WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1, Episode 5, “Rampage,” which is streaming on Disney+.
With Fennec Shand hot on their tails, “Rampage” saw Clone Force 99 abandon their plans to lay low for the time being and head out to Ord Mantell, hoping to gain some information on who this enigmatic bounty hunter is and why she’s after them (or, more specifically, Omega). The resulting episode was another action-packed outing that gave Wrecker a welcome chance to shine while also further charting Omega’s continued growth and development from an inexperienced kid sidekick to being just as capable as the other members of her found family.
Did we mention there’s a baby — okay, “adolescent” — rancor? Yes, “Rampage” is the episode that was teased during The Bad Batch‘s marketing, sending Clone Force 99 on a surprising rescue mission to recover an adorable-if-rampaging (hence the episode title) rancor named Muchi. It’s all part of a job that Hunter and the gang undertake at the behest of Cid (voiced by the great Rhea Pearlman), a Trandoshan bar owner who used to serve as an informant to the Jedi during the Clone Wars. Promising to deliver them some intelligence on Fennec (starting with her name), Cid hires the crew to rescue Muchi from the pack of Zygerrian slavers who’ve kidnapped her… while leaving out the part about her being a rancor.
All appearances to the contrary, however, Muchi is not the rancor Luke will eventually kill in Return of the Jedi; in the Star Wars canon, Jabba the Hutt’s beloved pet is a male rancor named Pateesa. “Rampage” ends with Muchi being reunited with her owner and Jabba’s right-hand man, Bib Fortuna, leaving her ultimate fate up in the air. It’s a small piece of comfort for anyone who finished the episode thinking they just spent some time bonding with a creature that’s doomed to meet a gruesome end. The Muchi subplot is also a refreshing example of Star Wars’ ongoing efforts to better develop the non-humans in a galaxy far, far away, as opposed to treating them like unfeeling beings without their own practices or beliefs.
Case in point: in order to calm Muchi, Tech informs Wrecker “Rancors adhere to a social hierarchy. You have to challenge the alpha for authority.” Wrecker, the delightful brawler he is, takes this as a cue to challenge Muchi single-handedly, resulting in a fist fight between the pair that he wins by default after punching Muchi enough to subdue her into a quick nap. Again, it makes for a gratifying change of pace from The Bad Batch‘s last couple episodes, in which Wrecker was frequently sidelined in order to keep the stakes high and not make it too easy for Clone Force 99 to overwhelm whatever enemies they were fighting. At the same time, Wrecker continues to suffer from a headache in “Rampage” — a small but disconcerting detail that has come up on multiple occasions, suggesting there’s either a problem with his inhibitor chip or worse. Either way, this feels like a ticking bomb that’s bound to go off soon.
On a more encouraging note, “Rampage” saw Omega come even further into her own after nearly being killed (more than once) on Saleucami and inadvertently walking straight into Fennec’s hands (somewhat literally) on Pantora. Hunter even gave her a basic but helpful set of rules to abide by: “Don’t wander off, keeps my eyes and ears on my surroundings and trust no one but my squad,” as Omega recites, shortly after Clone Force 99 arrives on Ord Mantell. She later ends up spending much of the episode on her own, after Hunter orders her to stay behind while the others go and recover Muchi from the Zygerrian slavers. Demonstrating how far she’s come in relatively little time, Omega is able to avoid being captured when the others are imprisoned by the slavers and manages to free Muchi before being caught herself, giving the rest of Clone Force 99 the chance they need to escape in the ensuing scuffle.
While the Galactic Empire doesn’t make an explicit appearance on “Rampage,” its presence looms heavy throughout the episode. The Galactic Republic, for all its faults, did in fact outlaw slavery at some point, as Echo reminds the leader of the Zygerrian slavers. “We’re not in the Republic anymore, skug,” he replies, adding “With the meddling Republic gone, we can return to Kadavo and rebuild what was taken from us.” It’s a comparatively subtle illustration of the ways the Empire has already made the universe a worse place to live in, combined with its implementation of chain codes that make it all the harder for anyone to do anything without the fascist organization knowing what they’re up to.
The episode ends with Cid keeping up her end of the bargain by revealing Fennec’s name to Hunter, stating “She’s new to the scene, but has already proven herself to be cunning and ruthless.” For now, it’s unclear who hired her, though Cid’s sources in the Bounty Hunters’ Guild inform her Fennec is “working on a direct commission,” implying that whoever it is is well-funded. Once again, the obvious answer to this riddle would be that Kamino’s Prime Minister Lama Su and/or chief scientist Nala Se hired her; though, it would be interesting if it turns out Fennec is working for Boba Fett — a character with very different motivations for recovering his father Jango’s DNA — as some have speculated.
As for Cid, she bids Hunter farewell by advising him that if he wants to keep his family safe, he’ll need friends and money… but mostly money. “Don’t worry. I’m good with secrets,” she adds slyly, which is as clear a sign as any to assume this won’t be the last Clone Force 99 sees of her, be she their ally or enemy the next time around.
Created by Dave Filoni, Star Wars: The Bad Batch stars Dee Bradley Baker, Andrew Kishino and Ming-Na Wen. New episodes premiere Fridays on Disney+.
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