Recap / Star Wars: The Bad Batch S3E15 "The Cavalry Has Arrived"

The series finale. Omega and the Bad Batch battle Imperial forces for their freedom and that of the rest of the prisoners imprisoned in Tantiss base.

Tropes:

• All of Them: With most of Tantiss's forces heading for the Zillo Beast to recapture it, Hemlock sends all of the X Troopers after the Batch.
• And the Adventure Continues: For Omega, who ends the series as a young adult about to join the Rebellion, while her brothers remain retired on Pabu.
• An Arm and a Leg: Crosshair's right hand is chopped off by X-2.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Any and all TK Stormtroopers, Clone Commandos, both regular and Imperial Royal Guard, and Advanced Science Division scientists on Tantiss who fall prey to the Zillo Beast or the Clone prisoners qualify given the monstrous evils they've been helping produce in the facility.
  • Nala Se was intending to blow up her lab regardless of what Rampart did, but Rampart's attempt to extort knowledge of Project Necromancer out of Nala Se so he can buy back some Imperial favor or to get some means of leverage or blackmail over them (which in any case would endanger Omega), as well as killing her, means that him being caught in the explosion isn't exactly a tragic occurrence.
• The Atoner: Emerie is eager to help Rex and Senator Chuchi's efforts to make up for her actions in Hemlock's service.
• Back for the Finale: Captain Bragg returns for the first time since "The Outpost".
• Badass Boast: As he prepares to subject them to the conditioning process, Hemlock notes that if the Bad Batch survive, they'll make fine X Troopers. Hunter defiantly replies "we'll survive, but you won't". By the end of the episode, Hunter and Crosshair live up to that boast.
• Beard of Sorrow: Many of the imprisoned clones understandably have grown scruffy beards during their captivity.
• Book Ends:
  • The title of this episode, the series finale, is taken from the first line spoken by any of the Bad Batch back in their introductory, eponymous episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
  • On a meta example, this episode was released on May 1, three days before May 4, three years to the day the series premiered. It also was released four years to the day of "Shattered", the critical episode depicting the implementation of Order 66 and the rise of the Empire wherein the lives of the clones was forever changed.
  • Tarkin's first appearance on the show had him accompanied by Clone Shock Troopers of the Coruscant Guard when visiting Kamino and determining if the Clones would be kept in the Imperial Army. His final appearance has him accompanied by TK Shock Troopers while ordering Mount Tantiss shut down indefinitely and the funding routed back to Project Stardust, aka the Death Star.
  • Scorch's first encounter with Clone Force 99 ended with him eating five stun rounds that knocked him out cold. His final encounter ends with him receiving five real rounds that end up killing him.
  • The second episode of the series, "Cut and Run", had Hunter struggle with his newfound responsibilities as Omega's adult guardian especially in contrast to Cut already being an experienced father, to the point he tried to send Omega away with Cut so she could live a safe normal life. The series finale ends showing that the Batch were able to enjoy long, peaceful, and happy lives away from war on Pabu, and this time, Omega is the one leaving of her own accord to take her steps into the larger world as a member of the Rebellion, having enjoyed a life with the Batch as her fathers.
• Boom, Headshot!: The X Troopers mostly shrug off blaster shots to the torso, but a shot through their visors puts them down much more quickly.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Discussed; when trying to convince Hunter and Wrecker to let him infiltrate Tantiss alone, Crosshair claims that Clone Force 99 died with Tech, and that they're not the squad they once were. Hunter and Wrecker emphatically refuse to let their brother go to certain death alone, affirming that even with Tech gone, they're still a squad.
• But Now I Must Go: The epilogue has Omega leave Pabu and the Batch to enlist in the Rebel Alliance, feeling the call to leave to join the larger fight for the galaxy's freedom, taking Gonky with her.
• Call-Back:
  • Wrecker warns Crosshair against pulling a "Plan 99" as Tech did.
  • Rampart is initially locked in a cell and given a mocking smug sneer by an Imperial about being a traitor, just as Cham Syndulla was. This time however, it's Hemlock who mocks him about Clones and helping them on a mission. Rampart, having already mocked Cham about being a traitor to Ryloth, is not thrilled of being on the receiving end of Imperial gloating at their imprisoned enemies.
• Call-Forward:
  • Nala Se being shot dead by Rampart, only to kill him with a thermal detonator is how Baze would meet his end against the last Death Trooper on Scarif.
  • Like Moff Gideon will decades later, Tarkin reroutes funds from Project Necromancer to support his own project, which is doomed to failure, albeit the Death Star, rather than any big cloning project for himself.
    • Similarly, Tarkin declaring a non-violent victory over Hemlock's Project Necromancer that would've benefited the Empire in the long run and rerouting the funding back to the Death Star is what his rival, Orson Krennic, would do with Thrawn's TIE Defender project years later.
• Character Death:
  • Nala Se is shot dead by Rampart, but she manages to kill him anyway with a thermal detonator.
  • Both Scorch and Hemlock are shot by Hunter and Crosshair and fall off the bridge to their deaths.
• Chekhov's Lecture: Hemlock brags to the captive Rampart that the experiments he's overseeing on Mount Tantiss are of personal interest to Emperor Palpatine, making him far more valuable to the Empire than a disgraced naval officer like him. Which is why, once freed from his cell with Nala Se and the clones, Rampart decides to go poking around in the base's archives to find useful information he can use as leverage.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: The X Troopers and their TK Trooper regiment pretty handily defeat the Batch in the hanger, but Crosshair puts up a valiant effort in trying to cover their retreat.
• Deadly Gas: Hemlock engages the gas to take out the rest of the clones attempting to rescue the Bad Batch. Echo was immune due to wearing a helmet, but he’s horribly outnumbered and outmatched.
• Defiant Captive: Hemlock cuffs himself to Omega to keep her from escaping again and use her as a hostage, but she doesn't make it easy on him, and when he tries to use her as a human shield against Hunter and Crosshair, she stabs him with her stolen tool.
• Defiant to the End:
  • Held at gunpoint by Rampart, Nala Se defiantly tells him that her research will never belong to him or to the Empire, and that it will always be Kaminoan. These end up being her final words before Rampart shoots her dead... causing her to drop the active thermal detonator she was holding.
  • Even with the CX Dagger Vessel he and Scorch were trying to escape with shot down and his fate all but sealed anyway, Hemlock still tries to get the better of Hunter and Crosshair, holding Omega at gunpoint and threatening her life.
• Disney Villain Death: Both Doctor Hemlock and Commander Scorch are downplayed cases, as they were repeatedly shot up by Hunter and Crosshair and already dead by the time they fell off the Mount Tantiss bridge. Hemlock specifically gets a dramatic camera shot of him plummeting into darkness.
• Distant Finale: The epilogue takes place several years after the main events of the episode, roughly around the timeframe of Star Wars Rebels, such that Omega is now a young adult and Hunter is visibly older thanks to his accelerated aging. Omega flies off to join the Rebellion as a pilot against the Empire.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • Omega uses the Tantiss medical droid to knock down Scalder.
  • As soon as it's free, the Zillo Beast goes on a rampage.
  • The liberated clones in Mount Tantiss are all too happy to take up arms against their jailers.
  • Using a thermal detonator, Nala Se takes her revenge on both Hemlock (who forced her to aid in his twisted experiments) and Rampart (who led the destruction of her homeworld and her people), destroying the former's research and killing the latter.
  • Omega, Hunter, and Crosshair, all of whom have endured Hemlock's taunts and abuse to one degree or another, contribute to his demise, with Omega stabbing him in the leg and Hunter and Crosshair gunning him down.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The surviving members of the Bad Batch manage to rescue the trapped clones on Tantiss and the Force-sensitive children, and Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair choose to stay retired on Pabu. Echo and Emerie join Senator Chuchi's cause. Tarkin also pulls the plug on Tantiss and with it Project Necromancer, putting a stop to Palpatine's plans for untold years and ensuring clones will no longer be used as Hemlock's guinea pigs. Years later, Omega, now a young adult, chooses to enlist in the Rebellion while her brothers stay behind, happy to always be there for her.
• Evil Is Petty: CX-2 didn't have to cut off Crosshair's hand; he just did it because he felt like it.
• Exact Words: Omega and the children insist to Scalder that they were truly with the Tantiss medical droid, but Scalder quickly surmises they're up to something. Fortunately, she doesn't realize they've subverted the droid until it sedates her.
• Extra-Long Episode: Due to this being the finale, this episode is about an hour long.
• Failed a Spot Check: While Rampart attempted to extract the information of Project Necromancer from Nala Se, he failed to notice the thermal grenade in her hand (which she didn’t even attempt to hide). One lapse of common sense and it costs him his own life.
• Foregone Conclusion: Even with Dr. Hemlock gone, Project Necromancer will be revived under Brendol Hux years later, albeit flawed with much of the research lost. Despite Nala Se's efforts, at least the basics of Project Necromancer had to have survived somewhere for Brendol Hux to continue the project. From that, decent progress was still made, and others like Moff Gideon were able to come close to replicating what Project Necromancer was supposed to accomplish. Nala Se's main objective of protecting Omega (the key to making Necromancer successful), however, does succeed, as those projects were forced to turn to alternate subjects.
• Gory Discretion Shot:
  • When CX-2 slices off Crosshair’s hand, the scene cuts just as the blade makes contact with his wrist.
  • When Nala Se is shot by Rampart, we only see her reaction, not the shot actually hitting her.
  • Averted for the rest of the episode. Hemlock, Scorch, the X Troopers, and the clone prisoners have their deaths shown in full detail.
• Grand Finale: The final episode of the entire series, lasting longer than regular episodes and showcasing the final showdown between the Bad Batch with Hemlock.
• Handicapped Badass: Despite missing one hand, Crosshair has finally regained his inhuman accuracy when he manages to split apart the binder keeping Hemlock and Omega together by shooting it, in the dark and while it's raining no less.
• Hanging Judge: Scalder says Karr has been too lenient with the children and quickly tries to throw them in isolation for a few days each.
• He Knows Too Much: Nala Se feeds Rampart intel on Project Necromancer but makes sure he dies even if she is killed, preventing any chance of Project Necromancer surviving the fall of Tantiss. Unbeknownst to her, however, information on it survived somewhere, enough for Brendol Hux to revive it.
• High-Voltage Death: X-2 is impaled on an electrostaff and further shocked to death by a piece of equipment he is pinned to.
• I Choose to Stay: Nala Se doesn’t escape with Omega and chooses to go back to the lab to destroy her research.
• Ignored Epiphany: Just when it seemed like Rampart has finally wised up to the fact that the Empire considers everyone expendable and would think twice before endearing himself then, things change after Hemlock tells him that his work involving Omega makes him indispensable. This gives Rampart the idea to extort information on Project Necromancer from Nala Se and use the research as leverage, which would at the very least earn himself amnesty from the Emperor at Omega's expense.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: One of the clones is stabbed through and through from behind by an X Trooper.
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: When Crosshair asks Wrecker, who is still suffering from the injury inflicted by the Dylax last episode, if he thought wrestling with the beast was a good idea, Wrecker defensively responds, "At the time, yes!"
• Karmic Death:
  • While it's more Redemption Equals Death than this trope, Nala Se still dies exactly how Fives died, getting shot in the chest with a blaster pistol, albeit an RK-3 blaster instead of the DC-17 hand blaster Fox used when killing Fives.
  • Rampart, who arrogantly carried out the decimation of Kamino, dies due to killing one more Kaminoan, blind to the threat she posed. For added irony, he died trying to steal the Kaminoan's cloning research for his own purposes yet again.
  • Hemlock is gunned down by Hunter and Crosshair, both of whom he singled out for his cruel taunts and experiments.
• Kick the Dog: X-2 cuts off Crosshair's right hand despite him already being subdued and the X Troopers being ordered to bring the Batch in for reconditioning.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Rampart has enough time to let out a "Wha—" at the sight of an active thermal detonator at his feet.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste:
  • After Omega frees the Zillo Beast from captivity, Emerie and Echo, Omega and the children, and the Bad Batch all make use of the enormous distraction to make their escape from Tantiss.
  • Once free of his cell, Rampart takes advantage of the clone uprising to look into the Project Necromancer files, hoping to find useful information he can barter for his return into the Empire's command structure.
  • At the end of the episode, Tarkin uses the massive damage to Tantiss Base, the deaths of Hemlock and most of his staff, and the destruction of the archives to cancel Project Necromancer and redirect the resources and funding to his own project, Stardust, aka the Death Star.
• The Load: Bayrn only being a baby means he blows the group's cover due to getting fussy and crying. Fortunately, Omega uses that distraction to free the Zillo Beast, forcing the troopers to turn their attention to the bigger threat.
• Mama Bear: Nala Se insists on staying behind to destroy Hemlock's research so there will be no way to recreate it and therefore no need to hunt Omega, even though in all likelihood she would not survive. Her last act is to blow Rampart and the research up with her, ensuring Omega's safety.
• Missed Him by That Much:
  • The children arrive at the hangar shortly after Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair are captured. Luckily, they run into Echo and Karr, the latter of whom flies the children, except Omega, to safety.
  • Tarkin's Imperial I-class Star Destroyer and its two accompanying Venator-class Star Destroyers jump in a mere second after the clones make their own getaway.
• Multiple Gunshot Death:
  • Both Scorch and Hemlock get absolutely peppered with blaster bolts by Crosshair and Hunter before their dead bodies fall over the side of the railing into the jungle below.
  • The X Troopers generally got taken out with several blaster bolts, though given how durable they are this is justified.
• Mythology Gag: The clone uprising from Legends (in Star Wars: Battlefront II) finally takes place, albeit on Tantiss instead of Kamino.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • In hindsight, Dr. Hemlock should not have given Rampart any ideas, and it’s not helped by the fact that Nala Se was within earshot of the conversation. By telling him just how valuable Project Necromancer was, it leads to Rampart attempting to extort the information from Nala Se. Said attempt results in the databanks destroyed, meaning the Empire has no more contingency for Project Necromancer to continue should anything happen to him.
  • Tarkin is in fine form. When he learns that Hemlock is dead and Project Necromancer's data has all been lost, he pulls all funding from the project to redirect it to Stardust. Not only will it be putting the funding into a project that will ultimately fail as well (since his choice to destroy Alderaan will be a massive disaster for the Empire given the public backlash and subsequent boost to the Rebellion), but it destroys Palpatine's progress on his cloning projects which will ensure that he will be on the back foot during the Sequel Trilogy with his cloning process still imperfect.
• Nightmare Fetishist: The other kids are incredulous that it's the Zillo Beast's rampage that seems to calm Bayrn down and get him to go to sleep.
• No-Sell:
  • As in its past appearances, the Zillo Beast is totally unharmed by being shot at, not that that stops the TK troopers from trying.
  • Clone X Troopers' armor allows them to shrug off stun blasts without a problem. Apparently, they got an upgrade since CX-1's failed mission that led to him getting stunned and captured.
• Obviously Not Fine: Wrecker insists there's nothing wrong with him, even as he's constantly groaning and wincing in pain.
• Oh, Crap!: After killing Nala Se, Rampart has just enough time for one of these when he sees the primed thermal detonator she was holding roll over to his feet, milliseconds before it explodes and obliterates him.
• Redemption Equals Affliction: Crosshair loses his right hand by the end of the series.
• Redemption Equals Death:
  • Crosshair believes he's probably going to die infiltrating Tantiss and rescuing Omega alone but it's what he deserves for his past actions. However, he manages to survive, but loses a hand in the process.
  • Nala Se is shot by Rampart, in the process managing to kill the former Vice Admiral and destroy Hemlock's research.
• Redshirt Army: Imperial TK Stormtroopers versus first an angry Zillo Beast, which gets through two whole battalions, then a squad of angry clones. The clones themselves then get slaughtered by the X Troopers.
• Reforged into a Minion: Hemlock's plans for Hunter, Wrecker and Crosshair is to turn them into CX troopers, boasting that he's refined the process since it failed on Crosshair the last time.
• Sequel Hook: Though the Batch gets a happy ending, there are still threads for both what we know is to come and what may come. Tarkin reroutes funding for Project Necromancer to Project Stardust, which in itself is something of a Greater-Scope Villain for the time span between the Prequel and Original Trilogies. Echo and Emerie go to join Senator Chuchi's cause, a.k.a. the nascent Rebellion. And the series ends with a now-adult Omega leaving Pabu to enlist in the Rebellion to have further adventures while the Batch retires in peace.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: The Lurca Hounds smell the Zillo Beast coming, and decide they'd rather take their chances in the wild than be near it.
• She Is All Grown Up: The epilogue shows Omega being a young adult now and on her way to join the Rebel Alliance.
• Shooting Superman: The troopers insist on firing upon the Zillo Beast even though at least some of them must be aware of its blaster-proof hide.
• Sinister Shiv: Omega uses the tool she stole as a shank.
• Smug Snake: Rampart gets one last opportunity to show off his arrogant and short-sighted attitude by forcing inside knowledge of Project Necromancer out of Nala Se to get leverage with the Empire, totally unaware of the live grenade in Nala Se's hand until he shoots her dead. Rampart has just enough time to notice before being obliterated along with Hemlock's research.
• Southpaw Advantage: As it turns out, Crosshair's unnatural accuracy is a part of his mutation that only requires a working hand to aim. After losing his right hand, he's able to make a precise shot very naturally with his left hand even though he's naturally right-handed. That said, he overlooked the fact that he could've used his other hand when his dominant one was giving him problems.
• Spotting the Thread: Echo recognizes the tactics he taught Omega as part of her escape strategy. The others quickly realize that a rampaging Zillo is Omega's handiwork as well.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Omega unleashes the captive Zillo Beast to wreak havoc upon the Imperials to help cover her group's escape.
• Taking You with Me:
  • Nala Se primes a thermal detonator when Rampart holds her at gunpoint to gather intel on Project Necromancer. When he shoots her after taking the information he needs, it detonates and destroys him along with the databanks, ensuring Hemlock's research can never be duplicated.
  • Hemlock tries to pull one during his standoff with Hunter and Crosshair, threatening to take Omega over the bridge with him. They instead shoot the cuffs binding Omega to Hemlock, allowing them to kill Hemlock without a problem.
• That Man Is Dead: Crosshair argues this when trying to convince Hunter and Wrecker to let him rescue Omega alone, since Wrecker is badly injured, but they refuse to allow it.
  Crosshair: Clone Force 99 died with Tech. We're not that same squad anymore.
• That's What I Would Do: When Echo learns that the children have escaped and the Zillo Beast is loose, he immediately connects Omega to these events, because he would do the same in her place. Similarly, Hunter and Wrecker recognize within seconds that Omega is likely responsible for the Zillo Beast breaking out of the mountain.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: Hunter and Crosshair riddle the unarmored Hemlock with blaster bolts, sending him falling over a railing into an abyss; in the unlikely event the gunfire didn't kill him, the fall definitely did. Considering he's reported to have perished by Tarkin's subordinate, it can be assumed they found the corpse.
• Time-Passage Beard: In the epilogue, an aged Hunter sports a beard and longer hair, both of which are greying due to his accelerated aging.
• Time Skip: The episode (and the series as a whole) ends on one of these, jumping forward several years to the age of the Rebellion where an adult Omega says goodbye to Hunter and flies off to enlist as a Rebel pilot.
• Tragic Keepsake: As she flies off to join the Rebellion, Omega puts Tech's broken goggles on the dashboard of her ship, a reminder of her late brother and mentor in piloting.
• Trauma Button: Upon seeing Tantiss's guards, Crosshair's hand quickly begins shaking and he begins demanding to go alone to find Omega so he can presumably die getting her out.
• The Unreveal: At blaster point, Rampart demands the secrets of Project Necromancer from Nala Se — and the scene immediately cuts away. When we return to them, all we know is that Rampart now has sufficient leverage to buy his way back into the Emperor's good graces. Though from various hints it's pretty obvious it is something around the lines of providing a stable, Force-sensitive clone body for Palpatine to come back in.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair are all remarkably unfazed at the sight of the Zillo Beast tearing its way out of the mountain. Crosshair just idly wonders if the Beast's rampage is Echo's work or Omega's, with Hunter and Wrecker casually guessing that it's Omega's.
• Villainous Breakdown: Cornered by Hunter and Crosshair, Hemlock starts yelling hoarsely as he struggles to regain control of the situation.
• We Are Not Going Through That Again: Crosshair comes up with a plan where Hunter and Wrecker be somewhere safe while he infiltrates alone which would very likely get him killed. Hunter realizes Crosshair was clearly suggesting Plan 99, and tells him they're not doing another one.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: A few characters' fates end up unresolved by the end of the episode and series.
  • The escaped Zillo Beast is last seen escaping into the forest and is not mentioned as having been recaptured. Considering Tarkin's order to shut down the facilities, it's safe to assume the TK stormtroopers failed.
  • Cid was last mentioned to have endured what was implied to be a painful interrogation by X-2, but her final fate is not revealed.
  • Commander Cody was never seen again in the series after going AWOL offscreen in "The Solitary Clone".
  • Lama Su was last seen in "Metamorphosis" giving Hemlock information on how to get Nala Se to cooperate in exchange for his freedom, but his current status remains unknown.
  • Dr. Scalder is last seen being led away by troopers, with Hemlock intending for her failure to have consequences, but her actual fate is never seen.
  • ES-02, the Sole Survivor of Crosshair's Elite Squad from Season 1, remains unaccounted for following her last appearance in "Return to Kamino".
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • Wrecker's still injured from his fight in the previous episode, putting his party on the back foot.
  • Despite having numbers on their side, the freed clones who have also spent untold months as prisoners and lab rats are unprepared for the much deadlier X troopers and Hemlock's poison.
• You Have Failed Me:
  • Hemlock ominously warns that Scalder will be punished for the children escaping on her watch and that Karr will share her fate if she doesn't find Omega, completely unaware that Karr is working with Echo in finding Omega and then helping her and the children escape Tantiss. Even if Hemlock doesn't live to deliver on that, Tarkin would likely finish the job.
  • Tarkin eagerly jumps on the chance to come to Tantiss to see Hemlock punished and his research shut down for losing control of the base. While Hemlock is already dead by the time Tarkin arrives, Tarkin still makes sure to close down Project Necromancer since none of the research can be salvaged.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Hemlock cuffs Omega to himself as a human shield, reasoning her brothers won't risk shooting him as long as there's a risk of hitting her. Omega calls him out on his bullshit, as he also needs her alive now that Nala Se destroyed the lab. He hedges his bets by standing near the edge of the bridge so he'll fall if they try it, taking her with him. Omega stabs him with her tool to briefly get away, allowing Crosshair to snipe the cuffs before he and Hunter unload into Hemlock.