REVIEW: ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch,’ Season 2 Episode 3 – “The Solitary Clone”

The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 3, “The Solitary Clone,” shifts the focus away from the heroes of Clone Force 99 to their lost brother, Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker). Director Saul Ruiz makes his debut for Season 2 alongside writer Amanda Rose Muñoz who are strangers to Star Wars animation. It is a fitting team with the duo teaming up for “Infested” and Ruiz directing the season one finale “Kamino Lost,” which also gave fans a heavy dose of Crosshair. While the Batch doesn’t make an appearance this week, similar themes make their presence known, but this time through the eyes of the clones still loyal to the Empire.

The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 3 opens on Desix, a remote world once a member of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. As the Empire has done in multiple Star Wars series, they aim to install a new Imperial governor on the independent planet to exert their control. This makes the second Separatist planet this season to be shown under the threat of the Galactic Empire. Putting the focus on Separatist worlds underlines that it is not just worlds like Ferrix and Lothal that are experiencing the ramifications of the Clones Wars and the tyranny of Emperor Palpatine.

The current governor of Desix is Tawni Ames (Tasia Valenza), and like Ferrix and Lothal, she is not looking to bend the knee despite their part in the conflict that saw the Empire rise to power. While Ames’s first appearance in Star Wars, she makes it known in The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 3 that she was a part of the treaty for peace put forth by fellow Separatist Mina Bonteri during The Clone Wars. Now Ames aims to defend her world by force and captures the would-be Imperial governor prompting a direct response by the vile Vice Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal), setting up the episode’s main conflict.

Vice Admiral Rampart sends Crosshair to be a part of the strike team that looks to rescue the captured Imperial officer and stormtroopers. Leading the team is none other than Commander Cody, one of the most notable clones in all of Star Wars. Joined by a host of clone troopers, the events of the mission are spectacular. Fans see why Crosshair is such a force to be reckoned with. Seeing Commander Cody again is joyfully heartbreaking, given his hand in Order 66. And, of course, seeing the battle droids in all of their antics harkens back to the old days of The Clone Wars series. While the mission itself has a forgone conclusion, it works perfectly as a vehicle to tackle the larger themes of The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 3.

Commander Cody and Crosshair set up the whole moral dilemma that is present throughout The Bad Batch as a whole. Should good soldiers still follow orders? It is revealed that Crosshair spent 32 rotations on Kamino following the finale of season one. Was that enough time for Omega’s and Hunter’s words on the platform to truly sink in? For Cody, he participated in Order 66, firing on Obi-Wan Kenobi in Attack of the Clones. However, it is known that regular clones who participated have been able to ignore their programming and leave the Empire. Is Cody also capable, or will he simply follow orders when it is more than a droid in front of him? Further, there has been a subtle replacement of clones throughout The Bad Batch. “The Solitary Clone” marks itself as the perfect episode title, as all clones, not only Crosshair, are in danger of being alone.

In the Season 2 premiere, clones were overseeing the transport of Count Dooku’s war chest. When the Empire arrives on Desix in The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 3, it is with a host of recruited stormtroopers. Even clones during the episode mention the Defense Recruitment Bill and its danger to the future of the clones in the Empire. Even Cody is almost unrecognizable under his armor, as most of his individuality is lost in his new white and grey commander’s garb. Crosshair, who isn’t even accepted by the regular clones even after turning his back on the Batch, wants nothing more than to be a good soldier of the Empire, but does he have a place if clones are obsolete?

Between the look at the Empire’s transition from clones to TK troopers to the continued sympathy for Separatist worlds amid the Imperial rule, The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 3 proves that Star Wars animation is art. Even with an episode where the Batch doesn’t make an appearance, it shines. The animation continues to be excellent, and the music by Kevin Kiner elevates the episode’s deepest moments. If you enjoyed the themes of Andor, then The Bad Batch is hitting many of the same notes.

The Batch Batch Season 2 Episode 3 is currently streaming exclusively on Disney+, with new episodes every Wednesday.