Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4 recap: Here’s a hot tip

In Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4, ‘Cornered’, Clone Force 99 finds themselves on the official Imperial wanted list. Where can they escape to in a fast-changing galaxy?

Dwindling rations, no allies, the Empire on their tail, and somehow, the titular heroes find themselves in even more hot water in this installment of the Disney Plus show.

To stop the Empire from tracking them, Tech must scramble their ship’s signal. But he can’t do that while they’re in space. Despite the dangers of landing, the team has no choice. They head to the nearest spaceport—Pantora.

The bustling city is a hub for people from all over the galaxy. But Clone Force 99’s first interaction on the planet isn’t great. They need to bribe the hangar supervisor so he doesn’t note down their ship’s signal. Of course, he immediately rats them out. But not to the Empire.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4 – The Bounty Hunter

Fans of the other Disney Plus Star Wars show, The Mandalorian, have been waiting with bated breath to see Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). Fennec, a bounty hunter, was seemingly killed in the first season of the live-action series, before being mechanically resurrected in the follow-up.

And she’s back in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4! This animated series is a prequel to the events in The Mandalorian. In fact, it takes place long before the original Star Wars trilogy. Looks like Fennec Shand really enjoyed being a bounty hunter, if she kept it up for so many decades.

It is Fennec that the supervisor reports Clone Force 99’s appearance to. But she isn’t looking for the clone team. Her target is Omega.

As we’ve learned over the last few episodes, young Omega is deemed a valuable asset, at least by the Kaminoans. Have they sent Fennec? We don’t have an answer this episode, but we’ll find out soon enough.

Fennec makes short work of finding Omega, who wanders off from Hunter when an animal steals her toy clone trooper. Omega’s lived her entire life on Kamino. Everything is overwhelming for her. This spaceport on Pantora is not where she needs to be.

Of course, Fennec finds Omega and befriends her. Apparently, the Kaminoans never taught Omega not to talk to strangers? Omega immediately takes to Fennec, even inviting her to join Clone Force 99. This child will become attached to anyone, apparently!

Hunter eventually finds Omega and Fennec, only for them to engage in a massive fight that draws the authorities’ attention. Even when Omega hides in a maintenance tunnel, Fennec finds her, and easily dispatches Wrecker.

It’s only after a long chase in the skies, across three different vehicles, that Hunter manages to rescue Omega and escape from Fennec. The bounty hunter isn’t happy but she’s not giving up.

Fennec stops by the hangar to pay the supervisor and to tell him to inform her if he sees Clone Force 99 ever again. Then Fennec informs whoever has sent her on this mission that she will find Omega soon.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4 – Droid for Sale

While the bounty hunter chase was causing chaos in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4, Echo had unusual problems of his own to deal with.

Since the team has barely any credits left, Hunter, Echo, and Omega had gone into the city to exchange their last explosive for some credits. Hunter can more easily blend into a crowd, but with Echo’s prosthetics, he sticks out. Not if he’s pretending to be a droid though.

Of course, the buyers in Pantora drive a hard bargain—the explosive is worth little, especially now that the war is over. The buyer does take interest in Echo the droid, however. And he pays a handsome price for him.

Echo isn’t well-pleased about the situation, but he knows he can get out of it. And there’s an unexpected advantage to pretending to be a droid—Echo ends up freeing the buyer’s actual droids from their restraining bolts so they can help him and Tech get their ship ready for escape.

What would have taken Tech hours to do—and delayed Clone Force 99’s escape from Pantora, especially with the authorities on their tail—took barely minutes with the droids’ help.

And with that, the team escapes Pantora, hopefully, to find a planet to hide on. What they don’t know is that Fennec Shand is not giving up her search for Omega. Is this galaxy big enough to hide the squad from her?

Final Thoughts – Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4 is Changing Direction

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4 was a fun change of pace. There was plenty of action and some hairy moments for everyone involved.

It’s great to see Fennec, though she is far more ruthless here than the version we met in The Mandalorian. Will she eventually join the team or is Fennec going to be one of Clone Force 99’s many antagonists? So many questions! We can’t wait to get the answers soon.

The animation in this episode was extraordinary. The level of detail has been improving with each succeeding animated season of the Star Wars universe, but Pantora was a treat for the eyes. Wherever we go next, it’s going to have a hard time matching up to this episode.

What did you think of Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is streaming on Disney Plus.