As is the way with all Disney/Marvel properties, theorizing what's coming next is part of the fun. Sometimes we, the audience, can correctly guess what's happening, though, which can take a little air out of the big reveal.
That's sort of what happened with this week's episode of The Bad Batch, entitled "Bounty Lost." We learn one aspect of what makes Omega so different, and it was kind of telegraphed throughout the season.
That's not to say this episode wasn't good, though. We got a great fight scene between two bounty hunters, and we start to see the lines being drawn in the sand as characters start to take sides. Considering we still have seven episodes in this season, this actually gets me excited, because I now think they have more reveals or plot twists for the final stretch.
This week picks up with Omega trapped aboard Cad Bane's ship. Bane reveals he's working for the Kaminoans, which of course, has been the working theory for a couple of weeks now. But the Kaminoans' desire to retain Omega has a new pretense: they only want her for her genetic material, not for Omega herself. Prime Minister Lamu Su wants to kill her after they get some of her blood. I knew right away this would leave Taun We unsettled, but I did not predict her life to be in imminent danger as a result! More on that in a moment.
What's annoying with how Omega's plot point unraveled is the all-too-convenient timing. With the Bad Batch just having escaped Crosshair and jumping to lightspeed in pursuit of her, Tech magically discovers Omega's importance after a test just so happens to finish in the next scene. This, of course, gives the Bad Batch extra motivation for making haste and finding her before Cad Bane returns her to Kamino. Seriously? The characters find out everything the audience just found out at the exact same time? It was pretty clunky writing, and it would've served both the characters and the audience better to leave that suspense point as long as possible, which could've led to a more impactful, revelatory moment after they got her back. But I'm probably the only one who puts that much thought into something like that, so it's probably not a big deal (that's why they don't pay me to write these episodes).
Omega is important because she's the only person who has pure, first-generation DNA straight from Jango Fett. Boba Fett (who was codenamed Alpha and is officially acknowledged as missing after the war) is the only other being who has the same pure blood as Omega.
Despite some rough edges in delivery, what is great about this plot point is everyone is now in hot pursuit of her, including Fennec Shand, who makes a triumphant return. She appears to have murdered Taun We on Kamino, and she cuts off Bane from returning Omega to Lama Su.
This is why Bounty Hunters are awesome. At any point, they could show up out of nowhere and fight each other. Their banter was super clunky - Bane telling Shand she isn't experienced enough to fight him was super cringey - but their battle was fantastic. Shand showed some lightning-quick reflexes by slide kicking a grenade that Bane sneakily tried rolling toward her like a bowling ball; the hallway they were fighting in was hazy, so it was hard to see it. Shand also pulled off a nice misdirect that tripped up Bane (a move only experienced bounty hunters might know, huh?). Later on, Bane tries frying Shand with his flame throwers, but Shand ties him up with a rope gadget and kicks him over a ledge. Bane saves himself from impending doom by kicking on his jet boots and flying back up to safety. Bounty Hunters always have had the coolest gadgets. One of the best reasons to be a Star Wars fan back when it first released in theatres was all the cool toys (I'm sure there are cool toys now, too). Boba Fett's action figure was famous for having all kinds of cool gadgets, some of which were not even shown or expanded on in the original trilogy.
As far as the mention of Boba Fett's disappearance after the Clone Wars, it's all the more inevitable that his appearance will be the season's big reveal (probably in the finale, but it could be the penultimate episode instead).
With Boba Fett, Dave Filoni (the show's creator) and the Star Wars team could move forward in many directions. What I hope to see, though is the beginning of the era of bounty hunter rule (an idea that's been hinted at before, but I'd like to see them finally blow the top off the lid of this idea). Maybe Boba recruits Shand (which explains why she's close to him in The Mandalorian), and maybe other bounty hunters join the fray. Heck, they could bring Bo Katan and others from her Bounty Hunter clan into this, too. What would be the most amazing thing, though, is if Han Solo (and maybe even Jabba) get involved. I've mostly given up hope for a live-action sequel to the underrated Solo movie - Solo seemed to setting up the reign of Black Sun, the Hutts, etc. - so maybe creating some sort of animated cinematic universe is the way to go here, and all of them could tie into the beginning of A New Hope. But it's also possible that Disney mainly wants to run with the live-action shows set around The Mandalorian time (after Return of the Jedi, decades after The Bad Batch). The Bad Batch could just be a one-off show that only serves to show how many characters transition during the prequel era.
Either way, I'm excited for the potential.
Notes:
-Crosshair chases Clone Batch 99 in his ship in opening scene before they get away. Am I the only one who thinks Crosshair looks a lot like Dengar? Especially with all the bandages on his head.
-When Cad Bane first arrived on Kamino, it was odd to see the planet not completely drenched in rain.
-In what has to be the most sci-fi moment in Star Wars since the discovery of the scientific research station in The Mandalorian, Omega tries to escape Shand's clutches by dropping a cloning pod on her that contains an alien body and nasty goo that fall on top of Shand. Gross.