The Bad Batch recap: Episode 5 “Rampage” ending explained

Warning! Spoilers follow for Star Wars: The Bad Batch episode 5, “Rampage.”

If you’ve ever wanted to see a large, mutated clone trooper wrestle an adolescent female rancor until they’re both too tired to throw any more punches, you’re in for a treat with The Bad Batch episode 5, titled “Rampage.”

While the Bad Batch was trying to lay low as deserters of the Empire, in the previous episode they learned someone is after Omega and sent a highly-skilled bounty hunter named Fennec Shand to retrieve the little girl clone. Now, they head to the planet Ord Mantell to try to get some more information from Cid, a Trandoshan who the Jedi supposedly trusted.

The Bad Batch episode 5 ending explained

The episode ends with the Bad Batch and Omega back at Cid’s seedy casino after successfully — though certainly not quietly — running a rancor-rescuing job for her in exchange for information about Fennec Shand and who she might be working for. It turns out, Fennec is new to the bounty hunting scene, but she’s already gained notoriety, according to Cid. Despite her connections in the Bounty Hunter’s Guild, Cid still can’t determine who hired Fennec for the job of hunting down Omega. She tells the Bad Batch that they must be pretty valuable if they have a bounty hunter of Fennec’s caliber after them.

Cid gives them their cut of the mission and tells them that they’re “going to need friends and money…mostly money” if they’re going to find out more about Fennec’s job while also staying out of her grasp.

Oh, and that rancor they retrieved from Zygerrian slavers? Her name is Muchi and she belongs to Jabba the Hutt, as evidenced by (a much younger) Bib Fortuna arriving at Cid’s to pick up the rancor. So, it’s likely that Muchi is the same rancor Luke Skywalker encounters in Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi. Consider our minds blown.

How, exactly, did the Bad Batch rescue Muchi from the clutches of Zygerrian slave traders? Like most missions for the Bad Batch, things go bad quickly. Their success this time is mostly due to sheer luck, quick thinking on the fly, and Omega’s fearlessness and eagerness.

When they first meet Cid, she’s operating in a seedy part of Ord Mantell full of cantinas, casinos, and graffitied walls. Though at first Cid tries to hide her identity, Omega quickly deduces that she’s the one they’re looking for. Cid supposedly “had a good thing going” with the Jedi during the Clone Wars. But, “now they’re all dead.”

“Time’s have changed, for all of us,” Hunter says.

For Cid to work her connections and get more information on Fennec, she tells the Bad Batch they have to run a job for her — Zygerrians took a kid as a slave, and they’re operating out of the ruins on Ord Mantell. Cid says they’ll split the bounty 70-30, and Omega agrees on the group’s behalf.

As they arrive at the ruins, Omega asks what a slave trader is, and Echo and Tech explain the lucrative business of capturing and selling people. Omega is understandably horrified and confused. Meanwhile, Wrecker grumbles about his head hurting again. It’s only a matter of time before something bad happens to Wrecker because of his inhibitor chip.

The plan to rescue Muchi starts out strong: Echo keeps a lookout overhead, Wrecker draws out the Zygerrian forces, Tech and Hunter move in and grab the kid and Omega stays on the ship. Omega protests, of course, but Hunter tells her, “that’s an order.” Within minutes, Echo is attacked by a winged lizard (called a Brezak) and the Bad Batch is captured and collared by the Zygerrians.

Back on the ship, Omega is painting her little trooper plush she got on Pantora to make her a Bad Batcher while Gonky the droid clops around. When the Zygerrians find the Bad Batch ship, Omega escapes and heads to the ruins after her comm signals to the team go unanswered.

At the ruins, she sees the Bad Batch chained up near several other people captured as slaves, including a child who they think is Muchi. The Zygerrian leader exclaims his excitement over finding “four new slaves to add to my collection.” When the Bad Batch argues that the Republic outlawed slavery, the Zygerrian snaps back, “we’re not in the Republic anymore, skug.”

As Omega is trying to find a way to free her dads and the others, she sees a different creature locked in a cage nearby. She’s then grabbed by a Zygerrian, but not before she manages to unlock the cage, freeing the rancor inside.

“A rampaging adolescent rancor was not a problem I was anticipating,” Tech says, echoing all of our sentiments.

Then it all clicks for the Bad Batch: The rancor is the “kid” they need to rescue and bring back to Cid to get their intel on Fennec.

Chaos ensues with Muchi simultaneously trying to flee and fight the Zygerrians and their Brezak, Hunter impressively overcoming a Zygerrian’s electro-whip, and Wrecker learning just how much energy is needed to challenge an alpha rancor. Turns out, headbutting it after running at full speed will do the trick.

As Wrecker and Muchi collapse on top of one another, exhausted by all the fighting, Omega says, “Aw, she’s kind of cute up close.”

The Bad Batch may not have many friends, but after a successful job, Cid offers them more mercenary/bounty hunting-type opportunities if they’re interested. Working with the Trandoshan might be dangerous, but so are being deserters and prized clones amid a changing galaxy.

The Bad Batch episode 5, “Rampage,” is streaming now. Episode 6 drops next Friday, June 4, on Disney+.