Full Spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 Premiere “The Bad Batch” Below

It has been six years since the sixth season of what was originally the final season of Star Wars The Clone Wars. However, on Friday February 21st 2020 we have the seventh and final season of one of the greatest Star Wars stories ever told. Thankfully the season seven premiere of the much beloved cartoon did not disappoint.

”The Bad Batch” isn’t a story about Jedi, and doesn’t dive into any deep lore pool, it’s a much smaller tale of the soldiers on the battlefield. It puts a focus on Captain Rex and Commander Cody attempting to fight a losing battle. The story is set on the planet of Anaxes where the separatist alliance are somehow countering the battle strategies of the Republic. While Mace Windu and Anakin are trying to figure out new tactics to keep ahold of the planet; they need to find a way to catch the enemies off guard. This is where clone batch 99 comes into play.

Clone batch 99 are a group of purposely genetically altered clones that have been given special abilities and desirable mutations, making them super soldiers in a way. This gives the action of the episode an extra flair that only animated shows can give. Speaking of the animation, season seven is drop dead gorgeous; the lighting pops and shimmers, blaster bolts erupt in spectacular fashion and the action is as smooth as silk. It is the best Clone Wars has ever looked and I was amazed at each frame.

Clone Wars has always been the strongest when it is focusing on the smaller sides of the war, and making this first four episode arc focus primarily on Rex and the Bad Batch not only stays true to what previous seasons have introduced us to, but also allows us to dive deeper into characters that we know and love. For instance Anakin and Mace Windu only have brief cameos as the writers decided to dive deeper into Captain Rex.

Rex has been a long time fan favorite because of his loyalty, courage and battle strategies. Seeing him broken in Rebels was hard but here we get to see Rex in a different light; we see him worried for his troops and reminiscing on his past battles as he struggles with friends he has lost during the war. Knowing that Echo has survived the events of the third season and is now seemingly working with the enemy, as well as the effects that will have on the already weary soldier will have some interesting consequences down the road.

I didn’t have many issues with this episode. My only real complaint would be that the return of season one villain Admiral Trench was just thrown in there without much explanation. Seeing him with his new cyborg parts was a treat, as he was an menacing force and a cool antagonist to bring back. However, I just wanted some more of his back story explored in the previous seasons and that doesn’t change with this newest season.

The week’s episode was light on story and heavy on the action. Seeing an old friend make his return with a promising four episode arc that will no doubt conclude in tragedy, and seeing old friends return in new and beautiful animation gets me excited to see what else Clone Wars season seven will bring us.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Beautiful Animation
• Varied Characters
• New take on the clones
• Return of Clone Wars

Cons

• Weak Villain