Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for episodes six and seven of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3.  We’re now at the midpoint of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3 , and so far, so good! I’m not only impressed by the quality of its animation and action scenes (which have drastically improved from season to season), but its storytelling seemingly got a major overhaul as the show reaches its finish line. Its midseason episodes, Infiltration and Extraction , are a prime example of why Star Wars: The Clone Wars was the quintessential animated series of the late 2000s.  In Infiltration , we reunite with Captain Rex (Dee Bradley Baker) as he secretly transports Avi Singh (Danny Jacobs) to meet with Senator Chuchi (Jennifer Hale). They discuss forming a rebel group against the Empire’s oppression. However, a Clone X Trooper awaits them and attempts to assassinate the two politicians. This puts Rex on high alert, as he successfully kidnaps the assassin, who makes it clear he does not want to talk.  Rex sees that the assassin has Omega (Michelle Ang) as one of his targets and summons Clone Force 99 to his base in an attempt to gain information from them. Almost immediately, Howzer (Dee Bradley Baker) is uncomfortable with Crosshair’s (Dee Bradley Baker) presence, as he is the one responsible for the murder of his troops on Ryloth. He thinks he hasn’t entirely turned, but Crosshair gives enough information on the Clone X program to gain their trust. Omega also discusses Hemlock’s (Jimmi Simpson) M-Count operation, but Rex admits to not knowing much about it. As they gather information, a trooper is sent by the Empire to retrieve the kidnapped assassin and blows up Rex’s base in the process. The episode ends with a cliffhanger, as more troopers arrive to neutralize Omega (that is, of course, Hemlock’s goal). It established a terrific sense of tension once more and gave us just enough kinetic action to want to click immediately to “Next Episode” on Disney+ as soon as the credits appeared. I’ll be honest: I’d usually roll my eyes at cliffhanger conclusions on The Bad Batch , but it was the first time I was genuinely excited to see what would happen next… The seventh episode, Extraction (not to be confused with the Sam Hargrave pictures of the same name), is a rather conventional, drawn-out action scene between Clone Force 99 and the Imperial Troopers as they attempt to escape their clutches and get to Echo’s (Dee Bradley Baker) ship without Omega being snatched away back to Tantiss. The first half of the episode is mildly exciting, with plenty of familiar action beats putting the audience back in the Star Wars saddle, but it does not offer much else beyond it.  However, in the second half of the episode, the stakes are substantially raised, with Crosshair directly going after the Clone X Trooper as other members of the Batch attempt to find Echo’s ship. The waterfall setting exacerbates the on-screen thrills, alongside a perfectly executed knife duel, in which the current slowly pushes Crosshair and the trooper on a cliff, where one false move will lead them to their doom. The Trooper seems to have the upper hand and almost kills Crosshair (he’s probably biting the dust at some point since this is the only way his character gets ‘fully redeemed’ through the eyes of Rex’s troops) by drowning him. However, Rex’s troops come to his rescue as the X trooper falls to his doom…or so we thought, as it is revealed that he survived a fall that would kill anyone else! Whatever, suspension of disbelief. However, the most compelling aspect of the episode happens right after, as Rex confronts Wolffe (Dee Bradley Baker), who thought the Clone Wars trooper had died in action. Rex convinces Wolffe to let them go, even if the Imperial trooper doubts whether Omega’s declarations on the experimentation of Clones on Tantiss are true. When one of the troopers asks him why he has done this, he replies that while they may be traitors, they’re also clones: “We owe them that.” This seems to set the stage for a massive Clone uprising as they will eventually learn the truth of Hemlock’s operation. When that will be remains to be seen, but after seven thrilling episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3 , I’m confident that the rest of the season will be just as good, if not better, than what we’ve seen so far. Color me excited to find out what will happen next week?? Yep… The sixth and seventh episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3 are now available to stream on Disney+.