Star Wars: The Bad Batch - Replacements Review

TBB "Replacements"

What if in The Force Awakens, FN-2187 was executed on the spot by Captain Phasma for not firing on the Tuanul village civilians on Jakku? That is a question indirectly raised by The Bad Batch episode "Replacements". Crosshair is put in charge of a group of "elite squad" stormtroopers who are again sent to Onderon to eliminate Saw Gerrera's forces. Finding a contingent of Saw's Partisan fighters escorting refugees off-world, Crosshair orders all parties slaughtered. When one of the troopers objects, Crosshair crosses him off too. It's a brutal moment in a subplot that gives the episode a dark character.

The rest of the Bad Batch (including the ever-proactive Omega) crash on a moon and must regain a vital ship part from a local ordo dragon. It's a familiar-feeling story that ends up as a sidelight when the episode provides such juicy world-building material about the transition from Republic to Empire.

To Admiral Rampart, that transition should take the form of one between Republic clone troopers and Imperial stormtroopers, codenamed Project War Mantle. These villain scenes on Kamino and Onderon are generally the most distinctive scenes in the episode. Interestingly, one must stretch to find a sympathetic anchor within them. Crosshair would fulfill that function... if he wasn't brainwashed to be a chilling murder machine. In the Kamino scenes, the closest thing is Lama Su, who fears a transition to enlisted troops would financially imperil the Kaminoan cloning operation.

Meanwhile on the unnamed moon, the setup of the oxygen masks and critters freaking people out on the windshield can't help but recall the mynocks in the Exogorth from The Empire Strikes Back. From that same movie, the dragon has certain biological similarities with a tauntaun.

There's further development in the parental bond between Hunter and Omega, as she defies him to save the day. Of course, Wrecker gets in on the surrogate family action too by building Omega her own room on their shuttle. But again, the episode's flavor, bitter as it is, lies in the brutal villain scenes on Kamino and Onderon. 6/10.