Despite taking place in a past era of franchise lore, the second season finale of Star Wars: The Bad Batch left us with some massive cliffhangers:
- Omega and Crosshair have been captured/detained by the Empire at their mad science facility on Mount Tantiss, where Dr. Hemlock undoubtedly has grotesque plans for both of them. One of his scientists, Emerie Kerr, is also Omega’s sister.
- Cid snitched on the Bad Batch to the Empire, thus making their lives exponentially more difficult while they try to find a way to save Omega (and probably Crosshair).
- Tech is dead…maybe. You never know with Star Wars.
Speaking of death, the third and final season of the series puts us at a major crossroads with the Bad Batch. My bet is on them making a heroic sacrifice for the burgeoning Rebellion, but they could just as well survive to pop up in post-Original or Sequel Trilogy media. That’d be a hard pill to swallow, but it happened with Ahsoka Tano and everyone was mostly cool with it.
Thankfully, we’ve still got 15 episodes of a good series to get through before that reckoning occurs. Let’s kick things off with what took place in the season three premiere. As always, the recap portion of this review will contain plenty of spoilers along with some brief explorations of Star Wars lore. The order of events has also been streamlined a bit for the sake of clarity.
Crash and Burn
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
The episode opens with an Imperial shuttle getting hit by lightning as it’s headed back to the Tantiss facility. The stormtroopers survive the crash, but are attacked by creatures in the surrounding forest. Hemlock informs base personnel to stand sound since they’re as good as dead.
Later, Omega is visited in her cell by Emerie, who has been using her “sister” as a lab assistant. During their daily rounds, Emerie collects a blood sample from a despondent-looking clone before getting one from Omega. Once that’s done, Omega asks why she never saw her back in Kamino. Emerie replies with a B.S. answer about being “sent elsewhere” before Hemlock brought her onboard.
She then has Omega take the blood samples (including her own) to Nala Se. Upon discovering that Omega’s blood is part of the latest batch, the Kaminoan scientist destroys the vial and warns her not to say anything for her own safety. She doesn’t explain what that means, but does reveal that the Empire is trying to recreate a high genetic M-Count in a non-clone specimen. Their discussion is cut short when Hemlock shows up to be menacing and growly for a bit.
*Side Note: “M-Count” is the cool/secret way to say midi-chlorians.
Hope (Barely) Floats
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
That evening, Omega is sent to feed the lurca hounds used to guard the base. The creatures are prevented from escaping thanks to electric shock collars, which also prevent them from wandering out to where the really scary beasts are. When the hounds aren’t on patrol, they remain in pens. Omega is fond of one hound in particular, who she calls Batcher (of course). Batcher isn’t terribly friendly, but he is a picky eater, thus helping him establish a tentative bond with Omega when she shares some of her own food with him.
After feeding the hounds, Omega visits Crosshair in his cell. He’s unsurprisingly cynical about their chances of escape, but Omega promises to find a way to get them both out.
The next day, Omega once again has a blood sample taken by Emerie that is promptly destroyed by Nala Se. She then heads to the lurca hound pens, where she discovers that Batcher was injured during his nightly patrol. The sentry droid explains that if the wound doesn’t heal, then the creature will be put down.
Determined not to let that happen, Omega finds something to dress the wounds. Batcher snarls at her, but quickly relents and accepts the help. Afterward, Omega visits Crosshair and tells him what happened. After expressing her desire to steal medical supplies to do a more thorough job, Crosshair tells Omega to let it go. As the two begin arguing about the value of loyalty, Crosshair brutally confesses that he would leave her behind if it meant getting to escape on his own. Omega counters that she won’t even think about leaving without him.
Before she leaves, Crosshair shows a sliver of empathy by telling her not to risk any potential chance of freedom for his sake. As far as he’s concerned, a locked cell is where he belongs.
Dream Deferred
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
Later, Emerie and a pair of commando troopers do a surprise inspection of Omega’s cell, where they end up finding and confiscating her homemade Tooka doll. Omega pleads to keep it, but Emerie reminds her that personal items are not allowed.
Elsewhere, Hemlock gets pissy at Nala Se when their attempts at generating a high M-count specimen come up short. He threatens to harm Omega if things don’t get better before reminding her that Emperor Palpatine is even more of a hardass than he is.
Meanwhile, Omega goes back to the lurca hound pens and finds that Batcher is almost fully healed. He’s also acting all types of sweet and adorable towards her, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when the sentry droid reveals that the poor creature will still be put down because he’s not mean enough anymore.
Omega obviously wasn’t going to let that happen.
She manages to destroy the droid and open Batcher’s cage, providing him with his life and some newfound freedom. The creature doesn’t want to leave without Omega, but she insists on staying behind because Crosshair still needs her help. After Batcher flees, Hemlock arrives and begins rasping about how she just killed her pet because he won’t last in the wild. He also threatens to put down Crosshair if she continues pulling stunts like this.
Back in her cell, Omega refuses to speak with Emerie — especially after she didn’t do anything to help. Emerie attempts to make amends by returning her Tooka doll. In the distance, a free Batcher howls into the night
The Verdict
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)
It’s well-established that the animation on Star Wars: The Bad Batch is great, but the work on this episode looked particularly sharp. In a similar vein, the Kiners’ musical score did an exceptional job of establishing the tense and despondent atmosphere of the Tantiss facility.
As for the story, a lot of the beats were predictable/familiar, but that didn’t stop it from being wonderfully impactful. A great deal of that can be attributed to Omega, whose character took the chance to carry an episode and succeeded where many child characters (particularly on animated shows) completely fail. We saw layers of pain and frustration, but also an impressive streak of resolve. You could cynically attribute that solely to her youth, but it would discount two seasons of solid character development. “Confined” works as a wonderful vehicle for showing us that no matter how dire things get, Omega is still the soul of this team/family.
Meanwhile, Hemlock continues to establish himself as a great villain. I know I make a lot of jokes about his voice, but the dude really is unnerving whenever he speaks. Each word drips with more malice than the last, forcing you to lock in on everything he says while desperately hoping someone will manage to silence him.
The stuff with Emerie having a “sister” is still ridiculous, but it still has a chance to develop into something interesting. It’s also a little annoying that such a tightly run facility wouldn’t notice the sample counts were repeatedly off. I think we all know why Nala Se is worried about what the Empire will find in her blood, but that just makes them overlooking the Omega’s missing samples even more egregious.
Thankfully, those are minor issues in an otherwise excellent opening chapter of the Bad Batch’s final season.
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