By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3, Episode 12
With Omega captured, the Bad Batch find themselves with an all too familiar objective. Last week’s two-episode release saw Omega turn herself into the Empire when C-X2 and his reinforcements attacked the island Pabu. Omega, recognizing that capture was inevitable, decided to use the opportunity for her team to follow her to Tantiss and, in turn, rescue the imprisoned clones at the science facility. Unfortunately, this didn’t go exactly to plan as C-X2 destroyed the tracker on Omega and Crosshair failed to shoot a tracker onto Omega’s departing ship. Now, the Bad Batch must get creative in order to be reunited with their youngest member.
The new episode, titled “Juggernaut,” begins in familiar territory. Omega is delivered to Doctor Hemlock on Tantiss, after which she is given to Dr. Emerie Karr for testing. The idea of Omega being captured and needing rescuing again makes sense for the story, although it is admittedly repeating the plot line that kicked off Season 3. All roads have been leading back to Tantiss in this final season, so it makes sense that the plot sees Omega return. There’s just somewhat of a sense, especially at the beginning of “Juggernaut,” that we’ve seen this before.
With Omega captured, the Bad Batch must find a way to locate Tantiss. While hiding from lingering Imperial forces on Pabu, the team, plus Phee Genoa, put their heads together to find a way to the mysterious Imperial science facility. Thankfully, Crosshair has had some secrets kept under his sleeve as he has an idea of how they may be able to get to Tantiss – kidnap former Admiral Rampart and have him lead the way. Rampart’s reintroduction to The Bad Batch definitely comes as a surprise, especially as his exit as the show’s primary antagonist aligned perfectly with Doctor Hemlock’s arrival. Nonetheless, this is a fun surprise as it is always interesting to see when villains are made to collaborate with protagonists. Crosshair withholding this information from his team until now is a tad convenient for the story, but the writers offset any issue with this by having Crosshair want to avoid anything to do with Tantiss due to the lingering effects of trauma.
Before the team heads off to extract Rampart, a particularly sweet moment is worth pointing out. Phee and Crosshair have never met one another before and, given Crosshair’s rather hardened personality, this initial meeting is initially hostile. Phee remarks, however, “Any friend of Brown Eyes is a friend of mine.” It’s touching to see acknowledgment for Phee’s enduring affection toward Tech as both she (and the audience) continue to grieve his loss.
After this emotional touchpoint, the team launch their daring extraction mission, which encompasses the remainder of the episode. Rampart is being held in an Imperial labor camp on Erebus. The plan is to covertly land on the planet, infiltrate the perimeter, extract Rampart’s location from an Imperial terminal, and break Rampart out. But, this is The Bad Batch and things never quite go to plan.
Rampart is being transported from the labor camp’s mine to a prison cell in a HAVw A6 Juggernaut, a vehicle type which made its debut in Revenge of the Sith. Hunter and the team manage to board the traveling Juggernaut and get to Rampart, who is initially reluctant to help the team. Crosshair and Rampart have a fun back-and-forth, especially as the two have a history working together for the Empire, and Rampart eventually agrees to help in exchange for the Batch ensuring his rescue.
With Rampart in tow, the team try to make their escape, but their cover is now blown. What ensues is a visually dazzling action sequence on a bridge in which the Bad Batch’s hijacked Juggernaut makes its way speedily toward the Empire’s control center. This pans out as one of the best action sequences of the season and highlights just how far Star Wars animation has come. The camera movement is mesmerizing, the sound design is immersive, and the visuals at times feel like they are taken straight from a live-action Star Wars film.
The Bad Batch and Rampart narrowly escape after an exciting chase on a mountain’s narrow path. This happens to be the first scene shown in the Season 3 trailer, which is interesting given that it happens relatively late into the final season. At the time, there were no clues as to what the context of that action sequence was, but we definitely did not predict it was part of some plan to break Rampart out of an Imperial labor camp.
Unfortunately, Rampart doesn’t know the coordinates to Tantiss. However, he still may know a way to get there…
That’s it for that plot in “Juggernaut” though, as the episode is bookended by more time with Omega. After Dr. Karr confirms Omega’s high M-count, she hands Omega over to Doctor Hemlock, who takes her to the Vault. On the way there, Hemlock explains a little more about what they’re up to on Tantiss. He tells Omega that they have struggled to replicate an individual’s M-count, but that combining Omega’s blood with another high M-count individual’s blood may do it. This isn’t much, but the mystery surrounding Project Necromancer is so intriguing that it’s difficult not to carefully analyze everything that is said about it. Much of this mysterious project is still shrouded in mystery, but it looks like we’re closer than ever to figuring out just what it actually entails.
VERDICT: 8/10
“Juggernaut” sees the Bad Batch (once again) trying to rescue Omega from the clutches of the Empire. Although this plot feels like it’s retreading events from earlier this season, it affords the team to go on an intense and exciting mission and nears us ever closer to discovering what Project Necromancer really is. Rampart makes an unexpected comeback as the team hope he can lead them to Tantiss. The plot moves the story along and makes it feel as if the finale will inevitably converge on Tantiss. A beautifully animated bridge sequence stands out among some of the series’ best action, while a reference to Tech (aka Brown Eyes) early on is touching. “Juggernaut” concludes on a cliffhanger of sorts as Rampart reveals he doesn’t know the coordinates to Tantiss, but still may know a way to get them there. As Omega remains captive by Hemlock, The Bad Batch finds itself in familiar narrative territory, although it mostly subverts issues of repetition with an engaging story and captivating action.