The Bad Batch Season 2 Offers Tech a New View of the Galaxy
The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Season 2, Episode 1 “Spoils of War” and Episode 2 “Ruins of War,” streaming now on Disney+.
On Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Tech has always been the genius of Clone Force 99. Ruled mainly by logic, he has used his technical expertise to get the team out of many scrapes. While his development was somewhat backburnered in Season 1, “Ruins of War,” the second episode of Season 2, showed that this season might place Tech’s growth at the forefront.
While hiding out from the Empire with Romar Abdell after the team’s failed heist of Count Dooku’s castle, Tech began to see that the planets he merely labeled as Separatist had their own unique cultures and traditions long before the war started. This shift in perspective on the Separatists could expand Tech’s horizons further to see the insidiousness of the Empire’s attempts to further erase individual cultures throughout the galaxy as they continue to create a totalitarian state.
Tech’s Focus on Logic and Knowledge Has Defined Him Since the Clone Wars
From Tech’s first introduction in Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7, Episode 1, “The Bad Batch,” his focus on gaining and sharing knowledge with his team and other allies has been clear. Of the team, he was the most willing to have conversations with the members of the 501st regiment. Tech’s insights and information often seemed to include information that might not be necessary to the mission, but his enthusiasm over sharing everything he knows shows that Tech has a healthy curiosity and desire to learn more about the galaxy.
However, Tech’s quest for knowledge still has been shaped by the incomplete education he received. On Kamino, Clones were treated as expendable and mainly taught what they would need to know to become successful soldiers. Since the Kaminoans created the Clones to fight the Separatists, the team’s lessons about the galaxy would be heavily biased against any planet that sided with the Separatist Army. Thus, even though Tech has always been open to new information, he still has inherent biases due to his war-focused education.
While Tech’s knowledge has been hampered by a biased and incomplete education, he still has been willing and open to learning new perspectives throughout the series. After Order 66, Tech became more focused on the team’s practical survival, meaning that the information he gathered primarily suited those needs. This practicality also made him more open to doing jobs based on payment rather than any moral stake he had in the mission.
For example, in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1, Episode 10, “Common Ground,” Tech was the most willing to accept the mission to rescue Separatist Senate Leader Avi Singh from Raxus Secondus regardless of his views on the Separatist Army. When Cid first introduced the mission, he was ready to take the information chip and go until Hunter intercepted it. Tech later stated that “the client being a Separatist is not relevant,” showing that he did not have the same personal animosity towards the Separatists as other members of the team, like Echo.
Tech’s focus on information as it pertains to missions and war also can be seen in the lessons Tech has crafted for Omega. In Season 2’s premiere, Tech assigns Omega lessons on different Imperial starships. While her studies do aid the team later on, this technical mission focus shows that Tech has not completely broken free from the influence of Kamino even as the team tries to redefine themselves separate from any army.
Romar Abdell Shows Tech New Views That May Define the Bad Batch’s Future
In “Ruins of War,” Tech’s interactions with Romar Abdell created a subtle shift in Tech’s preconceptions that could hold larger implications for the team’s future. Despite an inauspicious beginning where the team forced Romar to allow them into his home, Romar still was willing to share his own perspective. When Romar began working on restoring a data core containing important information about Serennian culture, Tech excitedly proclaimed the “Separatist” archive “fascinating.” Romar quickly corrected Tech, stating “We did exist before the war, you know.” Romar also revealed how badly Dooku betrayed Serenno and his people in the name of the Separatist Army.
Tech may have been logically aware of the Separatist planets as individual entities, but his pronouncement that he never quite viewed the galaxy that way before made him more aware of his previous biases. Specifically, Romar’s statement puts the Clones’ educational focus on war in stark relief. After acknowledging this shift in perspective, Tech happily volunteered to help restore the archive. In turn, Tech’s willingness to help inspired Romar to also aid the team in their escape from Serenno.
Thus, Romar may inspire Tech to shift his quest for knowledge and embrace confronting his own past and the failures in his previous education to look beyond the war. In doing so, he may also shift Omega’s education towards a more holistic view of the galaxy rather than a perspective fueled by war. Thus, Tech’s own shifting views might have a stronger influence on the team as the series moves forward and the team begins to define who they are in the face of the Empire’s atrocities.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch streams Wednesdays on Disney+.
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