The Bad Batch Season 2 Spoilers - Blog Posts
Let him stab people let him KILL
….ESPECIALLY AFTER THE FINAL EPS LET HIM MESS SOME PEOPLE UP WITH HIS KNIFE LET HIM CARVE UP SOME BITCHES
This man is going to become absolutely unhinged.. He’s going to be filled with so much rage, regret, sorrow… He’s going to be out for blood and vengeance. This man is honestly going to become Joel Miller, as I said in my previous post. He’s going to hunt down them all down until he gets his daughter, and Crosshair, back. Hemlock is right, Hunter is very paternal, and because of that, he’s going to go to the absolute end of the galaxy to get her back and rip every single last one of them apart.
I AM SO ILL WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY GOING TO DO TO HIM
HE JUST WOKE UP NOOOOOO THEY CANT DO THIS TO HIM AGAIN GROSS SOBBING
Hunter using his senses more often in the newest episode my beloved my heart my darling my dearest my bby my love
IT WAS SO HOT 😭😩
I’m late to the party but we all know how good this episode was, especially with Omega and Tech (I almost cried 😀👍)
HUNTER STARING AT THE ELECTRICAL STORM AT THE END WHILE HIS HAIR BLEW IN THE WIND DRAMATICALLY GOT ME GIGGLING BLUSHING KICKING MY FEET TWIRLING MY HAIR HNNRGHHH CLAWING AT THE WALLS *shrivels up and dies*
SPOILERS FOR TBB SEASON 2
These episodes left me broken and in absolute shambles. It’s the way my sister and I were both sitting there in silence, grossly sobbing into our hands when we realized that Echo was going with Rex. I CRIED SO HARD. How can I live love laugh in these conditions?!?
What if something happens to Echo and that’s what causes Rex to kinda leave the rebellion?!? NEVERMIND I DONT WANNA THINK ABOUT IT.
Can we talk about that clone assassin for a minute?? I know Rex mentioned how he was different, had his signature/number removed, and he was obviously…interesting, compared to clones with activated chips. My guess? Maybe prototype of a death trooper or purge trooper? Seeing his interaction with Rex was so.. scary, I loved it. I am definitely more afraid for clones in the empire now, because I’m pretty sure they’re gonna be turned into mindless killers like that guy. And now I’m so scared for Cody- like yeah, rampart *said* he went awol, but do we know that for certain?? What if he got death/purge troopered?!?! akbhquwwqn
CANT BELIEVE RAMPART GOT ARRESTED TOO. That’s so crazy to me. Like DAMN. I wonder who is gonna fill his role? New main antagonist for the batch? Maybe they just straight up gotta fight a Sith Lord now lmfao 0-60 in seconds 😭.
I can hardly type Im so heart broken rn omfg 💀💀 echo my beloved pls come home to us when you are ready 💔💔💔😭😭😭😭
I do think it’ll be cool to see the original bad batch dynamic without Echo. AND I WANNA SEE AN EPISODE WITH ECHO AND REX COMMITTING CRIMES
Spoilers for tbb season 2 episode 3!
I am saddened to say there were no shirtless scenes, but we got some pain and suffering instead 💀.
I feel so bad for Crosshair :(!
Really spectacular episode, it solidified a feeling of loss and abandonment which made everything 10x more depressing fr.
Like, he was so alone.
Y’all think when Cody went awol, he was thinking about how his squad left him too? Do you think he was thinking something like “even Cody left me.” Bro must feel so lost and straight up unwanted :(.
Also i wanna bite rampart and NOT in a good feral way but like as a means to destroy
Y’all don’t know how much I LOVED THESE EPISODES OH MY GOODNESS
Gah!! It’s already starting off so good and crazy and delicious and scrumptious and yum and-
HUNTER
let me talk about him for a minute because he’s my king fr
Like he’s so fr. He just wants to keep his family away from the empire, live his days out away from other peoples problems, and he doesn’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s war anymore. Like yes!!! He’s just like me fr!! And he’s so protective of everyone it’s so mwuah
Ik some people were like “Hunter no join the rebellion we have cookies” but like, he doesn’t want that life anymore. Taking orders, dying for a cause he hardly believes in, he just wants to keep his family away from all that, and live his best life. (Ik he’ll probably cave and join anyway later on, but still) I support 💯
(Also not him trying to do Tech things and failing 😭😭💀 it was actually so adorable- he likes to stabby stabby not clicky clicky around with buttons 💔 )
Hunter rant over, it’s Tech time.
My bby my boi my second favorite batcher 😭 SOMEONE HELP HIM
He’s so POWERFUL- bro fought and WON against multiple troopers with a BROKEN FEMUR- the most painful bone to break in your body!! He really said “Tis but a scratch” and popped the fuck off. Such a king luv him❤️
And not him getting flirted with 😭 top tier quality content. BROWN EYES LMAO din djarin moment
She right tho, Tech is hot fr
(cant believe that lady SKIMMED over Hunter, the sexiest man alive, but that’s ok bc he’s my husband not her’s so it’s whatever)
And ECHO!!
We are getting fed so well with the Echo content. I love seeing him getting more screen time, and his desire to help with rebelling against the Empire. It’s makes for some interesting conflicts within the batch as a whole, and is most likely going to be an ongoing point. Love him ❤️ NO LIE THO HE WAS KINDA INTIMIDATING THESE EPISODES FOR NO REASON?? IDK WHAT IT WAS BUT BRO WAS PRODUCING SOME MEAN AURA WITH OMEGA FOR A SECOND but then he said “please” to her in such a way that I almost cried lmao (and the way he fell in the beginning 😭 so precious actually)
WRECKER MY BELOVED
THEY FINALLY SHOWED HIM USING HIS DEMOLITION AND WEAPONS EXPERT SKILLS IN ACTION I ALMOST SCREAMED BECAUSE YES YES YES YES AND NOT HIM JUMPING UP AND DOWN ON THE LIFT LMAOOO THE WRECKER HUNTER DUO IS IMMACULATE
that is all, I have to get to class have a great day🗿
My Thoughts on The Bad Batch
Hey guys. So, with the announcement of the third season being the last as well as the interview with Dee Bradley Baker and Michelle Ang, It breaks my heart to say that Tech is probably dead. Despite all of our very plausible theories of his survival, it is apparent that the writers/creators have ended his story. At this point, I think I've kind of accepted it in the same way I learned to accept Fives' death. It still hurts to watch, but I know it's a reality I cannot change. It's just really disappointing to see his story never be finished.
If I'm being completely honest here, while I love Star Wars deeply and I wholeheartedly applaud all the people who have poured their blood, sweat and tears into each project, I feel like the writers have lost a bit of their mojo. This is just my take on this, but The Bad Batch has always felt like it lacked in some way, storywise (in comparison to TCW), like it wasn't ever truly reaching its full potential. The same can be said with The Mandalorian; I love it, but I don't know where the story is going or what the end goal is. Sorry if that was a hot take. It's just how I've felt for a while, and I wanted to express that.
I am (mostly) at peace with Tech's death. I hope the remainder of the batch will be reunited by the end of the series, but I'm not holding out too much hope; I don't want to set myself up for failure.
Freefalling From Great Heights - A Discussion & Analysis
Hey guys. So, I lied about getting off socials LOL I really need to go full on film theory here and talk about the fall. I do want to preface though and say that I am not a woman of science (I’m an art girlie), therefore I won’t be able to make any sort of proper calculations. Without further ado, I’m going to break down the whole fall and discuss how Tech could’ve and probably did survive.
First and foremost, I want to go back and take a look at the most clear shot given to viewers of the height between the tram system and the perceived ground level. In this picture, we get a brief glimpse from Wrecker’s POV of how far down it is from the trams.
While it looks quite high, considering they are practically in the clouds, it is important to note the amount of foliage this planet has; a vast amount large trees, specifically tall pine trees.
These types of trees are not uncommon in biomes that include bodies of water. Consider the images below.
While it is not definitive, it can be safe to assume that there could have been a stream or body of water below in that valley. However, even if this was not the case, the trees are large enough that they can dampen a fall, even if it is from a great height. This leads me to my next point:
How high of a fall can humans survive?
An NCBI article covers the case of a rock climber who had fallen from a total of 300 feet and survived. Though she suffered many severe injuries, she was able to recover after extensive medical care. According to this article, the way in which a person falls is imperative to survival. In particular, if a person is falling vertically, they can survive an average fall height of 23 feet and 7 inches (7.2 meters) with minor to moderate injury. Survivable injuries have a threshold of around 20-25 feet. Yet the rock climber was able to survive at even greater heights. That being said, according to an article by Arnold & Atkin Trial Lawyers, 20 feet and below can still prove to be fatal. Moreover, fatal falls usually are between 21 and 40 feet. Considering all the information thus far, it would seem that Tech is exceptionally fucked. But stay with me folks, I’m not done cooking yet.
While it is not common, humans have, in fact, survived free falls at extreme heights. Take for example Vesna Vulović, a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest freefall without a parachute: 33,330 feet (10,160 meters). She was in a coma for days and spent several months hospitalized. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis, leaving her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. Despite all of this, she made a nearly complete recovery, only continuing to walk with a limp.
In another case, Nicholas Alkemade, a British tail gunner of the Royal Air Force during World War II, survived a freefall of 18,000 feet (5, 490 meters). His fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground.
While the first case can be safely considered as a miracle, it's the second case that is interesting. The pilot survived a freefall from a height he should’ve died from. Yet, due to the large trees and the snow on the floor, his fall was cushioned and allowed for him to survive.
Now, taking what we discussed and applying it to the Star Wars universe, the chances of Tech surviving is definitely in our favour. Firstly, we know there is a lot of foliage (bushes, grass, etc.), and there are also massive trees. But we must remember that this isn’t just some random, unprepared person that is falling. This is Tech, a highly skilled, highly intelligent, and well equipped clone trooper. It is also important to mention that he is wearing a helmet and a chest plate, which provides protection to critical body parts. Knowing him, Tech could have very well put his gear to use and used a grappling hook to attach to a tree and create momentum from his fall to swing onto the ground. He could have also gotten into the falling tram and found a way to cushion his fall. But let’s say he does neither of these things (perhaps due to the speed at which he was falling), Tech can still survive if he falls vertically into the pine trees and foliage, which will cushion his fall, just like Nicholas Alkemade and the rock climber, respectively.
Furthermore, based on all that has been discussed and considered, the chances of survival of a freefall from that height, while seemingly impossible, is in fact, possible and likely.
Sources:
This is literally how moms react to their kid driving 🤣🤣🤣
Bonding moments
Crosshair’s Actions
From his perspective, agonizingly pulled from my overly emotional brain.
Mistrust. “How are you feeling?” … “What’s it to you?” … “Cooperate, or he will resort to methods that you will not enjoy.” … “You’ve healed quickly, considering the state you arrived in.” Their guise of concern for him was repulsive, and he had no patience for it. “Why am I here?” A demand, voiced. Answers. He wanted answers.
Realization. “All you have to do is tell me where to find Clone Force-99.” … “They are in possession of something I need.” … “The kid.”
Recollection. A memory. An info dump that, at the time, had been unsolicited and unimportant to their objective. “A state of heightened awareness is not unusual for an enhanced Clone such as herself. When Nala Se spoke of five clones, Tarkin assumed that meant us. But Echo’s a reg. The fifth is Omega. I confirmed my suspicions after analyzing her DNA.”
The Truth. “You’re wasting your time, they’ll never turn her over.” This one-gloved doctor clearly hadn’t done his research. Hunter called the shots, and he was as protective as Wrecker is strong, and as Tech is logical. There wasn’t a force or a promise anywhere in the galaxy that would convince his Sergeant to forfeit the kid. “I don’t know where they are.” Still, the truth. He didn’t. He hadn’t for a long time. And as often as their likeness and the sounds of their voices flickered like ghosts through his mind, the reality was, he was alone.
Defiance. “You know how they think… how they operate… Surely, you have something useful to share?” … “Wrong.” One simple word saturated in refusal, obstinance. He was unyielding. This was a challenge to which he would not concede. He had extensive experience as a lab-rat, try me.
Torture. Was it the warbling of the droid that unnerved him the most? Or was it the needle? Or the diabolical smirk on the doctor’s face? His awareness quickly left him, replaced with pain, terror, agony.
A second realization. “Our orders were to not stop until he talks.” … “He can’t talk if he’s dead.” So that was the limit that they were willing to take it to. How resistant and unyielding could he be? How long could he withstand their interrogative methods until he undoubtedly cracked, damning his brothers and sister to the same horrible fate? The answer was in every debauched, trembling cell in his body: not long.
Desperation. He had to warn them. Immediately. At any cost. But how could he manage it? An opportunity, embodied as unsupervised blaster. “Release me.” … “You can not make it out of this facility. Not in your condition.” Digressive. Redundant. He already knew that. He could barely stand, barely form a coherent word. “Give me your access card.” … “It won’t get you outside. Don’t make this worse, Crosshair. There is no escape.” Again, digressive. He knew this. That was not his goal anymore. The long harboured hope of escape had been abolished; sent to the graveyard in the back of his mind where it could nestle beside his discarded dreams of redemption… and reunion. No. Too many shots were taken, too many bridges set alight and left to burn. Regret.
Determination. If he acted quickly, he could potentially pull it off. One last Hail Mary before the repeated debauchery of his mind sent him over the edge, or into the grave. Stealth could not be an option. He had mere minutes.
A coded transmission. “Plan-88.” One that he knew only his brothers would understand. Immediately followed by an anguished plea. “You have to hide. They’re after Om-” Vapour. A dense toxin filling his lungs, stealing the awareness that he had barely been able to cling to. The diabolical smirk. Nothing.
Let's Talk About Echo & Crosshair
This is going to be long winded so I will put my thoughts under the cut <3
Echo and Crosshair have a lot of similarities and I think a lot of that has to do with their experiences with trauma. They have reacted differently to that trauma but still, those similarities are there.
Let's start with the lightest of this discussion: their wit and personalities. Crosshair has a dry delivery, borderline or outwardly mean at times, and he tends to never beat around the bush. He's forward and stubborn and he will call you out if he thinks you're wrong (immediately his treatment of Rex comes to mind). Echo is similar in this dryness. He rolls his eyes a lot and he strikes me as the person to call out his loved ones when they're being absolutely obtuse. He speaks his mind and doesn't hide when he's upset. They are both on the blunter side of things but the way people react to Echo's bluntness versus Crosshair's definitely varies. I think this is because Crosshair can be cruel while Echo tends to hold his tongue and go for a, still forward, but more diplomatic way.
I also think they both lead with emotion. Crosshair we see be angry a lot more than any other emotion (but that doesn't mean he doesn't have other emotions). We see Echo have a lot of fire within him - usually pointed towards an injustice. He's willing to stand up for his family, testify for Riyo, and fight with Rex to save their brothers from the empire. We see Crosshair do this too when he fights so hard for Mayday. He sees a person who is so deserving of saving that he puts his all into doing just that. They are both willing to let their emotions guide them, it just manifests a little differently. Crosshair's is more passion and surges of protectiveness and loyalty while Echo's is more sustained and dialed in. They both have this loyalty towards their loved ones and their brothers but Echo's is more doing the right thing to keep people safe and Crosshair's is more: whatever it takes to get the best end result is the path I will take. Same idea different approach.
This plays into a trait that both of them have: a strong sense of loyalty. Loyalty is extremely important to both of them but Echo tends to let this loyalty drive him towards the greater good, a willingness and need to protect everyone not just those closest to him. Crosshair, on the other hand, lets this guide him to do just about anything to stay true to it. He'd willingly kill and die for those he is loyal to. Again we see their paths line up in a way that is just so similar and yet their reactions and how they use it is very different.
Now, for the biggest part of this: their trauma. We are well acquainted with Echo's trauma. He was left behind, captured, tortured, and mind controlled before his rescue. He suffered immense pain and has massive guilt over what he did when he did not have control. We see him struggle with PTSD, anger, and probably a lot of survivors guilt. His story is one soaked in tragedy but ultimately it is about overcoming odds and staying true to who you are even as the world caves in around you. We can see this struggle with Crosshair too. He was left behind which led to his continual torture and mind control. He was forced to do horrible things and endure a lot of pain and suffering along the way. But then we see him continue down a path with the empire and instead of overcoming and staying true to himself he latches onto the empire and starts to build his life around that instead. (We definitely got a lot of development in this area with episode 12 with seeing him save Mayday and shoot Nolan.) What I want to focus on here is why their responses to this are so different.
Echo, upon being rescued, had a massive support system to help him. He had Rex, this new squad, and an environment that was familiar to him despite how much he himself had changed. He had to adjust and adapt to this new reality of his but he still had so much of what he was used to that he was able to take that pain and start to cope with it. I definitely think he's got a lot left to work through but my point is that he was able to start the process in a healthier way. There was a stability built into it and it allowed him to grow and mature and hold onto his kind heart.
Crosshair on the other hand... He finally starts to wake up from the mind control. The brain washing wears off. And he's alone. There is zero support system for him to feel safe enough to be vulnerable. His family is gone. There is no one around who loves or supports him. He has done horrible things and hunted down the only people in the galaxy that care about him. And instead of coming out of the ordeal with a greater sense of self and an ability to overcome the anger and resentment inside of him it leaves him hollow and burrowing into himself to keep himself safe. He has no support system to help him emotionally so it festers and ends up hurting him even more.
They have such different reactions to coming out of the other side because they came to in much different circumstances. But in the end they would understand each other better than almost anyone else. They’ve been through very similar things and have made it to the other side. (and I think if anyone would understand Crosshair's anger it would be Echo, even if he doesn't agree with Crosshair's choices.)
I think it would be fantastic when Crosshair is reunited with his family that we see a moment where the two of them get to acknowledge that they have something even greater in common now. Even if it's silent or short. These two could draw so much healing from each other.
If you have things to add please please please feel free! I’m so interested to see what everyone else sees.
And Crosshair still hit his target!
Ok yes crosshairs sight is sensitive yes, but if anyone has ever used thermal imaging, that would fuck anyone up, like yeah its not as intense as nightvision but holy damn if something over bright hits a FLIR anyone is gonna be seeing spots for a while
So not only are they phasing out clones and forcing them to retire. It’s being implied they are also being transported to the cloning facility to be experimented on. ‘Cause why not add to the laundry list of abuses and inhumane treatment of the clones. I just…it’s just so sad. The total apathy. “He [Commander Mayday] is expendable, as are you.”
They are being erased and soon they will be forgotten. The clone army will be a blip in the history of the fallen Republic and the rising Empire even though they played a vital role in both regimes. Do we see the complete impact the clones had on the socioeconomic and political structure of the galaxy? It is all seen and talked about but they are ghosts forgotten in the background because there is no one left to tell their story. And if they are remembered, it’s for the one act they had no control over - the elimination of the Jedi.
It was always going to play out this way for the clones. An inevitability like the circling predator stalking Crosshair and Mayday’s path the entire episode.
But seeing it play out is absolutely heart wrenching. The season is taking a darker and darker turn, and it’s amazing to see the fate of the clones play out in The Bad Batch. Let’s hope the Batch, Echo and Rex can save some of their brothers so they can write their story. God, I loved and hated “The Outpost.” It was so devastatingly good.
The Clone War and The Bad Batch fandom rn:
Another stupid throwback from this week's episode but sadly only sketches today :(
‘HELP HIM!’
Realizing I never posted this here. The Outpost was probably my favorite episode of Season 2 and I’m really looking forward to Season 3
Tech’s Alive, Part Five: I am aware that I am a clown but also! Short Term Possibilities and Long Term Narrative Questions:
So…I’m going to say something that’s probably going to be a bit unpopular. “Killing” Tech off is, or could prove to be, the correct narrative choice—in the short term. And I want to emphasize “in the short term” here. In the long term, or making it permanent, has the potential to break the entire show, and I’ll talk about why in the second half of this post. In the first half, though, I want to talk about how fake-killing Tech could potentially push both the story and the characters forward.
Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo:
From a practical standpoint, they’re going to have to make up for yet another missing skill set in their team after having never actually quite made up for the others. Tech’s the pilot, technician, and analyst, and on paper, those are all things Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo can do. Hunter isn’t as skilled a pilot as Tech, but he’s pretty competent; Wrecker doesn’t have Tech’s focus, but he is a skilled mechanic; and Echo’s excellent with technology (for reasons) as well as a brilliant strategist—a much better strategist than Tech really ever tried to be. On paper, the three of them do have the overlapping skills to make up for Tech’s absence. The thing is, they’re used to Tech being the one to do a lot of that, almost all of the time, and now they’re going to play his role as well as the roles they already have and the role they were already trying to make up for. And on top of that…Tech’s the one with the right combination of levelheadedness and total batshit insanity to get the team out of a tight spot and has, over and over and over again. That’s a thing that Wrecker, Echo, and Hunter don’t really have.
And this isn’t to say that missing Tech is going to be any harder than missing anyone else on the team. We’ve seen clone force 99 struggle for two seasons without Crosshair, and saw them struggle even harder being two men down without Echo. It’d be a struggle without any single one of them. It’s more that they’re going to have to adjust, once again, to not having someone on their team when they could actually really use him, and unlike with Echo, who they expected to get back, or with Crosshair, whose skill set wasn’t made up for by Omega’s presence and her own sharpshooting skills, but who did have someone who began to fill a similar role, Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo are expecting the gap Tech left behind to be permanent. And adjusting is going to be really hard for them.
And then, of course, there’s the way that this is going to push the three of them on a personal level. Echo has lost a lot—a lot—of brothers, so this isn’t necessarily new to him. It’s an old pain that’s just part of the background of his life. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to hurt. It’s not necessarily going to be like losing Fives, but Tech and Echo were close. Tech was in the room when Rex pulled Echo out of that stasis chamber, Tech helped get Echo unplugged, he carried Echo out, was one of the people there helping Echo adjust after the most difficult time in his life, and for all their bickering, they were still pretty in sync with each other. They understood each other pretty well. It’s still going to be hard for Echo. And then Wrecker and Hunter—they’ve never lost a someone like this, that we know of. Maybe 99, but if they knew 99 personally, I suspect their relationship with him had a little more distance to it than their relationships with each other have. And, yes, they lost Crosshair, but with Crosshair they were missing someone who was very much alive and who (as far as they know) made the choice to leave and had the potential to come back at any time. Losing Tech is a bit more permanent—from their point of view, at least. And it has the potential to bring out a side of them we haven’t really seen before.
Wrecker’s been pretty easy going so far. Apart from the whole “Wrecker’s chip is activating” saga of the first half of season one, he hasn’t exactly had much in the way of character development. Not that there hasn’t been any, but he is probably the character with the least so far, and I think that’s because he hasn’t really had too much of an inner conflict. Oh, the Republic’s the Empire now? Well, sucks about the Jedi, but hey! Look at the armory! Ooooh, we’re going to grab this kid and we’re defecting now? Great! He gets to visit Cut, Suu, and the kids. We’re working as mercenaries for this shady Trandoshan grandma? Cool, let’s be mercenaries. Super secret mission from Rex to find information and blow open an imperial conspiracy? Awesome. Awakening the ancient horrors? All in. Retiring to Pabu? Cool, he’s going to become a pillar of the community, eat sushi, catch fish, and live his best life. This isn’t to say that he’s never bothered, because you just have to check out The Crossing and Retrieval for that. It’s more that he takes things in stride and is probably the best out of all of the boys at adjusting to new situations.
I…don’t think he’s going to adjust to this very well. He’s just lost family. He thinks it’s permanent. And you can’t tell me he’s not going to blame himself. Because, yes, Tech’s the one who shot the connection hinge through, but Wrecker’s going to see himself as the one who couldn’t get Tech up fast enough. He couldn’t hang on to Tech’s side of the rail car. I rewatched the scene (because I hate myself, I guess), and I don’t think Wrecker moves an inch after watching Tech fall. He’s frozen in that moment. You can’t tell me he’s not going to have nightmares about it. And that’s an inner conflict. That misplaced guilt is going to give him something to overcome and it could be really interesting to watch(1).
And then, of course, Hunter’s going to blame himself, too, because blaming himself for every little thing that goes wrong has been part of Hunter’s modus operandi since day one. It’s what he does. More importantly, though, this whole situation is Hunter’s nightmare scenario. They’ve lost every lead to get Crosshair back, Tech’s “dead,” and the most evil man in the galaxy has his daughter. This is everything Hunter’s been afraid of for two solid seasons. This is exactly why he was so hesitant to go back for Crosshair or come into direct conflict with the Empire and help Rex in the first place. And now that that shoe has dropped, I think we might be done seeing Hunter hesitate and take the back seat. And more than that, losing Tech specifically might be something that pushes Hunter into seeing that he and the regs have always been in the same boat, the same way Crosshair’s experience with the Empire did that for him. Now, I don’t think Hunter had quite the same defensive superiority complex about other clones that Crosshair did(2), but I do think he had or has a bit of a chip on his shoulder (probably mostly on his brothers’ behalf), and he doesn’t seem to think of other clones as brothers the same way that, say, Echo and Rex do. There’s a distance there. Losing a brother the way other clones do all the gosh darn time could be something that gets him to empathize more and see himself and his squad as part of them in a way I’m not sure he’s been able to do before(3). Is it a sort of awful way to gain that empathy? Yes, it kind of is. But it is still a way.
But, anyway, you know who else is living their nightmare scenario right now?
Omega and Crosshair:
Omega’s spent two seasons trying to have a family, getting closer to her brothers, and being terrified of ending up an experiment in a tube. And, due to the crazy series of events set off by Tech’s “death”, she’s just been ripped away from her family, lost a brother permanently, and is very much in a situation where there’s only Hemlock’s need to keep Nala Se happy keeping her from becoming an experiment in a tube. She’s dealing with a massive amount of loss and change and the only person she really knows in the whole facility is Nala Se, who I think does care about Omega in her own way, but probably isn’t going to be much help. This poor kid is not going to be okay.
And, frankly, neither is Crosshair. I mean, Crosshair’s whole deal over the course of this entire show is just him waking up thinking that maybe, just maybe, today might not be the worst day of his life, and somehow managing to be wrong every single time. He’s going to wake up again, see Omega next to him, which was exactly the thing he was trying to avoid and just got tortured over. Omega’s probably going to tell him that Tech died while they were on a mission to save him, which is exactly what he didn’t want, and given what we know now about how much Crosshair loves his family I think it’s safe to say this is all going to wreck him.
In a way, though, we have the perfect set up for Omega and Crosshair forming an actual relationship. They think of each other as brother and sister, and they care about each other, but they don’t really know one another. They’ve only interacted a handful of times, and Crosshair was unwillingly trying to kill Omega during two of them. But now they’re stuck in the same place with shared circumstances and a shared grief. Or—here’s some speculation—maybe even some wild shared hope that Tech somehow made it. Omega never had a chance to get past, “He’s not gone, he can’t be!” with Tech, and Crosshair’s going to be hearing about it secondhand; with him having known Tech longer than Omega did, did it’s possible he’d latch onto the idea that Tech could have thought his way out of it, or that it might not feel real to him unless he sees proof. Either way, it gives Omega and Crosshair something besides their current circumstances to bond over, and something they both understand, and which they can help each other through. This is actually one of the reasons why I’m actually kind of hoping that Tech isn’t in Mount Tantiss. Having Omega without the other brothers she already really knows and with just Crosshair gives her a chance to develop an actual relationship with just Crosshair, regardless of whatever shenanigans Emerie is trying to pull. Seeing Omega and Crosshair’s relationship develop is something I’ve been so wanting to see since episode one(4).
Tech:
If this is indeed a fake-out and a way for the writers to put Tech somewhere else for a while, there’s the potential for us to see Tech really struggle in a way we haven’t before. There’s the possibility that he’s going to be physically disabled after this, but whether he is or not, and whatever his circumstances, it’s something he’s going to have to deal with alone. At least, that he might have to do alone. I suspect that we’re going to find out Tech is a live well before any of the other characters do, if we find it out at all, and that they might not have a chance to reunite or even know about it until the end of next season or possibly even later, if there’s more seasons after that. And having Tech alone could be really interesting, because I’m not sure Tech handles “alone” much better than Echo does—though for very different reasons.
Clones weren’t built for solitude. And the other members of Clone Force 99, or most of them, were some of the only consistent presences in Tech’s life. A little like how I suspect Crosshair never really thought of himself as his own person, or even as a person at all for a little while, I’m not sure Tech really thinks of himself as his own man. He’s one piece of a uniquely mismatched set, and after this season, and especially after how badly he handled Echo leaving, I think it’s safe to say that Tech wouldn’t happily leave that set for an extended period of time under pretty much literally any other circumstances than the one in which he found himself in Plan 99. He’s dedicated to this family. Yes, the batchers all have vastly different personalities and strengths, but they’ve always been there, he understands them and knows how to be around them. I suspect that even in the happy version of this season where Crosshair is easily rescued, they all just stay on Pabu forever, and Tech and Phee get space married, Tech probably wouldn’t just run off with Phee and never be involved his siblings’ lives again. He’d still get up to shenanigans with Echo, bicker banter with Wrecker, be giving Omega flying lessons, etc. They’re his people, and he needs them.
Part of Tech’s arc in season two was learning about and exploring the galaxy in ways that weren’t defined by The War, and leaning into parts of himself that aren’t just a soldier(5). A fake-out death leaving Tech on his own for a little while could allow that to continue, but with the training wheels off, because he’s not going to have his people. Would he be trying to get back to his family the whole time? Oh definitely, yes. But it would be a long, hard road of discovery getting there.
So, in summary, a fake-out has the potential to shake up the status quo own push the characters and/or drive them to develop connections we haven’t seen before. Making it permanent, however, has every potential to break the show, and here’s how:
Narrative Questions:
Some of the best writing advice I ever got was to think of a story as an answer to a question. It doesn’t have to be a complicated question, but the story does have to answer it, and answer it in a satisfying way, in order to have a satisfying ending.
So, what are some narrative questions in Star Wars? Well, the narrative questions of the original trilogy seem to be: one, can this farm boy become a jedi; two, can the rebel alliance defeat the evil galactic empire; and three, can the dark side be defeated? And the answer to all three are, “Yes, and here’s how.” Or Rebels, which has pretty similar narrative questions: Can this street rat become a Jedi, how does the Rebel Alliance Form, and can this little family successfully fight the empire? Once again, the answers are a resounding, “Yes, and here’s how”(6).
Okay, so, what about some Star Wars that had a tragic ending? Because a story doesn’t have to have a happy ending to be satisfying. The narrative questions at the heart of both the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars are, “How does Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader?” And “How does the Galactic Republic become the Galactic Empire?” The three movies and seven seasons of television we got are pretty satisfying answers to those questions. Maybe a little clumsy in the case of the Prequel Trilogy, but it still gets there. Or Rogue One? That’s a movie with a tragic ending if there ever was one. But its narrative question had nothing to do with whether or not Jyn or Cassian or Baze or any one individual character would be okay; it was all about how there could ever be hope in the fight against an evil like the Empire, and what it would cost those people to bring that hope to the galaxy. And, of course, answering the question of how Leia got her hands on the Death Star plans in the first place. (And honestly, there are probably other narrative questions in these movies, but I am three-thousand words into this and it’s getting out of hand, so moving on)
With this in mind, let’s try to look at what questions The Bad Batch is trying to answer. As far as I can tell, there are four of them. And, in order of importance from least to most important, those are:
1. How and why does the empire go from using clone troopers to storm troopers?
2. Can this group of clones ever chose their own purpose, or are they stuck with the purpose with which they were made (can these characters ever choose to live the lives they want and be anything but soldiers/lab experiments made to fight and die)?
3. What does, “We don’t leave our own behind,” mean, and does it mean anything?
4. Can Omega’s family ever be complete?
Now, the first question is one that I think is operating a little bit like “How was the Rebel Alliance formed?” did for Rebels. It’s an important driver of the story, it connects to the larger Star Wars story, it’s a really important subplot, it’s almost definitely leading towards that clone rebellion we keep thinking is about to happen, but in the same way that Rebels was ultimately not about the Rebel Alliance and was instead about a young indigenous boy and his family liberating his home planet from a colonial power, this whole sub-plot in The Bad Batch is super important, but not ultimately the entire point. If it was, we’d be watching a show about Rex and his crew right now. It’s also the only one of these four questions that can have a satisfying answer if the writers leave Tech dead, because you don’t really need him for it. In fact, you don’t need ANY of the bad batch characters alive or otherwise to answer that question in any real way.
The other three, though? You really need Tech alive.
And not just because the answers to the other three would be, “No, they can’t,” “Apparently it doesn’t,” and, “NOPE,” without him. You can answer a narrative question in the negative or have a tragic ending and still have a satisfying answer. It’s just that in order to have a dynamic story you kind of need the apparent answers to those questions to change from the beginning of the story to the end, and the answers to those other three questions have always been negative from the very first moment of the show.
Can these characters every be anything but what they were designed to be? Anything but soldiers and lab rats, designed to fight and die? Can they ever be free? At the beginning of the series, the answer is no. The batchers, as well as the rest of the clones, begin the series as literal enslaved soldiers. They defect, they run, apart from Crosshair, who’s mentally enslaved by the chip at first, and they try to be free, but they spend the entirety of season one still being soldiers—just soldiers without an army or a cause. In season two, they start leaning away from it, and actually have a chance at peace. Crosshair rebels and does everything in the little power he has to put the soldier down for good. Echo’s not letting go of the soldier part, but he’s at least choosing what he wants to fight for, and that matters. Omega has a chance to just be a kid. And then, by the end of the season, Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo are back to the soldier thing and Crosshair and Omega are stuck as lab experiments. The answer is still no. And leaving Tech dead, especially since he would have died as a soldier after almost having the chance to be a bunch of other things, on a mission he pushed for, in a series of events that ultimately drives his family back into the lives they’ve been trying to escape? That means the answer will always be no; or, at least, a lukewarm, “Maybe, if they’re allowed to be.” And that’s as good as a “no” anyway.
What does “We don’t leave our own behind,” mean? Does it mean anything? Again, at the beginning of the series, it’s not clear it is anything but a broken promise. The boys didn’t know about Omega, but she was still left behind. They had to leave Crosshair behind because he was trying to kill them, and they had to leave him behind a second time, because he refused to go. Then Echo left them behind, sort of, because his definition of “our own”(8) is bigger than the batch’s definition, but with every intention of coming back. And then they had to leave Tech behind, because he made the choice for them. And it’s still just a broken promise at the end of season two. If Tech stays dead, after killing him on a mission where he invoked, “We don’t leave our own behind,” during which he forced them to leave him behind, and after which they had to leave Crosshair behind AGAIN after losing their only lead, it would remain a broken promise.
Can Omega’s family every be complete? At the beginning of the series, we find it never has been, not even before Order 66. Omega finds that family picture back in the bad batch’s bachelor pad, and it’s got all five adult batchers, but it’s not a complete family picture because Omega’s not in it. And then in the very brief times we have all six batchers in the same room at the very beginning and end of season one, the family is still very much broken. Then the show is pretty pointed about the absences on both sides in season two—Hunter and crew need Crosshair, Crosshair needs them. Echo leaves, and they fall apart. And by the end of the season? The answer is still no. Emphatically no; Echo’s back, they still don’t have Crosshair, Omega’s gone, Tech’s “dead,” and it looks hopeless. Leave Tech dead, after a mission he pushed for, and which was meant to finally reunite the whole family, and the answer will always be no, even once they get Omega and Crosshair back. They answer will not have changed from the beginning of the show(7).
And the thing is, the show is acutely aware that those last three questions are driving most of the tension, because the tension of whether or not those answers will ever change has been at the heart of the both season finales. And the characters almost succeed at changing one or more of those answers every time! They almost have a full family by the end of season one—but the timing isn’t right, everyone’s too angry and embittered, and they have to leave Crosshair behind and be incomplete again. They’re so close to free at the end of season two! Hunter can almost just be a dad! Wrecker can almost just live his best life! Echo can be a freedom fighter! Tech can be whatever the hell he wants! Omega can just be a kid! Crosshair’s rejected the Empire! They’re going to go get him! They don’t leave their own behind! It’s actually going to happen this time! And then—Plan 99.
Right now, just as at the beginning of the series, the answer to all three of those last questions is negative. Everything and yet nothing has really changed for our characters; they’re still soldiers, still enslaved, in a way, still experiments, still leaving their own behind, and still incomplete. And that’s fine for now—we’re only part of the way through the story. But the very end can’t leave them the same and still be satisfying.
And that’s the other thing—I trust this team of writers to give us a satisfying ending at this point. Just like the end of last season was actually kind of frustrating to watch in real time, but ended up incredible in retrospect because of how it lead into season two, I expect a similar thing to happen here. So, here’s to hoping!
(1): I know we’re all looking forward to Hunter entering his John Wick era, but I think we might be discounting how terrifying Wrecker grieving two brothers (Tech gone for good, Crosshair maybe alive but for how long) and out-of-his-mind desperate to find his baby sister has the potential to be. We only thought Wrecker was scary with a chip. Dude is gonna crack some stormtrooper heads.
(2): Or did he? I actually genuinely wonder about this. I’ve come to the conclusion that Crosshair’s superiority complex was more defensive posturing than anything else—more of a way to keep people at a distance than anything he genuinely thought, something he tried to convince himself of, because his words and his actions absolutely don’t match up. That doesn’t make it okay, just kind of layered and interesting. But it’s worth noting that the worst of what Crosshair says about other clones is framed as part of the galaxy’s worst sales pitch in “Return to Kamino”, and a sales pitch to Hunter more than to anyone else. It’s possible that Crosshair was calibrating his, “We’re not like the regs, we’re superior,” bullshit to appeal to Hunter, specifically. Now, the fact that this absolutely didn’t work on Hunter even a little bit tells us something. But so does the possibility that Crosshair thought this was a reasonable thing to say, and so does, “When did you start caring about regs?” I don’t really think Hunter had a superiority complex, but I do think he had something of a chip on his shoulder that Crosshair maybe blew out of proportion.
(3): Just to clarify: I’m not saying that Hunter’s a terrible person or anything here. I’m just saying that clone force 99 was ostracized and excluded from clone culture for a variety of reasons (resentment due to perceived special treatment, distrust due to perceived “defectiveness”/actual difference in a monoculture because, listen, the clones are by and large good people, but they are still PEOPLE and even good people have blind spots and being different even through no fault of your own in a monoculture even when that monoculture isn’t an extreme example literally made of clones and subject to the whims of a whole other society that actively practices eugenics on it is the social and sometimes literal equivalent of a death sentence), and that Hunter probably had a reaction to that. An understandable reaction, and one a lot less toxic than Crosshair’s, but one he probably still needs to get over.
(4): CROSSDADCROSSDADCROSSDADCROSSDADCROSSDAD
(5): Wacky thought, but here you go: I think Tech’s alive. I think he’s coming back. I think he’s absolutely still going to be himself when he does. I also think that Tech the soldier is what’s going to die on Eriadu. That’s something I don’t think we’re going to see again, not in the same way.
(6): I’ve always found it kind of weird that Rebels has this reputation for having a horribly sad downer ending when, at the end of the day, our rebels in question win. It has a note of bittersweet melancholy to it because Kanan dies and Ezra’s gone, but that’s not the only note there. They liberate Lothal without the help of the Rebel Alliance before the galactic civil war even starts, Ezra jedis so hard he’s a gosh darn Jedi knight by the end I don’t even care no one was there to knight him, and we see glimpses of Zeb and Hera living full, happy lives, and Sabine is off to bring Ezra home. There’s so much triumph and hope in that ending, and it always confuses me when people say it’s just horribly, tragically sad.
(7): The only way I can see the answers to these last two questions working if Tech remains dead is if they whole batch (besides Omega) dies and the series ends with a time skip and a much, much older Omega passing away, with a glimpse of the six of them being reunited in death somehow. And while I personally love the idea of some kind of clone afterlife, I don’t think my heart could take young teenage Omega being left on her own without her family for the entire rest of her life.
(8): I think, or I hope, anyway, that the batch’s definition of “our own” is also going to expand over the course of the rest of the series, and that it might not necessarily just mean “other clones, too.”
It’s been a while since I lovingly sketched a hand. I forgot how much I enjoy it
:)
BROWN EYES * TBB S2SPOILER
I’m on my phone and I don’t know how to put the line 😭 so that way y’all don’t have to see the spoiler
Regarding Techs goggles, I think that Hunter will give them to Phee. I think that them being on the run is too dangerous for them to get blown. Hopefully the marauder isn’t destroyed in the future.
She will put them away safely with the other treasures she’s saved. If Tech is truly dead, then it shows that at the end - Tech and Phee would have been together.
I miss my boy :(
PLAN 99 *TBB SPOILERS
I CALLED IT! PLANN 99 IS SOMEONE FROM CF 99 DYING!!!
TECH DESERVES BETTER! HE COULD HAVE EXPLORED DIFFERENT CULTURES AND PLANETS WITH HIS FAMILY 🥺🥺🥺
I don't know if I ever wrote that Plan 99 meant one of them would die on here 😭 but I had mentioned this to @VanessaStarWarz during their TikTok live with other people. I did not want it to be true 😭
I thought of Clone 99 who had sacrificed himself in battle during TWC. I couldn't help but think that the bad batch would create a plan if one had to sacrifice themselves in battle. Plus CF 99's logo is literally a skull. 99 is associated with death!
I'm gonna scroll through my posts to see if I ever wrote about my theory!
Others had speculated it being a wide transmission 😢 I WISH THAT WERE TRUE!!! MY LIFE WOULD BE SO MUCH BETTER
Seeing his neck makes me go feral!! 👀
✨️ This ✨️
