By George & Josh Bate
Fennec Shand returned in the latest episode of The Bad Batch. Check out all of the easter eggs, references, and hidden details we noticed in The Bad Batch – Season 3, Episode 8: “Bad Territory” below.
This marks Phee Genoa’s first appearance this season. Phee is voiced by comedian Wanda Sykes and debuted in Season 2. A romance between Phee and Tech was teased throughout the second season, but never had the opportunity to blossom as a result of Tech’s heartbreaking death. With this being Phee’s first appearance since Tech’s death, an ode or acknowledgment to the passing of her romantic interest would be fitting, but is disappointingly not included.
Phee tells the Bad Batch that the Empire is hiring class-one bounty hunters to retrieve high M-count targets, likely for continued experimentation as part of Palpatine and Hemlock’s Project Necromancer. This is the best time (to our knowledge) that bounty hunters have been referred to as class-one, but we assume this means elite bounty hunters. The trailer for Season 3 showed that Cad Bane appears this season and, given his reputation, he is likely considered a class-one bounty hunter.
The episode sees Ming-Na Wen return as Fennec Shand. Fennec previously appeared in the first season of The Bad Batch when she was hired by Nala Se to capture Omega. In live-action, Fennec has appeared in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
Fennec is introduced sitting in a cantina speaking to a Rodian. Cantinas are obviously common fixtures to Star Wars, with Han Solo also speaking to a Rodian in the Mos Eisley Cantina in A New Hope.
A Yam’rii (also known as a Huk) appears in this episode. This species’ only other canon appearance is in A New Hope. It was referred to as the “Praying Mantis” during production. However, in Legends, they play a much more extensive role, including clashing with General Grievous and his species the Kaleesh in a war.
The bounty that Fennec, Hunter, and Wrecker are after is named Sylar Saris. Fennec remarks that Sylar eliminated the top bosses for the Haxion Brood. Haxion Brood were a criminal syndicate that first made its appearance in Jedi: Fallen Order.
Fennec’s bounty Sylar is described as the Slayer of Ordo Eris. Ordo Eris was a space station that served as a stronghold for the Haxion Brood criminal syndicate and also appeared in Jedi: Fallen Order.
The planet that Fennec, Hunter, and Wrecker hunt the bounty on has a Vietnam-esque meets American south swamp aesthetic. The characters using a small boat on a quiet river is reminiscent of a scene from Apocalypse Now and various other films set in Vietnam.
The episode features a visual parallel to Season 3 Episode 4 “The Return,” which can be seen below.
Omega tells Crosshair that she learned how to meditate from her friend Gungi. This is a reference to the Season 2 episode “Tribe” in which the Bad Batch helped Gungi and other Wookiees on Kashyyyk.
Fennec consults with an unknown person at the end of the episode. It’s possible that this mystery figure is Asajj Ventress. There are a few hints, mainly the music playing when they talk about M-count being eerily similar to the music from The Clone Wars movie while Ventress is on Teth.
Stay tuned to The HoloFiles and Star Wars Holocron for continued coverage of The Bad Batch Season 3.