A Tale of Two Mountains
The two most important locations in the third season of The Bad Batch – Mount Tantiss and Pabu – are both conical mountains. The geographical and visual parallels between Tantiss and Pabu draw out the contrast between them: the two mountains represent two possible futures for the Bad Batch and Clones in general. Moreover, Tantiss and Pabu reflect the Clones' past by mirroring different aspects of Kamino, their original home.
Tantiss, like Kamino, is a secluded cloning facility. Because these planets host secret projects that are vital to Palpatine's plans, people have made it difficult to find or travel to them. After the destruction of Kamino, Kaminoans like Nala Se continue their cloning research on Tantiss – but whereas the Kaminoans were paid for their services by the Republic when they were on Kamino, on Tantiss, they are forced to work for the Empire. Nonetheless, before destroying the last of her work, Nala Se tells the former Imperial Vice Admiral Rampart: "My work will never belong to you or the Empire. It will always be Kaminoan."
Pabu, like Kamino, is an ocean planet that the Clones call home. On Kamino, the Clones' home was Tipoca City, an artificial structure built above the water and inhabited only by the Clones and the Kaminoans who engineered them. On Pabu, the Clones find a new home in a village built on a natural mountain, populated by an array of different species. Kamino is a home characterized by sterility and uniformity, while Pabu is a home characterized by fertility and diversity.
Tantiss represents a dehumanizing future for the Clones – one in which they are enslaved, experimented on, and isolated from the rest of the galaxy. It is an extreme but logical progression from their origin as expendable soldiers engineered for war. Pabu, however, represents the unexpected possibility of a future in which the Clones might grow beyond this original purpose and truly flourish – one in which they are free to live in peaceful communion with nature and others.
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Characters: Nala Se
Shows: The Bad Batch
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