The Batch find themselves caught up in trouble when a crime lord takes over Cid’s parlour.

Not the strongest outing of The Bad Batch this week as everything feels a little bit safe and, dare I say it, predictable as the episode unfolds. Cid’s parlour has been taken over by Roland Durand, crime boss and former client, and Cid finds herself ousted. When the Batch return to Ord Mantel, she enlists their help in a dangerous mission to steal a supply of spice from Durand and leave him in trouble with the Pyke Syndicate, his customers and general all round bad news.

The trouble is, everything ends up fairly clearly signposted. When the batch have to go through an underground network of caverns in overhead rail carts, they must be silent lest they awaken the infestation of creatures down there. No prizes for guessing what happens. They must carry off the mission as stealthily as possible so that Durand, and more importantly the Pykes have no idea of their involvement. Yeah.

At each step it basically takes the most obvious choice, leaving the show to rely on its visuals and action set pieces to excite the viewer, and unfortunately nothing on that side really delivers either. A chase through the caverns feels derivative. The constant flagging of things which will obviously become important soon after is tiresome and – in a first for me for this show – it actually feels like it drags on too long, even though it is the same length as every other instalment.

Mostly, it just never really feels like anyone is in any semblance of peril. Given the stakes and what is occurring, it all just feels so incredibly safe, and in a show that’s not been shy of violence and death to this point, that feels odd to say the least.

Verdict: By far the weakest episode to date. Not terrible, just dull and by the numbers. 6/10

Greg D. Smith