Can you use VBO to update activities on cases?
Initially, when I built my view I was missing some relationships - thus the SQL error mentioned above. But even after adding the correct view relationships, the issue still persisted.
I got huge help from @jackrabbithanna on mattermost. He provided code for a civicrm_customs.module file that will give an &quot;Update Activity Status&quot; VBO action. https://gist.github.com/jackrabbithanna/34016f1e3dac7c1b44a893cc93eed6db
In notes from his chats:

this provides a separate action, not using &quot;Modify Entity Values&quot; action . . . that sidesteps the entity form irregularities
could do lots of complex things or whatever with API .. but this shows how to make own VBO action to people