#(obviously irl i would never pitch a fit over someone making a self-sacrificial choice and surviving lol)

[magicandmundane]

Now I love a good tragedy (I hang around the self-proclaimed “tragedy enjoyers” in one of my other fandoms), which is why his s2 arc worked for me. I thought his sacrifice was truly incredible, and I had such high hopes for how they handled it while simultaneously jumping in on the theorizing because you guys are a lot fun.

And then s3 happened. I will defend it until the end of time, it is my favorite season… except for this. Tech’s sacrifice had so much narrative potential imo. Some of those scenes/shots with just Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair were so poignant. But the whole season was missing something. There was a gaping whole where Tech should have been at least narratively present if not flat out alive.

This would have been such an easy fix, too! Like Ezra and Kanan, Omega could have referenced how much Tech taught her beyond Plan 72. For example, “Let’s hope your take-offs are better than your landings!” Then instead of “We’re about to find out!” she could’ve said, “That ship was damaged and you know it. Tech taught me better than that. I’ve got this!” Maybe a little much for a quick getaway, but it can be edited, I’m not a professional lol. And yeah prev, you’re so right, we the audience know that they were able to settle on Pabu mostly thanks to Tech making that choice, but they don’t say it after s2. Another easy fix! Like “Tech knew the risks, and so do we. We do this together, just like he wanted.” And throw a “He made the sacrifice so we wouldn’t have to.” somewhere into that conversation. Then at the end “Now, because of Tech, we get to decide what we want to be.” And boom! A little more of that, plus a nice little memorial, and his sacrifice has obvious narrative weight and an effect on the characters.

Idk man, I’m torn. I really feel like they wrote themselves into a corner on this one because I fear bringing him back in a different series could feel cheap and unsatisfying, but that’s just me. Again, I’m no professional (I have an engineering brain lol), but I think the biggest issue was leaning so far into the idea of “show don’t tell” that neither happened to a satisfactory degree. But oh well, we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, I’m just here to discuss and enjoy.

Because I just finished a Rebels rewatch on the same night I came across a few of @heyclickadee 's posts about Tech, I've been thinking about the impact of Tech's sacrifice on the Bad Batch narrative in comparison to other Star Wars character sacrifices.

(I'm not discussing the depiction of the impact of the loss on the other characters/their grief because that's a whole other essay.)

Kanan's sacrifice is deliberately shown to hold weight through the rest of the narrative in many ways, including:

The mission to halt production of the TIEs ends up being a success thanks to him (kinda poor consolation in light of his death, but still... And it even indirectly leads to the success of the mission to rout the Imperials from Lothal because Pryce becomes desperate enough that she makes critical mistakes)

Palpatine himself says there was a disturbance in the Force and the fate of Lothal was altered by Kanan's death

Drives Ezra and the team to listen to the Loth wolves, stopping Palpatine from accessing the WBW AND saving Ahsoka

Seriously, the number of times Ezra refers to lessons Kanan taught him as he navigates events between "Jedi Night" and the finale...

Influences Ezra's choice to not give in to Palpatine's temptation

Drives Ezra to sacrifice himself to defeat Thrawn and save Lothal

Fives' sacrifice (yes, I'm counting the time/effort/significant risks he took to uncover the conspiracy as a sacrifice) is deliberately credited and holds weight through the rest of the narrative and beyond by:

Cluing Rex in on the presence of the inhibitor chips

Which saves Ahsoka's and Rex's lives

Which saves Clone Force 99's lives (among others)

Now, WE know Tech's sacrifice does allow his family to live which ultimately leads to their retirement and finding peace on Pabu; however, the show itself never credits Tech for this outcome. Instead, most references to Tech in season 3 by his brothers indicate how much his absence is negatively impacting their progress in attaining this goal; Omega has one opportunity to credit Tech for teaching her the squad plans, and Phee has one opportunity to reference Tech as an individual who had actual conversations about his family.

Basically, the show doesn't end up allowing Tech's sacrifice to hold the narrative weight and impact it could easily have had, which makes it feel rather less than final. And since it doesn't feel final, I choose to interpret this as yet another indicator that, whatever may or may not have happened behind the scenes for season 3 and whatever future plans Lucasfilm may have, Tech was meant to live and there's still plenty of leeway left for him to return.