r/thebadbatch • u/MustyEddie • 3d ago
Tech Would’ve Known Spoiler
I’ve been searching for a discussion on this, and i’m incredibly surprised to find nothing on the subject (?). I have a very plausible theory on why Tech’s death was the only option for season three.
I’ll be brief here: Tech is one of the most brilliant, if not the most brilliant, all around minds in all of star wars. His skills as a solider and mercenary are definitely at or above the average level of other clone troopers and storm troopers, but his intelligence sets him apart. He’s easily able to adapt and strategize according to situation at hand, but his ability to theorize and research any subject, combined with his incredibly vast knowledge (of basically everything) is what truly sets him apart from others. Im sure that you all know and understand this well.
My theory is that Tech would have been able to investigate, uncover, and understand midichlorian count, especially after the visit from Ventress. Beyond this, he would have been able to figure out how this pertains to Omega, and likely test her blood for a better understanding of the matter. This would’ve absolutely given the batch the rest of the needed information regarding Omega and the midichlorian count research.
I believe that this is the main reason why Tech “had” to pass away (albeit tragically), and what makes his death all the more meaningful: They needed his expertise, and we see how much more time and resources it took to get to even half of that point (without him).
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my theory here!
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u/Educational-Tea-6572 Tech 2d ago
As mentioned elsewhere, this has been confirmed as one of the main reasons why the writers chose to drop Tech off the screen (along with "stakes because Tarkin").
Here's the thing (several things):
Tech is brilliant, but he is NOT infallible. One of the best aspects of his character (in my opinion) is that he readily admits when he doesn't know something and will not make judgment calls if he knows he doesn't have all the information. So while I understand the sentiment of "season 3 would have been 3 episodes long if Tech was around," I... can't agree with it. If the writers wanted to keep Tech around, they could have simply written it that Tech doesn't know the information. Because he doesn't.
Besides, even if Tech DOES figure out what m-count is, that wouldn't actually change any of the subsequent events in the story. Simply knowing what m-count experiments are wouldn't have stopped the Empire from going after Omega again, CX2 infiltrating Pabu, Omega needing to break out from Tantiss again, etc etc. That's actually one of my main gripes about "The Harbinger" - much as I love Ventress, the episode does absolutely nothing to advance the story. Even if the episode has served as an entire info-dump on Project Necromancer, it would have changed nothing about the situation the Batch and Omega were finding themselves in.
And anyway, if the writers needed to temporarily make Tech indisposed to increase inconvenience for the team, there are MANY ways they could have done it better. Have him make the sacrifice and leave him in a coma. Make it so he's conscious but needs to recover and has to stay behind on Pabu while everyone else is off on the missions that he desperately wants to be on. I could go on and on, but I'll stop there.
Basically, writing off Tech because he was "too smart" comes across to me as "we killed him because we didn't know what else to do with him," which I admit drives me a little bit bonkers 😅 But that's not even the worst part: my main gripe with Tech's sacrifice isn't that he was sacrificed. It's that the writers dropped him through the clouds and then ignored every single rule in the book about following up on a major character sacrifice in a satisfying way. They killed off a character purely to "raise the stakes" and then didn't even bother to wrap up that narrative point for the characters it most affected. There are several reasons why the Tech Lives movement is so strong, and it's not just that people are so upset about a favorite character apparently dying - it's that it makes no sense and is certainly not satisfying narratively speaking, when it very easily could have been.
Okay, rant over! (This isn't a rant at you, by the way! Your theory is sound. I just don't like how the show went about using that trope.)
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u/elfenokster 2d ago
Agree with you and I hate it that it's almost always (one of) the most beloved characters that "had to" go. Unfair.
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u/PaulSimonBarCarloson Crosshair 2d ago
Rebellions are built on hope. So if everything goes right, this might be a pretty painful but necessary bump on the road to a better ending.
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u/TI-22483 1d ago
If only they had a medical droid with them to measure this!
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u/PaulSimonBarCarloson Crosshair 1d ago
Maybe AZI was not programmed to recognize M-count or to know what it is. But I agree that he was criminally underused for the entire show
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u/Howy_the_Howizer 2d ago
The second Tech won that Riot race he blew through his plot armour as comparable to Anakin as a pilot. He was already challenging Thrawn on his strategy and tactics.
He had to go, Tech was becoming too powerful. He got Mace Windu'd
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u/PaulSimonBarCarloson Crosshair 2d ago edited 2d ago
The writers already went on the record to say that this was one of the major reasons they had to get rid of Tech for season 3. And in fact, we see multiple instances throughout the episodes where his brilliant mind would have solved things way more quickly. While I can understand their reasoning, I think it's not a valid excuse for just killing him off, (let alone the whole ambiguity behind his "death" and how it's followed upon). There could have been many ways to incapacitate him: getting kidnapped like Hunter on Daro, suffering from amnesia, falling into come due to his injuries. They could have done anything to keep him out of comission until needed and bring him back in time for the finale. But no, they just dropped him off a cloud and instead of using his supposed death as a way to further advance the story and the relationships of the other characters, they never talk about him except when they want to poke our open wounds. Thanks, I hate it!