Disney+’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch may not be the most popular Star Wars show, but it’s a hidden gem full of easter eggs for fans of the original trilogy, the prequels, The Clone Wars, Rebels, and everything in between—even Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The season 2 finale premiered on March 29 and continued the trend of unexpected but highly welcome cameos, in addition to continuing the compelling plotlines they’ve been building on all season.
Rogue One cameos in the Bad Batch finale
After receiving a warning from former Bad Batch member Crosshair, the squad resolves to rescue him from Imperial custody. However, to do that, they need to track Doctor Hemlock, the researcher experimenting on him and other clones. As such, the Bad Batch finds themselves at the Imperial base on Eriadu (the rainy planet from Rogue One).
From there, characters clash in unexpected ways, as the Bad Batch finds themselves caught up in another rebel faction’s attempted bombing of the Imperial Conference.
Many fans immediately recognized younger Saw Gerrera, voiced by his Clone Wars actor rather than Forest Whitaker, who played the character in live action in Rogue One, due to him still being a young man, rather than a hardened Partisan fighter. But he wasn’t the only Rogue One cameo in the finale.
Fans of Rogue One might remember the main antagonist, Director Orson Krennic, mostly known for wearing a white cape with his Imperial uniform. Krennic has been mentioned in Rebels previously, but he has not appeared in any Star Wars media since the Catalyst companion novel and Rogue One. Until now.
Director Krennic was at the Eriadu Summit, along with Tarkin, Hurst Romodi (another Rogue One/New Hope cameo), and Hemlock, representing the wide range of the Empire’s advancement when it comes to evil sciences. His actor, Ben Mendelsohn, even lent his voice to The Bad Batch for a line of dialogue.
The fact that the character has made the transition to animation is notable; now that they have the assets, The Bad Batch is much more likely to bring the character back for future projects—though the team can’t get too close to Project Stardust, as no one in the rebellion knows exactly what the Death Star is until 0 BBY (Bad Batch is still a solid 18 years before Rogue One/A New Hope).
Plotlines
In true Empire Strike Back fashion, the finale ends with a lot of tragedy and unanswered questions, and even an unexpected family reveal.
Let’s start with the in-memoriam first.
Bad Batcher Tech has received a lot of exploration this season, getting a lot of one-on-one time with Omega and developing a somewhat flirtatious friendship with Phee Genoa—which, in Star Wars, means he was doomed from the start. Tech sacrifices himself in an attempt to prevent his fellow squad mates from being captured by the Empire, cutting the falling portion of the gondola with him still on it.
Granted, we haven’t seen the body yet (if there is anything left in the first place, from a fall of that height) and Bad Batch creator/Star Wars guru Dave Filoni brought back Echo and Gregor after their apparent deaths in The Clone Wars. Fingers crossed that they can bring him back as a cyborg, like Echo.
Even worse, his sacrifice ends up being for nothing, as Cid Scaleback, the Bad Batch’s underworld contact, ends up selling the team out to the Empire, which ends in Omega being captured by Doctor Hemlock. While I saw this coming, it does have some unfortunate implications, as Cid embodies a lot of antisemitic stereotypes and her selling the group out enhances those negative stereotypes.
On the plus(?) side, Omega is reunited with Nala Se and Crosshair, both of whom are in Imperial captivity. Even more interestingly, Hemlock’s assistant Emerie Karr reveals herself to be Omega’s “sister,” a.k.a. another female clone of Jango Fett.
(Also, don’t even start with “How can there be female clones?” comments. The whole show is built around clones who are genetically “built different” from others, there being a handful of clones that ended up female makes sense.)
Season 3
The Bad Batch season 3 has not been officially confirmed at this time. However, given that these shows generally have episodes planned out a year in advance, the show will likely continue for at least one more season. Also, Star Wars Celebration starts on April 7, so we’re likely to soon learn more about the upcoming season. I feel like it will probably take some cues from Return of the Jedi and the early part of the season will be about rescuing Omega, Crosshair, and the captured clones.
I definitely feel like the show has a lot of room to work with. Remember, The Clone Wars only had a 3-year span to make its show, and Rebels had 5 years. The Bad Batch could go through the whole 19-year timeframe between the prequels and A New Hope to show what life was like for the Clones and the average citizen under the Empire. Like the Bad Batchers themselves, the show is something special, and I really hope it’s not cut off before its prime.
(featured image: Disney+)
