By George & Josh Bate
Fan favorites from The Clone Wars returned in a two-part episode of The Bad Batch this week. Here are all of the easter eggs, hidden details, and references we noticed in The Bad Batch – Season 3, Episode 6-7: “Infiltration” and “Extraction”
The episode begins on the planet Pantora. This planet first appeared in The Clone Wars episode “Sphere of Influence.” Notably, George Lucas makes a cameo appearance as a Pantoran – Baron Notluwiski Papanoida – in Revenge of the Sith.
Rex coordinates a meeting between Pantoran senator Riyo Chuchi and senator Avi Singh. Chuchi first appeared in The Clone Wars episode “Trespass” before playing a more substantial role in The Bad Batch Season 2 as an advocate for clone rights. Chuchi is voiced by Jenner Hale, who has voiced a range of Star Wars characters, including Bastila Shan in Knights of the Old Republic, Jaden Korr in Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Aayla Secura and Lolo Purs in The Clone Wars, and Valik in Resistance. Perhaps more notably, Hale voices Samus in the Metroid Prime trilogy of video games.
Avi Singh, meanwhile, appeared in the tenth episode of The Bad Batch Season 1 titled “Common Ground.” In this episode, the Bad Batch were hired by Cid to rescue Avi Singh after he refused to align with the Empire. In that episode, Singh was voiced by Alexander Siddig, well known for his portrayal as Dr. Julian Bashir in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in Season 1, but is now voiced by Danny Jacobs in Season 3.
Riyo Chuchi and Avi Singh discuss the Emperor’s fear of rebels against the Empire allying together. This is a reference to the Rebel Alliance, whose formation is depicted in Andor and Rebels.
Rex’s base is a B’omarr Order Monastery that is on the planet Teth, as confirmed by StarWars.com. This means Rex’s base is the same monastery that Asajj Ventress used to hide Rotta in the 2008 film The Clone Wars. The inner and outer architecture bear a resemblance to Jabba’s Palace, because Jabba’s Palace is also a B’omarr Order Monastery.
“Infiltration” sees the return of Howzer, who appeared in the Ryloth arc of The Bad Batch Season 1. In the episode “Tipping Point,” Howzer notably gave a speech to other troopers that led to him and others rebelling from the Empire. Now in Season 3, after some time has passed, we can see that Howzer has firmly joined the ranks of Rex’s rising clone rebellion.
The clone trooper Nemec, who appeared in Season 2’s episode “Tipping Point,” is also in this two-part arc as a member of Rex’s team.
Gregor is not present at Rex’s Monastery base, but he is referenced when Fireball brings in a dish and claims it is “Gregor’s recipe.”
The Imperial assassin, often referred to as Clone X, who appears in these episodes is of the same class of assassin that tried to assassinate the Kaminoans in The Bad Batch Season 2. It is revealed in this episode that these elite clones are brainwashed by the Empire and used for dangerous missions. In the credits. they are credited as C-X1 and C-X2.
Wolffe notably appears in this two-part arc of The Bad Batch. Wolffe fought alongside Rex in the Clone Wars and lost his arm to Asajj Ventress. Wolffe reappeared in Rebels, once again fighting alongside Rex. In this arc, however, Wolffe is working for the Empire. Given that Wolffe lets Rex and others go at the end of these episodes, it’s unlikely Wolffe will be working for the Empire much longer. Fans of Star Wars will likely known that Wolffe’s name is a nod to Dave Filoni’s favorite animal. Filoni’s character in live-action Star Wars is called Trapper Wolf.
With the release of the new episode, a character poster spotlighting Wolffe was released.
The Wilhelm Scream can be heard when two troopers fall out of their crashing shuttle.
In reuniting with Rex, Wolffe remarks that he thought Rex was dead. This is a reference to the series finale of The Clone Wars in which Rex and Ahsoka escaped the clutches of clones in a crashing ship.
Rex’s plan is revealed in this arc. Rex wants to rescue clones imprisoned on Tantiss, who are being experimented on by Doctor Hemlock. The problem is Rex and his team don’t know the location of Tantiss.
The second clone assassin (C-X2) that arrives on Teth to assassinate the captured clone assassin (C-X1) may be Commander Cody. This is just a theory, but there’s several hints that this may be the case. In The Bad Batch Season 2, Cody left the ranks of the Empire and vanished. It’s possible that Hemlock’s crew got a hold of Cody at some point and brainwashed him to be part of this Clone X program. C-X2 also uses a vibroblade, which Cody used in Season 2 of The Bad Batch. C-X2 punches Crosshair with an upper-cut move in this episode in a manner that is eerily similar to an upper-cut punch Cody delivered to the rogue clone Slick in The Clone Wars episode “The Hidden Enemy.” Finally, and admittedly this may be a stretch, C-X2 mistakenly thought he drowned and killed Crosshair in this episode. Cody makes this same mistake in Revenge of the Sith when he thinks Obi-Wan is dead after falling into a lake on Utapau.
While it’s possible that this second clone assassin (Clone X2?) is Cody, others have posited it is actually a brainwashed Tech. During the waterfall fight, C-X2 says to Crosshair, “You had your chance to be one of us.” While the obvious interpretation of this line is that C-X2 is saying Crosshair could’ve joined the elite Clone X unit, it’s also possible this is a brainwashed version of Tech saying that Crosshair had the chance to stay with the Bad Batch. Whether C-X2 is Cody, Tech, or someone else entirely, we’ll wait and see who this mysterious clone assassin actually is.
The waterfall fight between Wolffe and Crosshair is reminiscent of various climatic battles in other stories. Sherlock Holmes fought his nemesis Moriarty on Reichenbach Falls. T’Challa and Killmonger also fought one another at the edge of a waterfall in Black Panther.
Omega can be seen sucking on a toothpick, something that Crosshair is known to do. Throughout the series, Omega has picked up various habits and traits from her fellow members of the Bad Batch.
Omega says, “You’re as bad as Hunter” to Crosshair. Crosshair responds, “Oh I’m much worse.” This was reportedly a very late addition to the episode and is one of the creative team’s favorite scenes in the episode.
Check out our spoiler review of the two-part arc of The Bad Batch below: