preparing every viable clone
trooper for a massive operation, including the Cadets who are being moved out of the
facilities.
We of course saw Clone Cadets appear many times throughout the Clone Wars series, including
when Boba tried to blend in with them in an attempt to assassinate Mace Windu.
Awesomely, we also get a look at some Imperial Venators stationed above Kamino guarding the
imperial presence there.
Moving to the Prime Minister’s chambers, we find out that the Kaminoan Leadership are
now about to Flee Kamino for their own safety, knowing that the Empire is about to threaten
their very existence.
In legends something very similar happened, when the Kaminoans tried to flee Kamino during
the clone uprising, and lets just say it didn’t end too well for them that time.
Back with the Batch, the crew arrive on Daro and they begin tracing the signal put out
by Gregor, with Omega almost immediately finding the beacon he placed down.
They quickly become concerned when they realize there is no reg near the beacon, and Hunter
begins to use his tracking skill to find out more.
Hunter then sends Omega and Wrecker back to the ship, while they continue moving forward
towards a massive mountain.
They know something is inside the walls of the mountain, but have absolutely no Idea
Just yet.
As a result, the group begin scaling up the mountain face, arriving at a terrifyingly
large Imperial Facility, recessed right into the mountain.
Upon further inspection through their holo binoculars, the Batch see that there are a
group of Clone Commandos wearing Katarn Class Commando armor, leading troopers who seem
to have moved sharply away from Phase 2 clone armor, into mix between Clone and Stormtrooper
armor.
This armor is actually taken directly from the Ralph McQuarrie concept art, which also
inspired the helmets at the Imperial academy on Lothal from Star Wars rebels.
It’s always awesome to see Ralph
This is definitely the beginning of the transition into Stormtrooper armor, and the phasing out
of the highly regarded Phase 2 armor.
After seeing this, Hunter and Tech are just about ready to pack up and leave, but Echo
pleads with them to help out this stranded Clone because the Bad Batch did the same for
him back on Skako Minor.
Of course, this is referring to the daring echo of Rescue from the separatists back in
the Clone Wars Season 7.
It’s awesome to see Echo get even the slightest bit of character development here, since he
really hasn’t got much this season apart from a few lines.
Following this, Echo hacks into the nearby Imperial computer system with his arm, and
reports that the facility seems to be holding 50 Clone Commandos, who are leading over a
thousand TK units, something which he and the others haven’t heard of yet.
TK troopers are obviously the designation which will later be used for the stormtrooper
corps of the Imperial Army.
After this, the batch arrives at Gregor’s cell before asking him if he is in fact CC-5576,
to which he tells them he is and that they should call him Gregor.
After this comes the hard part, getting Gregor safely out of the prison complex with all
of these new units patrolling alongside the Clone Commandos.
.
As the batch are escaping, the batch ask Gregor what he was doing post Order 66, and we learn
that he was serving as an army instructor before he went rogue.
While this is happening, Tech attempts to trigger Clone Code 16, which of course no
longer works after the Imperial Transition, meaning he just triggered a security alert
around the entire facility.
During the escape, the group take down countless of the new troopers, after which they discover
that only the Commandos are still Clones of Jango Fett.
The replacement of the Clone Troopers as part of operation war mantle is now well under
way.
Many fighters from all across the galaxy have pledged loyalty to the empire and joined this
new version of the Imperial army already.
While in the middle of the chase, the group come across a distinctively painted Yellow
Clone Commando, who actually happens to be RC-1262 also known as Scorch.
Scorch was the demolitions expert of the infamous Delta Squad, you will probably remember from
the Republic commando game, as well as their very brief appearance in the Clone Wars season
3 Episode Witches of the mist.
I have to say it’s really awesome to see them brought onto the screen once again, since
they really only got about 30 seconds of screen time in the Clone Wars, and the game is unfortunately
no longer in the canon.
In the legends timeline, Sev and the other Clone Commandos of the Republic were all reconvened
on Coruscant at an audience with Darth Vader 3 weeks after the creation of the Empire,
where Vader reorganized them all into the Imperial Commando Special unit, which was
an elite unit of the 501st.
Something similar could be going on here, but it looks like only 50 of the most highly
skilled and elite commandos are present.
As the group get to safety and can have a small rest, they inspect Gregor’s wounds,
but he tells them he will be fine since he was blown up once before and survived.
This is a reference to his arc from The Clone Wars series, where he both survived a crash
at the Battle of Sarrish, as well as a heroic stand against the battle droids stationed
on the planet Abafar.
Moving down the corridors with their escape, Gregor mentions that he was taken to this
remote facility in the outer rim along with the rest of the Clone Commandos for some mysterious
purpose.
Gregor however had no interest in serving the empire any longer, so he instead chose
to defect, which the empire obviously doesn’t treat too kindly.
Also throughout these corridors you can hear the distinctive radio chatter from the Republic
commando Games, which of course is connected with the mass of commandos stationed here.
After this, Omega and Wrecker eventually bring the ship in to complete the rescue, with all
of the Bad Batch hopping on board and doing their best to outmaneuver the imperial ships,
while Hunter unfortunately falls out of the ship and somehow survives a ridiculously high
fall on the mountain below.
He tries his best to pull his knife out and slow the fall, but unfortunately he is left
in a prime position to be captured by the advancing imperial forces on the surface.
Back on Kamion, Nala Se is caught attempting to gather forces to flee Kamino before their
impending doom, but is unfortunately caught by the Elite Troopers of the Empire.
When confronted about this, Lama Su pretends not to know about it and offers to punish
Nala Se personally to spare her the imperial treatment, but Rampart does not bother with
this, instead telling the Prime Minister that he only has use for a scientist, and not a
Politician, before sending the elite troopers in to execute him on the spot.
But since this is star wars and we didn[‘t see the death, there’s a slight possibility
he’s still alive.
Now, moving on to that pretty mysterious and cryptic ending, we head straight back to the
ominous imperial base on Daro, Hunter is sitting alone in his cell, before Crosshair arrives
on the scene to greet him.
Hunter is not surprised at all to see his old friend show up at the cell, and Crosshair
immediately takes his helmet off to face him man to man.
Crosshair tells his old batch member that he was hoping for the squad, but Hunter will
do.
This almost implies that the Imperials will try to either chip Hunter again, or brainwash
him into serving the Empire as their own version of the Bad Batch, which Rampart hinted at
on Ryloth.
He mentioned that it was a pity the batch is serving against him, and not for him, clearly
indicating that he would like his own version of them.
If the Clone Rebellion does end up taking place in this season with the little time
we have left, I could see hunter being chipped and fighting against his batch mates before
breaking free again.
But we’ll have to wait and see for that.
So that is my full breakdown of Star Wars the Bad Batch season 1 episode 14, War mantle,
which has finally brought us back to the plot line that started the show and will eventually
show us the replacement of all clone troopers with stormtroopers.
Thanks so much for watching, really hope you enjoyed the video.
Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one.