It’s finally here! The seventh and final season of The Clone Wars has arrived! While it pains me to see this show coming to end (also knowing what will be happening in this season) it feels so good to come back to the adventures of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Captain Rex, Commander Cody, and the rest of the valiant clones.
Be warned, this recap contains a lot of spoilers, so if you haven’t caught up on the first two episodes of Season 7, then stop now and come back to this recap.
Have you watched them now? Great! Spoilers ahead!
“Embrace others for their differences, for that makes you whole.”
We begin this episode with a recap of where we’re at in the story. Here we see a major battle on the planet of Anaxes where one of the largest Republic shipyards is housed. With Admiral Trench’s Separatist army gaining a major foothold in the planet, things are starting to look bad for the Republic. While battle ranges on, Jedi Master Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker are leading both a ground and air assault. Unfortunately, the Republic forces are slowly being overrun with no relief in sight.
Back at the main base, Mace and Anakin are analyzing the situation. With the droid army taking over the main production facility, Anaxes is close to collapse. While the reason behind the droid army’s success alludes them, Captain Rex has a theory. The Separatists use analytics to predict the Republic strategy. This means that when the Republic army uses a tactic, it’s very effective the first time, but the Separatists adapt, and the strategy becomes less effective. The more they use a tactic, the less effective it becomes. However, with every new strategy the Republic forces have been using, the Separatists’ counterattack has been near perfect. This leads Captain Rex to believe that there is something more going on.
The solution is to send Commander Cody, Captain Rex, and a small team to infiltrate a nearby Cyber Center to find out what information is being shared among the Separatist army. The plan is risky, but absolutely necessarily. Anakin senses that there is something else that Rex wants to say, but Rex denies it, leaving a suspicious Anakin looking even more suspicious.
Back at the barracks, Captain Rex looks a photograph of his former squad and we are left to remember Fives, Echo, and Hevy, all lost in the Clone War. “Sometimes in war, it’s hard to be the one that survives,” Cody tells him. And therein lies the problem. The secret that Rex kept from Anakin and Mace is his crazy theory that Echo is still alive. Cody denies it, reminding Rex that Echo died at the Citadel, but to Rex it is the only explanation as to why the Separatists army has been beating them at every turn. The battle plans are similar to the ones that he and Echo worked on in the early days of the Clone War. Cody maintains that there is no possible way that Echo is alive, and that Rex is hanging on the false hope.
Clone Force 99
Setting aside Rex’s theory, it’s time to put their plan into action. Enter Clone Force 99. Named after the memorable and honorable hero Clone 99, this team is a force to be reckoned with. With a 100% success rate in all their missions, they know how to get the job done by any means necessary. And like their namesake, they are also a “bad batch” of clones, each with unique characteristics (aka “desirable mutations”) that give them an edge.
The leader of Clone Force 99 is Hunter, a cross between John Rambo and Solid Snake who has heightened senses that allow him to track anything on the ground. Wrecker, a rather sizeable clone, is the heavy hitter of the squad and can effectively crush his enemies. Tech, the brains of the Clone Force, is the tech guy and an encyclopedia of knowledge. Then there’s Crosshair, a loner and a man of a few words, who can snipe targets from 10 klicks away.
As they recount their last mission involving a Yalbec Queen and some angry Yalbec males, we see that these clones are successful for a reason. They use their strengths to outsmart their enemies, but their unpredictable nature can, at times, put them in sticky situations.
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On their way to their drop zone, Cody fills the team in on the mission: hit the Cyber Center, retrieve information, and get out. Already there is tension between the clones and the Clone Force. Crosshair calls them “regs” (as in “regular” clones) to purposefully antagonize them, but Cody reminds them that they are all on the same team.
As their gunship flies through a desolate canyon a nearby droid issues an alert that the gunship is in the area. Immediately the droid forces start their assault on the gunship. Unable to defend themselves, the gunship is struck and crashes to the ground, killing the pilot and injuring members of the team. Trapped under the wreckage, Cody is unable to move. While Rex is ready to rush in to get his friend, Wrecker takes the lead, using his extraordinary strength to move the debris off Cody. Unfortunately, Cody now has internal injuries which makes their mission a race against time.
As a rather large droid platoon descends the clones, Rex draws up a plan of attack, but Hunter assures him that they have another way of handling it. Issuing Plan 82, aka “Shockwave,” the Bad Batch gets to work. Wrecker grabs a large piece of debris and using it as a shield, he takes the brunt of the blaster fire from the droids head on. Behind the shield, Tech, Hunter, and Crosshair start picking off the droids one by one.
Standing their ground, Tech starts calling off coordinates that Hunter uses to throw a grenade, as the grenade flies through the air Crosshair shoots it, causing a shockwave that disables the droids caught in the blast. Again and again the Clone Force does this maneuver, throwing the grenade, shooting the grenade, knocking down droids. It’s effective and quick. And an incredibly impressive demonstration of their teamwork.
Getting through the first wave of droids, the Clone Force comes up against Spider Droids, big spider-like machines with heavy canons. The team fans out, flanking the droids and Hunter gets to work with his blade, taking down the Spider Droids with ease. Wrecker finishes off the last one as the rest of the droids scramble.
Unfamiliar Tactics
Sometime later, a Super Tactical Droid arrives at the crash site and surveys the vast field of defeated droids. Calling Admiral Trench, he gives his assessment: that what they’re seeing is irregular and unlike anything they have seen from a clone strike team. Since this is not from the normal clone playbook, Trench is fascinated.
Taking a rest before they proceed to the Cyber Center, Hunter is doing what he does best: track. Tech explains that Hunter was engineered with heightened senses, allowing him to feel the electromagnetic waves coming from the Cyber Center.
As Rex tends to Cody, it’s obvious that Cody doesn’t have much time. Ordering the team to move out, Rex knows that they need to get the mission done and they need to get it done quickly. Of course, Crosshair uses this opportunity to antagonize the “regs” once more, questioning Rex’s ability to draw up a plan to get to the Cyber Center. As Jesse and Kix stand up to defend Rex, Wrecker joins Crosshair in the altercation. Hunter, having about enough of the in fighting, orders his men to stand down.
While on their way to the Cyber center, they come across an outpost that is being guarded by a handful of droids. Agreeing to rush the droids head on, the team makes quick work of the droids in the outpost.
Tech hacks into the computer to find out information about the Cyber Center and reports that there are a minimal number of droids guarding it. But what is more urgent is that a large platoon of droids is on their way to the outpost. It’s time for them to get moving.
Attack on the Cyber Center
The attack on the Cyber Center is one of the best sequences we see in this episode. With Rex and Jesse leading the frontal assault, Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker make their way to the back of the center. Crosshair remains at a distance, ready to the snipe as many droids as he can see.
In one continuous, sweeping camera shot, we follow Wrecker, Hunter, and Tech, the camera moving from clone to clone as they effortlessly handle the droids. Making their way to the main room, Hunter shows his deftness with a blade while Tech and Wrecker shoot down the remaining droids. In all the whole sequence takes about 20 seconds, but it’s fantastic to see.
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As Jesse and Rex take out the droids at the front entrance., Wrecker and Hunter meet them there, taking out the last of the droids. Not soon after, the larger droid force arrives at Cyber Center. Rex rushes in to meet Tech while the other four hold off the platoon.
In the Command Center, Rex gives Tech the algorithm, the code that the Separatists have been using to predict the Clone attacks. Putting it into the system Tech is able to trace a live signal of the algorithm to Skako Minor, another planet. This means that someone has been actively sending out a signal to the droid army. Locating an audible signal, Tech and Rex can hear a robotic voice that almost sounds human. To Rex, the voice is unmistakable.
Outside, Crosshair secures a transport ship for the strike team to escape on. As the team fights off the droids, they fall back into the Cyber Center. Rex orders Tech to find the signal and figure out who is sending it. Over the comms, they can clearly hear the call sign: CT-1409. It’s Echo.
Rex, after hearing the call sign of his friend, is in a state of shock. His friend is alive and on Skako Minor.
Echo
In the aftermath, Admiral Trench’s Super Tactical Droid gives him a rundown of what they found on the Cyber Center. While nothing was downloaded, they did find a connection made to Skako Minor. Trench is visibly taken aback by the news. He knows the clones will soon be on their way.
As the strike team makes their getaway, Tech asks Rex about what they heard and what it all means. “CT-1409. That was Echo’s number. He’s alive,” Rex explains.
In all, this was a fantastic first episode of the new season. The news that Echo is alive is a welcome one, but we can only imagine the state Echo is in on Skako Minor. The introduction of the Bad Batch was great, and I cannot wait to see more of them. It does beg the question about whether they will be major players in this new season or not. It also makes me wonder what will happen to them when Order 66 hits.
In the next episode of The Clone Wars, Rex and the crew will be arriving at Skako Minor and hopefully we’ll get a happy reunion between the good friends. However, this is The Clone Wars, so I’m setting the bar really low on what I consider a “happy reunion.” Rex needs this win.
New episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars premieres at 12 a.m. PST/3 a.m. EST on Disney+ every Friday.
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