After the total success of getting Echo back from Admiral Trench, “Unfinished Business” is the conclusion of the four-episode arch on Anaxes. The Separatists are still beating the Republic forces on all of their battlefronts because of the use of Trench’s stolen algorithm.
Echo offers up a plan that splits the team into two groups. Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the rest of the clone forces will attack the assembly complex on the planet while the Bad Batch, Rex, and Anakin escort Echo to Trench’s dreadnought where he has his comms vault. There, he will be able to hack into Trench’s system and deal considerable damage to his forces turning the tables on the fight.
Unfortunately, Echo doesn’t have the full support of the team. The Bad Batch are still unsure about Echo’s loyalties and keep a sharp eye on him. Despite this, Rex and Anakin believe in Echo and Echo proves his loyalty time and time again. He disguises their shuttle as a Separatist friendly ship and they land on the dreadnought without issue, getting to the comms vault quickly.
This is just in time, as Mace Windu and Obi-Wan start their assault on the main assembly complex and Trench contacts Skako Minor for an algorithm to launch his counter attack. Intercepting this message, Echo is able to send back his own orders and masks them as legitimate. He tells Trench to send all of their troops on Anaxes to the assembly complex because the Republic won’t send reinforcements and instead will rely totally on the Jedi.
Not sure if this was the most believable message, since sending all troops just to destroy two Jedi seems like a lot, but Trench doesn’t hesitate to follow the orders. This immediately worries the Bad Batch, because obviously this would leave the Jedi and the clone forces totally outnumbered. But Echo has a plan, once the droids arrive, he plans to send a feedback pulse that will shut down all the droids at once.
Echo does this but also reveals to Trench at the same time that the perpetrators are on board his ship. He dispatches droids to find the infiltrators while preparing to launch the total annihilation of Anaxes as his back up plan. He has a bomb in the assembly complex that he intends to detonate. Knowing this, Anakin goes after Trench to try and stop him while Echo and the clones contact Mace Windu to tell him what has happened.
Mace finds the fusion reactor while Obi-Wan and the troops evacuate the planet, but the bomb requires a sequence for disarming. Echo is able to get all but the last number in the sequence before Trench locks in on their location and sends a pulse that incapacitates Echo. When it seems like all is lost and they must rely on a lucky guess, Anakin finds Trench at his command center.
He faces off against Trench, demanding the final number in the sequence, but Trench denies Anakin, stating that he is more afraid of Dooku killing him than Anakin, who will not kill him. Unfortunately for Trench, Anakin is not that type of Jedi and cuts off Trench’s arms in retaliation before demanding the final number. Unsurprisingly, he is successful and Mace Windu is able to deactivate the bomb, saving the planet.
Although this is a short scene, it is significant as we proceed this season towards Anakin’s eventual transformation into Darth Vader. This scene with Trench shows just how effective dipping into the dark side can be. When Trench attempts to say that a Jedi is too noble to threaten death, Anakin retorts, “I don’t have such weaknesses!” All warning signs, and for audiences, another painful reminder that this is a character doomed to walk down a dark path.
Anakin meets back up with the Bad Batch who are fighting their way off the dreadnought. Wrecker and Crosshair have a fun little competition a la Gimli and Legolas of how many droids they can take out. They get on the shuttle and Anakin hands Wrecker a detonator that easily blows up the dreadnought and some other Separatists ships. It seems a little convenient to have that a self destruct button on such a large craft, but okay.
With the mission a success, the Jedi inform the clones that they will receive commendation and medals for their work on Anaxes, but the Bad Batch are ready to leave and find their next fight. After his rescue, Echo has been irrevocably changed and, as a result, no longer feels like he belongs with the other clones, even with Rex. With Rex’s blessing, he decides to go with the Bad Batch and join their team.
This satisfying four-episode arc brought up back to The Clone Wars in satisfying fashion. We got to see Rex and rescue Echo, we saw the Bad Batch in action (finally), we saw the death of long-time enemy Admiral Trench, and we got another glimpse at the dark side’s infection of Anakin. With only eight episodes left of the final season of the show, I’m frothing at the mouth to see Ahsoka and see how the creators have decided to end the series.
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