“The Bad Batch” Season 2, Episode 12 Review: “The Outpost”

Story posted March 14, 2023 in Arts & Entertainment by Adrianna Gallucci.

Crosshair returns for his second appearance of the season in an episode that dedicates itself entirely to his character development.

Crosshair is confronted by a new Imperial, Lieutenant Nolan, who tells him that he will be accompanying him to a desolate outpost to oversee equipment. But Nolan is less than thrilled when he learns he’s working with clones the entire mission.

The two meet Mayday, who oversees the equipment, on the rock, and Nolan makes his unwanted presence very well known. Nolan and the other troopers leave, which leaves Mayday and Crosshair to fend for themselves when the outpost is attacked by raiders.

Nolan, instead of being understanding of the problem, forces Crosshair and Mayday to go in the middle of a blizzard to find the cargo. While the two go out, they have a heart-to-heart about what it meant to be a clone in the Republic and Imperial armies.

They take out the raiders but not without Mayday being seriously injured. Crosshair drags his body back to base and begs Nolan to get him help, to which he says would be a “waste of the Empire’s resources,” and lets him die instead.

Crosshair picks up Mayday’s gun, shoots Nolan in cold blood and then passes out. When he wakes up, he’s in a medical bay being told by a doctor that he should cooperate for his own good.

This was such a good episode, even though there wasn’t a ton of action in it.

First, it brought back a central character to the show; one whose ultimate decision to stick with the Empire changed the entire dynamic of the first season. Crosshair’s limited amount of time in the series has already shown a serious growing hatred for the Empire, which was exemplified in this episode.

Fans have been captivated by the sagas of Rex and Cody after “The Clone Wars,” but “The Bad Batch” has time and time again taken into account the regular clones who now have to adjust from having autonomy to being controlled by the Empire.

Aside from the main character change in Crosshair, he also starts to care more about the whole than the individual, like when he carried Mayday back to base after insisting that he wouldn’t be carrying dead bodies.

Fans of the show know something is brewing on Mount Tantiss, and fans of the extended universe are aware of what went on there.

If this is the way the show wants to go, “The Bad Batch” has a lot of hype to live up to.

Rating: 4.5/5

Adrianna Gallucci is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.