Star Wars: The Bad Batch Reveals Order 66 Was Just As Horrific For Clone Troopers

Star Wars: The Bad Batch's latest episode is leaving some fans feeling pretty shaken over the deeper revelations of what Emperor Palpatine's "Order 66" truly meant for the Clone Troopers of the Republic. (Spoilers) In "Battle Scars" Clone Force 99 made contact with Captain Rex from The Clones Wars, the clone trooper that escaped Order 66 with Ahsoka Tano, after removing his inhibitor chip. Rex grows very concerned when he learns the Bad Batch hasn't yet removed their own inhibitor chips, leading to a mission to find an old Jedi cruiser in order to do so.

The Bad Batch and Rex find the wreckage of a Jedi ship and the still functioning medical bay that can deactivate their chips. Unfortunately, the Wrecker's malfunctioning chip activates, and he proceeds to try to murder his teammates, Rex, and even young Omega. Rex eventually nails Wrecker with a stun blast, and they get his chip, as well as the rest of the inhibitor chips in Clone Force 99's respective heads.

In the aftermath of the surgery, Wrecker makes a point to take Omega aside and apologize for the traumatic experience of nearly murdering her. As Wrecker tells it, he was fully aware of his actions, but could not stop himself from acting - even though he wanted to.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch has given us the first real case of a clone trooper falling under the sway of an inhibitor trip but eventually coming back from it. Rex briefly went AWOL as he and Ahsoka were first ambushed during Order 66, but that was brief. Wrecker's assault is the most personal and violent attack we've seen a brainwashed clone carry out - and his testimony about the experience is somewhat heartbreaking.

Thoughts about the implications of "Battle Scars" are reverberating throughout the Star Wars fandom. Wrecker's experience re-contextualizes the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Order 66 in a major way. It was one level of horror to see the clone troopers robotically turn on their comrades-in-arms the Jedi and murder them in cold blood; it's even more horrific to now know that troopers who called those Jedi friends were silently screaming in their own heads as they committed the atrocity.

Others have focused on the fact that Anakin Skywalker led a group of mentally enslaved clones into the slaughter at the Jedi temple on Coruscant. The thought that Anakin led mentally enslaved troopers to kill his fellow Jedi (even younglings!) makes his turn to Darth Vader and the dark side that much darker.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch streams new episodes Fridays on Disney+.