‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Season 3, Episode 10 Shows Just How The Empire Tests Limits

One of the great things about the Star Wars expanded universe is that its characters don’t exist in a world of black and white. There are many shades of gray that every character falls into. Things only become more complicated once the Empire gets involved and tests individual limits. It did so with Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker) until he had a revelation that the Empire would never be loyal to him. This episode does it with Emerie (Keisha Castle-Hughes), as her determination and loyalty to the Empire is strained. In fact, it’s a level of focus and exploration that few characters in the Star Wars universe get.

The plot follows Emerie as she gains more responsibility in the Empire’s facility. They have been collecting Force sensitive children to experiment on. This is similar to what they were doing in regards to Omega (Michelle Ang), but on a much larger scale and far more inhumane. Cad Bane (Corey Burton) also makes an appearance as a bounty hunter charged with apprehending a Force sensitive toddler and delivering the child to the Empire. Emerie doesn’t have a complete change of heart, but she understands the moral conundrum she faces as she has more sympathy for these children than her superiors would want.

Another important part of this episode: it finally explains the experiments they were conducting regarding Omega and her M-Count. Although, there’s still a lot left in the air. Fan theories have risen up regarding Emperor Palpatine creating clones for himself that can use the Force. Star Wars: The Bad Batch might be setting the seeds for that to occur. Or, the show could be going in a completely different direction regarding cloning Force sensitive individuals. Regardless of the intention, this episode was able to explore this important aspect of the Star Wars mythos while also highlighting the dark lengths the Empire is willing to go to accomplish their aims.

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