Plan 99
Plan 99 showed that the Bad Batch had everything to lose, and that they were easily capable of losing it all.
We were so used to the batch getting in harrowing life-or-death situations and pulling through improvising and their sheer resilience. The beginning of the episode played out just like that, stuck in the rail car but Tech proved capable of restoring power to get everyone moving. But then as minute by minute passed by and the V-Wings kept on coming and shooting the rail cars, that hope started to fade. It became more dire, more serious. Even when Tech grappled onto the rail car in the nick of time, that glimmer of hope that he could survive was dashed. The music portrayed the situation perfectly.
And Tech's final act was an act of love for his family. He knew the only way they could live was if he made the conscious decision of cutting him and the dangling railcar loose.
Tech's death was tragic and gutwrenching, but it was also as heroic as it could be. But the worst part is, none of the batch had any time to mourn as the remaining rail car careened down into the station.
The situation did not give them any time to process what happened and grieve Tech's sacrifice until Ord Mantell, and even then it just went from bad to worse.
I love that Plan 99 did not hold back and subverted all of our expectations that everything would be ok.
It was almost entirely Saw's fault for what happened. But the batch couldn't have predicted that and were forced to do whatever it took to survive. This kind of dilemma was not unfamiliar to them, but this time what they did was not enough without a sacrifice.
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