Star Wars: The Clone Wars S7:E2 Review: "A Distant Echo"

The second episode of season 7 carries along the story started last week in "The Bad Batch." Once again, we follow Captain Rex and the brave but unique squad Clone Force 99, as they embark on a mission to see whether or not Rex’s theory is correct, or if they’re falling into a trap. Knowing that the answer could be either, Anakin Skywalker tags along on a desperate mission to rescue a thought to be fallen Clone brother or help them escape unharmed if the Clones were tricked.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars - "A Distant Echo"" Clip

Hidden Love

The episode opens with a great scene between Anakin and Padme Amidala. Of course, with the Jedi Knight having to keep his marriage a secret, he enlists the help of Captain Rex to help him get some privacy as he has an all too quick conversation with her. I liked how despite being 3 years into fighting on the front lines, Anakin still has doubts and feels comfortable asking Padme for advice. He doesn’t have all the answers, but her wisdom leads him to trust Rex’s intuition on whether or not to go after Clone Echo’s voice that had been translating the Republic’s battle plans into action, leading to so many Republic losses. Before he could finish talking to her, Obi-Wan comes by looking for Skywalker, and Rex tries his best to distract the Jedi general. Rex is a great soldier, but a poor liar and Obi-Wan almost immediately notice something is up, remarking he hoped he told Padme he said hello on his behalf. Considering the master and apprentice are together so often, it would be pretty unrealistic for him not to know about their relationship, so seeing that Obi-Wan not only knows there is something between them but also accepts it is great to see. The Jedi Council denied permission for Anakin and the Clones to embark on their mission, but they go anyway.

Rex and Anakin are just as much brothers as the rest of the Clones are at this point.

Skako Minor

Echo’s alleged signal originated from the planet Skako Minor, home of the infamous Techno Union, a company usually considered to be closely allied with the Separatists, but in actuality considered themselves neutral in the war. They even produced starships and arms for the Republic. The Techno Union has profited off of both sides of the war, but the Clones didn’t care. Unlike the crew’s last landing, they manage to make it down safely to the planet, for a few seconds. Skako is home to the Keeradaks, large flying reptiles. One of them swoops down and carries Anakin away, but not before Crosshair fires a grappling hook, attaching itself on the large creature. Hunter grabs on and zips away following after Anakin. The rest of the squad follows them to a village of natives. Rex urges them not to engage, just to disarm, and after running through the village, disarming warriors as they went along, they eventually find Anakin, and the village’s elder desperately pleads that they don’t want their war on their planet. Even indigenous species have been affected by the Clone Wars. The elder helps the Clones by letting some of his scouts lead them closer to their goal, the city Purkoll where they believe Echo to be held if he is alive.

Anakin often has to be the peacekeeper between Rex and Clone Force 99.

Hunting Down Echo

Closer to their goal than ever, the Clones break out into an argument. Everyone but Rex is skeptical about whether or not Echo is alive, and when Crosshair remarks that he would’ve left Echo for dead, the Clone Captain snaps and picks a fight. He even stands up to the much larger Wrecker before Anakin defuses the situation and sends 99 out to scout the area ahead. He tells Rex to be ready for the worst, just in case his theory isn’t correct, and Rex reluctantly agrees. What follows is a desperate search through the city, a stealth mission gone wrong, and a revelation that I don’t want to spoil. 

The Techno Union might be neutral in the war, but Rex and the others aren't about to let that stop him.

Final Thoughts

“A Distant Echo” is another worthy episode in the "Clone Wars" saga. The banter/conflict between Clones remains entertaining, and the action was intense at times, with long shots without any cuts heightening the tension as the squad descended further into the bowls of danger. There are several shots of Clones firing from behind their shoulder, as if straight out of Battlefront I wonder if this is the end of the Anaxes storyline, now that the question brought has been answered, and there are only 4 left. There’s a lot of ground to cover, with the Siege of Mandalore and Ahsoka’s duel with Darth Maul still to come. If it is the end, I think it was a great way to ease us back into the story by focusing on the Clones.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars A Distant Echo" Rating:

The Clones were completely surrounded in the Techno Union city.

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