Star Wars: The Bad Batch is usually at its best when it’s tackling one of two ideas – the state of the Galaxy in a post-Order 66 world, or the possible extent of humanity in its titular clones. This week’s episode, titled The Crossing, doubles down on the latter. After a tense midseason event altered the course of the series forever, the latest installment offers a bit of levity with an easier and more straightforward adventure, using its quieter moments as an opportunity for some much-needed character work. It does what more of its one-off episodes should do by standing alone as a semi-independent story while also progressing the development of its protagonists. In balancing these successfully, The Crossing continues the series’ current path toward a more interesting end to the season.
When fans last saw their favorite band of intrepid misfits, they were bidding a fond farewell to one of their own. Dee Bradley Baker‘s Echo, a Star Wars: The Clone Wars staple who joined the team after their inaugural outing and then never really did much, left to rejoin his old friend, Dee Bradley Baker‘s Captain Rex, on a separate mission in the heart of Imperial territory. There’s no telling whether this means Echo is gone from the series for good, but it’s certainly something that concerns Michelle Ang‘s Omega, as she spends most of the episode coping with her loss alongside either Dee Bradley Baker‘s Wrecker or Dee Bradley Baker‘s Tech. Oddly enough, Echo’s presence is felt much harder when he’s not on the team, used expertly by the writers as a means of exploring Omega’s youthful perception of abandonment.
The actual task at hand in The Crossing, which has Dee Bradley Baker‘s Hunter spearhead the group on a mission to extract dangerous resources from a remote mine, is not particularly interesting. If it weren’t for the tender, familial scenes shared between Omega and her older siblings, the episode may fall flat. Most of the action is unremarkable, and the story as a whole is not overly memorable. Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be the main purpose of the plot or its arcs. Throughout it all, Omega expresses immense concern over the fact Echo is no longer part of the Batch. It’s clear that Omega, a child who has just recently found a genuine family, is not used to the prospect of losing one of her own. The Bad Batch utilizes this as a means of taking a deeper dive into the compassion and individuality of the clones, and The Crossing is much better for it.
So far this season, The Bad Batch has teetered precariously between redundancy and forward progress. Omega, as she’s always been, is the key to maintaining the momentum of the second option. The show is consistently more intriguing when it leans into her and what she has to offer as a wildly unique persona. Hopefully, the series continues to do this as the story moves on, and Omega is used as the centerpiece to a spectacular season finale.
