Review: Star Wars: The Bad Batch “Tipping Point”

The home stretch for season two of The Bad Batch is in sight, and I’m finally coming around to it. This season has been a season of narrative ups and downs, with the downs being really down. However, the last few weeks really put the story back on track, and the last two episodes are going to be fireworks.

The first thing to notice is that “Tipping Point” is that the episode went by in what felt like minutes. The end of the episode where Crosshair is getting tortured for information on the team. I felt like there was a lot of information coming at us, however it was coming at us in a very easy to digest form. To be completely honest, “Tipping Point” felt more like part one of a three part finale than a penultimate episode.

The main plot thread was Crosshair trying to deal with getting captured, and the hard bargain of selling out his former team so Hemlock can get his hands on Omega. Crosshair finally showed a lot of nuance outside of blunt force and shooty bangs to get the job done. While he isn’t a part of the Bad Batch anymore, he shows that he at least still cares enough to not want harm done to them. Throughout the season, the hints were that he wanted to tow the Empire line, but as Crosshair showed up more and more, you saw those cracks in the armor really show. He managed to get his hands on a communications beacon, and send a warning just in case he succumbed to the torture.

All of the events eventually find their way back to the team on Pabu, when Echo meets back up with the team. He tells them of the shuttle of clone prisoners he rescued, and comes with a gift of encrypted information. Of course, this is the big setup for next week, where all of the shit from this season will come together. The Advanced Sciences Division is going to be a big boy fight. The only things we’ve seen of Hemlock so far is that he wants Omega, and he’s going to do anything and everything he could do to get his hands on Omega for his experiments.

As I said earlier on, this was probably the best written episode of the 14 that aired so far. “Tipping Point” accomplished more in feeding plot and necessary story points so we can get to the finale. Never before have I felt so accomplished in such a perceived amount of time. I think Feloni threw in a lot of filler to space out his story because there were a lot of moving parts. That doesn’t forgive the amount of tire spinning we got during this season, but if the finale episodes deliver, It can be an overall win.

I’m fully excited with the position that “Tipping Point” put me in. I’m waiting for next week with baited breath because of the possibilities. This excitement was the same I had when I watched Rebels and The Clone Wars. Thanks, Filoni. You’ve hit your stride in the last couple of weeks.