Bad Batch Spoiler Recap: Replacements
We need to talk about Crosshair.
Or at least, the boys of the Bad Batch do.
When we rejoin them this week, they are en route...somewhere, but are forced to make an emergency landing on a remote moon when their power capacitor is damaged. Omega, determined to be of use to the team, tries looking for the lone replacement part they have, and in the process unearths Crosshair’s weapons kit.
After not mentioning him at all last week, the crew finally get the chance to stop and try to process their feelings about losing their brother: Wrecker comes out and admits that he misses him, plain and simple. Echo is confused, because he can’t imagine a brother betraying him like that. Tech remains characteristically detached, opining that Crosshair’s actions aren’t really his fault due to the inhibitor chip. And Hunter just angrily pushes his feelings aside. Of course.
Tech and Echo venture out into the dark to replace the capacitor, and notice that something mysterious has left long scratches on the side of the ship. They get their answer shortly after when the creature in question - an Ordo Moon Dragon - tears out the newly-replaced capacitor and takes off with it into the stormy night.
Hunter heads out to track the Moon Dragon and Omega goes with him, insisting that she’s part of the crew too, and has the right to go. She’s also providing backup since Wrecker banged his head during their crash landing, and has too much of a headache. While out, she and Hunter finally have a somewhat honest conversation about Crosshair, where Hunter admits that the person he’s really angry with is himself for leaving one of their own behind. Hunter takes his role as the Bad Batch’s leader very seriously, and it’s clear this haunts him.
But what about Crosshair himself? After not seeing him at all last week, we catch back up with him on Kamino, where it appears he’s getting touch ups on his inhibitor chip conditioning, just in time for Admiral Rampart (the guy from last week’s propaganda holograms) to arrive with four new recruits for Crosshair to train. The Empire is firmly of the opinion that those who voluntarily enlist will become a new breed of fiercely loyal Imperial soldiers purely because they’re there by choice. As for skill? That can be taught.
While we’re here, I’m hearing some people believe that one of these recruits is actually a young Iden Versio? As in...the Iden Versio who is going to be 22/23 years old 20 years from now? Not everyone is secretly someone else, y’all. And that’s not even getting into their different ethnicities. But I digress.
Crosshair takes the new team to Onderon on Tarkin’s orders, to eliminate Saw Gererra’s camp once and for all. Though Saw isn’t there when they arrive, some of his fighters still are, along with a random assortment of civilians. Once the fighters are taken out, one of Crosshair’s recruits, the one who felt he would make a better leader for the squad, insists that the civilians be taken in for questioning. Crosshair shoots the recruit point blank and orders the rest of the squad to execute any remaining survivors.
Pretty dark stuff for a kids show.
This ordering the execution of innocent villagers is something we’ve seen in Star Wars before. The beginning of The Force Awakens comes to mind. Though it’s still early days, I do want to take this opportunity to once again state that doing One Good Thing followed by self-sacrifice is not the only way to write a redemption arc.
Back with the rest of the Bad Batch, Omega successfully retrieves the capacitor from the Moon Dragon after taking some time to understand it a bit better, and trading it her flashlight, since all it wanted was a source of energy to feed on. Omega continues to demonstrate this kind of intuitive understanding of others, be they human or otherwise, and I can’t help but wonder if this innate empathy is part of her special skill set, or if this is just who she is. Even the Regs all had personality traits all their own.
The episode ends on an adorable note. After realizing Omega doesn’t have a bunk of her own on the ship, Wrecker builds her a little sleeping nook right up against the window so she can have a view of the stars. He even leaves his beloved Lula in there for her. I love how soft Wrecker is with Omega, it tugs at my heartstrings every time.
Because so much of the episode was about the inhibitor chips, I admit I got very worried when Wrecker kept rubbing that side of his head. What if he’s somehow knocked the chip into place? Or woken it up somehow? Will Wrecker be the next member of the Bad Batch to turn on his brothers or will Tech’s scanner catch it in time? Please, don’t let anything bad happen to Wrecker!
As we go into next week, I’m left with a few questions. I wonder how many times we’re going to go over what the inhibitor chips can and can’t do. Being so familiar with the chip because of The Clone Wars, I keep thinking the show is repeating information. Shouldn’t they already know what the chip is doing to Crosshair? Didn’t we go over this last week? But then this is one of those cases where I have more information than the characters on screen, so I can let it slide.
Another curious thing came right towards the end, when Nala Se and Lama Su are going over their plan to make sure they remain essential to the Empire. They have an ominous conversation about the deteriorating quality of Jango Fett’s DNA, and how they need a new sample from Nala Se’s “experiment”. Of course, we are made to think they are referring to the Bad Batch, but I’m not so sure. They say they only need one of that group to return, and return they will because they are “property of Kamino”, but if it’s the Bad Batch, why are we even having this conversation? Crosshair is right there, in his old bunk no less. Food for thought as we head into next week
What did you think? Are you worried for Crosshair? What are the Kaminoans planning? Did you make a Lula of your own this week? 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 Bad Batch is streaming now on Disney+ with new episodes every Friday.