Disney+ and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch has discovered itself in some unusual locations not too long ago. After a two-episode stint on Ryloth the place the titular characters took a backseat to the origin story of Rebels icon Hera Syndulla, the staff is again in motion with a brand new mission…very similar to most of the missions the staff’s gone on earlier than.

The premise of “Infested” begins out like maybe each different episode of The Bad Batch. The staff returns to Ord Mantell after finishing one other mission for Cid. There’s little point out of the truth that Omega dejarik’d her option to paying them out of their debt to the Trandoshan after which some, leaving us little purpose to think about simply why they’re nonetheless begrudgingly working for her. But as they arrive they discover out Cid’s bar is underneath new administration. A Devaronian named Roland Durand (Tom Taylorson) has taken over, and now Cid’s on the outs. That’s unless, as she provides to the Batch, she will be able to swipe some spice Durand has secured for a take care of the Pyke Syndicate, slicing out the center man and undermining his place sufficient to get her bar again. Hunter and the staff, already drained from an unseen mission involving some Gundarks, are hesitant to simply accept, till, as all the time with The Bad Batch, issues come all the way down to Omega. Her can-do angle is greater than able to puncturing Hunter’s skepticism, because it all the time is, and issues are off to the races.

From there, there’s not likely that a lot to speak about. The Batch and Cid go into Ord Mantell’s underground to discover a secret minecart rail system that may get them entry to a hidey-hole in her outdated workplace to steal the spice. The title of the episode is available in when it’s revealed that mentioned rail system performs host to an enormous nest of Irlings, endangering the staff as they attempt to get the Spice again with out getting their faces gnawed off by a swarm of batlike beasties. And that’s actually the episode—the identical setup we’ve seen loads of occasions earlier than, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom however with more room bats, after which the decision. Cid will get the spice to take care of the Pykes (and her bar again), Omega’s capacity to bond with mainly anybody inside just a few meters of her pushes Cid and the Pykes to solely take one among Durand’s horns for his failure fairly than outright kill him, and all’s proper as rain. It’s high quality! Same outdated Bad Batch, nothing extra, nothing much less.

The twist right here, no less than, is that as an alternative of brushing up in opposition to the burgeoning intents of a revolt in opposition to the Empire as they’ve been not too long ago, Hunter and the crew discover themselves being entangled within the fringes of Cid’s extra seedy associates within the felony underworld. The return of the Pykes from Clone Wars is fascinating as a result of it delineates work that’s, inherently, not good. We’ve seen what the Pykes do to individuals who cross them when Ahsoka and the Martez sisters tried to take care of them in Clone Wars’ ultimate season. Dealing with Spice is a really completely different ballgame to, say, smuggling weapon provides to resistance fighters or saving individuals (and rancors) from slavers.

But The Bad Batch fails to actually have interaction with this, outdoors of Cid chiding Hunter that it’s finest to only do what the Pykes need and disengage instantly because the episode wraps up. To the present, and to the staff, it’s Just Another Mission, the identical lesson they’ve discovered from all the opposite missions we’ve seen them go on—Hunter’s reluctant, Omega’s optimism will get the higher of her, and the need to assist somebody in want overrides her brother’s skepticism. None of those characters have but to actually develop past this identical inner battle, or actually query why they’re doing what they’re doing.

Once once more, it have to be acknowledged that that is, normally, a solidly high quality episode of The Bad Batch. It has all of the hallmarks of what makes the present work—gorgeous visible spectacle, enjoyable motion, and, maybe the factor most tantamount to holding the present buzzing, Omega’s earnestness slicing by way of the untrusting malaise of a galaxy in decline. But all these can not cowl up the truth that the sequence feels prefer it’s in one thing of an odd rut, spinning wheels till it could actually arrive at the inevitable grand climax of one other direct encounter between the Batch and Crosshair (or maybe Fennec, until her perfunctory “stay tuned to Disney+ for The Book of Boba Fett this fall!” look is nicely and actually performed now).

“Infested” is so reduce from the identical fabric as a number of episodes earlier than it this season and pushes these characters so little past the place they’ve already been pushed, that it feels much less like an episode coming weeks earlier than the season’s endgame and extra like one which aired the week after its premiere. If The Bad Batch has some grand character work to unfold, or a skirmish between our heroes and their rivals to arrange—one which requires leaning on its intimate connections to the remainder of Star Wars or in any other case—now could be the time to deploy it. There’s solely a lot treading water the sequence can do earlier than the attraction of its potential can stretch any thinner.

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