‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Season 2 Episode 10–What We Noticed
This week the Bad Batch are getting back their stolen ship and Omega learns that the Empire isn’t the galaxy’s only evil.
This week we find the Bad Batch still on last week’s planet, trying to get their ship back. Omega learns a little more about the galaxy, and the galaxy learns a little more about who the Bad Batch actually are.
As always, in order to break down this episode we will have to spoil large portions of what happened this week. If you haven’t watched yet, proceed at your own risk.
Gonky the Gonk Droid
The Bad Batch interrogating Benni.
When the episode begins, the older members of Clone Force 99 are trying to fix a very old, very broken speeder bike. Wrecker points out what a hunk of junk it is, but Tech promises that it will work… Maybe just not very well. But Omega figures out another way to find their ship and tracks Gonky the Gonk Droid using its binary reference code.
Last season Gonky was written off by the Batch as broken-down garbage. But Omega forms a bond with the droid and gives it its nickname. Over and over this show comes back to personal bonds and friendship being a powerful force, and this is another example of that theme. Once they found Gonky’s location they were able to find their ship and get to work stealing it back.
Techno Union
Mokko
Once the Batch gets to their ship, they find it’s being held by a community of children and teenagers being forced to steal and mine for the one adult figure, Mokko. Benni, the kid who actually stole their ship to present to Mokko, begrudgingly helps them get back to their ship, and in the process mentions that this particular mine used to be run by the Techno Union during the Clone Wars.
The Techno Union was one of the big commerce groups that pretty much ran the capitalist side of the galaxy through the Republic and Clone Wars. The Bounty Hunters Guild and Banking Clan were similarly important. But with the rise of the Empire, many of these groups had their power kneecapped or were phased out entirely. The Techno Guild was one of those dissolved.
But we can see pretty clearly the influence left behind by the Techno Guild in the mines inhabited by Mokki and his crew. Control rooms, bridges, and symbols on the walls are all the same as when we’ve seen the Techno Guild make appearances throughout the prequel movies and the pre-Empire animated shows.
“Many Like Us”
After seeing how Mokko treats his crew, Omega is distraught about the state of the galaxy. Sure, the Empire is bad, but this is a different kind of bad on a smaller scale. There must be more bad people like this all around the galaxy hurting other kids like Benni. Tech says that there are but helpfully points out that there are also others like them out there too.
And it feels like this may be foreshadowing the future of the Batch. Omega seems to have come to terms with the fact that settling down and having a real home may never be in the cards for them. But maybe going around the galaxy and doing as much good for as many people as possible, is. This could mean eventually joining the rebellion, or just Robbin Hooding their way from system to system, but they’re helpers. They help.
What did you think of this week’s episode of The Bad Batch? Where do you think the Batch will go from here? Would you have ever found the ship, or would you still be wandering the planet to this day? Let us know in the comments!
May the Force be with you, adventurers!
