Star Wars: The Bad Batch: “The Return” review!

Trust is easily broken but slowly earned. When someone breaks trust and betrays everything they stood for and everyone they called dear, we shouldn’t expect a reunion down the road to be seamless, quick, and joyful.

Though Star Wars has had plenty of heroes turn to the dark side, and even more villains embrace the light, the franchise hasn’t often zeroed in on the difficulty in earning back trust and forging a better path. The Bad Batch, however, is letting the story breathe enough to explore the tension between the squad (particularly Hunter) and Crosshair as the latter returns to the squad. That’s especially true in this week’s episode, “The Return”, which sees not only the return of Crosshair to the squad, but Echo as well, for a fact-finding mission.

Let’s dive in to the episode, and be warned that full spoilers are ahead.

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The episode puts Crosshair front and center, and it explores the dynamic between him and the other characters in a compelling way. Crosshair is in a precarious spot, feeling alienated and adrift. He’s struggling with his purpose, and this episode made it really obvious on multiple occasions that he’s dealing with tremors in his hand that are affecting his aim. That’s been the case in the first three episodes too, but this week it was far more explicit and obvious, with him doing target practice with AZI-3 and the droid commenting that his accuracy is far worse than normal. Crosshair was a soldier bred for a singular purpose (war), and more than that, the genetic mutations that made him ‘special’ were his heightened sniper abilities. That’s beginning to fail him, which ties into the larger theme of the series: what do the clones do in a galaxy that isn’t at war? Where do they find their place and purpose? Crosshair is having to process that and figure it out, and it’s illustrated through the tremor. At this point it’s so obvious that it’s a certainty the show is going to explore it and have a payoff down the road, and it will be interesting to see what direction that takes.

But Crosshair’s troubles aren’t exclusively – or even primarily – about his hand. Crosshair is confronted with the reality of his betrayal in this episode, and as Hunter points out, he’s actually betrayed both the clones and the Empire. Having this episode take place on the remote snow world from “The Outpost” was a terrific choice, not just because that episode was one of the very finest in the whole series, but also because it was the location of Crosshair’s betrayal of the Empire. So as Hunter confronts him about this, on this very planet, Crosshair is actually facing visual reminders of both betrayals. He turned on his brothers, and then he turned on the Empire. Those betrayals are obviously not morally equivalent, but it serves to illustrate the heightened conflict within him as he tries to figure out his new purpose.

There are indications of his changed mindset and that he’s embracing the right side, though. He’s befriended Omega and the bond the two share continues to deepen. He dons his old armor again, a symbolic depiction of his return to the squad. He saves Hunter in their fight against the worm, and he later hears Hunter’s understanding acknowledgement of Crosshair’s mistakes. Most importantly, perhaps, is that Crosshair takes the time to honor the fallen clones by arranging their helmets. It’s not just Mayday’s helmet that Crosshair picks up, but the other clones too, showing that his concern for his brothers goes deeper than just those few he befriended.

The tension between Crosshair and Hunter doesn’t seem to be completely resolved, but the episode was a pivotal step forward. They’re able to talk through their differences – thanks to some prompting from Omega and an even larger prompting from the ice worm – and I’m really glad the show gave time to these conversations rather than just rushing past them. To sit in these conversations without rushing to the next action sequence is terrific, and even the worm – as predictable of a trope as it is – symbolically aided this. The worm burst from the ice at just the time that the tension reached a breaking point too, and the worm forced the two clones to work together to survive. Hunter knows there’s more than what Crosshair is telling them, while Crosshair knows that Hunter is insecure and jealous. Hunter feels like he failed Omega, and it’s not the first time Hunter’s leadership was questioned. But Crosshair also accuses Hunter of being jealous that he wasn’t the one to save her, and that Crosshair helped her instead. Hunter feels a deep commitment to protecting Omega, and Crosshair knows it. But Omega has grown, and she’s stepping up in significant ways. Hunter slips right back into his old pattern of trying to leave Omega behind to protect her, but she refuses. She’s in this fight just as much as any of them, and she’s committed to rescuing the clones left behind on Mount Tantiss.

That’s where this episode ties into the bigger picture in the season, as Echo arrives to learn more about what’s happening on Tantiss. They investigate it further by retrieving information from the stolen datapad (which might allow the Empire to discover more about them in turn, which isn’t great), and the squad seems committed to aiding the other clones. That’s especially true of Omega and Echo, but I think the others will jump on board too – including Crosshair.

This was another enjoyable episode, and I love how the animated shows give such careful attention to character interactions and allow the conversations chances to breathe and be explored. The stuff with Crosshair this season has been terrific, and I can’t wait to see how the effort to free the clones continues to advance in the coming weeks as the season moves on.