Recap / Star Wars: The Bad Batch S1E15 "Return to Kamino"

Crosshair brings Hunter back to Kamino to lure the rest of the Bad Batch into a trap.

---

Tropes:

• Armor-Piercing Question: As Crosshair jabs at Hunter fleeing Kamino, Hunter insists that he had no choice on account of Crosshair trying to kill him. Crosshair pointedly asks if he really had a choice either, which Hunter can't muster a retort for.
• Batman Gambit: Crosshair figures that the Bad Batch will come to rescue Hunter despite it being an obvious trap. He also figures that they'll know better than to enter the training ground via the front door and use the elevator instead, so he sets up his ambush there.
• Beyond Redemption: After the training droid fight, both sides realize their words are falling on deaf ears, leading Crosshair to attempt to kill Hunter one last time before Hunter stuns him unconscious.
• Blatant Lies: Wrecker tries to claim that they left Omega behind when Crosshair asks, but he retorts that Wrecker is a bad liar and sends ES-02 to find her.
• Book Ends:
  • The repeated employment of the Kamino theme that first appeared in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, signifying the probable end of any onscreen appearances of an intact, inhabited Tipoca City and its cloning facilities after their introduction in that film.
  • In the third episode, Crosshair killed one of his own men in a barely-provoked fit of rage, signifying how strong of a grip his inhibitor chip had on him. Here, he kills the rest of his squad to save his brothers (who, up until this point, he had been obsessed with killing) immediately before it is revealed that his chip has since been removed.
• Call-Back: Crosshair setting things up so that the Bad Batch think the obvious route is an ambush, causing them to take a detour that leads them into the actual ambush, is exactly the same trick he employed in "Reunion".
• Call-Forward: When Tarkin gives Rampart the order to destroy Tipoca City with an orbital bombardment, he does so with a line that people who have seen A New Hope and Rogue One will find hauntingly familiar.
  Tarkin: You may fire when ready.
• Cliffhanger: The Bad Batch and Crosshair are stranded inside Tipoca City as Rampart has it blasted into scrap from low orbit.
• Continuity Nod: To Star Wars Resistance. Both Season 1 finales feature the destruction of our heroes' homes (Hosnian Prime for Kaz, Kamino for the Bad Batch) and an attempt on a floating facility that also serves as a home, though while the Colossus was able to escape into the stars, the cloning facilities that birthed and housed an army sinks into the waves, forgotten.
• Didn't Think This Through: Tech reasons that entering the training room through the main entrance would be suicide, as Crosshair is surely waiting in ambush. He instead suggests using the central supply lift below the training room, which raises them into an ambush where they're surrounded with no cover. Wrecker immediately points out his mistake.
• Enemy Mine: Crosshair teams up with his former friends to destroy the training droids when Omega activates far more than are needed. As soon as the training droids are dealt with, they go straight back to pointing their guns at each other.
• Fantastic Racism: Rampart has never hidden his hatred of clones in previous episodes. When he learns that Crosshair no longer controls the situation, he does not hesitate to have the city bombarded without bothering to stage a rescue, considering Crosshair's death worth it to wipe out the Bad Batch. By contrast, before triggering the bombardment, he gives ES-02, the last non-clone soldier still in the city, time to evacuate.
• Foreshadowing: When Hunter justifies ditching Crosshair as the only choice he could make when Crosshair was trying to kill them, Crosshair notes he didn't have a choice. This hints at the fact that he not only accepts that the chips are real, but is no longer being controlled by his, since such introspection was lost on him the last time Hunter brought it up.
• Ghost Town: Tipoca City is almost completely deserted, with only a handful of TK trooper patrols and techs packing up equipment.
• Lured into a Trap: Crosshair broadcasts Hunter's location so the Batch will come to him, which they do even though his ploy is transparent to all involved.
• Mythology Gag: This wouldn't be the first time an evil Empire in Star Wars has reduced a city to rubble via orbital bombardment.
  Tarkin: Very good, Admiral, you may fire when ready.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: To save the Bad Batch from Crosshair, Omega and AZI activate a series of training room combat droids. The problem there is that they activate far too many and have no way to program in friend-or-foe recognition, not realizing that Crosshair has killed his own squad and severely reduced the amount of resistance expected. This forces the Batch and Crosshair to fight the droids that were sent to ensure the former’s rescue, rather than the Batch pulling an escape in the confusion as intended.
• Not Brainwashed: Crosshair reveals he had his chip removed a long time ago, but still willingly serves the Empire because it's the only purpose he sees for himself in this new era. Crosshair is coy about how long he's been free of its influence, though it can be reasoned that he must have had it for a few episodes at least, given they were monitoring the status of the chip at first.^note It's worth noting that the burn scar he received in "Reunion" is right over the spot where his inhibitor chip would be, so it's likely it was removed while his wounds were being treated.
• One-Hit Polykill: Crosshair uses his blaster reflecting mirrors to kill his own Elite Squad in the training room with a single shot.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Omega reveals that Clone Force 99 was created in Nala Se's secret lab, Wrecker asks, "Is that true?" Tech's response is a testy "How could I possibly know that?", which is uncharacteristic considering how stoic he normally is. This suggests that even he is emotionally affected by Omega's revelation.
  • In their past encounters, the brainwashed Crosshair would not hesitate to have Omega killed in his pursuit of the Bad Batch. But here, Crosshair intends to have Omega be sent off-world and out of harm's way, even chastising Hunter for bringing a child to a warzone. This is out of character for any brainwashed Clone Trooper, as Wrecker would attest when his chip was activated, which sets up the reveal that Crosshair no longer has the chip in his head.
• Orbital Bombardment: Once the Empire has secured all the necessary material and personnel to run the cloning program at a location of their choosing, they bombard the facility from orbit.
• Pet the Dog: Contrary to their last meeting, when Crosshair was okay with murdering Omega, this time he simply orders her sent off-world with no specific intent to punish her, telling Hunter she'll be better off if she isn't running around with a group of wanted criminals. It also serves as Foreshadowing for The Reveal about his chip.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • The Kaminoans have a hidden tube system and landing platform they keep off the schematics. Though not enough to help them against the Empire taking the entire facility, it gets the Batch into Tipoca City mostly undetected.
  • ES-02 voices her suspicions of Crosshair's old ties to his team to Rampart, who shares her sentiment and tells her to keep on eye on him. She later turns out to be correct when Crosshair kills the rest of his squad in a bid to recruit his brothers.
• The Reveal:
  • Omega reveals that she and the Bad Batch were created by Nala Se. Any further revelations are delayed because Nala Se's files have been wiped.
  • Crosshair's inhibitor chip has already been removed and he's been serving the Empire of his own free will.
• Save the Villain: Even though Crosshair asserts he is acting of his own free will in serving the Empire, Hunter still stuns him and has Wrecker take him along.
• Sole Survivor: ES-02 is apparently the last enlisted Elite trooper left alive after Crosshair shoots the rest for refusing his orders.
• Trap Is the Only Option: Crosshair activates Hunter's comm so the Batch will know he's on Kamino. Hunter points out that it's an obvious trap, but Crosshair notes that they'll come anyway. Sure enough, they recognize the trap and return to Kamino anyway, but use a secret landing platform that Omega knows will help them get into Tipoca City without getting caught.
• We Can Rule Together: Crosshair offers the Batch a chance to join the Empire with him, even killing his own men to make sure they know his offer is genuine.
• Wham Line: As Hunter appeals to Crosshair to break free of the inhibitor chip's control, Crosshair drops one hell of a bombshell:
  Crosshair: I had my chip removed, a long time ago.
• Where It All Began: The Bad Batch makes their way back to Kamino, where the series started after the Order 66 incident, to rescue Hunter.
  • This takes an In-Universe approach when the group sneaks into Tipoca City via Nala Se's secret, private laboratory. Not only was it the birthplace of the first 2 Jango clones, Boba (AKA Alpha) and Omega, but she reveals it's also the lab where the Bad Batch were incubated and modified to become enhanced CT-99s.
• Worthy Opponent: Downplayed. Rampart gives Hunter the barest of compliments for getting his attention on Ryloth, but leaves the matter to Crosshair and makes it clear he doesn't think much of either party.
• Xanatos Gambit: Rampart acknowledges the risk that Crosshair's loyalty might come into question, and is prepared for it. If Crosshair is on the level, that's that. If not, he can just bombard the facility while Crosshair's still in it, eliminating both the Batch and Crosshair at the same time.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Tipoca City is destroyed under Tarkin and Rampart's orders so that the Kaminoans can't give their cloning technology to anyone other than the Empire. The empty facilities before the city gets orbital-bombed seals that the Clone Wars truly are over.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • Hunter warns Crosshair that the Empire is already phasing out clones and he'll end up suffering the same fate, though Crosshair insists that he and the Batch are a class above the "regs" the Empire is retiring. Hunter is proven right when Rampart is told that Crosshair has lost control of the situation on Kamino, so he goes ahead with the bombardment rather than waste resources on trying to help him.
  • The Kaminoan state, as a whole, also suffers from this. With all cloning tech as well as Nala Se in the Empire's control, Tarkin has Rampart destroy Tipoca City to deny that technology to anyone else, with the other cities of the planet facing similar fates.

---