Summary
“Devil’s Deal” puts its focus on Ryloth and some returning characters as the Bad Batch take a back seat.
This recap of Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 1, episode 11, “Devil’s Deal”, contains spoilers.
Reminiscent of last week’s opening, “Devil’s Deal” similarly begins on a planet occupied by the Empire, with Admiral Rampart intimidating the local Senator Taa about his Twi’lek peoples’ obvious unhappiness with Imperial presence. But this is a bit different since the planet in question in Ryloth and Taa’s advisors include Cham Syndulla, “The Hammer of Ryloth”, and a noted freedom fighter who has appeared in all kinds of different Star Wars media over the years. He’s in a bit of a pickle. He trusts the clone army and wants peace, and he gives a stirring speech to that effect, but it’s obvious something is amiss wherever the Empire is concerned — probably why Rampart asks a rather leading question about where Hera is.
As it turns out — I heard a thousand sharp intakes of breath in unison when she popped up — Hera is close by with Chopper! They’re gathering intel for Gobi Glie, who we know Crosshair has an eye on since he was scanning the crowd for him at the very top of the episode. What’s going on at the Imperial refinery? Hard to say. Senator Taa is concerned that the people are still loyal to Cham, so he’s up to something too, and Crosshair is adamant that Gobi, Cham’s lieutenant, is the real threat, but of everyone, Hera seems the one most determined to take up arms against the occupation — hardly surprising given what we know of her life after this.
Cham’s insistence that Ryloth just blithely accepts the Empire’s terms is a bit of a stretch in Bad Batch episode 11. It’s obvious the refinery is being used as a military staging ground. Here, Glie is presented as the rebel, and Cham the reluctant elder statesman, so it makes sense that Hera would be more fascinated with and excited by her uncle, whose mindset is closer to hers. She goes with him to acquire weapons after surrendering their arms to the Empire, and of course, they’re trading with Clone Force 99. Hera immediately strikes up a relationship with Omega, to whom she wistfully explains she’ll one day be a pilot. Good prediction! The downside, though, is that Crosshair plants a tracker on Glie’s ship before he leaves, so when they return to Ryloth, he’s lying in wait, ready to snipe one of the engines.
Rampart and Senator Taa are pleased as punch to apprehend Hera and Glie since it gives them an angle on Cham, whom they’re still trying to denounce. Crosshair leaves Glie’s scouts alive to report back to Cham, knowing he’ll take rash action to protect Hera — and he does, planning to ambush the prison convoy so that she can’t be imprisoned for treason without a fair trial. This is the obligatory big action sequence of The Bad Batch season 1, episode 11, and it’s a very solid one, high-speed nighttime sabotage full of trucks and speeder bikes and native fauna. It’s also nice to see old-school Cham taking some names, but of course, it’s all an obvious setup devised by Admiral Rampart. He already has Crosshair in an overwatch position, and he uses him to assassinate Taa, thus framing Cham for the crime.
Looks like a two-parter. You can expect the Bad Batch to involve themselves in the drama next week.
