The Bad Batch Spoiler Recap: Kamino Lost
Fifteen weeks and sixteen episodes later, The Bad Batch wrapped up its first season with a finale that encapsulated both the highs and lows of the show’s run so far.
Picking up exactly where they left off last week, the Empire has ordered the destruction of Tipoca City with the Bad Batch (including Crosshair) still trapped inside. The squad is on the run for their lives, scaling through the rapidly crumbling structure until a sudden lurch separates Omega and Crosshair from the rest of the Batch.
Trapped in a compartment that’s rapidly filling with water, and with Crosshair caught under a beam, Omega does what she’s been doing all season - the right thing. She saves Crosshair through clever use of her crossbow while on the other side of the door, Wrecker decides that if Tech can’t override the door, he’ll do it the old fashioned way. With a knife.
With the whole crew together again, and stuck in a submerged part of the facility, they need to find somewhere safe to strategize. Fortunately, the crew’s old barracks are in this part of the wreck.
Together again in their old quarters, tensions that had been barely kept below the surface begin to boil over. When Wrecker excitedly points out their old mission tally, Crosshair finally loses it and expresses disgust that the Batch would throw away their success and camaraderie for nothing. When Hunter angrily retorts that blind allegiance is not the solution, Crosshair isn’t having it. Hunter is not the only one who tries appealing to him either.
Wrecker, in the sweetest moment of the episode, tells Crosshair that if he’d tried to come back at any point they would have welcomed him home. When that, too, is met with derision, Tech pulls Wrecker back, telling him that Crosshair’s nature is what it is, and none of them - Crosshair included - can change that. Which is foreshadowing if I ever heard it.
Surprisingly, it’s Omega’s reaction that threw me the most. She is the one who is ever the optimist. The one who sees the best in everyone, and who told Crosshair that it wasn’t his fault in the pilot. Crosshair’s frosty attitude towards his brothers finally breaks her, and she sadly admits that she wished it was the chip making him like this. No appeal for him to join them, or reconsider. Just an admission that she was wrong.
But they don’t have time to dwell on their losses. Having made it to Nala Se’s lab, they hit a dead end when they see the tube leading to the ship has been destroyed. Some quick thinking turns their incubation pods into temporary life rafts that can bob them to the surface of the water, with AZI acting as a guide to get them around the debris.
Most of the Batch make it to the top alright, but Omega gets stuck behind some debris, and AZI only has enough power to push her upwards before losing all power. In a stupid, well-meaning move, Omega dives out of her pod to rescue him, but doesn’t look like she’ll make it to the surface.
Keen to repay her for saving his life earlier - and because I really don’t think the man can sit there and watch a kid die - Crosshair fires a tether through the choppy water and pulls Omega and AZI to the surface and into their pod so they can paddle to the Marauder.
Am I the only one hoping for Crosshair-demption at this point? I think he’s on the right path, and that his brothers have put doubts in his head. I also like that if that’s the direction they’re heading in that they’re going to build it out slower, rather than a sudden flip and everything’s fine now. I’m not even saying he needs to rejoin the Bad Batch. As Hunter told him, wanting different things doesn’t mean they aren’t still brothers.
Which, on that note, given the opportunity, what are the chances Echo just calls Rex and asks to join his rebellion because he just can’t with the drama anymore?
I wish I’d been able to better appreciate the art style in this episode, as I have consistently been impressed with the animation this season, particularly with the locations. However, one day post eye surgery, where I’m having difficulty distinguishing dark-on-dark, I spent most of the episode runtime squinting at my TV hoping to make out some shapes.
The few shots I could fully appreciate however, took my breath away.
The final shots on Kamino were some of the most beautiful of the season, with the sun rising over the smouldering ruins of the city, the characters greeting the dawn looking over the ruins of the only true home they’ve ever known. Beautiful shots are one thing, beautiful shots that actually mean something to the people in the shot are that much more powerful.
The main plot of the episode concludes with Omega reminding Crosshair that despite everything, he’s still their brother, before the rest of the Batch boards the Marauder leaving their wayward former teammate behind. I have to assume he’s getting a ride offworld somehow, or we’re looking at a very boring B-plot in season 2 of Crosshair learning how to fish with his bare hands.
The final scene however, the only one not focused on the Batch, sees Nala Se arriving at a frankly beautiful Imperial facility where they are excited to put her skills to work. I am choosing to believe this cloning subplot has only to do with my favourite clone scientist Dr. Pershing, and not with other plot points I didn’t particularly care for.
So what’s my verdict on the season overall? Despite the criticism, I don’t think it’s a bad show. I would have given up on recapping it if it was. Ultimately I think there is a ton of potential for meaningful storytelling on the screen. The conversations we saw this week and last week, along with the moments we’ve seen hinted at earlier in the season are proof enough of that. We’ve also seen what happens when the audience is left to come up with a ton of plot-supporting logic not in any way conveyed on the screen and that’s not a good thing. I don’t want The Bad Batch to fall down that trap. I also hope the creators are given the space that The Mandalorian has to let the story dictate the runtime as opposed to the other way around.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see!
What did you think? Are you excited for season 2? Are you hoping for Crosshair-demption? Where is the Batch off to? Join us for Bad Bitches on the Bad Batch, our biweekly livestream to dive in! And for more Star Wars discussion, don’t forget to subscribe to “Space Waffles”, our Star Wars focused podcast!
The first season of The Bad Batch is streaming now on Disney+.