WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the series premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, “Aftermath,” now streaming on Disney+.
Darth Vader is arguably the most prominent figure in all of Star Wars, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the first episode of The Bad Batch. In fact, in the show’s debut outing, “Aftermath,” one member of Clone Force 99 is compared directly to the Dark Lord of the Sith.
The Bad Batch begins on the planet Kaller, where the team is dispatched to help Jedi Master Depa Billaba and her apprentice, Caleb Dume, fend off Separatist forces. However, shortly after they arrive, Order 66 is executed, and all of Billaba’s forces turn on her. It quickly becomes apparent that Clone Force 99 is unaffected by the order, as they have don’t have a drive to kill Caleb, who joined them on a counter-attack.
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The actions of the other Clones leave the Bad Batch stunned, mostly because they don’t understand how their brothers could turn on someone they fought alongside so quickly. So, after failing to convince Caleb to escape with them, Hunter and the rest of the team return to Kamino, looking for answers.
When they arrive, the vibe on their homeworld is eery, and the group quickly realizes that something has changed about the “regs.” The Bad Batch then heads to their quarters, where they discuss what might be going on. Tech brings up that each Clone is given an inhibitor chip at birth which leaves them susceptible to any order given by their superiors. Things are different for the Bad Batch, however, because of their mutations. Tech surmises that the alterations made to their bodies rendered the chips useless, at least for the most part.
But the same can’t be said for Echo, who joined the group in Season 7 of The Clone Wars. He was never mutated, but he was experimented on by the Separatists on Skako Minor, which must have affected his chip. When explaining this to the Bad Batch, Tech doesn’t mince any worse, saying that Echo is “more machine than man.”
This line is a direct reference to one used to describe Darth Vader in the Original Trilogy. In Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker returns to Dagobah to visit Yoda and ends talking with Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost about his impending battle with his father. Obi-Wan tries to convince Luke that he needs to kill his father to end the conflict, but the young Jedi still believes there’s good in Vader. Obi-Wan disagrees, however, saying that Vader’s “more machine now than man. Twisted and evil.”
Of course, Obi-Wan ended up being wrong, and Luke was able to bring his father to the Light Side. Echo may have similarly lost a piece of himself when the Separsits used him for evil, but when things mattered most, he returned to his brothers and began fighting for the good guys once again.
Created by Dave Filoni, Star Wars: The Bad Batch stars Dee Bradley Baker and Ming-Na Wen. The series premieres May 4 on Disney+.
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