This is the first of the two part finale for Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Spoilers incoming, so beware if you haven’t yet watched it.
The Plot
Crosshair lures the rest of the Bad Batch to Tipoca City on Kamino. The planet is relatively empty, with only three cruisers in orbit and clones re-assigned off-world. Omega shares the coordinates of a personal route to Nal Se’s lab, which is not on any of the schematics. There, they find AZI hiding as he shares what’s happened to the facility. Omega also reveals that she was created in the lab, and that the Bad Batch’s genetic mutations were enhanced there as well.
Aware that they are walking into a trap to rescue Hunter, they tell Omega and AZI to stay in hiding as they go to the training grounds for a final confrontation. Crosshair makes a case for them to join him, to join the Empire, and in an act of good faith, slaughters the remaining members of his squad.
Omega and AZI, meanwhile, activate the training droids as a way to help the Bad Batch. They battle together like old times until it’s just them and Crosshair. Hunter blames the inhibitor chip, but Crosshair drops a truth bomb and shares that he had it removed a long time ago, and this is who he is.
Hunter stuns Crosshair, orders Wrecker to bring him along, and they attempt to flee an empty Tipoca City as the Empire fires down upon it with their three cruisers.
The Good
It’s revealed that Crosshair does have some personal hurt against the Bad Batch. He describes that they don’t leave their people behind–most of the time, clearly referencing what happened to him. He shocks Hunter when he says that they weren’t loyal to him.
The choice to have so few episodes cut with an A and B plot focusing on the Bad Batch and Crosshair weakens this moment. That his chip is no longer functioning is a very important factor, thrown out as a simple plot twist instead of used to increase tension between the assumptions the Bad Batch are operating on when it comes to Crosshair, and Crosshair’s own internal journey to the conclusions he uses to try to convince Hunter and the others to join him again.
This moment mirrors many similar scenes we’ve seen before in Star Wars. Crosshair saying Think of all we could do, together directly evokes Anakin pleading both with Padmé and Luke to join him. And yet, with so few scenes with Crosshair, the desire falls almost flat, and is almost instantly overshadowed by Omega activating the droids in the training ground. It is gratifying to see them banding together again like old times, but overall it felt very rushed.
The eeriness of the truth in Crosshair’s statements is also unsettling. The Empire needs strength, he says, this is what they were made for. It points again towards the division in Hunter’s mind between the Republic and the Empire and Crosshair’s understanding that they are the same thing. There’s a sense of horror as Crosshair reiterates they were made for the Empire that is not present in the other series.
Based on the framing of the scene with Crosshair taking on an Anakin/Vader role, I don’t think the writers want to focus on the Empire existing only because of the Republic, and that the Republic was making imperial decisions far before Palpatine rebranded it and himself. I know because of this I will never get the emotional catharsis I’m craving from The Bad Batch, but what little was shown here was truly good (even if not nearly enough).
Crosshair coming to a conclusion I don’t personally agree with doesn’t bother me. I’ve been begging The Bad Batch to explore the clones’ feelings and needs both in regards to each other and the circumstances of their existence. I wish we had seen more of Crosshair’s internal thought process, his hurt towards his brothers, but people aren’t always going to agree about the terrible things that happen to them, and that is okay. After all, the irony of Crosshair’s own sense of importance, even as the Empire is disposing of him and the other clones, is significant too.
I would be remiss not to include AZI in the “good” section. AZI has always been one of my favorite droids of all time, ever since he helped Fives. AZI being so pleased he was able to knock out a trooper is delightful. Little guy, you’ve done that and more. You rebel.
The Bad
Ironically, the episode nailed what was wrong with it and the series. Hunter says, “You really don’t get who we are, do you?” In theory, the episodes prior would have answered this, but they don’t.
Decisions to whitewash the clones have diminished them. Echo’s ableist treatment has undercut his character to a horrible degree. There is no sense of self to many of the individual clones, with them taking on shallow, easily identified traits that fit in neat boxes. They are not messy individuals. There are no glimpses into their internal feelings. They sometimes disagree, but the disagreements are easily resolved with no lingering fallout.
One of the first things writers learn about developing characters is to know what the characters desire. What does Echo want? Wrecker? Tech? Hunter?
So when Hunter asks his question, no one knows the answer to it, least of all the writers.
In Conclusion
I wish that Disney had decided to simply put both episodes up together so we could have a more cinematic instead of episodic experience. I’m excited to see what happens with Crosshair at the end of the series.