Is an ice vulture just an ice vulture in The Bad Batch S3E5?
Emotionally dissatisfying in some ways, but very satisfying in others.
The Short Take:
While some conflict resolution was a little too swift for my liking, I still appreciate the character-developing callback this episode staged.
[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers will haunt you like a dark past if you have not seen Season 3 Episode 5, “The Return.”]
Image Credit: StarWars.com
The Long Take:
To be frank, this episode did not meet my expectations. But that may say more about me and what I wanted than any fault of the episode’s. Last week, I wrote at length about how emotional the reunion between Omega & Crosshair and Wrecker & Hunter was. And I specifically noted how tense and suspenseful Crosshair’s emergence from the ship was because of the conflict that would surely ensue. I thought their first conversation might be explosive. Or that Omega, anxiously darting her gaze back and forth between the two divided factions of her family, would have to stop an all out fight between them.
What I got instead was more passive aggressive brooding than anger. The more I think about it, the more I can see how this is actually truer to the characters, who have always been reluctant to explicitly share their feelings with one another. A productive contrast has always been that Omega wears her heart on her sleeve and has a more advanced emotional intelligence than her brothers. And yet, I felt weirdly deflated by how they all woke up the next morning and Crosshair had just been on the ship with them going to Pabu, apparently. They went about their business almost too quickly. I wanted Hunter’s knee-jerk reaction to be one of rejection, at least initially. Instead we get one of mild suspicion. Crosshair putting on his old armor didn’t feel earned to me either. It all seemed to be resolving too quickly.
Image Credit: StarWars.com
This is not to say, however, that I didn’t find value in this episode. Quite the contrary, the titular return to Barton IV, the planet featured in S2E12 “The Outpost,” highlighted how complex Crosshair has become, as that episode marked a major turning point for his character and, more specifically, his character’s understanding of The Empire. The second I recognized the “remote facility” as the place where he pleaded for Mayday’s life and shot the Imperial officer who callously refused to waste resources on them, all the emotional weight of that prior episode came crashing down.
The return of the ice vulture here was a brilliant visual callback to “The Outpost,” as that same creature circled overhead in the final scenes of that chilling, masterfully told story. It’s reappearance in “The Return” is a very efficient way to visually clue us into Crosshair’s interiority — that he returns to Barton IV out of necessity, but in doing so must confront the events of “The Outpost” and therefore his past as a part of the Empire.
Even though I have notes about how quickly Crosshair seemed to be welcomed back into the fold, I thought his opening up to Hunter at the very end of the episode was very well done. He says, “I’ve done things. I’ve made mistakes.” It’s clear that his actions, now that he sees them as being on behalf of the wrong side, weigh on him heavily. Hunter’s generous and empathetic reply says so much about how Crosshair might move past his guilt: “All we can do is keep trying to be better.” This is Star Wars’ signature hope and optimism, and I’m really pleased that Crosshair may benefit from it as well.
But…BUT. If I read too much into the symbolism of the ice vulture, I can say that the reappearance of this creature serves as an omen that portends Crosshair’s death. I associate vultures with death, as they are often circling when someone is about to die, waiting until they inevitably can feast on what will soon be carrion. It may just be that the vulture is meant to evoke past deaths: those of May Day and Lieutenant Nolan. On the other hand, this episode was the first time it dawned on me that the most logical conclusion of Crosshair’s arc on The Bad Batch would be his death, self-sacrifice that would seal his redemption from Imperial sympathizer to Rebel. It would make the most sense for him to be the one who makes it possible for Clone Force 99 to destroy Mt. Tantiss and save all the clones there. I’m not sure how many Bad Batchers we will lose by the end of the season, but if we only lose one, Crosshair seems like the most likely candidate, purely from this character arc perspective.
Image Credit: StarWars.com
I began this review by expressing dissatisfaction with this episode’s relatively easy reintegration of Crosshair back into the Marauder crew, but I recognize that we may just be clearing the way for a much bigger story that begins with another return — to Mt. Tantiss. And I cannot forget Senator Chuchi and the clones whose rights she vowed to advocate for in The Senate. More and more do I think that the series The Bad Batch will ultimately tell the story of what happened to the clones from The Clone Wars, what became of them and what their larger role in the Star Wars saga was in the end. So a lot of my critiques can be explained away in that context.
If I zoom back into the core family of the series, however, I still see one huge unresolved issue that this episode tangentially addressed: trust in Omega as a full-fledged member of the crew as opposed to a ward under their care. If Hunter’s reaction to Crosshair says anything, it’s that he still, despite everything they’ve been through, doesn’t fully entrust Omega to make her own judgments and decisions. Wrecker very clearly says that if Omega is cool with Crosshair, then so is he — no questions asked.
Image Credit: StarWars.com
Hunter’s reservations about Crosshair, no matter how passive aggressive and moody, point to his lack of trust in Omega, in stark contrast to Wrecker. And we see throughout the mission they go on in this episode that Hunter has regressed into “protect Omega and don’t let her do anything” mode. Now that she’s being hunted by Hemlock, we’re forced to retread old family dynamics that date back as far as Season 1. The series has handled Crosshair’s growth and development so nicely; I really hope that Hunter may arrive at a similar place with Omega.