The eleventh episode of the Bad Batch’s second season, Metamorphosis, is out on Disney Plus. It is a surprisingly dark episode that finally answers two questions that have been haunting Star Wars fans for more than ten years. Not only that, but we finally know where everything is heading and how big the stakes are going to be!
Recap of the story so far
Echo left the team to join Rex and help more people in need, particularly his clone brothers.
Omega, Wrecker, Hunter, and Tech were sent to an Ipsium mine. Their ship was stolen and Cid didn’t even pretend to care about it. They managed to get it back but not thanks to their boss.
The Empire’s most secret project
There are many secret projects that the Empire is actively developing, but the most important one is cloning experimentation. Palpatine knows that it doesn’t matter if the Empire succeeds or not, as long as he finds a way to keep himself alive there always be an opportunity to rule the galaxy.
Mount Tantiss holds one of the main installations where experiments and research take place. We don’t know for how long they’ve been conducting this type of scientific research or the horrible things that were done but we do have an idea of the extent of it.
Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, The Mandalorian, and the Sequel Trilogy are revealing key pieces in Palpatine’s puzzle. Cloning a simple human is one thing but creating a force-sensitive clone is on a different level and we’re slowly seeing how it happened.
I’m sure that many things contributed to the controversial return of Darth Sidious; experimenting with captured Jedi or studying rare beasts that possess incredible features are the most obvious ones. If what I’m assuming is accurate then it makes sense to see why Tantiss is being guarded only by Clone Commandos.
Clone Commandos are the absolute best of the former Grand Army of the Republic. Originally displayed in teams of four, the Commandos were capable of completing the deadliest missions with all odds against them. The most famous example of this is obviously Delta Squad, from the 2005 game Republic Commando.
If an entire laboratory is being guarded by troopers that individually pose a high threat to almost anyone, then I can’t even start to imagine what or who is held captive in this research facility.
One last mission
After being stranded on a planet and receiving zero help from Cid, it’s clear that they are tired of her. She has put Hunter, Omega, Wrecker, Tech, and Echo in very difficult situations without them obtaining much in return. In fact, I’d dare to say that she owes them.
Not everything has been negative, they’ve been able to help many people and even “hurt” the Empire. Maybe they haven’t been fairly compensated in terms of credits but the Bad Batch has made good allies and when you’re against the Empire you need every help you can get.
With that said, I’m glad they’ve finally realized that working for someone like Cid isn’t the only option. It’s true that they need a way to put food on the table but there are many wealthy people that aren’t fond of the Empire.
Ideally, from now on they’re going to be independent contractors but with what’s coming I’m not sure that might be a possibility. Maybe they’ll even need to ask Cid for a favor.
Nightmare fuel
Star Wars has an incredible amount of stories with different settings and tones, many of them goofy, dark, heartbreaking, or hopeful. However, the fear factor is something that’s not common in modern Star Wars.
There are some terrifying Star Wars tales but it’s something we rarely see. I never thought that the next time we would experience something like this would be in The Bad Batch, which is why it makes it so surprising and refreshing.
The moment I saw a Clone Commando be as brave as a Jawa I knew that something went extremely wrong. The drifting ship and the disappeared crew made my sleep go away, it didn’t matter that it was almost 3 am. Something felt very different with this episode.
This unknown and horrible beast made the Clone Commando look like a rookie Stormtrooper, there aren’t many creatures capable of such a thing. When The Bad Batch arrived, my suspicions (and probably yours) were slowly confirmed.
This apex predator is immune to blaster fire, lightsaber attacks, and explosions. To make things even worse, we found out that it feeds off electric energy and evolves after consuming huge amounts of it.
Every ship, laboratory, or containment facility is basically a buffet for the reptilian beast. The Bad Batch should consider themselves lucky to have survived an encounter with the Zillo Beast, one of the deadliest creatures to ever exist.
The Zillo Beast
Zillo Beasts are ancient and powerful creatures that were thought to be extinct thousands of years before the Republic even existed. They can grow up to 97 meters (318 ft) and are virtually indestructible.
One of them was awakened at the battle of Malastare (their homeworld) and it took the efforts of multiple Jedi and clones to subdue it. Palpatine saw the incredible capabilities of this beast and ordered it to be taken to Coruscant for “research purposes”.
The Zillo Beast escaped and caused mayhem in the Republic capital, so they had to put it down with a very powerful toxin. Palpatine wouldn’t let this setback alter his plans so he ordered to have the creature secretly cloned.
It’s been more than ten years since that Clone Wars episode aired. To be honest, I thought that we’d never know what happened with that project but now we know that with the help of Nala Se, the Empire successfully cloned the mighty Zillo Beast.
Silencing witnesses
The secrecy of this project requires the ultimate discretion, if the word starts spreading it won’t take long before people start connecting the dots. Palpatine might be the most powerful man in the galaxy but this is only more reason to be cautious. There are many people inside and outside of the Empire looking for any opportunity to claim the Emperor’s throne.
In a previous episode, Clone Troopers were working with Trandoshans to capture Wookies. I called this a new low for clones, but this goes even lower. Having an entire platoon of Clone Commandos arrest citizens for seeing the Zillo Beast is something that perfectly describes the Empire, but that doesn’t make it any less infuriating.
Later, certain Clone Commando mentions that the villagers will be “dealt with”, we all know what this means. Unless the Bad Batch or anyone else comes to their rescue their days are counted.
This series has overall kept a light tone compared to shows like Andor but I’m doubting that it will stay the same for the rest of the series. Dr. Hemlock has certainly made an impression, there aren’t many animated characters that I genuinely dislike but my gut is telling me that he might join the select list.
The worst is yet to come
Hemlock brings Lama Su, Kamino’s former prime minister to ask him for something that he can use to control Nala Se. Lama Su is someone that has always lacked character and integrity. He didn’t offer any type of resistance when Kamino was destroyed.
It took just a few seconds for Lama Su to spill what he knows about Omega and her importance to Nala Se. This changes everything, now that one of the top Imperial scientists is going to actively look for Omega things are going to get very ugly.
Everyone that they had crossed paths with is now a p potential target; clones, civilians, smugglers, and crime lords. The thing that worries me most is not that they capture Omega, but what they can do to her when they find out that she’s unique among the clones.
On the bright side Rex, Cody, and Echo are still out there and I have zero doubts that they’d come to Omega’s help if the situation requires it. We also haven’t heard about Crosshair for multiple episodes, he’s the most logical choice for the job but I haven’t given up on him.
Regardless of what Cody, Rex, and Crosshair do, Omega is now a priority target and the Empire is not going to send Stormtroopers. I just hope that Omega, Hunter, Wrecker, and Tech are prepared when for whatever is to come.
Easter Eggs in Season 2 Episode 11 “Metamorphosis”
One of this week’s easter eggs is related to a movie franchise that changed science fiction forever. Another one finally confirms something that thousands of us wondered about since the first season of The Bad Batch.
Alien: The Eight Passenger
This episode is so similar to the first Alien movie. The stranded ship, the dead crew, and a creature that looks like it came straight out of hell. Even the small Zillo beast looks very similar to the Xenomorph.
RC-1262
After many months of speculation, it has finally been confirmed that the Clone Commando’s leader is in fact RC-1262 AKA Scorch. The demolition specialist of Delta Squad is now under the direct orders of Dr. Hemlock. This gives me hope to see Fixer and Boss at least one more time but at the same time, it’s sad to see where Scorch ended up.
Aurebesh
Aurebesh is the writing system used to transcribe the “Galactic Basic” language. It appears on almost every show, game, comic, and movie of the Star Wars universe. This episode is no exception, below are some translations from this episode.
“Analysis Complete”
“Status Breach”
“System Malfunction”
The main heading is translated to “Specimen A: Zillo Beast growth level 1”. Some of the smaller letters also mention details like “Armor-tailed spike”, “Arms, legs, and hands have extreme dexterity”, and “High adrenaline, no lactic acid”.
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