Ricky Church reviews the second episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7…
The excitement from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars premiere was raised considerably in ‘A Distant Echo’ as Rex, Anakin and the Bad Batch launched a mission to discover the source of the Separatist’s secret signal and, if possible, rescue a captive Echo. It was another great spotlight on Rex, showcasing more of his emotional vulnerability, but also offered some very interesting parallels between him and Anakin. The strong emphasis on their characters made it the best aspect to the episode.
The story doesn’t waste much time as it begins fairly soon after ‘The Bad Batch’ left off as Rex tries planning for a possible rescue mission. The focus on Rex is immediate, but Anakin plays a much bigger role here that more than makes up for his one scene in the premiere. The friendship between Anakin and Rex is clear as the Jedi is growing a little worried about Rex’s state of mind, but still wants to help him prove, one way or the other, the truth regarding Echo. Rex was shown at one of his most vulnerable emotional points through the entirety of The Clone Wars, going so far as to actually fight one of the Bad Batch members and get a slight reprimand by Anakin. It is great to see how much Rex is getting to himself in this story.
Perhaps the biggest indication of the trust Anakin places in Rex is how he had Rex stand guard during his (not-so-secret) conversation with Padmé. This scene was actually one of the strongest in the whole episode with Anakin and Padmé given some pretty earnest dialogue between each other which Matt Lanter and Catherine Taber sold completely. It was also a nice example of Padmé’s insight as she drew some pretty interesting parallels between Anakin and Rex, namely how Rex has adopted Anakin’s way of dealing with things emotionally. It also led to one of Obi-Wan’s best moments on the series. Though his appearance was very brief, his sassy send-off to Anakin, indicating he knows way more than he chooses to let on, was both hilarious and touching.
Of course, the Bad Batch were also given a lot to do, but what was great to see was how connected they are through little touches that did not involve dialogue. It was clear they could anticipate each others moves and ideas effortlessly, such as when Hunter, Crosshair and Tech plotted out how to follow and rescue Anakin from the winged beast. Dee Bradley Baker again deserves to be mentioned specifically for giving each of the Bad Batch voices that are unique to many of the other clones. The action was again exciting and innovative with the use of another tracking shot of the squad in a fight against a new type of Battle Droid. This time paired with a Jedi in battle, it really highlighted just how deadly these guys are with some stellar animation, both in how the fights were choreographed and displaying the character’s facial expressions and body language.
‘A Distant Echo’ was another satisfying episode to The Clone Wars that again made it feel like no time has passed between seasons. Dave Filoni, his production team and the voice cast have slipped back into their roles with ease. The cliffhanger the episode ends on only heightens the anticipation for next week’s episode. Given the strength of this one, we have very little reason to think it won’t live up to the excitement.
Rating: 8/10
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