Why Long-Time CW Fans Have to Re-evaluate EVERYTHING They Know About Inhibitor Chips [This is Huge]

In my head canon, the chips are wearing off. Some clones may notice this change, while others don’t. Most clones like Cody and Gregor may have had doubts about Order 66 and questioned why they followed the order without question, but otherwise stayed loyal because it seemed in that first year that things were still the same even after Palpatine’s speech. To them it was just the Republic without their compassionate leaders. So even when the chips wear off, it’s business as usual until the differences become clear. The Empire phasing them out, executing surrendered enemies, turning on former allies, and so on. But while most clones felt uneasy with some even defecting, there will always be a few like Crosshair who are loyal to a fault to the Empire. Even by the Original Trilogy, there were still a few clones training stormtroopers and in the field. But the rest of their kind as we see is just really incompatible with the Empire. Some clones saw this and left while the rest got tossed out by the Empire which had realized this early on. Even a clone trooper fan like me used to think the clones were perfect for the Empire. Before Geonosis, they were. But then they experienced the galaxy alongside the Jedi who taught them many things. And Palpatine probably saw this happening even when the clones were being made. I mean, why add the growth acceleration? Why not just push back the Clone Wars by a decade? Nope, the clones were meant by Palpatine to be used for the short term. They really weren’t meant to be around for long. And that just makes me hate the Sith Lord more.

I really love the differences between Rex and Cody and their characterizations when faced with the evil of the empire. From the very beginning of Order 66 Rex was guns out resisting and then fighting with Ahsoka to escape in a very physical confrontation.
Meanwhile with Cody you can see he tried to make it work by remaining in service, following orders, and still attempting to bring about peace which he's slowly coming to learn just isn't possible under a truly evil regime. Even when he starts questioning due to his own lingering guilt, he's much more subtle about it - probing Crosshair with leading questions to try to find a like-minded brother, and very obviously being quietly disappointed at the lack of "private traitorous thoughts". Then the episode ends with a very quick, quiet, and efficient going AWOL that no one saw coming.
Really makes you appreciate that Cody, a Commander, was the brains contrasting to Rex's strength and bravery.

When I watched the scene with Cody speaking with the governor, all I could think was that he had spent to much time with Kenobi and now he was "the negotiator."

This episode was definitely my favorite in the entire series. It gives a look into the empire and feels a little more mature than the fanatics of the rest of the bad batch

“Did we have any doubts? Any private traitorous thoughts? Perhaps but no one said a word.” - 501st Journal, basically becoming reality for many clones, including Cody.

I think what hurts the most is the idea that Jesse and other 332nd troopers would definitely have deserted if they had just survived a few more months.

Because of Cody’s thoughts on his an other’s actions, expressed in the episode, I wonder if we’ll ever see him regret committing order 66 on Kenobi. I still have my fingers crossed for Cody, Rex, Boil (I think he’s still alive), and Echo back together, one last time.

I’ve enjoyed this episode. I loved Cody being back.

I’m not going to lie but I thought Crosshair looked sad too, perhaps his willingness to blindly follow orders is an escape/coping mechanism for him

Seeing Cody talk to the governor, you can see the years of service with Obi-Wan flowing through Cody. Every word, every action, and sense of honor was Kenobi to an 'i'. And maybe those skills is Cody's way of honoring his former CO and friend, who he realizes *he* betrayed and regrets doing so

I was always led to believe that Cody ended up training new recruits. That’s what I have read everywhere. But seeing him defect made me the happiest man ever because you can tell he’s struggled for a while with his actions. I always found it sad how Cody ended up, but this gives me hope and maybe his story changes from what I was originally led to believe.

Still reinforces why i like this particular era of star wars. The clones are unique.

Of all the Clones to go AWOL, I never would’ve thought that it would be Cody.

I REALLY hope that Filoni changed Cody’s ending because he deserves much better even if it’s death.

I think it's amazing that the first time we see Cody he's not wearing 212th gold but grey, grey like 104th; Mandalorian grey; mourning grey. I think they were trying to tell us that in his heart, Cody had already reevaluated what he had done and was mourning. Cody had fought and bled beside the Jedi for nearly four years, and realistically he would have come to care for them, maybe even love them, like family. "in war, strangers in a foxhole become closer to you than your brother."
Cody was The Marshal Commander, he spent a lot of time a round the top brass, as they say, he would have seen more than most. he would have seen what the Jedi were really like and seen a side of Kenobi no one else did.
there was real regret there, and he showed it the only way he could: by changing his colors to grey. Even in legends the 501st still kept their iconic blue. Cody chose to don grey, he chose to show to anyone who knew and cared, that he was mourning. this was just the last leg of his journey, he mourned, he evaluated, he made his decision, and he acted. logical, and calculated. men like Cody don't become the head of command without being able to think things through even under emotional stress. Cody had a lot of time to think, and I believe he'd finally had enough, and did the only thing that felt right: he left.

My theory is that the chips were single use. The chances of more than one of the imbedded orders needing to be carried out, let alone needing the influence of the chips to ensure they were carried out, is astronomical. I feel that once the chips were activated they slowly began deteriorating resulting in the clones reverting back to pre-order 66 states.

First they came for the Jedi, and the galaxy applauded.
Then they came for the Droids, and the galaxy applauded.
Now they're coming for the Clone Troopers.
If history is any indication, the result will be the same as before.

Man these three episodes have been bangers so far for this season.
We are seeing how the clones are being phased out fast: they’re being used as canon fodder in more dangerous missions. Giving their blood sweat and tears like this one while the new conscripts reap their rewards without so much as a thank you. Imperial arrogance has been portrayed so well in Bad Batch and Andor.
Sooner or later Crosshair will realize the empire doesn’t value him no matter how much he gives.

I hope that we get a reunion of Cody and Rex I think we deserve that. I just know it’s gonna be heart reaching, sad, sweet, and everything in between but I don’t think I’m ready

I think the inhibitor chips worked off of the release of certain chemicals, once they ran out of chemicals and/or the clone’s bodies started to grow their tolerance for them they lost their effectiveness.

CC-2224: “Tell me something, Crosshair. This new Empire… Are we making the Galaxy better?”
CT-9904: “We’re soldiers. We do what needs to be done.”
CC-2224: “Well, you know what makes us different from battle droids? We make our own decisions. Our own choices… And we have to live with them too…”

This episode was powerful, and masterfully written and animated. The backgrounds are gorgeous, the colors are striking, the score is perfect, the writing is intricate. I loved it.

Pour one out for Nova and Wyler.

I was greatly surprised that Commander Cody defected from the Empire. A lot different from the legends one where he stays with the Empire.

I loved the scene before he got on the ship and looked around at the city and new troopers. He realized that the republic he dedicated his life to no longer existed.

Everyone is excited about the coming reunion of Rex and Cody, myself included. But you know what else I’m just as if not more excited for, Omega and Palpatine being in the same room.

It looked like crosshairs slowly starting to regret what's happening cause when the office told him Cody went AWOL he looked a bit unsettled

My speculation is the chips had a built in kill switch that would activate after a certain contingency order was executed such as order 66. Once the chips served their intended purpose the clones would go back to “normal” behaviour after the chips deactivated.

We need more of the CIS remnants.

Another reason i could see Crosshair defect is at the end of the episode when we see him wake up differently compared to the start of the episode
We see that is already awake, perhaps because he has been thinking all night and had a hard time about the words commander Cody spoke to him

If the desertion of the clones was expected, it's no wonder why the clones were replaced by stormtroopers. The clones would sooner or later realize their empire was no better than separatist which would cause unrest among them.

The “are we the baddies” type line coming from Cody really shows the conflict. I hope we see more of him

Definitely my favorite animated star wars episode, loved it from beginning to end

Maybe instead of brain rewiring, it's more like brain hijacking. Similar to what happens to the winter soldier except every clone is a sleeper agent instead of just 1.
Tup could've had a faulty chip that would've had a different trigger for different protocols other than 66 and the other one in the 30s.
Like, it puts them in a trance they're aware of. Tup definitely seemed out of it while he was acting out order 66. Then again, faulty trigger.

I loved seeing Cody back and his squad take down a CIS holdout where battle droids high five

Maybe I'm just looking into this too hard, but that scene towards the end: where you saw the remains of the clone squad getting into the shuttle only to see more stormtroopers being dropped to replace them reminded me of a similar scene in IRobot. Where the older models, who served faithfully and without question, were replaced with newer more compliant models. And it's heartbreaking.

The theory that came to my mind is that when it seemed the empire was going to cancel the cloning process, the Kaminoans activated some sort of contingency plan and remotely disabled all clone inhibitor chips.

I’m thinking Cody was allowed to have his chip removed because, let’s face it, NO ONE would expect a by the book commander like Cody to be disloyal. As for Howzer and Wilco’s units, it’s very probable that they weren’t around Jedi when Order 66 was activated (the Jedi were spread to thin to be on EVERY battlefield) so their chips were never activated

I always thought the chip sort of was like a “seeing red” moment in which they aren’t given time to think all they can see is their target. After the bloodshed, those who has Jedi may have come to regret it after order 66 versus those who may have been only a clone liaison like Howzer was shown to be which could explain why he and wilco never flipped since they never needed to kill their Jedi but would remain loyal to their empire until they couldn’t.

Looks like the clone rebellion is possibly going to be cannon! Gotta say the latest episode is fantastic and loved it. Fantastic to see the battle droids make a return, especially the Commando droids.

My thought is the chip is a little subtle, it makes the clones follow orders, but uses their normal thought processes to do so. The clones in the moment rationalized the decision to follow orders and as they have the opportunity to self examine that rationalization falls apart. In the early aftermath there's a lot of pressure, keep doing what you're doing you need to clean up at the end of the war, it's during the "peaceful" time after that they can start to pick apart the logic, and that makes it harder for the chip to enforce itself.

I hope we get to see more Cody in future episodes of Bad Batch Season 2.

I always thought the chips put them in an immediate trance like state that stayed active until they killed the Jedi they were assigned to. After that the trance would ware off and the clone was left thinking the actions they took were there own, hence why they stayed loyal to the Empire for as long as they did until they weren’t.

Man, I really can't wait to see Rex and Cody reuniting. It's definitely gonna be really emotional

I have been waiting for cody to get more time to shine.

Based on all available information, there might be an option 3: the chips are technically still active, but only for one specific reason: to kill Jedi. While still sticking to your original two, as long as there are no Jedi, as far as they knew & understood, they’re back to their old selves; they’re acclimating to the chips’ reprogramming &, while still following the Order 66 protocol, they’re regaining their senses. Sure, they’re questioning the Galactic Empire, but where in that episode did they question Order 66?

I wish all of the episodes were like this.

This is very interesting. And to use Commander Cody as opposed to other clones who would be more likely expected to challenge the Empire really seals the deal. ^^
As for my thoughts on the revelation, it definitely clears up why some clones in both legends and canon defected from the Empire following Order 66. ^^

And I think Crosshair is questioning things at that point. Thats what I took from Crosshairs and the end of that episode. He's just very conflicted and I think it's a build up to him eventually sacrificing himself in order to do whats right.

I love this episode it's now one of my favorites bad batch season 2

From known experiments by the Germans of wwII the KGB and CIA on mind control we've learned that you can't program someone to do something that goes against every fiber of their being. i.e. while mind control can make you climb to the top of a tall building and stand on the edge, it can't make you jump. The same applies to murder, it very difficult to mind control an assassin. Clone Troopers are a little easier because as soldiers they have less inhibition about killing. Rex resisting long enough for Asoka to remove his chip was a result of Rex being closer to Asoka as a friend than most clones. While the rest of clones knew her, they did not have as much close contact with her as Rex.
Just look at our society today. No matter where you sit politically the other side believes things you do not and vis versa. A chip could get you to do something you bleieve to be true or at least to plausibly fit in with your worldview. The clones were programmed to be loyal to and obey the Chancellor/Emperor. This was part of the Chip, order 66 is a direct order from Palpatine. For the average clone like Cody, The empire and Palpatine are the good guys. I'd say most clones truly believed the Jedi were traitors and it was only events like we saw in s2 EP of bad batch that changed a few minds.
Finally Crosshair seems to be staying loyal to the Empire based solely on the fact he has no where else to go. This is very likely true for most of the clone Regs. As the bad batch pointed out in S1 the Empire provides clones with everything they need, food, shelter ect and clones were not exactly welcome on the civilian worlds.

I loved this episode! It was really, really well-constructed.

What I think is interesting is the facial expressions Crosshair makes when meeting with rampart the 2nd time in the episode compared to the first time.

I always figured more like option 3, though less about the chips dying than the Order 66 part hit hard and really knocked down their personalities, but after order 66, things got more and more tangential to that order on a daily basis and they could therefore develop their personalities again instead of that chip crying for submission all the time.

I feel like the chips kinda were like a big rush of adrenaline or a drug. It was a super effective, un-resistable thing at first that pretty much altered the individual to do the task it needed done. But given time the individual gains more resistance/the effect of the chip is less effective as they adapt to it.

It's so interesting to see, the downfall of the empire wasn't vader killing emperor but the ground level attribute of ladder climbers. How the chipping away allowed things to go unnoticed or unreported, allowing a rebellion to generate. Had clones been put in commanding positions , outcome may not have been so easy

The thing that Crosshair makes me think about is that even though the control of the chips isn’t permanent, that sort of influence doesn’t just go away. It forcibly changed their minds at a critical juncture, and those implanted beliefs and opinions are going to linger.

This is my absolute favourite episode, definitely up with my favourite Star Wars. It reminded me of the cannon Thrawn books a lot and that part with the droideka was so well executed

Me personally I'm so happy that Cody has the potential of a redemption arc here, it's not a secret that he was fiercely loyal to the Republic and to Obi-Wan and seeing him turn the way he did in ROTS hurt like hell after watching the two on TCW but seeing him go from "blast him" to this is extremely powerful and shows that even though they were forced to obey order 66 they lived to possibly regret their actions and want to redeem themselves in some way, I know it's a long stretch but I'd love to see Cody get his inhibitor chip removed and maybe, just maybe run into Obi-Wan while he's in hiding and try to make things right with him, I doubt we'll see anything like that where he does meet Obi-Wan but a guy can dream though

I really do hope they're building up to a clone rebellion
Like the one we saw in Battlefront 2 and legends. Though with rebels as an indicator I have a feeling it'll end in tragedy but it'll be one heck of a fight against the empire

My wife and I both share your opinion on this episode. It's by far my favorite so far and definitely for the adult fans of the show

I think a lot of this makes sense. The incident with Tup and Order 66 kicking in early was probably a defect that the Kaminoans didn't catch until it was to late. When Palpatine heard of this, he easily covered his tracks by framing Fives and using the Corusant Guard to track him down on Corusant and instead of stunning Fives, Commander Fox shot and killed him. That could also be a reason why clones started defecting left and right because after Order 66, they started thinking back to Tup and Fives and started connecting the dots.

One more thing to add. At the end when Crosshair is summoned to get his next assignment. The captain told Crosshair that he’s gone AWOL. Then commented clone loyalty was not was it used to be. The way he voiced his personal opinion on the status of clones was like it happens more and more so it’s no surprise and he’s personally learn to just live with the insubordination. I’m assuming Commander Cody is not the first nor the last to defect from the Empire.

This episode was just absolutely amazing
Just like the Clone Wars, right? Just like the simulations!
But something was different and we all knew it
It was so... quiet
And it was amazing

My head Canon and what I think the Bad Batch is also implying too is that the inhibitor chips wear off over time. I agree with your first idea that the chip's effects weren't meant to last forever since the clones weren't supposed to either. Whether this was an oversight by Palpatine or maybe a hidden intention by the Kaminoans, remains to be seen
I think it would be really cool if the Bad Batch (and Rex) somehow link up with Nala Se on Mount Tantis and she spills some more info about the chips and then that will drive the clone rebellion

I think the shock of what order 66 was, hits the clones hard in varying ways. As previously stated the chip was meant for order 66, and as Cody said they have to live with it. They are dealing with PTSD and most were unaware that they had no choice in the matter. I never thought Cody would defect, but I'm glad he's on that path now.

I always thought the inhibitor chips just drove there loyalty to the republic/empire up to the point to where that’s all that mattered. I believe this because Rex did struggle but once he gave in all he wanted to do was find Ahsoka and kill her, to complete the order

As much as I want Cody defecting being the case, we have to look at the possibility Rampart is using the clones going "AWOL" as a cover story for doing to them what he did to Wilco. Rampart has already proven himself to be both heartless and ruthless enough to do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals.

I think the inhibitor chips are only really strongly active for short periods of time. I would assume there are side effects if the chips are always on- sort of like what that one clone suffered from when the inhibitor chip malfunctioned in the clone wars.

We could possibly see a similar event to the clone rebellion on kamino where awol clones regrouped to fight but lost and scattered which leads why Rex, Wolf and Gregor were alone

I remember reading that Cody didn’t need the chip to execute the order. And has wished he got the order before he gave Kenobi his saber back. And that he stayed loyal and served the empire till he couldn’t by training new recruits. I’m glad they changed his previous perception of the order.

“I used to believe that being a good soldier meant doing everything they told you. That’s how they engineered us. But we’re not droids. We’re not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions.”

I really liked when Cody started negotiating with the senator. You could have easily replaced him with Kenobi at that point and the scene would be the same. It felt perfect that Commander under ''General Negotiator'' learned something from him or at least was influenced to a certain degree and even throughout order 66 it stayed with him.

Damn. Does Dee Bradley Baker still cast the voices for the Clones? If yes, I am surprised for the deep tone that cody gave after the mission. Need to watch this asap!

Honestly I think your option 1 possibly of the inhibitor chips. Seem more likely in my opinion. Although I wished they gave whole background story on how Crosshair got his chip removed.

THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD EPISODE I HOPE WE SEE MORE OF CODY LATTER ON

What a great episode. Great themes. Impactful and heavy

I started off this episode not wanting to like it, which is strange because I’ve loved almost every episode of the Bad Batch so far, but absolutely loved how it ended and how the story followed crosshair. Fantastic episode and I hope they continue to explore the individuality of the clones in future episodes. I think it’s part of what made the clone wars so great

Cody broke my heart when he initiated Order 66 and he shot at Kenobe. I’m so glad he’s coming to his moral senses. I hope he can have some closure and reunite with Kenobe.

My personal head canon for the chips is that they simply stopped having an effect on the clones. The clones were so pure of mind that their subconscious fought the chip like the immune system fights a disease, and the chip was strongest when they first activated because it was new to them.
Personally, I would love to see Cody rally together all the other clones who defected and repainted their armor to show all the different clones who chose to resist the empire culminating in Rampart and a few other clone commanders along with crosshair putting down the rebellious clones.

I just want to mention one thing. In Rebels, Commander Wolffe may have regretted his actions but I do want to mention Rex's specific wording regarding Kanan and Ezra: "they're not the ones who betrayed us" which would suggest to me that, regret or not, Wolffe fully believed that the Jedi were traitors due to Order 66, even after his chip was removed.
Also - I wouldn't be surprised if Crosshair defects eventually as well. Maybe he did fully believe in the Empire during S1, but between waiting 32 days to get rescued, having a private discussion with a close ally who is questioning the regime and isn't being subtle about it and then finding out that said ally is no longer with the Empire and having your loyalty questioned by your CO; Crosshair has to be aware that he is just a number to the Empire and that, as much an asset he might be, one day they will just cast him aside without so much as a thanks - hell, they already tried to get rid of him on Kamino.

I hope the story for this season is more linear than the last one

the force theme played in my head when wilco took his stand, same with howzer
officially there never was a clone rebellion on kamino (coz it was blown up, so officially it can still happen somewhere else)

I think this was the best clone vs. droid action I've seen in either The Bad Batch or The Clone Wars.

A detail that offers an additional layer of pain to the position the clonetroopers have put in, is that almost none of them know about the biochips.
So many of them are questioning things, looking back on Order 66 wondering if they made the right decision, wondering how they got where they are, not knowing why they did what they did and why they were fine with it at the time.
There's got to be a lot of dread or shame that arises for someone that suddenly looks back at a very specific moment and sees someone completely different walking around in their shoes.

I hope Cody meets Obi wan again and possibly saves him from the empire or at least Rex

My guess is that the chips were also like the nanomachines in MGS: They suppressed psychological trauma temporarily

I feel the chips were like a dose of drugs almost, when taken they have an immediate effect on the clones near forcing them to act, but overtime the effect wore off and they realised what they had done, like after a fit of rage you feel regret, the chips forced following orders to be the most important thing over everything else, then it wore of and they felt regret.

I really really enjoyed this episode. It's nice seeing the former "bad guy's" and the current "bad guy's" face off and not simply be cartoonishly evil but both have their own thoughts and reasons behind their actions. Lots of conflicting ideologies and feelings surrounding the wars and governing of different society's that each side has had a role in to various degrees.

I think it’s could just be the fact that chips would affect the clones for only a certain period so maybe after the order is given it’s affects would eventually wear off as clones who were never actually given the order acted like themselves eg Captain Howitzer it would explain why we’re seeing some clones act like they did before the order and why we’re only seeing other return to this state now

This episode showed that most Clones have internal conflicts with themselves and that they understand the Republic is slowly coming to a end,realizing they were simply used as pawns and getting slowly phased out in favor of recruits.

It might be that the chips were designed specifically just against the Jedi. Which is why we see wolf still have some issues in rebels when he first meets kanen

I was surprised that nova made it as far as he did he really went down like a bad ass usually regular clones like that just die without doing much

I would love to see a small spin off where Cody hears a rumour that obi wan is alive and he goes looking for him

Who else was happy to see droids?
I know I was.

It’s def good to know the clones finally were able to question the order and take a decision on starting with the army or defecting. Even if the counter who defected were guilt ridden, atleast they weren’t forced to carry on enforcing orders they weren’t onboard with.

We actually did also see this in the first season with Howzer. He disobeyed orders as well.

Great to see Cody again but damn what an episode.

In Kanan - The last Padawan - Commander Grey also portrays his afterthoughts about Order 66. He does execute it and kill master Billaba, but he is full of regret and lets Kanan escape from his troops and Captain Styles.
Although given how Bad Batch season 1 shows the same story, I dont know if thats canon.

I have a feeling crosshair saved Cody by not allowing him to refuse the order and doing it before he got the chance to say he wont do it