A face from the past arrives with a troubling warning for the Batch, as Wrecker’s headaches continue to get worse.

There’s one thing I’ll say for The Bad Batch week on week – despite the basic plotlines being reasonably simple and predictable, it’s a show that really knows how to get you emotionally involved with it.

Wrecker’s increasingly bad (and frequent) headaches have been a neon flashing warning sign over the character for several weeks now, so it’s hardly a massive surprise that the matter should come to a head. But the cleverness here lies in the way that the character has been built up, and specifically how the relationship between him and Omega has been developed. What could be a simple loudmouthed big guy character is instead a rough around the edges guy with a heart of gold – still fairly standard, yes, but done in a way that grips the viewer.

The show also continues to drive home the nostalgia by bringing back yet another famous character from the franchise’s back catalogue, this time hailing from the Clone Wars series (among other places). This character has tracked the Batch down and has a dire warning for them about the inhibitor chips and the ongoing danger they pose, made more urgent by Wrecker’s symptoms.

So it’s a standard ‘Go to a place and Do a Thing’ episode, as they sneak into a place they shouldn’t be to try to solve the problem before it’s too late. Complications arise (of course) and once again it’s not important that it’s all fairly predictable because the show makes you feel it. Genuinely, there are some heart-in-mouth moments here, and the drama is tense and compelling.

Verdict: Week by week the show gets better and better. Investment in the characters that’s been built means you’ll forgive some obviousness because it’s so damned compelling to watch. 9/10

Greg D. Smith