The series finale of The Bad Batch, “The Cavalry Has Arrived,” is a tense and emotional farewell that promises a continuing bright future for Star Wars animation. In a 50-minute episode, the beloved series wraps up long-running storylines while hinting at many more tales to come.

The rest of this article contains spoilers for episode 315 of The Bad Batch.

While The Bad Batch has set up several plot points for the Star Wars franchise as a whole, this series — this small but important part of the galaxy – has always primarily been about one thing: Omega’s relationship with her brothers. In terms of both setting up Star Wars’ future and wrapping up the story that first started three years ago, there couldn’t be a better finale than “The Cavalry Has Arrived.”

Every remaining member of the Batch overcomes their personal demons to find hope in the darkest of places. This gives us a show with not only a fully realized narrative, but fully realized characters as well.

Completing The Mission

The beating heart of this show, Omega is the one we’ve seen grow the most across the three seasons. Though she started The Bad Batch a small, terrified child who was so uncertain of her place amongst her brothers, she ends it a capable, determined soldier who has known the great love of a family.

The biggest example of this change is in how Omega leads the other children from the Tantiss vault to safety. She’s calm and certain, doesn’t so much as bat an eye under pressure. And when the children are scared, she reminds them what they are capable of, because that’s what her brothers have always done for her.

“I’ve trained for this,” Omega tells the children as they work out their escape plan. But it’s not only this escape she’s trained for. Despite all their hardships, Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair have taught Omega how to live. They’ve encouraged her kindness, her strength, her passion, her resolve.

In many ways, Omega is the best of her brothers. But she’s also entirely, and beautifully, her own.

One of the boys’, especially Hunter’s, greatest struggles throughout the series has been truly seeing, accepting, and working with Omega’s capabilities instead of trying to push them back. We’ve seen this change with each Batcher over time, but “The Cavalry Has Arrived” goes a long way in showing just how much Omega’s brothers have grown to accept and appreciate the fighter she’s become.

I Can’t Risk Omega

In episode 304, Wrecker tells Omega he and Hunter crossed the galaxy four times looking for her. “Five,” Hunter corrects, as he stares at Omega in wonder. “But you’re the one who found us.” This scene is the catalyst for how Hunter interacts with Omega for the remainder of the show. Though she will always be someone he’d gladly risk his life to save, she is also capable of saving herself. And sometimes, following her lead is better than forcing her to follow someone else’s.

When they lead the children and Emerie to an escape shuttle, Echo doesn’t even try to convince Omega to go with them. Instead, his automatic assumption is that she’ll stay with him to help free their brothers and the rest of the clones. For Echo, Omega is no longer just someone he needs to look out for; she’s a fighter he knows he can count on.

Similarly, Hunter shows just how much he understands Omega’s capabilities towards the end of the episode. When Hemlock is holding a blaster to Omega’s head, arm wrapped around her and wrists handcuffed together, Hunter doesn’t panic. And he doesn’t allow Crosshair to, either. Because he can see in Omega all the training she took from them, all the determination she shares specifically with him.

“She knows what to do, Crosshair,” Hunter says, not even a tremor in his voice. “Wait for her, then take the shot.”

The level of trust Hunter, Crosshair, and Omega put in each other during this most pivotal of moments, makes them a team in ways we haven’t seen in a very long time.

Clone Force 99 might have died with Tech, as Crosshair says, but they have found ways to adapt. And along the way, they have found everything worth living for.

If You Ever Need Us, We’ll Be There

With less than 50 minutes to wrap up a beloved series, “The Cavalry Has Arrived” had a tough job. How do you put three years’ worth of stories and emotions and love into a single episode? With anyone other than The Bad Batch creators, I might have questioned their capabilities. But, like Omega, they’ve shown us time and again that they’re not here to be saved. They’re here to tell a story.

And they’ve given us one of the best in the Star Wars franchise.

Not only did this finale deliver in every way a finale should, it left us with the potential for future stories with the Batch as well. They might not look the same way they used to, they might not all be together the way they once were, but they’re alive. And maybe one day we’ll get to see them again.

Until that moment, I’ll bask in the knowledge that Tech’s sacrifice at the end of season 2 was not for nothing. Omega lives the remainder of her childhood in peace, surrounded by love and, most importantly, the opportunity to choose her own path in life. Things she was denied for so long, but that every one of her brothers fought so hard to bring her.

“You’re our kid, Omega,” Hunter says as he tries one last time to keep his little girl, who’s no longer so little, safe. “And you always will be.”

I felt that in my very soul, and I have to believe that the creators did, too.

Because no matter how old Omega grows, no matter how many battles she pilots through for the Rebellion, I think maybe she’ll always be our kid, too.

The series finale of The Bad Batch is now available on Disney+.