Summary
“Finale Part 1” returns the Bad Batch to where it all began for the first half of a climactic showdown.
This recap of Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 1, episode 15, titled “Finale Part 1” on Disney+ and “Return to Kamino” in the episode itself, contains spoilers.
For some reason, the penultimate episode of The Bad Batch has two titles: “Finale Part 1”, according to Disney+’s episode list, and “Return to Kamino”, according to the episode itself — either way, though, the premise is pretty straightforward. Hunter has been captured by Crosshair and returned to, you guessed it, Kamino, where Crosshair and Admiral Rampart hope to use Hunter’s comm as a lure for the rest of the team and Omega.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 1, episode 15 recap
Everyone knows this is a trap. Crosshair is confident that Clone Force 99 won’t leave one of their own behind regardless, and he’s right, but Omega, switched on as ever, leads them to a hidden ocean landing pad and an underwater tube system that allows them to travel to Nala Se’s private research lab undetected. The facility on Kamino is being decommissioned, with both the regular clones and Kaminoans ousted, so it’s crawling with Imperial troops. When Omega and the Bad Batch emerge in the room full of vats where she was created and Clone Force 99 had their mutations deliberately enhanced, they find all the relevant files have been wiped. The Empire is shutting up shop.
The character hook in “Return to Kamino” is whether or not Crosshair can be redeemed. Hunter tells him that the inhibitor chip is making him act this way, so we haven’t forgotten that plot point yet. Before long, the Bad Batch are finally back together, having walked into the ambush Crosshair set for them (though having told Omega to escape with a droid, AC, that they discovered in the lab), and he’s quick to rant about their abandonment of him, which he apparently took rather personally despite the circumstances.
But Crosshair apparently wants to give the rest of the gang what they never gave him — a chance. He wants to recruit them into the Empire and give them renewed purpose, and he’s willing to kill his own troops to convince them, but Hunter isn’t having any of it. Luckily, they’re interrupted by a legion of droids that Omega activated and it all kicks off; there’s a pretty big moment when Clone Force 99 all fight alongside each other once again, and the music kicks in and it seems pretty obvious which direction we’re heading in.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 1, episode 15 ending explained
The fight takes place in the Bad Batch’s old training grounds, which is a nice callback. Eventually, the team is able to take out the droids, but it ends with Hunter and Crosshair in a stand-off, and the latter drops a bombshell — he already had his inhibitor chip removed. This has all been his choice. Nevertheless, Hunter, after stunning him, decides to take him with them.
This is made difficult, though, since Admiral Rampart, on a Star Destroyer above the facility, is ordered by Tarkin to open fire, reducing the iconic domed structures to rubble. “Finale Part 1” ends with the fates of the Bad Batch left unclear.
You can stream Star Wars: The Bad Batch right now on Disney+.
