Summary
“Juggernaut” has a throwback quality to it as the Bad Batch enlists the services of an old “friend”, but the audience doesn’t learn anything new about the main plot.
“Juggernaut” feels like an older episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, closer to the classic mission-of-the-week format we haven’t had much in Season 3. Even though Omega returns to Mount Tantiss in Episode 12 and Dr. Hemlock reveals the significance of her blood and the contents of the facility’s vault, this isn’t news for the audience, who found out about the vault’s contents in Episode 10, “Identity Crisis”.
This means that the bulk of interesting stuff going on in the episode revolves around the remainder of Clone Force 99 trying to deduce the coordinates of Tantiss. And their only lead brings back a nasty returning villain.
Emerie Isn’t Working With Omega – Yet
Omega Returns to Mount Tantiss (Image via Disney+)
After the aforementioned Episode 10, one of the key character turns I was predicting involved Emerie. I still think this is coming, but we don’t see it in “Juggernaut”. When Omega returns to Tantiss, Emerie dutifully tests her blood as instructed.
There are snippets of dialogue that give away her underlying feelings, though. She says she’s glad Omega is safe, and her mentioning she “has to” do what Hemlock says shows she’s scared of the consequences if she rebels.
She will rebel, though. Just not yet.
Admiral Rampart Knows The Tantiss Coordinates
Crosshair Reveals That Admiral Rampart Knows the Tantiss Coordinates (Image via Disney+)
At a loss, Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair realize they need to find Tantiss quickly to rescue Omega, and Crosshair reveals he has a potential solution in the form of Admiral Rampart.
You’ll recall Rampart as the incredibly snooty Imperial officer whom Palpatine made an example of to get the Defence Recruitment Bill passed. We haven’t seen him since the Season 2 double-bill, “The Clone Conspiracy” and “Truth and Consequences”.
Needless to say, I don’t love that Crosshair is only bringing this up now. His justification – that he never wanted to return to Tantiss, and that Rampart was a dangerous last resort – doesn’t hold much water when we’ve seen how desperate Clone Force 99 have been to locate the base.
Phee Meets Crosshair
Phee Meets Crosshair for the First Time
After getting jacked for Pabu’s location in Episode 11 of Season 3, Phee is still smarting. She turns up to help the Bad Batch get to Rampart, and she meets Crosshair for the first time.
Phee mentions that Tech had told her all about Crosshair’s “sparkling personality”, which seems an apt description. But “any friend of Brown Eyes is a friend of mine.” Just as well.
Rampart is located in an Imperial Labour Camp on Erebus, where he still thinks he’s better than everyone else. Through a contact of Phee’s, the gang gets an overview of the place that they use to make an infiltration plan involving Phee essentially turning their ship’s engine off to free-fall out of orbit.
The Juggernaut
The HAVw A6 Juggernaut In Action (via Disney+)
The titular Juggernaut is the HAVw A6 Juggernaut, a giant ten-wheeled assault tank around which the big action sequence of the episode – and one of the best of the season – revolves.
Rampart predictably plays hardball with the information, and won’t give anything away about Tantiss until the Bad Batch frees him from custody. He’s being transported from a mine to a prison, so the entire sequence takes place at high speed through a precipitous canyon.
After all that, Rampart reveals he doesn’t know the coordinates to Tantiss. As it turns out, nobody does, but he doesn’t explain quite what that means.
Luckily, he has a way to get around this issue.
Omega Is Moved Into the Vault
Dr. Hemlock Leads Omega Into the Vault (via Disney+)
The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 12 ends back on Tantiss, with Hemlock explaining to Omega why her blood is significant. It’s the only binding agent yet discovered to replicate someone’s natural M-count.
This is why Omega is integral to Project Necromancer. When Hemlock leads her into the vault, which will be her new home for a while, she sees the other young test subjects and begins to understand what’s going on, and why she matters so much.
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