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 twelve of season three, ‘Juggernaut’. Beware of spoilerific elements in here.
Ross Hollebon
“Hope” is a critical four-letter word and theme in Star Wars. Close on its heels, especially in this season of The Bad Batch, is “Home.” While there is plenty of action, drama, and suspense in ep. 12 Juggernaught, it is the constantly shifting and evolving idea of home for Omega that pierced me the most.
She witnessed Tipoca City being destroyed at the end of Season One. Most recently, the Marauder and her small bunk area within the ship was blown up. She had explained to Lyana, daughter of the mayor of the island, that “Pabu was the first place that felt like a home,” leading to her donation of Tech’s recovered goggles and the Lula doll, that she received from Wrecker, to the small museum. Now she surrenders to the Empire in hopes of saving Pabu and its people. It was brave and tough to witness but Dr. Royce Hemlock truly twists the knife in the wound during the final scenes of Juggernaut.
Hemlock offers full transparency to Omega as he explains her importance, and the role of her high M-Count, as he takes her through the stringent security leading to the vault. “Nothing worked until we combined your sample with one of our M-Count specimens,” Hemlock tells her. “You are a vital piece to our work here, Omega.” At that moment the doors open to reveal three children in the secured observation room—with Omega asking who they are.
Hemlock replies, “They are the rest of the puzzle. And this, this is your new home.”
It is a massive step back for the Clone and she can be saved only if Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, and friends can rescue her from Tantiss base. Will the high-octane capture of former Admiral Rampart from an Imperial labor camp on Erebus help their cause, or seal Omega’s fate even faster?
This villain from earlier episodes merely teases us, after being rescued from off the planet by the Bad Batch and Phee, “No one knows the coordinates to Tantiss. It was designed that way. But I might know how to get around that.” 3 episodes to go.
Eric Onkenhout
In Juggernaut, CX-2 delivers Omega to Dr. Hemlock on Tantiss. Hemlock brings Omega directly to Emerie Karr and orders her to begin testing Omega immediately and to give him confirmation. On Pabu, Hunter notices the Empire returning to their ship in orbit, but their comms are still jammed. Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair discuss their next move. Crosshair reveals that the imprisoned Admiral Rampart might know where Tantiss is located. Phee Genoa arrives and offers her ship to help. Crosshair says Rampart can be found in an Imperial labor camp on Erebus.
After a daring escape involving two Juggernauts, the Batch leaves with Rampart. Meanwhile, Karr finishes analyzing Omega’s blood. Hemlock returns to the lab and Karr informs him that her blood sample yielded a favorable M-count replication. Hemlock then brings Omega to the Vault where she is meant to stay.
Juggernaut was a good episode. I particularly loved watching two Juggernauts do battle. In Legends, Juggernauts were meant as a wheeled predecessor to the AT-AT. They just made more sense. AT-ATs, despite their size, are quite vulnerable from behind. While Juggernauts have weapons all over and can move faster. Although I found it really hard to believe that a heavy-wheeled vehicle could make a jump like that, and be as maneuverable.
I admit I was completely faked out when Ventress said Omega had a low M-count. The fact that she was lying never crossed my mind. Rampart has been in prison since he was made the scapegoat in Season Two. There are three episodes left of the series and I really have no clue where this is going. Which is a good thing!
Dan Lo
It’s not often I start off an episode of a Star Wars show thinking about Vinnie Jones, but here we are. I am also slow, because I watched through the entire episode wondering what the title was supposed to be referring to. I had completely forgotten that “Juggernaut” was another name for a turbo tank.
Season three of Star Wars: The Bad Batch has once again forced me to dig into my overdrawn memory banks with the reintroduction of Rampart. I recognized his name, but didn’t recall much about his previous appearances beyond the fact that he was an Imperial officer. As such, the intended impact of his reappearance may have unfortunately been lost on me. On the other hand, it so far doesn’t seem to matter too much who he is other than serving as a reluctant source of information. That may or may not change in the coming episodes.
A couple of somewhat inconsequential thoughts about Phee’s involvement. It’s not often we see Star Wars characters in zero gravity situations, so it was visually unusual to see our heroes floating inside the Providence during the freefall stealth maneuver. What keeps them planted while in space? I’m also unclear why their pickup couldn’t occur a little sooner, and without having to fight their way across a bridge and onto a perilous mountain road. The answer of course was for the action sequences but if there was an in-story reason, I’ve missed it.
I’ve asserted several times over the course of the season that Crosshair has become a main character of sorts. Maybe that’s becoming less and less true now in light of Omega’s latest capture and confirmed blood test results, but I still want to make a few notes on the clone sniper. We were once again given a glimpse of his shaky hand, but it didn’t appear to compromise his accuracy too much this time out. In hindsight, perhaps the quick shot of his hand was to serve as a visual representation of Omega’s absence.
The episode opened and closed with Omega on Tantiss. Despite what episode 10 appeared to foreshadow, Dr. Karr made no visible effort to help the young clone. The only hint of doubt was the sigh she let out after Omega was collected by Dr. Hemlock. Yikes, that felt wrong to type out. If Star Wars doctors take a Hippocratic Oath, his has long been broken.
Wait, but the episode couldn’t possibly have been named after a heavily-featured vehicle, right? I have to assume it either refers to Rampart or Omega. As far as who’s the more likely possibility, I freely admit to not knowing. One thing is for sure though: I had no idea turbo tanks were so huge.
Mark Newbold
The return of former Admiral Rampart was a surprise, and while far less jarring than the recent return of Asajj Ventress it gave us every bit as much to think about as we delve into Juggernaut, the 12th episode of the season. His part in season 2 (Project War-Mantle, the occupation of Ryloth and hunting for Hera, destroying Tipoca City) means we know he is privvy to some very delicate information, and that includes the location of Tantiss which is why Clone Force 99 head to Erebus to break him out after they realise they have no chance of finding Omega without him. It’s an easy trade – his liberty for the chance to give Omega hers – but soon the familiar smuggness of Rampart begins to surface, and while he’s essential to their plans he’s clearly also a hinderance as they attempt to escape.
That escape gives name to the episode as we watch the huge Juggernauts escape the prison, leaping across huge spans as Phee swings in to extricate them before disaster strikes. He may not know the specific location of Tantiss, but he does know how to find a way to that information, so the power balance would appear to be swinging his way. Not that they’d ever trust him, but any kind of advantage is potentially dangerous to the mission and their lives. If he could parlay them for any kind of return to professional prominence, you know he’d take it.
Meanwhile, Omega is deep in her own predicament as she is not only delivered to the Vault but tested. Her M-count is high, her piece in the puzzle absolutely key and her need for the help of her brothers more vital than ever. Thankfully, the Batch have Phee helping them with her own unique vessel after the destruction of the Havoc Marauder, but as we reach the end of the season with just three episodes to go and so many plates spinning it will be fascinating to see how these many disparate threads are resolved. We know that Project Necromancer has a long history through the Imperial era and beyond to the Shadow Council and Brendol Hux and other than Rex, Gregor, Wolffe and the poor veteran begging on the streets of Daiyu the future looks bleak for clones. I’m fully expecting a tough finish for the show (with a happy ending almost certainly not an option) but how we get there is going to be quite the ride.
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