The fourteenth episode of The Bad Batch season 3, “Flash Strike,” is a tension-filled set-up for what’s sure to be an explosive finale. With the Batch in the final stages of their most important mission to date, this penultimate episode puts the clones’ strength and perseverance to the ultimate test.
The rest of this article contains spoilers for episode 314 of The Bad Batch.
Picking up right where episode 313 left off, “Flash Strike” sees all remaining members of the Batch on Tantiss for the first time ever. Tensions are high, time is of the essence, and there are many wrongs that need righting.
Between Crosshair’s fear of returning to Tantiss and Echo’s determination to save everyone, we see two different examples of how justice can be wrought. All tied up with a sense of hope that can’t help but feel just a bit terrifying.
Loyalty Means Everything To The Clones
Crosshair was the first Batcher Hemlock brought to Tantiss. Based on what we know, he was subjected to Hemlock’s experiments for more than six months. Though we may never find out the extents of the experiments, it’s clear they were intensive and brutal and left their mark on the sniper.
As he tells Wrecker while they march toward Hemlock’s base, Crosshair has no desire to be anywhere near Tantiss. But, “Omega didn’t leave me behind when she could have,” he says as he flexes his shaking hand. “I owe her.”
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Crosshair throughout this series, it’s that he takes loyalty seriously. Whether it’s loyalty to himself, to his siblings, or to a larger power, the sense of staying true to a belief is a large part of what drives him. Season 1 saw him misplacing that loyalty with the Empire against his brothers. Season 2 gave him a chance to correct his course. And now, season 3 has found Crosshair understanding better than ever what it means to give and receive loyalty in equal measures.
It’s no wonder he would only risk his life and his sanity for the person who brought that realization to the forefront: Omega.
“Flash Strike” shows us a Crosshair eerily similar to the man we saw in season 2’s “The Outpost.” In his mind, he’s fighting not for himself but for someone else, someone he cares about. Just like his journey with Commander Mayday, though, that fight might go a long way in further healing something inside him he thought was long dead.
A wrong in desperate need of righting indeed.
I’ve Heard That Before
The first time we met Clone Force 99 in season 7 of The Clone Wars, they helped Rex save Echo. It therefore feels serendipitous, a bit like poetry, for Echo to be the first one of them to infiltrate Hemlock’s base on their mission to save Omega and the other prisoners. Perhaps this isn’t just a normal mission for Echo. Maybe this is justice for what Techno Union did to him and everything they forced him to endure.
When he encounters Emerie in one of the labs, Echo does not go easy on her. “You’re a clone,” he says as he removes his stormtrooper helmet so she has to look him in the eyes. “How can you be part of this?”
Like Crosshair, Echo knows what it means to be used for experiments to further someone else’s power-hungry agenda. They have both faced horrible abuse, but they are very much at different stages of their processing. Crosshair might know best what, specifically, the clones Hemlock is experimenting on are going through, but Echo has had more time to deal with the ramifications and acceptance of similar actions.
So, while Crosshair is still afraid of Tantiss and wants nothing to do with it beyond saving Omega, Echo is perhaps separated enough (by both time and location) to see the bigger mission. There is, once again, poetry in Echo using the very tools Techno Union forced upon him to infiltrate one of the Empire’s most secure bases and save others from going through the same pain he once did.
Should Echo succeed next episode, his character arc would feel full-circle. And we’ve already seen him succeed in one area: convincing Emerie to finally do the right thing. Maybe together they can right wrongs of the past and the present.
I Have A Plan
Though “Flash Strike” is an episode full of tension, it also promises a bit of hope. Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair might be in danger with the stormtroopers, but Echo has successfully infiltrated the base, and Omega has found her own way to help the mission with the potential aid of a familiar creature.
When Omega climbs through the vents of the vault and finds the Zillo Beast clone in another part of the base, we are brought to the cusp of another full-circle, poetry-like moment. The Batch first encountered the enhanced Zillo Beast clone in season 2’s “Metamorphosis“, when the Empire re-captured the creature and delivered it to Hemlock for further testing. Actions that sound remarkably familiar.
Both the Zillo Beast and Omega have experienced rather similar arcs when it comes to Hemlock and Tantiss. They are both clones, bred for a larger purpose they didn’t understand; the Empire imprisoned them before they managed to escape for a brief time; unable to outrun Hemlock’s forces, Omega and the Zillo Beast are prisoners once more. As we’ve seen in the past, though, the Zillo Beast, when given a chance, is a force to be reckoned with. So is Omega.
Combined, who knows what destruction they might bring to Hemlock’s doors.
One Last Time
With the Batch all facing different difficulties and successes, it’s hard to say where the finale will lead, and leave, us. It’s hard to imagine the show wrapping up every aspect of its many storylines in just one more episode without leaving us in some kind of despair. But I’ve never been more certain of just how much writers care about their story than I have with this final season of The Bad Batch. Perhaps there is a chance for our favorite characters to see a satisfying resolution.
Rebellions, after all, are built on hope.
Maybe happy endings are, too.
The final episode of The Bad Batch will air on Wednesday May 1st at 3am (EST) / 12am (PST) on Disney+.
About Author
