Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The search for Echo begins

Anakin, Rex, and the Bad Batch embark on a dangerous rescue mission that will leave you speechless on the latest Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Another episode, another week closer to having to watch Order 66 from a whole new but equally devastating perspective.

Or one week closer to getting to see the epic duel between Ahsoka and Maul. Whichever way you want to look at it.

In the second episode of Season 7 — the second installment of the Bad Batch arc — Anakin, Rex, and the Bad Batch set out to find Echo … if he’s still alive, that is.

After finding their way into another droid facility, thanks to Echo’s signal, the team does what they do best: Blasting through a bunch of droids without hesitation to find what they’ve hopefully come to save.

That’s when we learn the truth: It wasn’t just a distant signal. Echo is still alive.

It turns out he has been kept in stasis and plugged into a framework of sorts for quite a long time. Presumably ever since losing him at the Citadel. He has no memory of what’s been happening. It’s possible he won’t even be able to remain alive for long.

Poor Rex. It’s not fair. This isn’t even the worst of what’s coming, but it’s still too much.

My theory that each episode of this final season will be better than the last still stands. I couldn’t look away. Seeing that scene with the translation tech was fantastic. Per usual, the action and emotion were perfectly balanced in this episode. And it tells you just enough of what you want to know to leave you itching for next Friday already (more than usual, anyway).

I did not expect the opening scene between Rex and Anakin (and Anakin and Padmé … and Rex and Obi-Wan). And it was probably my favorite scene of the entire episode.

The dynamic between Rex and Anakin is clearly becoming problematic. Rex still has no choice but to remain loyal to his general, and he’s not necessarily having second thoughts … yet. But his attachment to Echo — and finally having him back — is really going to twist things around. Probably not for the better.

Maybe Rex will decide he wants Echo kept a secret from the rest of the Jedi generals … and in supporting him, Anakin won’t be the only one hiding something from the people he is supposed to remain loyal to.

Or perhaps Anakin will refuse to let Rex keep that secret, and the bond the two of them have formed will start to bend closer to the point of breaking.

Whatever ends up happening here, this is all setting up and attempting to prepare us for the final arc (and the simultaneous shattering of all our hearts). The clones are starting to view the Jedi in the same way many others in the galaxy do. Almost as if they sense things are about to change.

At least when Rex no longer has Anakin to trust, he’ll have Ahsoka. For like, one battle. No spoilers if you haven’t read E.K. Johnston’s Ahsoka novel, but the two of them are really going to need each other to lean on about 10 episodes down the line.

Sigh. Still not ready.

What do you hope to see in the final two episodes of the Bad Batch arc in The Clone Wars?