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Season 1 of 'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' ends with a dark journey under the sea
What is the aftermath of the Empire raining destruction down on the cities of Kamino? We found out in the Season 1 finale of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, as the titular Batch (all members voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) had to escape with Omega (Michelle Ang) and AZI-3 (Ben Diskin).
Trying to get out of a highly damaged piece of a base that's now on the bottom of the ocean is no easy feat. Do all of our heroes make it out alive? Does Crosshair resent the Empire for leaving him for dead? Is there anyone left to enjoy Mantell Mix now that the season is over?
***WARNING: From this point onward, there will be spoilers for the Star Wars: The Bad Batch episode "Kamino Lost." If you have not watched yet, turn back now.***
The episode title, "Kamino Lost," clues us in that there will be no repairing the damage done by the Empire at the end of the previous episode. In continuously stunning feats of animation, anything left of Tipoca City is destroyed, and Vice Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal) is informed that all Kaminoan facilities have received the same. He pulls his ships out and is very happy with himself for being such a horrible person.
The Batch remains trapped, and Omega saves the still unconscious Crosshair from drowning. He immediately blames the Batch for their situation, but they tell him that the Empire did it. He has no choice but to stay with them for the time being. After they sink to the bottom of the ocean in one particular section of the city, they end up in their old barracks. Wrecker points out their old mission tally, and Crosshair is quick to get to insult blame game going once more.
"All those missions together and you threw it away," he says, before Hunter counters with, "We made a choice and so did you."
They may be trapped at the bottom of the ocean and about to die, but that doesn't mean there isn't time for another ethical debate between Crosshair and Hunter. "Soldiers follow orders," Crosshair continues, before Hunter lays him out with words: "Blind allegiance makes you a pawn."
It's a perfect summation of everything he's been trying to drill into Crosshair's stubborn, brainwashed mind all season, a mind that we now know has no inhibitor chip in it. Crosshair isn't saying any of this because he's being controlled, he's saying it because he's a true believer. He's a toxic jerk, and he's going to take every single opportunity he can to let you know.
"A real leader protects his squad," Hunter says, with Crosshair throwing it back with, "Look where that's gotten you. They're all going to die here because of your failed leadership."
Thanks for the help, man! Omega points out a way to get to their ship, and Crosshair has time to sent a little bile her way too, spitting, "She's calling the shots now?" Someone got all of their toothpicks wet.
Making their way to safety, other members of the Batch chime in to call out Crosshair on his season-long stretch of awful behavior. "All that time, you didn't even try to come back," Wrecker says, before adding in a lower register, "We still would have taken ya." Tech tells him to let it go, saying, "Crosshair has always been severe and unyielding. It is his nature. You cannot change that. He cannot change that."
Crosshair questions why Tech is defending him, and Tech is quick to clarify: "I am not. Understanding you does not mean that I agree with you."
After a tiff with an undersea creature (because of course) and shorting out what's left of the destroyed base's power, they all end up back in Nala Se's private lab where Tech confirms that technically, Omega is older than they are. They also discover that the only way to their ship has been blocked.
"This is what happens when you let a kid call the shots," Crosshair says, being as helpful as ever as the oxygen is limited and AZI starts running out of power. "That kid saved your life, unlike the Empire who left you for dead," Hunter shoots back.
"That's your problem, Hunter. You take things too personally," Crosshair says. Hunter, well past the point of intelligent debate with his former brother, just says, "They destroyed an entire city."
This is where Crosshair once again justifies the Empire's actions, the same Empire that just blew up a base knowing full well that he was inside of it. Crosshair is into all of it, he's bought a subscription, the Empire is going to control everything and he is going to be a part of it. It's gonna be so great. Yay for fascism, yay for Crosshair, yay all around.
Hunter shoots all of that kriff down with one line: "All you'll ever be to them is a number."
Omega has a talk with Crosshair next, and it echoes their talk in the series premiere. He's still toxic, and she's less understanding of him now than she was back then. "Being a clone doesn't make you one of them," he says, before she tells him, "I wanted to believe it was the inhibitor chip that made you like this, but I was wrong."
In case Crosshair didn't know, that's how Omega says "go f*** yourself."
A mad plan to escape is concocted using medical capsules that can float, and AZI will have to get them all past debris. His power is running out, but the plan somewhat works, with the Batch getting to the surface. Omega's capsule is compromised (because, of course, it is) but AZI uses his last burst of power to make sure she's clear. He shuts down and drifts into darkness.
Is Omega gonna just leave him like that? No. Is Hunter gonna let her go back for him without going in after her? Also no. Omega does go after AZI and grabs him, but before Hunter can go in too, Crosshair unexpectedly helps to grapple the droid and get them to the surface.
The Batch gets to their ship as daylight comes to Kamino, and Omega looks out over the smoking ruins of the city in the distance. The Batch still, after all of this, offers Crosshair the chance to go with them, but he refuses. He's made his choice. All Hunter can say is, "We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Omega thanks Crosshair for saving AZI, and he says she should consider it even, as she saved him at the start of the episode. Omega can't not be the nicest being in the galaxy, though. She gets one parting shot of kindness off before they leave.
"You're still their brother Crosshair. You're my brother too."
They take off, and Crosshair is alone with his thoughts on the only platform left on Kamino. We then get a bumper scene, as Nala Se arrives on an Imperial base guarded by Clone Commandos. A "medical officer" (Helen Sadler) welcomes her, and says, "We are all admirers of your scientific talents. The empire has big things planned for you."
So ends Season 1 of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Nala Se being under Imperial control isn't good, but we know that the Empire (and Palpatine) has many clone irons in the fire, but it makes sense. We still see clones in service in the episode (both a reg and the commandos) so they haven't been phased out completely.
The real bookend is the Batch once again flying away from Kamino and leaving Crosshair behind. In the premiere, he was trying to kill them. Here, they practically offer him money and a condo to come along. He refuses, and it's not because he's being controlled by a chip.
It's because that's just who Crosshair is. He may be just another number, but that is his choice. He hasn't had the benefit of having seen every Star Wars movie, as we have, and as Hunter says, they may want different things, but that doesn't mean they have to be enemies.
We should agree with that, we feel like the show wants us to agree with that, but no. Not today. The "different things" that Crosshair wants are firmly rooted in fascism, slavery, and misery. He has decided to stand rooted in all of that evil after being given every chance to rethink it. His mind can't be changed, so if he comes at the Batch again with haughty "for the Empire" thoughts on his mind, here's hoping that Hunter and the gang finally switch off their stun settings. He's just another Imperial pawn, and pawns like him contribute to entire planets being destroyed.
We were rooting for you, Crosshair. All of us, we were rooting for you. In the end, you saved one droid and stood alone on a platform. Enjoy your time with the Empire. It's only a matter of time before they go and leave you on the bottom of the ocean again.
All episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1 are now available to stream on Disney+.
