Did The Inhibitor Chips Lessen The Impacts Of Order 66? And Is 'The Bad Batch' Trying To Fix It?
Image Source: ScreenRant
With the release of The Bad Batch Season 2, it is time to look back at something that played a major role in the first season—the inhibitor chips, and how Season 1 changed them. Inhibitor chips were implanted into all clone troopers in the Clone Army. Syfo-Dyas, the Jedi who originally ordered the clones, had the chips implanted in the clones to act as a safeguard against betrayal from a rogue Jedi or other compromised party. Ironically, after Syfo-Dyas’s death, Count Dooku and Palpatine had the chips modified to make the clones unable to resist Order 66. As anybody who had seen Revenge of the Sith will tell you, this had the opposite effect from what Syfo-Dyas had intended.
This idea has seen criticism from fans, as it took away from the clones as individuals and made it so that the most important act that the clones ever committed was no longer a choice. It was shown in Season 7 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars that Captain Rex was able to stall for a few seconds, giving his friend Ahsoka Tano enough time to escape. Later, Ahsoka was able to save Rex by removing his inhibitor chip. However, The Bad Batch has complicated this somewhat. The Bad Batch Season 1 revealed that the abnormalities in each of the Bad Batch had allowed them to resist the inhibitor chips. Then, the season finale gave the shocking revelation that Crosshair had his inhibitor chip removed and still chose to follow the Empire.
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This ties into something that has always been a part of Star Wars— choices. A large part of the original trilogy was Luke’s refusal to turn to the dark side. To many fans, Anakin’s choices that lead to his fall and then redemption are the defining traits of his 6-movie-long character arc. Since these ideas of free choice are such a huge part of the series, the idea of the clone troopers being effectively turned into zombies takes away from the idea, especially after the humanization of the clones in The Clone Wars. Fans have gotten to learn about many clone troopers like Rex, Fives, Echo, Tup, Cody, Ninety-Nine, and more through their own arcs in the show and how they are different from each other. The idea that such prominent characters can have their agency taken away from them, especially since their lack of Force powers makes them more relatable to most fans, takes away from the themes of choice.
Other fans say that the Star Wars story is about the Jedi and the fall of the Republic. The whole situation with Kamino’s existence being covered up, the clone army being created in secret, Tup’s early execution of Order 66 and Fives’ follow-up investigation, and more should have given the Jedi reason not to trust the clone army. The Jedi’s blind trust in them despite all the red flags is supposed to be the focus of the prequel era.
Regardless, the idea that clones such as Crosshair would willingly join the Empire in order to have a purpose, or simply to maintain order and structure within the galaxy is certainly an interesting idea. It provides a much-needed moral nuance to the idea of the Empire, which is almost universally seen as evil. It is interesting to look at characters who choose the Empire due to its ability to provide, their disgust with the Republic, or simply their desire for law and order over chaos. It does help provide some insight into Palpatine’s rise to power. Season 2 of The Bad Batch will continue to explore Crosshair’s choices and the rest of the Bad Batch as they navigate this new world after the Clone Wars.
Catch new episodes of Season 2 of The Bad Batch every Wednesday on Disney+
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Source(s): Wookieepedia, YouTube
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