Every time an episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch lands, Fantha Tracks will be giving their responses, and here are our initial gut feelings, deep dives and thoughts on episode four of season three, ‘A Different Approach’. Beware of spoilerific elements in here.
Mark Newbold
We’re already a quarter of the way through this final season of The Bad Batch, a show so confident and sure-footed you wish it could continue for many years to come but, given the era it’s set within, you know it can’t. Here we’re with Batcher and his clone allies Omega and Crosshair as they land on the world of Lau, teeming with Imperials which to others would be an obstacle, but to the ever-enterprising Omega is just another lock to unpick and knotted necklace to unravel. She seems to revel in the pressure of figuring out ways to evade capture – fearless and inventive, as a great Hutt might say – and here she uses her skills to first learn a card game, beat her Trandoshan opponent and almost get away with it, until an Imperial officer joins the game.
Things begin to go sideways as she’s charged with illegal gambling, but without a chain code they badly need the credits to leave the planet, and after evading Imperial capture and smartly figuring out a way to lose their Imperial pursuers and get offworld we get to the emotional core of the episode as they travel to the very moon we saw Hera Syndulla on in the debut season and reunite, first with Wrecker and then with Hunter. It’s a genuinely touching moment, made all the more satisfying by the pitch-perfect vocal work of Michelle Ang and Dee Bradley Baker.
Meanwhile, we can’t forget Mount Tantiss and the efforts of Nala Se to keep her young charge safe from the grip of Doctor Hemlock and ultimately the Emperor. We now know the importance of Omega’s place in the grander scheme of things, and with Project: Necromancer already well in motion and tying in with other stories way down the timeline including The Mandalorian and the work of Moff Gideon as well as the hunt for Grogu, it really does add a delicious wrinkle not only to this show but the backdrop of the entire saga.
Without bashing us over the head with the reveal, we now know that Palpatine had his return in The Rise of Skywalker prepared for all along. Enough of the lazy ‘Somehow, Palpatine returned‘ memes; that’s old news now. Of course Palpatine wanted to live forever. He conned Anakin into returning to a life of slavery (born into slavery, sold into slavery, subserviant to the Jedi, becomes Palpatine’s apprentice with nowhere to go) in Revenge of the Sith based on lies, and now we’re seeing the plan that allowed him the chance to become the Emperor eternal. Along with the bonds of family our lead characters share, we can view the entire saga through a new lens, one sharper than it was before this third season began, as the many Orders of the Emperor continue to be defined.
Ross Hollebon
New planet. New card game. Equally high stakes.
It takes a while before Crosshair puffs out an exasperated “finally,” and unleashes his sharpshooting on the goons and Imperial soldiers of the spaceport at Lau, but up until then, he appeases Omega and her call for more strategic means, even when it’s hustling tough local cantina patrons in a new card game, balaans.
The episode begins with Omega, Crosshair, and Batcher crash-landing their damaged Imperial shuttle and immediately going into survival and escape mode. They learn the only way off-planet is to bribe their way onto a transport but they need credits to do so.
Omega picks up this card game quickly and gets a series of big-money wins against a Trandoshan who had been dominating the room. She builds up her coffers but then Imperial Captain Mann comes in to cool her off. She takes the hand with “the three Eastern Stars” but Captain Mann strikes back hard. He imposes a fine for illegal gambling on her.
The trouble continues as Mann locks up Batcher and sets a trap for the duo he realizes are the escapees Dr. Hemlock is searching for. That is when Omega nods to Crosshair and advises, “Let’s try things your way.” They rescue Batcher, dispatch their enemies, and steal a cargo freighter, narrowly escaping before Hemlock arrives on the planet.
The biggest winning hand comes as the episode ends. Omega coordinates a rendezvous with Hunter and Wrecker on a remote planet. It is a warm and fulfilling scene. Then Crosshair shows himself, there is s staredown, and the episode ends. All the cards appear to be on the table—but can the Batch win against these odds?
Jen Sopchockchai
My emotions began to swell the second Omega ran across to the Marauder to hug Wrecker. Even if you were trying to be offbeat in your takes, it would be nigh impossible to ignore all the big feels this moment wrought. Tears then formed once Hunter said that they’d never stopped searching for her. This moment had all the catharsis of the narrative time that had actually passed.
The rush of the warm and fuzzies, the release and relief of hope restored, quickly dissipates as Crosshair emerges from the shadows, and all of the tension created by their tragic, conflict-ridden parting comes flooding back. It was nice to root for Crosshair for a change. Just because we, the viewers, have seen Omega embrace him as her own family in spite of it all, that doesn’t mean the other characters have forgiven or forgotten. Far from it, it seems. I look forward to seeing what happens next and what the long road to mending these relationships looks like.
I wonder: how did we get here? How did this episode properly set up this moment? The answer is in the creatures. Sure, the lovable, ugly-cute Batcher appears to be a merchandising play — a quick and easy way to make a buck off me as I walk down a Target aisle with my kids. But she also serves as a way to test Crosshair, to see if he really has changed. If his heart has really softened. In the premiere episodes, especially when they make their escape, he seems to be listening to Omega a lot. He is amusingly crabby about it, but begrudgingly trusts her when she says she has a plan or is going to come up with one along the way. But there’s no quicker way to endear a character to me and allow me to forget all their past transgressions than to show them being nice to an animal.
Ever since the Season 1 finale, I have thought that the pairing of Crosshair with Omega, especially through the dialogue written for their conversations, have been among the best in the series. I always know that every time they converse, these two characters will bring about some kind of ethical or existential dialectic. There is a constant push and pull between how Crosshair wants to shoot now and ask questions later, and Omega, in contrast, insists on trying to minimize casualties and try, as the episode title says, “A Different Approach.”
What Wrecker and Hunter know is that he passes this test with flying colors. He not only goes along with Omega’s relative pacifism until it is no longer sustainable, but he actively goes back to rescue Batcher. And then he helps Omega set all the creatures free!
The big question is, though: will Hunter and Wrecker believe that he has done so? Will they believe Omega when she says he has changed?
(This is condensed and edited – with permission – from Jen’s The Long Take review, which you can subscribe to here)
Eric Onkenhout
In the 4th episode of The Bad Batch, A Different Approach, Crosshair and Omega crash onto a planet called Lau, marking the first appearance of this planet in Star Wars. Meanwhile Nala Se is held prisoner in Mount Tantiss. Dr. Hemlock tells Nala Se her future is uncertain, so it would seem her days are numbered. Omega and Crosshair roam the spaceport seeking passage off-world but have lost their chain codes, and bribing the TSA fails. Eventually Omega wins a few rounds of balaans at a local cantina, even beating an Imperial officer, Captain Mann (Harry Lloyd from Game of Thrones). She wins enough to pay for passage but loses most of it to pay off fines. After a fire-fight with the Imperials they steal another shuttle and enter hyperspace. Omega and Crosshair eventually reunite with Hunter and Wrecker on the same moon Omega met Hera Syndulla in Season 1. A Different Approach ends with Wrecker and Hunter unsure how to greet Crosshair after all they’ve been through; not exactly a warm welcome.
A Different Approach was a good episode. This season of The Bad Batch is already a quarter of the way through and has focused a lot on Omega, so I’m really curious how Hunter and Wrecker will greet Crosshair. I’m sure it’s going to take some convincing from Omega to have them all come together. Maybe Crosshair doesn’t want to reunite. Omega’s constant hopefulness and kindness has been refreshing set against the darkness of the Empire’s reign.
- Hardcover Book
- Barnes, Steven (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 416 Pages - 10/15/2024 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
