Film and TV Review: The Bad Batch: The Outpost - Fantha Tracks

Every time an episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch lands, Fantha Tracks will be giving their responses, and here are our initial gut feelings, deep dives and thoughts on episode twelve of season two, 'The Outpost'. Beware of spoilerific elements in here.

Eric Onkenhout

Lucasfilm has released some Grade A content since Obi-Wan dropped last summer. Following that was the critically acclaimed Andor. Tales of the Jedi was a sleeper hit. The Mandalorian is off to a solid start, and The Bad Batch has really nailed it in the last two episodes. The Outpost was a prototypical realization episode for Crosshair. Maybe it was a little predictable, but who knows? Crosshair continues to side with the Empire even when he is treated like a number. But it appears that is coming to an end. I think?

The Empire is determined to phase out any remaining clones in favor of recruits, for better or worse. After years of service, the clones find themselves being kicked to the curb by the Empire without any compensation. How typical. It's cold, inhumane, and just a jerk move by the Empire. Crosshair, a clone, knows his time is running out, and soon he'll be one of the ones begging for money on Daiyu. Although he might not want to admit that.

Imperial Lieutenant Nolan, a human, despises clones and makes his opinions clear to Crosshair. He calls them "used goods." Nolan tells Crosshair he has been reassigned to Barton-4, which is basically another Hoth. It's frigid and barren. On Barton-4 is another depot guarded by more clone troopers, except most are dead, and the remaining few are pretty fed up with the Empire.

Clones Hexx and Veech are later killed by raiders who steal Imperial equipment. Crosshair and Mayday track them in a bad snowstorm. After killing one of the raiders, Crosshair comments that he's not worth carrying as he is just dead weight. That comment will resurface later on after the two defeat more raiders and recover the cargo. An explosion causes an avalanche that buries Mayday and Crosshair. While Crosshair awakens, Mayday lies unconscious. Crosshair doesn't leave him behind even though Mayday tells him to. Crosshair is already starting to come around. He's changing.

Crosshair carries Mayday all the way back to the depot, but upon arrival, Nolan greets them harshly, telling them they failed their mission. He never even called for a medic! Mayday succumbs to his injuries, but Crosshair has had enough of the Empire and their complete contempt of clones. As Nolan walks away, Crosshair calls him, and as Nolan turns round, Crosshair shoots him in the chest. Crosshair then collapses and is arrested by stormtroopers. The screen goes black.

If this doesn't secure Crosshair's return to Clone Force 99, I give up. He did tell Mayday they were gone, so maybe he considers them a part of his old life. He might call them somehow and ask them to come to get him. It might take some convincing by Omega for them to do it. She was the only one to stay with him when Tipoca City fell. I hope he returns, as he was my favorite group member. But if he doesn't, I'm also ready to cut ties.

The Outpost was such a great episode, and if The Bad Batch can continue to snowball like this toward the season finale, it could lead to some great stuff for next season.

Mark Newbold

There's many things to admire about The Bad Batch. It may be it's stunning visuals, the lush soundtrack, the first-rate voice work or the engaging stories that keep viewers coming back week after week, but for me there's another element that makes watching essential. It's often unexpected, and by that I mean there's often little point in trying to predict what's going to happen week on week, because more often that not we'll get thrown a curveball like this episode, The Outpost, which pits our lost boy Crosshair against the very Empire he's sworn his existence to, even at the cost of his relationships with his brothers of Clone Force 99.

We're well aware of the situation facing clones across the galaxy as the winds of change blow ever harder and do their damndest to brush away the last remnants of an army that helped take a galaxy by essentially betraying it. With the Empire of the Solo / Rebels / Rogue One / a New Hope era almost exclusively made up of enlisted men and women from all corners of the galaxy, these clones are on the clock, and as we join Crosshair on yet another mission that makes quite clear his expendability to the cause of the Emperor, his patience wears thin. Sent to Barton-4 to protect precious supplies, not only does he have to answer to a shrewish joke of a commander, but the very thing that could have saved the ever-depleting squad of clones protecting this cargo was what was inside the cases – weapons and armour meant for the non-cloned conscripts coming in to replace them.

The soldier who makes such a connection with Crosshair is Mayday, essentially an amalgam of his brothers in the batch and honest enough to say how it is without fear or filter. They both still adhere to the logic of 'good soldiers follow orders', but when Mayday makes very clear what he thinks within the perameters of not disobeying orders, and puts his life on the line to carry those orders out – ultimately paying with his life – Crosshair can't take it any more.

To follow an order is one thing, something Crosshair was willing to leave his brothers behind for, but with the changes in the galaxy so obvious, so crude and at the cost of the billions of brave souls who'd given everything to underpin this 'brave new world' promised by Palpatine….it's more than Crosshair can take. He knows the potential cost of his actions, shooting Lieutenant Nolan in the back as he walks away, the man confident in his power over the clone, and as he falls to his knees and collapses we have to wonder what kind of Crosshair we'll see next, if we ever see him again.

Unexpected. That's a word you wouldn't anticipate being attached so closely to an animated TV show, but in a week where The Mandalorian also delivered a dark, thoughtful episode it's telling that the one which gave us a few moments of humorous relief was the live action one that's aimed at a global audience. GFFA fans should make a mental note of that – The Bad Batch is unapologetically a Star Wars TV show, digging into the costs and causes of the era while following this rogue band of clones who's galaxy is outgrowing them. Will they proser? Can they survive? Where will they go when there's no safe haven for men with 'that' face beneath the helmet? I'm all in for finding out, because right now The Bad Batch is as unexpected and honest as it gets.