3x06 Infiltration (1)

[7.3/10] If there’s one thing I appreciate in the animated corner of Star Wars, it’s a good paranoid atmosphere. I don’t know why these shows are so good at it. Maybe it’s just the inherent tension of running secret resistance units, with various bad guys and good guys hatching shadowy plans. But something about situations where you’re not sure who you can trust, and tensions are high, fits this corner of the cinematic universe well.

So the idea that Rex’s compatriots finally have one of Dr. Hemlock’s “shadows”, a set of secret assassins, alive and well, makes for a good story engine. What information can they get out of him? What does it mean that Omega is one of his top targets? How does that play out amid the understandable mistrust between Crosshair and Howzer? And what of the second shadow, dispatched to take out the first, skulking about the good guys’ compound and causing problems galore?

The world-building alone makes this one interesting. We get to see inside of Rex’s operation in earnest for what I think is the first time. We learn more about Dr. Hemlock’s program, about clone troopers who are conditioned. (A precursor to how the stormtroopers are brainwashed by the time of the First Order?) That tidbit adds to the sense of the clowns having their personhood violated without compunction that's pervaded the animated wing of Star Wars since The Clone Wars show. And it also seems to be setting up a twist that somebody is on the Empire’s side and doesn’t know it. (My assumption is that it’s Howzer, just to throw us for a loop, but who knows!)

But I also appreciate the character element of it. I like the fact that Crosshair isn’t just back in the fold and everything’s hunky dory again. Howzer would rightfully have some beef with the guy who killed his men stepping back into their good graces. The conflict of Rex and Howzer wanting to interrogate him, the concern that he’s holding something back, the sense that stoic Crosshair doesn’t want to talk about his trauma all adds to the same simmering tensions that existed in the prior episode.

The action is good too. Having the second shadow lurking in the...er...shadows, bearing down on the good guys and setting the stage for a bigger attack means there’s a ticking clock on how long the other clones can bicker, whether they know it or not. And while this isn’t as measured or moody as some of the other episodes this season, there’s an unhurried pace to how everything gets setup here, and the artfulness of how the captured shadow seems like an unnerving madman, replete with a Kubrick-esque angle on his glare, contributes to the foreboding atmosphere of this whole deal.

On the whole, I can see why Disney released this and the next episode together, because this really only feels like half a story, but it ably sets up some interesting tensions and conflicts both personal and practical to bring to a head in the next installment.