#Empire Crosshair

[the-l0st-lore]

Preview of next week’s episode:

[robotsandramblings]

from "they" to "we" 🥲

[mantellmix]

Seeing Crosshair's helmet in the Tales of the Empire opening just reminded me that it was left behind in Tantiss, along with Hunter, Wrecker & Echo's. Their gear is the last to be discarded of Clone Force 99 so they can be free to choose their new path.

It's the literal shedding of skin. From losing their job, their purpose, their ship, their colors, their armor. Then comes the rebirth.

[barissoffee]

Commander Wolffe in Star Wars: The Bad Batch | 3.07 Extraction

[teadrawstuff]

YES. I am on the bandwagon that Tech is CX-2

[lostonmyroad]

crosshair’s going through BOTH his “dad who didn’t want the dog” AND his “accidental baby (omega) acquisition” arc at the same time

[dindjarindiaries]

No way people are actually mad that Hunter and Wrecker are cautious of Crosshair

[ineffablejaymee]

after the rise of the empire:

ahsoka: *despressed on some outer rim planet, trying to hide who she is, dealing with grief and guilt

cody: *slowly realizing what hes done, and what empire is doing, struggling to find himself in the middle of all the mind control and propaganda

rex: *feelimg like hes standing alone against the empire, trying to fight it while mourning all of his falles brothers, missing ahsoka and anakin

obiwan: *dead inside, living in a cave on a desert, no will to live, crying over a bowl of worm based stew

meanwhile the fucking bad batch: oh wee lets adopt this kid and have adventures in space lez gooooooo

[papanowo]

but what if they were horses

[enigmaticexplorer]

Please stop taking away the clones’ agency.

They are HUMANS.

They fuck up.

They make mistakes.

They make bad decisions and choices.

Because they are HUMAN.

One of the best parts of TBB is that we get to follow different perspectives of the clones: those who want to fight the Empire (Rex and his rebels), those who want to settle down (CF99), and those who WILLINGLY serve the Empire (formerly Crosshair, formerly Cody, currently Wolffe).

What makes these characters interesting—and HUMAN—is that they fuck up. They are not perfect. And they make decisions we do not agree with. Because they are HUMAN.

Crosshair served the Empire willingly.

Wolffe is serving the Empire willingly.

They are both complex characters who chose/choose to serve the Empire based on their own decision-making.

Stop taking away their humanity just because you don’t agree with their decisions.

[anibaby]

The way I jumped when I saw crosshair’s helmet in the tales of the empire intro

[the-l0st-lore]

Next Episode for sure y’all

[bilbobignaturals]

"You're our kid, Omega. You always will be"

[ibrokeeverything]

Me turning on the mandalorian after finishing the bad batch episode

[lunesmoony]

He can’t keep loosing his siblings

Listening to “the prophecy ” by Taylor swift and oml, it’s him bro

[milling-around]

The Bad Batch Finale and Joel Aron’s cryptic tweet

Okay so Joel Aron, Director of Cinematography Lighting & VFX at Lucasfilm, tweeted this:

Initially, I thought that this was going to be the runtime of S3E15 The Cavalry Has Arrived. This episode being longer would make sense as it’s the finale of the show and it’s close in length to S1E1 Aftermath. However, I saw a screenshot floating around the other day that says the runtime of the final episode “spans 24 to 25 minutes”.

If this episode is the typical length then this timestamp must be referring to a different piece of media. The question is, what media? In an effort to determine what could happen in the finale, I went to that point in the films to see what I would find. None of them strike as much fear in me as what’s happening in A New Hope.

The Phantom Menace - Anakin has just won the pod race and they are celebrating his victory.

Attack of the Clones - Jango Fett and Boba Fett have just attacked Obi-Wan with seismic charges.

Revenge of the Sith - Anakin is looking out over Coruscant from the Jedi Council room. He has just revealed to Mace Windu that Palpatine is a Sith.

A New Hope - Before leaving to disable the tractor beam on the Death Star, Obi-Wan delivers a line which may foreshadow what’s to come in The Bad Batch.

Empire Strikes Back - Luke is trying to lift the ship out of the swamp on Dagobah.

Return of the Jedi - Luke, Han, and Chewbacca, along with the droids, are captured by the Ewoks.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Anakin and Ahsoka are heading towards Tatooine to deliver Jabba’s son back to him.

At 01:09:56:01 in A New Hope, or as close to it as I could get (Disney+ sucks) this is what we see:

Sorry it’s a photo of my computer, I don’t know how y’all take screenshots of Disney+.

“Your destiny lies along a different path from mine.”

Many people have been theorising that the show could end with the Batch and Omega surviving but being separated, either by choice or by circumstance. This line from A New Hope, as well as the fact that Omega’s voice actor, Michelle Ang, has described the ending as “bittersweet”, definitely make that a solid theory.

Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree though. There’s also speculation about whether Omega is force sensitive, so maybe Luke using the force in Empire Strikes Back is the real clue. Despite Ventress not believing Omega to have a high m-count, and her not being one of Hemlock’s designated m-count specimens, we have seen characters with a low m-count who were capable of wielding the force. Sabine Wren, for example.

Still, Omega being force sensitive doesn’t prevent the theory that she gets separated from the Batch from being true. It could actually be a reason for that separation because she may pursue training or decide that her proximity to the Batch endangers them.

But wait, there’s more!

At this timestamp in S1E1 Aftermath, Omega is on the Marauder with the Bad Batch (minus Crosshair) and they’re setting off on what will be her first big adventure. Omega’s Theme is playing and she’s gazing out at space with child-like wonder. While they’ve just parted ways with Crosshair, the overall feeling in this scene is hopeful.

If the tweet is referring to this episode, it could mean that we get a wholesome Bad Batch family moment. Whether Tech is there or not may rely on CX-2 being unmasked. Perhaps it’s bittersweet because Tech truly is dead or because he’s alive but they cannot save him from the Empire. Or maybe it’s bittersweet for a whole host of other reasons.

Honourable mention

@kiffobaby also looked into what is happening at this timestamp if you combine the runtimes (including credits) of all episodes in clone relevant story arcs and didn’t really find anything of note. If credits were removed then it would put at us a different point in the arc, however it’s unlikely that we’d be looking for a timestamp in an arcs combined duration anyway.

If you’ve read this far, I love you and don’t worry, we’re almost done.

Secret 16th episode?

Seasons 1 and 2 each had 16 episodes which leads me to speculate that this timestamp could actually be the runtime of the final episode, a secret 16th episode.

Is it likely? No. Can I dream? Yes.