The Cavalry has arrived! The highly anticipated second season of the Star Wars animated show “The Bad Batch” arrived in style on January 4. It kicked off with two episodes, the first titled “Spoils of War”, and the second “Ruins of War.” THIS IS A SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FIRST EPISODE OF “THE BAD BATCH!!”

“Spoils of War” opens on a beautiful and peaceful beach planet. There has been a time skip since the last season, as this season shows Omega looking older and the Batchers with new looks. The peace of the planet is disturbed as Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo try to escape the planet’s ginormous crab creatures with a package. Tech and Omega, who are on the Havoc Marauder, fly the ship down and rescue them.

They head back to the planet Ord Mantell, where they head to Cid’s Parlor. Cid is a Trandoshan who has helped them before and gets them jobs. There is a new woman in the parlor with her, Phee Genoa. Phee makes several comments on the Batch before leaving, mentioning to Cid that the intel she gave her isn’t free.

This intel is referring to the next job that Cid wants the squad for. Count Dooku, one of the heads of the opposing war effort, has left behind valuables from his war chest. Hunter is the only one who doesn’t want to do the mission, afraid it could put Omega and his batch in danger, but eventually agrees to it in the hopes that the pay could secure a safer future.

They leave for the mission, and Hunter and Echo have a tense conversation. Echo is trying to urge Hunter to use their cut of the war chest profit to fight the Empire. Hunter wants to stay out of the fight for Omega’s sake, Echo states that their lives are on the run like this because of Omega. He tells Hunter is was worth it, but he wants to help others just like they helped her. Omega overhears part of the conversation, and feels guilty.

The squad arrives on Serenno, where they briefly scout the area and locate the war chest. Hunter stays behind and readies for a diversion, while the rest of the squad find jewels and valuables to take from the Empire. The batch is soon found stealing, and Hunter sets off explosions to create the distraction.

It doesn’t entirely go as planned. Tech, Echo, and Omega end up trapped inside the war chest container, which is being flown off into the atmosphere by a huge ship. Hunter and Wrecker fight ground forces before trying to free them from the container, but the ship is already too high up.

Hunter and Wrecker jump off the ship and crash into Count Dooku’s castle, where they are chased by the Empire’s clone troopers, and eventually escape through an underground tunnel and into Serenno’s rubble. Tech, Echo, and Omega are having a harder time escaping the flying ship, especially once the escape pods are jettisoned. Omega gets the idea to escape through the individual treasure containers, and they fight their way through it.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Hunter and Wrecker being pursued by the Empire’s forces and Tech, Omega, and Echo crashing down to the planet with no way to control their steering or landing.

“I thought the first episode was a great way to kick off the season! A solid episode, it was action packed while giving the characters room to develop and interact with one another,” said Instagram artist sketchy_jellyfish. “I really loved when Echo explained his frustration about not doing more to Hunter. It’s so good to see Echo have a more prominent role in the team!”

“My overall thoughts on the episode are absolutely positive. This episode has many strong moments, and it reminded me why I love this show and animation itself in the first place. The amount of character development, humor, and action that were packed into just one 20 something minute episode impressed me,” said Instagram artist @anartisticfighter. “My top prediction is due to Echo and Hunter’s conversation in the beginning of the episode… even though both of them are soldiers, they have different views on morality, the war, and how this new Empire is affecting others less fortunate than they are.”

New episodes of “Star Wars : The Bad Batch” every Friday on Disney+!