This may be a hot take, and this is just my opinion so feel free to disagree, but I don’t really think Crosshair cares much about the Empire as an entity in and of itself. He doesn’t care about their agenda or how they choose to do things. I think right now he doesn’t care whether following the Empire is a good thing to do or the right thing to do, I think he’s doing it because he thinks it’s what he’s supposed to do. Which is wrong, obviously, and a horrible way to be making decisions about a fascist regime like the Empire, but I think mentally that’s where he’s at.
I believe a lot of the conflict we see him experience in episode 16 is between doing what he wants to do versus doing what he thinks he’s supposed to do. It’s obvious from the look on his face as they leave again that Crosshair still wants to be with his brothers, but like Hunter said, they want different things. Crosshair wants to be with his brothers, but he wants them to be with him as soldiers of the Empire because he believes that is their sole purpose. He even tells Hunter in his weird Imperial sales pitch: “We can have purpose again.”
Think about it, the clones were raised to believe they were created for one purpose: to be soldiers. They were “programmed,” as Cut and Fives would say, to believe their only reason for existing was to fight and die for the Republic. Even Clone Force 99. How many times throughout The Clone Wars did we hear clones talk about “doing their duty?” I think Crosshair believes now that the Republic is gone and the Empire is taking over, his purpose is to serve the Empire. Like Echo said, “we’re soldiers. What other purpose is there?” He’s not thinking morally, he’s not thinking about whether what the Empire is doing is right or wrong, he’s just following orders. Because good soldiers follow orders. It’s the same journey we’ve seen clones like Rex and Fives go through (albeit this time with significantly higher moral implications because of the Empire) about blindly following orders versus doing what’s right regardless of orders. Like Hunter says, “blindly following orders makes you a pawn.” Crosshair has yet to learn that lesson.
Meanwhile, the Bad Batch just spent the entirety of season 1 learning that there is a purpose for them outside of being soldiers. That being a soldier and fighting and dying in a war is not the only thing they can do. In addition, arguably the entirety of season one is about Hunter and the Bad Batch learning to do things simply because it’s the right thing to do. Omega has taught them again and again to do something because it’s the right thing to do, versus whether it’s the objectively logical thing to do. Helping Rex, saving Cid, helping Hera, saving the Syndullas, defending Roland from the Pykes. The Bad Batch were hesitant to do all these things because it was “too risky” or it wasn’t their place or it wasn’t the “strategic” move. But Omega taught them otherwise. So far The Bad Batch has been able to learn these lessons to an extent, but Crosshair hasn’t because he hasn’t been with them.
I think that was ultimately the point of the chip activating in the first episode. It only happened as a plot vehicle to separate Crosshair from everyone else. Once it set Crosshair and the Bad Batch apart from one another, it became obsolete. That’s why they could remove it vaguely off screen and it wouldn’t matter. It was only meant to send them on different paths which were going to lead to different experiences, lessons, and decisions, that then placed everyone where they were by the end of the finale.
Now don’t misinterpret this, I am not defending Crosshair. He’s still very much in the wrong. Besides saving Omega and AZI in the finale, pretty much every time he’s been given a choice to do something this season, he’s made the wrong one. And I don’t agree with him or what he’s saying. I’m just trying to understand his logic. I’m trying understand how his character went from “I’m doing this because this thing in my head is making me” — which we know he was under the influence of the inhibitor chip in, at the very least, the first episode — to “I’m doing this because this is what I want/I am choosing to do.” And why, despite doing what he thinks he’s supposed to be doing, the man still looks utterly conflicted about it whenever we see him without his helmet. Crosshair needs to start thinking and make decisions based on morality and not blind allegiance in order to begin his journey to redemption.
(Also shout out to @luminousbeingsarewe and @annpank for your replies on my last analysis for helping me finally be able to put words to my thoughts on this!)
tangentwithtanner
