‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Season 3, Episode 4 Brings Character Tension Along With Action

This episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch is a huge culmination as Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker) rejoins the group long after he parted ways with them early in the series. Echo (also Baker) also makes an appearance and provides some much needed context as he’s been away for many episodes. And without Tech (Baker, again), the dynamic of the group is very chaotic. They have to navigate these personal relationships while also conducting a mission with very real danger. It doesn’t deliver quite the punch that was promised by the cliffhanger in the previous installment, but it still continues the trend of quality storytelling the show has put forward.

Now that Crosshair is back with the group, along with Omega (Michelle Ang), the others feel he needs to prove himself to gain their trust again. He leads them to a remote Imperial station, where they hope to gain some much-needed intel about what the Empire is doing with imprisoned clones. They run into some trouble at the station, forcing Crosshair and Hunter to work together — regardless of the animosity they might have for one another. Their differences clash, but they still managed to successfully complete the mission.

This week’s story obviously needed to focus on the tensions Crosshair brought to the group. It would be impossible for it not to address this. But the creative team still wanted to include some action, so they put this character drama over the backdrop of a dangerous mission. This action also had the dual roll of forcing Crosshair and Hunter to work together, thus repairing their relationship a little in the process. But the disagreements between them are palpable. Seeing Crosshair’s side to the story really provides some context for his betrayal. He’s still not out of the water, but he is definitely on some sort of road to recovery.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch streams Wednesdays on Disney+.