2x09 The Crossing

[7.5/10] Sometimes it’s nice to have a Bad Batch episode with a simple premise. Clone Force 99 is stranded on a planet that resembles the American West (replete with a twangy score to drive home the atmosphere.) They’re stranded there when a random ship-jacker steals the Marauder. They have to make it to the nearest town with a long distance communications array, and the titular crossing means weathering storms, rampaging beasts (a la The Lion King), and eventually a cave-in that traps them in a neighboring mine.

This is a survival story. The stakes are clear; the threats are apparent, and the detail of the rock croppings containing a valuable but highly combustible substance adds an outsized twist to a story that might otherwise not quite feel like Star Wars. Our heroes are trapped. They don’t have their ship. They don’t have the ability to call for help. And they don’t even have Echo to help them figure their way out of a jam.

It’s that last part though that makes up the emotional undercurrent of The Crossing. I’m glad that for all the practical challenges the episode introduces, there’s also the psychological challenge of Omega coping with change, and bristling at Tech’s seeming indifference to it. They get huffy with one another, but also help one another get out of trouble, and find common ground in a way that allows them to find a way forward -- as a team and out of the cavern.

For Omega, it means adopting some of Tech’s attitude that change is a fact of life, and there’s nothing about it they can’t withstand. While she’s initially gloomy about losing Echo, losing the Marauder, and feeling like her family is falling apart to some degree (especially with bickering between Tech and Wrecker), she also comes to understand Tech’s viewpoint. His equanimity about all this is a sign of his faith in their family, not a lack of care about it. I appreciate dramatizing that faith with how he trusts Omega to mine the combustible element on her own in a way the protective Hunter and Wrecker don’t.

At the same time, Tech bends to Omega a bit, understanding how she feels. I could be overreaching here, but I think the show means to present Tech as neurodivergent. I particularly like his comment that just because he doesn’t express his feelings in the same way others do doesn’t mean he doesn’t have them. And with Omega’s prompting, he empathizes, stops and processes what losses like Echo and Crosshair mean to him. He lets himself feel the hardship of change a bit, see things from the comparatively inexperienced Omega’s perspective, and it brings them closer together.

That blend between practical problem solving and character-focused resolving personal issues within the team is good writing, particularly when it reflects the psychological consequences of a major change in the show’s lineup. It’s good for The Bad Batch to take that sort of shift seriously, and I’m interested to see how the show resolves (or at least progresses) the stranding situation in the next episode. Is it possible that the person who stole the Marauder ends up joining the team, filling the space left by Echo? I’m curious to find out.