Imperial forces finally catch up to the Batch in their pursuit of Omega, and as the final season of Bad Batch nears its end, the stage gets set up for a grand final conflict between the renegade Clone Troopers and the forces of the tyrant Galactic Empire. Previously, an Imperial covert Clone operative managed to track Omega at Captain Rex’s rebel Clone outpost along with the rest of the batch and almost managed to capture her, destroying much of Rex’s forces in the process. The same operative returns in the latest two episodes of the series, once again causing much headache to the Batch through his machinations.
In the previous episode, the legendary Force user/ bounty hunter Asajj Ventress sought out the Bad Batch in Pabu, as it was revealed that she was Fennec Shand’s contact who had inquired about Omega’s M-count information. Ventress’ past as a Sith assassin led to a conflict between her and the Clone brothers, but on Omega’s request, she agreed to stay and test her Force sensitivity. At the end, Ventress chose not to reveal the truth about her findings to Omega, lying to her by stating that she is not force-sensitive, but asked her Clone brothers to leave Pabu to evade the Imperial forces. The tenth and eleventh episodes of the season, titled Identity Crisis and Point of No Return focus majorly on the affairs taking place at Tantiss, which is going to act as the centre-stage in upcoming episodes as well.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Was Dr. Emerie Karr Appointed As The Overseer Of Project Necromancer?
As the episode begins, a market scene on an unnamed planet focuses on a mother and her Force sensitive child, whose actions of accidentally using the Force attracts the attention of a few buyers. One of the shopkeepers informs a class one bounty hunter about the situation, and eventually we learn the identity of the hunter to be Cad Bane. The dreaded mercenary was the former mentor of the legendary Boba Fett, and through the events of “Clone Wars” had marked a strong impression through his amoral, self serving demeanour, which proved to be essential for survival. Bane locates the mother, and after stunning her with a blaster, he abducts the toddler with the help of his droid. Seeing his nefarious actions, Cad Bane’s death at the hands of Boba Fett during “Book of Boba Fett” feels really satisfying in retrospect.
At Tantiss, Clone Dr. Emerie Karr is informed by Hemlock about the delayed progress of Project Necromancer, due to the chief scientist Nala Se’s involvement with Omega’s escape. Emerie requests Hemlock to grant her authority over the project, pledging her allegiance to him and working as Nala Se’s assistant for quite a long time – she possesses the necessary expertise to oversee the operation. Hemlock agrees, and as part of providing her total control over the project, she brings Emerie to the ‘Vault’ – where a number of Force sensitive children are seen to have been held captive. Emerie is a bit flustered after seeing the plight of the kids, and questions Hemlock about the necessity of involving children when they can find adult Force users instead. Hemlock callously mentions something about children being more controllable – providing a reminder of the degeneracy the Empire is capable of. Hemlock also mentions that, in replicating the M-count from the children, Omega’s blood acted as the perfect binder – and this will be an integral part of Project Necromancer, which is basically the Emperor Palpatine’s efforts to create clones of himself that are as strong Force users as him.
A kid named Eva tries to speak with Emerie, and asks her about Nala Se’s absence. It seems like Nala Se had a good rapport with the kids, and had also promised them about seeking a way to get them back home. Another abducted Mirialan kid named Jax tries to break free by stealing a datapad, but fails to escape and, to teach him a lesson, a Clone captain stuns him using a blaster – much to Emerie’s dismay. Later, as she visits Nala Se and shares her conflicted state of mind due to the test subjects being children, Nala Se states that she is helpless in this situation. She entrusts Emerie to take care of the children, as she is the current overseer of Hemlock’s project.
Requesting Hemlock to let her accompany Clone Commander Scorch to oversee the latest retrieval of a new test subject, Emerie meets Cad Bane, who hands the Force sensitive toddler to the Imperial troop. This is not the first time that Bane has delivered test subjects for the project, and upon learning that, Emerie tries to question him about the child’s background – to no avail. Later, as they return to Tantiss, Eva appears to be disappointed with Emerie – as, contrary to her assurance about Jax’s safety, the boy seems to have been punished with detainment for his attempts to escape. Emerie tries to win back Eva’s trust by giving her the doll which Omega had left while escaping from Tantiss.
How Did The Covert Clone Operative Learn About Omega’s Location?
Meanwhile, Grand Moff Tarkin calls Hemlock to learn about why his secretive project for Empire is draining so many resources, and upon being unable to pry information from him – warns him of consequences in the event of the project’s failure. A frustrated Hemlock contacts the covert Clone Operative, and learns that he has managed to force the Bad Batch’s former employer, Cid, into revealing their recent communication with the pirate Phee Genoa. The operative is positive that he can learn about Omega’s location by tracking Phee’s travel records, and Hemlock reminds him not to fail this time.
The operative manages to stealthily steal Phee’s travel record data, and informs Scorch of the situation. Scorch asks him to send the coordinates, as he prepares to send entire troops of Stormtroopers if the operative indeed manages to locate Omega in the tracked location.
Can The Batch Rescue Omega From Tantiss?
Meanwhile, the Batch is preparing to leave the fishing island of Pabu, and Omega and her Clone brothers are conveying farewell regards to their long-time associate, mayor Shep, and his daughter Lyanna. The operative reaches Pabu, easily locates the team, and sends the information to the Imperial forces in Tantiss to call for reinforcements.
As part of his extraction plan, the Clone operative triggers an explosion in the Batch’s shuttle, resulting in Wrecker getting knocked out and a mass panic as a result. Without giving the Batch any time to chalk up an escape plan, the Imperial forces arrive moments later, and the operative assigns them to destroy all possible means of transportation. The Stormtroopers start searching for Omega, by torturing and rounding up the citizens. As Shep arrives at the scene to question the Imperial forces regarding the harassment of his people, the operative blames him for invoking the ire of Empire by sheltering a fugitive like Omega – and also threatens him that until they give her up, the island will burn.
Hunter tries to seize an Imperial shuttle to escape with his team, but learning that the shuttle has been compromised, the ruthless operative snipes its pilot – leading the shuttle to crash into the water. Hunter survives but is separated from his team, once again leaving Crosshair to take care of Omega. Batcher separates from the team by getting triggered by seeing the forces harassing the citizens, and attacking a few Stromtroopers. Seeing the devastation Imperial forces have brought upon the island, Omega feels guilty, and realizing that there is no way to escape – she wishes to surrender, much to Crosshair’s dismay. Omega argues that she can keep a tracker with her, and if that gets detected, Crosshair can shoot a tracker on the shuttle, which is going to take her back to Tantiss. The location to Tantiss is of significant importance, as Omega wants to free the captives from Empire’s clutches, and she forces Crosshair to look at the big picture instead of fighting this doomed battle which they cannot win at this moment. Seeing no other option , Crosshair disgruntledly agrees – and Omega surrenders herself to the operative – bringing the violence to an end. Batcher reunites with Hunter at the shore, and Omega’s tracker gets detected by the Imperial forces. At the final moments of the episode, Crosshair fails to affix the tracker to the shuttle carrying Omega, and after leaving Pabu’s atmosphere – it slips into Hyperspace as an anxious Omega awaits a bitter reunion at Tantiss. The episode comes to a close, and the inevitable has happened in the form of Hemlock succeeding in abducting Omega once again. The Batch will have Echo and Captain Rex’s assistance, but locating Tantiss is surely going to be a tall task for them to begin with.
