Star Wars: The Bad Batch S3, Ep 4 Review
We are only four episodes into the final season of The Bad Batch, and I’m already starting to see its direction. This season will be about Omega coming into her own and eventually surpassing the Bad Batch’s skills. Time and again, we’ve seen her talents, and the various adults in her life have helped nurture them. Getting herself, Crosshair, and Batcher out of Mount Tantiss was just the start. This week, we get further proof of her coming into her own. Much to my surprise, Omega is the one to find Hunter and Wrecker, not the other way around.
Omega and Crosshair Have Differing Methods
So, the good news is that Omega, Crosshair, and Batcher escaped Mount Tantiss. The bad news? Their stolen shuttle crash lands on another planet. With the Empire hot on their trail, their top priority is getting off-planet. The problem with that is the local spaceport’s crawling with Imperials.
Barring the brief time the whole squad served the Empire and their eventual escape from Tipoca City, this season’s the first time Crosshair and Omega interact. This episode does well to show how differently they view the world. For example, after the crash, Omega first tries to recover to coordinate with Tantiss, while Crosshair wants to leave. She wants to return and help the other Clones, but Crosshair is more concerned about themselves. When they find the spaceport, Crosshair intends to storm the place, while Omega tries bribing their way through and then earns the money by hustling card players. When Batcher gets kidnapped, Omega is willing to pay for information from a kid. Crosshair resorts to threatening them.
While the episode’s trying to say Omega’s methods are more effective, it isn’t. Crosshair’s way of doing things, as brutal as it can be, is just as effective. At the episode’s climax, it’s only when the pair do things Crosshair’s way that they rescue Batcher and escape. The show’s not saying either way is right or wrong, but both are needed to fight an entity like the Empire.
Thankfully, Omega is becoming more and more capable of doing that.
Omega is Leveling up and Coming into Her Own.
Throughout the series, we’ve seen how Omega is either talented at various things or has a knack for picking up skills. The Bad Batch has taught her plenty about fighting, mechanics, hacking, and more, but they’re not the only ones she’s learned from. Even if she sold them out, Cid did teach Omega street smarts. She knows how to bribe the right people to get what she wants, and she’s good enough at strategy to beat anyone at card games. Case in point, her plan to hustle the money for shuttle tickets works. If a corrupt Imperial Captain had not figured out who Omega and Crosshair were, they would’ve gotten away with little fuss.
But the best example of how Omega’s coming into her own? She’s the one who gets in touch with Hunter and Wrecker. They were spinning their wheels trying to find her, and she found them!
I don’t know if other viewers felt like this, but I ended the episode feeling proud of Omega. It’s like seeing your child do something extraordinary that makes you want to hug them!
The Bad Batch is Now Firmly in the Empire’s Sites
As heartwarming as it is to see Omega reunite with her brothers/surrogate father figures, the episode does end with some baggage. Now that Hemlock knows he needs her for the Emperor’s plans to cheat death, he’ll throw everything into getting her back. It’s a repeat of what happened in Season One, but worse since the Bad Batch isn’t at full strength.
And, despite escaping the place, Omega wants to find a way back to rescue the remaining Clones. While we should support that decision, and the squad does have allies, they don’t have plot armor in place. Any one of them could end up dying, making this the Bad Batch’s deadliest potential mission ever.
Lastly, there’s the Reek in the room: Crosshair’s back. As much as everyone would want the Bad Batch to welcome him back like nothing happened, that’s not how these things work. Crosshair and the others will have some trust issues, and they’ll need to work through it if they want to become the squad they once were. With the Empire after them, they need to do this fast.
