The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 12 review
‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ is now approaching the end of its final season and episode 12 takes audiences on a quick throwback mission before the inevitable heavy ending begins. What’s left of the Bad Batch – Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker – team up with Phee to break someone out of prison who might know where Mount Tantiss is located, and Omega is returned to Tantiss.
Crosshair reveals that the former Vice-Admiral Rampart might know the location of Tantiss, and he’s currently in an Imperial prison attempting to belittle aliens. Phee gets a moment to shine with a daring stealth approach, before the trio are dropped off. Rampart and other prisoners are being moved by an unmodified HAVw A6 Juggernaut, which the Batch capture and use in a both awesome and perilous escape from the Empire. The tanks never got to show off their lethality during ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ so it’s a delight to see their arsenal unloaded.
Inside the tank, Crosshair has a reunion of sorts with Rampart, who is as opportunistic and slimy as ever. Even being in prison hasn’t knocked him down a peg. This will create a moral conundrum for the characters eventually however, because once they get what they need from him, they can’t just let him go. For Crosshair it’s personal, but it is for all the clones, as he’s responsible for carrying out the destruction of Kamino, their home. It’s a quandary, and one that will hopefully have a unique resolution.
Omega arrives on Tantiss, and Hemlock gives her a tour of the facility, and telling her why she’s important to the Empire. This bit is the most repetitive, as it’s simply Hemlock catching Omega up to what the audiences already know. The writers are being purposely coy with the cloning and how that relates to Force sensitivity, either in a wish to never reveal anything further and thus only hint at the truth, or because they’re holding back lore for the final few episodes. Either way, these segments are not moving either the characters, lore or plot along, which is frustrating.
Emerie continues to be an interesting character. She feels sorry for Omega, but never does anything to alleviate the young girl’s worries, continually bending the knee to the Empire’s demands. While she wants to rebel, her continued adherence to Imperial orders makes her complicit in their evil acts, which is what matters in the end. It’s reminiscent of what Trace and Rafa said in season one, “we all choose sides,” and even if Emerie doesn’t want to admit it, she’s chosen hers.
Whether Emerie does eventually rebel or not is almost irrelevant, as she’s shown that there are people within the Imperial regime that disagree with their acts but still go along with them. These people, along with the silent onlookers, are who truly allow evil to flourish. It’s important the show demonstrates this.
It’s frustrating that Echo continues to be sidelined. He’s not been in an episode since episode seven, which means he’s been absent for nearly half the season. He’s a character that’s been letdown overall in the series, hopefully he has a impactful and huge role to play in the final three episodes.
It’s a light episode, but it’s necessary one before the storm hits and the Batch attempt to free Omega and everyone trapped at Tantiss. The action with the turbo tanks finally showed off what they could do. There are some important moral tests foreshadowed involving the side-characters that will hopefully pay off in the future. Hemlock’s portion is the weakest link of this episode, reiterating the same information that audiences already know. This episode is a more than serviceable entry in what’s been an overall consistent season.
