'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' Breakdown: The Details And History That Enrich "Unfinished Business"

"Unfinished Business" is the final episode of the "Bad Batch" arc of Star Wars: The Clone Wars' final season. Airing today on Disney+, this episode takes the fight directly to the evil Admiral Trench, a spider-like Harch with bionic components thanks to Anakin Skywalker defeating him early on in the war. In the episode, the Bad Batch are joined by Echo and Rex as well as the Jedi Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mace Windu, as they infiltrate Trench's ship and work to destroy it from the inside.For our deep dive, we take a closer look at some of the details in the episode and add some context that will help you enjoy the episode even more.

Once the Jedi and clones decide they need to infiltrate Admiral Trench's command ship in order to turn the tide at the Battle of Anaxes, they decide subterfuge is the best way to do it. They get in one of their ships and allow Echo to plug into the computer and mask their transponder so they appear to be a friendly ship for the droids. The scene plays out very much like a similar scene in Return of the Jedi, but with Anakin Skywalker on the other side of the equation. In Jedi, the Rebel heroes are trying to spirit their way past the Imperial blockade of the forest moon of Endor to destroy the shield generator and Vader stops and thinks for a long moment. Naturally, he's feeling the presence of his son, but there's every chance he's thinking back to moments like this from his previous life where he was on the other side of such equations. The droids aboard Trench's ship aren't as bright as Vader and Admiral Piett, so they quickly let the clone ship aboard their own. This is one of those situations that highlights the difference between clones and droids and how their commanders treat them. Droids can't think creatively like clones, per the cloners on Kamino and this situation reinforces that. The clones came up with a really creative plan and the droids simply didn't see through it and their commanders didn't press them to investigate through the anomaly. 

One thing you'll notice on the wrists of some the Jedi and Clones are the comlinks. Blackish-blue rectangles with oval sides and a light at the top. These are inspired by Qui-Gon Jinn's Jedi communicator in The Phantom Menace. Those gained popularity as something of a joke since they were resin casts of a Gillete "Ladies Sensor Excel Razor" that was widely available at the time. They've naturally changed shape a little bit, but the fact that they've taken the jump into the animated universe is always worth noting.It also speaks to how well-designed the shape and form of those original razors were. 

Mace Windu might be one of the most fascinating Jedi in the entire order. He's stoic and sure in The Phantom Menace, but on the eve of the Clone Wars, he's optimistic about the Jedi and all they stand for. "As you know, mi'lady," Windu tells Senator Amidala, "Count Dooku was once a Jedi. He would never assassinate anyone, it's not in his character.""We're keepers of the peace" he tells Palpatine, "not soldiers."But slowly, the course of the war changes and molds him into that warrior he swears the Jedi never become. He even advocates for the assassination of Dooku, something he swore wasn't in the character of any Jedi. In this episode, you see him still trying to cling to those ideals. He tries to negotiate with the droids through fear, claiming he's killed over 100,000 B1 Battle Droids and offers them a life of better service and better programming if they just surrender.But how delusional can he be?Would it even be possible in the programming for a droid to simply surrender and change their programming?It just goes to show how far gone Windu is.This idea is also further compounded when Windu is left to disarm the giant bomb at the end of the episode. Instead of relying on the Force, he waits for technology to complete the problem for him. He's ready to simply guess instead of use his intuition, but Anakin's dark threats against Admiral Trench made it so he was able to provide Windu with the last number.It's no wonder the Jedi were so caught off guard by Order 66. They'd turned their back on everything they believed in.

In the previous episodes in this arc, the Jedi took more of a back seat in the story as it established the Bad Batch and Rex and Echo as a force to be reckoned with. This week, it shows how that teamwork and interaction with the Jedi plays out and it's so much fun to watch, even if this is  leading to a heartbreaking end. That might be the most fascinating thing about these episode, the clones are so good and they care so much and the Jedi care about them. And it's all heading to Order 66. With mere months left in the war, one wonders where the Bad Batch will be when they get the order. Will there even be a Jedi around? What does their job become in the new Empire? Do they even survive the war?These are questions I hope get answered sooner than later.Until next week, when a new arc starring Ahsoka begins!