The Bad Batch Made Star Wars Feel Complete

Unacceptable though it may be, we now have to talk about Star Wars: The Bad Batch in the past tense. As of this week, the animated spin-off of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, created by Dave Filoni and co-developed by Jennifer Corbett, has become a part of Star Wars history, as consequential to the canon as it doubtlessly is to the hearts and minds of everyone who watched it. 

[Note: This includes heavy spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch Seasons 1-3.]

It's not hard to understand why. The Season 3 finale, "The Cavalry Has Arrived," was as explosive and thrilling as its title suggested, given additional weight by our knowledge that this adventure for Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker), and Omega (Michelle Ang) was also their last — for now, at least. It was an emotionally taxing journey that revealed the way fans were about to say goodbye, and, maybe, to whom.

The Bad Batch has always been good about keeping us pinned to our seats while sticking a lump in our throats. It's a testament to the work done by series writers Saul Ruiz, Nate Villanueva, Steward Lee, and Brad Rau, who established this found family unit early on and made sure every mission they undertook had a sense of gravity, purpose, and fun (lest we forget this is a kids show). Even in the family-friendly Star Wars galaxy, when people go down in battle, sometimes they stay down; as we eventually discovered to our collective woe, this rule extended to the members of Clone Force 99, too. 

Bon voyage to Tech, that brown-eyed, goggle-wearing number cruncher who Riot Raced his way to our hearts before sacrificing himself for the good of his team in Season 2. Tech's death devastated his family and cast a shadow over the rest of the series by establishing that any team member could go at any time. This week, we watched Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, and Crosshair infiltrate the Imperial cloning facility Mount Tantiss to save Omega from the insane Dr. Royce Hemlock (Jimmi Simpson), and it was impossible to shake the feeling that not everyone was going to make it out alive.

They all survived, thank the maker; more tragedy for this hard-scrabble crew of clones, just as the Empire consolidated its power around them, would have been a cruel way to end the series. After all, The Bad Batch couldn't deny fans the joy of seeing Omega embrace her younger brothers one more time before those blue-letter credits scrolled over its sea of stars, just as it couldn't deny us a glimpse at what might come next for the diminutive clone trooper — who we saw had grown into adulthood in the finale's epilogue, bidding farewell to Hunter as she left to join the Rebellion in their galactic war against the Empire. 

It was a bittersweet ending and another example of how The Bad Batch successfully bridged the many eras of Star Wars before it finally powered down. Looking ahead, it's clear Omega's path is the most obvious way forward for future animated stories (possibly even live-action ones), effectively leaving behind the Clone Wars that began in Star Wars: Episode II and entering the Rebellion fray at some point before Episode IV. And while it's exciting to speculate where Filoni et al. will take Omega and her little brothers next, it's time to reflect on how Bad Batch filled in crucial story gaps between Episode I and Episode IX during its three-season run, yet will be remembered for accomplishing so much more than that.

It's impressive how Filoni's suite of writers and artists used the photorealism of live-action Star Wars to their storytelling advantage, conveying the saga's transition from Republic to Empire simply through visuals. By the time The Bad Batch rolled around, that sleek helmet design from The Clone Wars was deteriorating into the Stormtrooper's bulkier, more imposing visage. Even the reds and grays on the Batch's armor became increasingly blaster-scorched as their adventures went on; by the end of Season 3, Hunter had his team sand off the final remnants of the Republic to reveal their slate-gray future as rebels, the war to uphold the Republic now long behind them. 

This gradual visual transition reflects how the Empire dissolved its clone army — discovered to be less devoted to the Imperial cause than Kaminoan science had them believe — to make way for a new human army of conscripts from its galaxy of conquered planets. As the lack of clones from Episode IV onward suggests, this transition to human troops wasn't smooth, confirmed during one of Batch's more impactful moments. 

It occurred in the Season 2 episode "The Outpost," where Crosshair realized his impending obsolescence as an Imperial soldier likely meant a shorter lifespan; after taking an unjustifiable amount of abuse during this mission, Crosshair shoots his superior officer dead and becomes a fugitive. His actions are informed by observations he makes throughout the series — over time, human Imperials become more comfortable referring to Crosshair and other clones as "equipment," for example — as well as an earlier exchange with Commander Mayday (Baker), another clone trooper grown disenchanted by the Empire: "You know what makes us different from battle droids?" Mayday asks. "We make our own decisions, our own choices. And we have to live with them, too." 

Crosshair's journey from lethal Batch betrayer to Imperial stooge to a spiritually wounded brother returned to the fold is the strongest storyline in the Bad Batch, and it builds over several stand-alone episodes. While this arc also addresses fussy plot holes in the Star Wars canon, it’s crucial to understanding and eventually appreciating this icy character, dispassionate on the surface and a cauldron of regret on the inside. 

Crosshair’s storyline reaches its apex once he’s reunited with Omega early in Season 3; the two survive Mount Tantiss fully bonded to each other (Omega even gnaws on a toothpick in a later episode, to Hunter's dismay), and the Batch's final infiltration mission on Tantiss packs more emotional power because of their newfound respect for each other. 

This Tantiss mission also serves a stranger but no less dutiful function in the broader Star Wars saga; as Omega and Crosshair learn why the Empire has been pursuing her, we discover the truth behind Dr. Hemlock's insidious Project: Necromancer, a plot reveal used to explain the wince-inducing line Oscar Isaac says in Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker: "Somehow, Palpatine returned."

Of course, it's cheating to retroactively justify a blithely tossed-out line from another movie, especially one used to reintroduce a villain in the 11th hour of an infamously troubled film series. It would feel like it, too, if The Bad Batch wasn't so genuine in its commitment to make the Star Wars saga feel complete. Filoni's passion for the universe George Lucas created so many years ago resonates with the core mission of Clone Force 99, so when we learn how Project: Necromancer factors into how the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid) is suddenly back in Episode IX (after being annihilated in Return of the Jedi), our understanding is fortified by realizing how Hemlock’s plans forever impacted The Bad Batch's family unit. Compounded by how Hunter, Crosshair, Tech, and the rest feel for Omega, not to mention our personal investment in their series, Project: Necromancer doesn't simply fill another gap in the Star Wars megastructure; it creates a dramatic opportunity to steep its well-earned finale in foreboding, dread, and, later, hope. 

In a time when Disney continues to pursue streaming dominance, we're hardly starving for Star Wars content. Lucasfilm has cranked out so many spin-offs at this point that it's recommended that one sample the shows as though they were a tapas menu. Pick any flavor of Star Wars, and you'll likely be happy enough with your selection: there's the original trilogy, of course, the perfect comfort food; The Mandalorian, an indulgence of calories and cloying sweetness; Star Wars Visions, an eclectic amuse bouche; Andor, for the meat-eaters out there; and, among many other offerings, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, a full meal unto itself.
 
Selecting one series over another doesn't negate the Star Wars experience; it just limits the feast. And devouring everything with Dave Filoni's name on it has become necessary for completists who want the fullest picture of that galaxy far away. Through shows like The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Ahsoka, Filoni has labored to create a comprehensive through line from the franchise's earliest canonical events to the present. And if there's one series that most effectively bridges Star Wars' past, present, and future, it's The Bad Batch, a small story that grew to represent something crucial for this nearly fifty-year-old franchise: renewed purpose.

Jarrod Jones is a freelance writer currently settled in Chicago. He reads lots (and lots) of comics and, as a result, is kind of a dunderhead.