Julien Neaves, Caribbean Head Writer

The adventures of Trinidad and Tobago superhero Batchack Man continues in web series Batchack Man The Peacemakers Episode 3: The Hunted. With a major SPOILER WARNING for Episode 2 and a mild one for this episode let’s cook up some herbs and smoke this one out.

After the shocking cliffhanger death of the OH in the previous episode I was pumped for Episode 3. And there were things here that I really liked and some I didn’t. Let’s get the negatives out of the way first.

As a writer and longtime journalist (currently non-practicing) I am all about spelling and grammar (re-reads line to ensure there are no spelling nor grammatical mistakes). Call me a Grammar Nazi if you want (I prefer Grammar Police myself, as I am not about that Nazi life). And this episode has a very obvious spelling error and a very obvious grammatical error. It may seem minor but it’s not and it makes content look less professional.

There was also some off camera framing in the final act where one actress’s head was partly cut off. The series has never had movie quality production value but Episode 3 slipped below the show’s usual standard. I also had issues with the structure of the episode. The final act concerns the character of Blood Poison being freed from court.

Now if you recall Blood Poison (cool name btw) was the black skull mask-wearing dude Batchack Man briefly fought in Episode 1. I thought he had a cool look and I don’t mind him returning. I also don’t mind the connections to Batchack Man and giving the hero another regular villain. It’s just that it feels like some heavy retconning, making me wonder if this was planned at all or is just now being made up. And it’s kind of hard to care about the villain if we don’t know clearly what part he will play in the story.

Episode 2 helped to bring together some dangling plot threads but Blood Poison is a new dangler. I don’t like danglers. Tameka Johnson was solid as Blood Poison’s defence attorney though, and I am interested to see what his scarred face looks like.

So I have talked negatives long enough. On to the positives. We finally do learn Batchack Man’s real name which had been nagging me for a while. We also found out what the subtitle “peacemakers” refers to. I liked that. And I also liked the choice of the Tracking Station trail in Chaguaramas as it made for a fantastic backdrop to the action. And speaking of action, there is a good bit to go around. We get the much anticipated showdown between Batchack Man (series writer/director Keyon Byron) and enhanced villainess Amina West (Aliyah Whatley) and it does not disappoint. The choreography is decent and BM gets to show off his enhanced speed and strength.

We also see BM as the titular hunted in the forest as he is tracked down by numerical female killers Number 19 (Latisha Joseph) and Number 20 (Sameerah Osborne). I liked their costuming and also that of Amina’s this episode. The forest hunting leads to more fighting and some gunplay, which is always welcome. There is a time jump between this and the previous action which felt unnecessary and just creates unnecessary plot holes. Oh, and the hero also meets a mysterious stranger. Is he friend? Is he foe? Hey, I said no spoilers. And you can’t make me talk.

This review may feel like it’s backwards and that’s because it is. And that’s because I wanted to leave my favourite part of the episode for last and my favourite part was the beginning. The episode opens with series big bad Dianna West Winston (a very good Jillan Ferguson) chewing out a subordinate and then clashing with Amina West. The acting in both scenes is some of the strongest of the series and we also learn more about Dianna’s diabolical (or maybe not-so diabolical) plan for the serum and her enhanced army. Good stuff.

Overall an okay episode that while faltering in some areas still delivers in others. And I remain invested to see what happens in Episode 4.

Editor Jules’s Score: 5.5 out of 10

You can check out Sommer’s video review below:

You can also check out the episode for yourself by clicking here. And you can check out more action-packed Trinidad and Tobago content below:

Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.