The Bad Batch S2 Ep. 9 hits the right note after a heavy mid-season event.
Everything goes wrong for a reason.
The Short Take:
The appropriate downbeat after two game-changing, high-stakes episodes last week. Beautiful character moments, especially between Tech and Omega.
Image Credit: Vulture
The Long Take:
(Though in order to catch up, I may need to make this more of a medium take.)
From the moment Clone Force 99 brought Omega onto the Marauder, or, perhaps even before then, when Omega clearly seeks out Clone Force 99 in the halls of Kamino at the start of Season 1, I have thought of The Bad Batch as a found family. This episode made me realize that the members of The Bad Batch have not yet come to terms with this idea themselves. Episode 9, “The Crossing,” continually poses one question throughout: is The Bad Batch a squad or a family?
And what better way to answer such a question than through a mission in which nothing seems to go right. A mission that tests the bonds they’ve forged up until this point. Sid sends The Batch to an abandoned mining facility that she bought for cheap, in the hopes of being able to profit off the remnants of the highly combustible ipsium they might find there. Someone steals their ship, a stampede almost tramples them in the canyon, and a cave-in traps them inside part of the mines. And, with everything going wrong, they’re not in sync with one another — perhaps for the first time. They’re testy, getting on each other’s nerves, and blaming one another for all these missteps largely out of their control. It’s clear that something is off.
We can see that without Echo, missions logistically become a lot harder to accomplish. Someone can sneak in and steal The Marauder not necessarily because Wrecker was asleep on the job (easy there, Tech), but because they’re just spread too thin. And, more importantly, we see that the loss of a member has taken an emotional toll as well.
Image Credit: Star Wars News Net
The repurposing of the mission-of-the-week structure we’ve come to know to show change over time is very, very clever here. On paper, this seems like a run of the mill mission, but the noticeable behavioral differences among various members of The Bad Batch clearly shows just how much the events of the two-parter from the week prior — especially the loss of Echo — has affected them. During Pink Milk’s discussion of Episodes 7 and 8, Bryan very perceptively noted that if the series went back to a more fun standalone episode right after a much heavier, more consequential two-parter, that something wouldn’t feel right. I completely agreed. As much as I love the one-off romps, like the speed racer episode or the Indiana Jones episode, having an episode like that after all the events surrounding the clone conspiracy and Echo’s emotional departure from the squad would feel like a narrative regression. And so, this episode in which everything seems to be going wrong and no one seems to be getting a long — a real low point for the squad this season — is the most appropriate follow-up.
They can’t just go back to business as usual; they must confront change, their feelings, and engage in a conversation about whether or not they are just a squad or a family.
I know I’m not alone when I say that by far the most compelling scene in this episode was the one in which Omega and Tech have an extended heart-to-heart about dealing with the absence of Echo and, more recently, The Marauder — or as Omega says, their home. When Omega asks Tech if they’re a family, it forces him to think about their relationship differently. I don’t mean that he suddenly changed his mind and said, I once thought we were a squad, but now I think we’re a family. It’s more admitting to and acknowledging what he’s probably felt for some time but just failed to articulate in the way that Omega does in that moment.
The pair of them form a dialectic in that only through their back and forth, only through the distinct combination of the two of them, can they both arrive at a shared truth. My heart melted when Tech said to Omega that, “I may process moments and thoughts differently, but it does not mean I feel any less than you.” It was such a profound moment of clarity and understanding. Again, this wasn’t a one-way street. It’s not just that Omega had to knock some sense and help Tech discover his feelings; she too gained a better understanding of him in that moment. The whole exchange was beautiful.
Image Credit: But Why Tho?
It’s somewhat unusual for an episode of The Bad Batch, especially this season, to end on a cliffhanger if it’s not the first half of a two-parter. It’ll be interesting to see where the story goes from here. Do we find out more about the abandoned mining planet they’re stuck on, or will they get off planet fairly quickly? Will Sid actually send help in time? Will they get back their ship in the next episode, or will that be a longer arc?
My guess would be that in order to get their ship back, The Bad Batch will need to learn more about the situation with the planet and therefore the mysterious thief. There’s a lot of potential to show more of the Empire’s long arm of destruction and devastation here, especially since that’s been a big theme this season.
As I frantically type this, I know that the next episode has already dropped! But I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, so I’m going to think of this review as coming in just under the wire. If you seen Episode 10 already, let me know if any of my predictions panned out!
Image Credit: Nerds and Beyond
Since I’ve had to cut my take a little short, I’ll direct you to a great discussion I had the pleasure to be a part of on this week’s Batch for Breakfast on the Rebel Base Card Podcast feed. Greg (@eyeoncanon), Greg (@rebelbasecard), and I had way too much fun trying to stump each other with questions. And @eyeoncanon dropped some knowledge on Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey in a way that helped me think of the title of the episode, “The Crossing” in a new way. He even though a Lion King reference in there for good measure.