Warning: The following article contains spoilers for episode twelve of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3.
As I mentioned in last week’s review, the last few episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3 will fully intensify the story. And now that Omega (Michelle Ang) is back on Tantiss, it’s clear the emotional tension will run at its highest as the clones will attempt to invade Hemlock’s (Jimmi Simpson) base before he unleashes Project Necromancer on the galaxy. However, there’s only one problem: the Bad Batch does not know how to get to Tantiss.
But Omega gets her M-Count tested on the planet, and it’s exactly what the Empire needs to bring Project Necromancer to life. Hemlock takes her in with the rest of the kids, leaving her in limbo. On Pabu, Clone Force 99 meets with Phee Genoa (Wanda Sykes) and AZI-3 (Ben Diskin), who successfully evaded the Empire and are ready to help the Bad Batch in their next objective.
Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker) may know how to get to Tantiss but does not have the coordinates. He knows Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal) may have access to the coordinates, but he is imprisoned in a labor camp in Erebus. The following moments of the episode see the Bad Batch attempt to get him out of the prison, as they hijack a prison transport vehicle with Rampart and try to escape a swarm of stormtroopers.
The results are exhilarating, with arguably the best action scene of the season so far. The kills are precise and kinetic, and the stakes feel much larger than some of the bigger episodes this series has gone through. It also helps that the action is staged much faster than usual, giving the setpiece a more urgent, immediate feel. I wish this could be translated this well in a live-action Star Wars television series, but I also appreciate how diverse their animation styles have drawn compelling, visually exciting setpieces that aren’t seen in other facets of Star Wars.
After escaping this tricky situation, Rampart reveals to the Clones that he does not know the coordinates of Tantiss since it’s designed this way. No one knows what they are, with the exception of Hemlock, but Rampart is willing to help the Clones find the base; in exchange, he does not go back to the labor camp. Sounds like a good compromise, but one should know not to trust Rampart, no matter what ultimately happened to him.
It’s still unclear whether or not Emerie Karr (Keisha Castle-Hughes) has turned on Hemlock yet, but she is happy to see Omega alive in one piece. The episode does end on an abrupt cliffhanger, with Omega now imprisoned with the other Midichlorian-positive children. What will happen next? One thing’s for sure: it certainly won’t end well for some of the characters here, but the final arc has finally cleared up after last week’s decent double-header.
The twelfth episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3 is now available to stream on Disney+.
