The Bad Batch S8 Breakdown: “Bad Territory” Gets Close to a Major Star Wars Mystery
The Bad Batch is either very close to solving one of their biggest mysteries or walking right into a trap.
This week’s episode of The Bad Batch brings back one of our favorite bounty hunters as the clones try to get to the bottom of their most pressing questions.
As always, in order to break down this episode we will have to spoil large portions of what happens. If you haven’t watched this episode yet, proceed at your own risk.
M Count
The batch is still trying to figure out what M Count is and how it relates back to Omega. Honestly, with now obvious-to-the-viewer it is that they’re looking for midichlorians, this is almost a plot point that could have been addressed and wrapped up a while ago. But it’s also probably a major factor in who/what Omega is and will be a major springboard into the show’s final arc, so I understand why they’re batting it around a bit. But like… we all know, right?
Phee contacts the batch letting them know that she has been on the hunt for more M Count information and it is out there, but sparce. Bounty hunters for the Galactic Empire have been working on taking in “M Count targets,” and suggests that maybe a bounty hunter will know more. Omega suggests Fennec Shand and Hunter begrudgingly agrees.
But the Empire collecting M Count targets is interesting because we know that a few things are happening in this galactic time period. For starters, they are of course working on their cloning program on Tantiss. But this is also between a few months and under two years since Order 66 was issued. The few Jedi and Force-sensitive people out there—you know, the ones with lots of midichlorians—are being actively hunted down by the Empire right now. Some are killed, some will be recruited as Inquisitors, and others, I guess, will find themselves on Tantiss.
Omega and Crosshair on Pabu
Hunter and Wrecker leave to find and speak to Fennec, leaving Omega and Crosshair on Pabu to hide out. On his way out Hunter asks Omega to see if Crosshair will get his hand looked at while they’re away. And he agrees to with little issue. Only, there’s nothing physically wrong with his hand; nothing physical is causing the tremors. Maybe it’s something mental caused by whatever experimentation Crosshair was subject to on Tantiss.
Unsurprisingly, Crosshair isn’t interested in talking about his mental health or his time on Tantiss and walks away, but Omega eventually convinces him to try meditation. She tells him she learned it from the Wookiees on Kashyyyk. Crosshair seems surprised and impressed and maybe a little remorseful- in his subdued Crosshair sort of way. He missed a lot of time with his team, and in that time they went on a lot of missions without him, saw a lot of places and learned a lot. And it’s hard not to feel like all he has to show for his time is PTSD and a malfunctioning trigger finger.
Still, the relationship and friendship between Crosshair and Omega is one of my favorite parts of this season. They went through things that none of the rest of the batch could really understand. And they’ve built a natural rapport that’s surprisingly sweet. Especially considering how the show started.
Hunter, Wrecker, and Their Job for Fennec Shand
Hunter and Wrecker find Fennec in the exact place you should find a bounty hunter with no real allegiances and a questionable moral compass- in a seedy bar. They don’t waste any time asking about M Counts and she claims not to know anything…. But she knows somebody who does. She also immediately clocks their lack of liquid funds and offers a bit of a trade; their help bringing in a bounty in exchange for whatever info she can dig up.
They take the job, and it’s probably exactly what you’d picture. There are explosives to disarm, battles against jungle monsters, and some blaster fire is exchanged, but eventually, they take the guy in and get him onto Fennec’s ship.
She drops them off and promises that she’ll be in contact with her info, she just has to make a few calls. Wrecker and Hunter are less than trusting, but they also don’t have many other options.
That Cliffhanger
Fennec flies off and immediately makes a call to a party who we can’t see and whose voice and words we can’t quite make out. The call is short and vague, but it makes it sound like she’s about to send all of the info she has on the batch back to this party, either because she had another, earlier job, or as professional courtesy.
What did you think of this week’s episode of The Bad Batch? Who do you think Fennec was contacting at the end? Is she double-crossing the clones, or is she good for her promised information? Let us know in the comments!
May the Force be with you, adventurers!
