Hello I'm Going To Watch All of Star Wars

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 212 - The Mandalore Plot

If you ignore the past, you jeopardize your future.

Diplomacy or deception? The Council of Neutral Systems speaks for over 1,500 worlds who want to stay out of the war. But rumors have reached the Republic Senate suggesting that the Council's new leader — Duchess Satine of Mandalore — is secretly building her own army to fight for the Separatist cause!

Now, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has been sent to Mandalore to discover the truth behind these claims…​

Mandalore! Of all the changes this show made to the established Star Wars EU canon, I think this was probably one of the most controversial. Mandalore had always been portrayed as the planet of the Boba Fetts, and now it's this peaceful, elegant and beautiful planet that abhors it's violent past. And I love it.

The Mandalore we see in this episode is so much more interesting than if it was just a whole bunch of people in Mandalorian armour who are just great at everything - Mandalore actually feels like an interesting and alien world now.

The plot of this episode is actually quite mature for what is basically a kids show, especially as it's about terrorism. We see bombs go off in the middle of crowds of civilians, and the bomber jump to his death ON CAMERA. On Cartoon Network! But the episode makes sure the episode doesn't get too dark mainly by having the focus on Obi-Wan and Satine. This also helps the episode stay interesting. What could have been a boring episode about neutrality during war time is instead both a tense thriller and an exciting action/adventure episode.

Satine is very Padmé-like, in that she's a state official that will go into action mode when needed, but she feels like a much more mature character than Padmé. Instead of the Romeo and Juliet vibe we see between Padmé and Anakin, Obi-Wan and Satine are more Beatrice and Benedict - obviously having affection with each other but showing it through bickering and snide remarks. She also gets to call out Obi-Wan on the hypocicy of the Jedi, asking why supposed keepers of the peace would ever fight in a war.

I really like Pre Vizsla. Jon Favreau plays him really well, and he just looks so cool. I honestly think that the way the Mandalorian armour looks in Clone Wars is much better than it ever looked in live action, mostly because they have thinned the helmets out a bit to make them sleeker (something they took from the way Boba Fett looked in the holiday special! Thanks Holiday Special!). And yeah, at the time this was made there were A LOT of people who were way into Mandalorians and thought that the Mandos were actually the good guys and better than the Jedi and blah blah blah so I really like that Lucas decided to totally change the Mandalorians and make the people in the Boba Fett armour crazy terrorists instead of horribly written superheroes.

As it getting to be the standard now, this episode looks fucking great. The cubist design of Mandalore makes it feel like nothing we've seen in Star Wars before, and makes for an interesting contrast when we get to the more natural look of the moon Concordia. The establishing shot they use for Concordia is so good I can't not post it.

Like seriously.

This was a good episode. I like Mandalore. I like Satine. I like Deathwatch.


Episode 213 - Voyage of Temptation

Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.

A royal welcome! Sent to investigate allegations that Mandalore was joining Count Dooku's Separatists, Obi-Wan Kenobi was reunited with an old friend, the Duchess Satine of Kalevala. While Satine claimed Mandalore's intentions were to remain neutral during the war, an attack on the capital city led Obi-Wan to the discovery of a terrorist organization known as Death Watch.

Now the Duchess travels to the Senate, so she can plead her case against her involvement in the war, as the Jedi prepare a defense against her opponents…​

I really like the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi. All versions of him. So when we get an episode that gives more characterisation to Obi-Wan than we really ever have had before, I am very happy.

This episode is, essentially, about the relationship between Obi-Wan and Satine. While we saw glimpses of it in the previous episode, here it's in the forefront, and it lets us see a side of Obi-Wan that we've never really seen before. He very obviously loves Satine, but is also politically opposed against her - she is a pacifist, and he believe in fighting for peace. And all throughout their (really good and interesting) arguments you very much get the feeling that these characters really want to bone each other.

By having Obi-Wan go through basically the same thing Anakin did - falling in love with someone when still a young Jedi, and being conflicted between his oath to the Jedi and his feelings for someone else - it adds a lot of depth to his character. Now we know that when he chastises Anakin for putting Padmé first, he's speaking from experience. It also shows that maybe Anakin isn't that different than the other Jedi. If Obi-Wan of all people can think about leaving the Jedi for a pretty lady, then maybe it just highlights how stupid the "no attachments" thing actually is. The fact that, unlike Anakin, he chose to abandon the women he loves in favour of the Jedi shows that he's not quite the same as Anakin, though...

Anakin of course loves the idea that his master has the same flaws as he does, and watching him take the piss out of Obi-Wan during the episode is amazing.

While Obi-Wan and Satine are fighting/flirting with each other, Anakin and the Clones are defending against some actually pretty creepy droids. They look like spiders, they puppet the corpses of dead clones as a diversion, and they're full of tons of tiny spider droids! This side plot is actually really well done, although it's very much a diversion from the Obi-Wan/Satine stuff.

The big twist that the trailer all along was Tal Merrik (the Mandalorian senator) would probably have worked better if he had had more than three lines over the last two episodes. Until his turn his character basically consisted of "Is that Greg Proops?" and "Yeah I think that's Greg Proops!" (this is Greg Proops' best Star Wars role). But it all leads to the best part of the episode, where Merrik confronts Obi-Wan and Satine, knowing that if Satine kills him she will betray her pacifism, and if Obi-Wan does he will lose Satine. It's a really nice encapsulation of the episode's themes into a simple concept.

"Come on then, who will strike first and brand themselves a cold-blooded killer?" he asks, right before Anakin's lightsaber appears through his chest. Because it's Anakin. He is the cold-blooded killer. And the Imperial March plays. And it's amazing.



A really nice follow up to the previous episode, that gives us lots of really interesting Obi-Wan character development. It's good.


Episode 213 - Duchess of Mandalore

In war, truth is the first casualty.

A diplomatic mission! As dissent threatens to tear apart the peaceful Mandalore system, Duchess Satine struggles to protect her people against the escalating violence.

Betrayed by two of her trusted allies, Satine now travels to Coruscant. There, she hopes to convince the Senate that a destructive splinter group, Death Watch, does not represent the entire Mandalorian government...​

This episode is very much not as good as the other two. I'll put that out there right away, because it's just not. But that doesn't mean it's all bad.

The plot centres around the Republic wanting to send Troops to Mandalore in order to fight off Death Watch and "protect" the Mandalorians, but Satine is worried that this will just be a Republic occupation, and will bring Mandalore into the war. Of course this is what Palpatine wants, as that will make the people of Mandalore see Death Watch as saviours rather than terrorists. It's a really interesting concept to hang the episode around, and is the main thing that stops it being bad.

One thing I really appreciate is the effort that was put into making Satine's pacifist views a valid point of view. You can see why she would want to remain neutral, and she makes some extremely valid points across all three episodes about the so-called Jedi "peacekeepers" waging a war across the galaxy. By making her arguments good and valid it makes us like her more as a character, whereas it could have easily been a case of her saying "I WILL NOT FIGHT AT ALL EVER BECAUSE IT'S BAD" which would be annoying like the FUCKING Lemur People from season 1.

We get some nice Obi-Wan/Satine stuff, but it's nowhere near as interesting as what we got last episode. There's a brief subplot about Satine being framed for murder which pretty much gets forgotten about once the plot is over.

Ummmmmm... Mas Amedda gets to actually do something, which is good??

Oh yeah, we get to see Monument Park for the first time, which is supposed to be the peak of Coruscant's tallest mountain peaking out of the floor. I think that's really great.

So I dunno... the episode's not bad! It's just not as good or interesting as the previous two.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Voyage of Temptation had a cool Trouble With Tribbles reference!

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 215 - Death Trap

Who my father was matters less than my memory of him.

Calm before the storm! A rare and welcome respite from endless battle awaits Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu as they travel through deep space aboard the Jedi cruiser Endurance.

Preparing to rendezvous with a Republic frigate, the Jedi remain unaware of a deadly peril lying hidden in their midst....
​

Of all the threads from Attack of the Clones to pick up, Boba Fett was probably the one that would've been the easiest to do wrong. There's an obvious fan perception of Boba Fett as a super cool badass Mandaloran bounty hunter, a lot of which is really just due to the fact that he doesn't talk much and has a cool suit. There was backlash when Attack of the Clones showed Boba as a child, hanging out with his dad shouting "YEAH, GET 'IM!", and it would've been really easy for Clone Wars to just skip past that and have him be the bounty hunter everyone wants him to be.

But they didn't, and instead they did something really interesting.

What I like about Boba as seen in this episode (played once again by Daniel Logan) is that he's still very unsure about himself. He obviously has a lot of skill, and is obviously obsessed with getting revenge on Mace Windu, but he doesn't want to hurt anyone else. To me, this makes him a much more interesting character, and it's a much natural progression to what we saw in Attack of the Clones. It also means that when we finally see that he's being taught by Aurra Sing, who has no qualms about killing anyone, we get a good idea of just how far Boba has to go before he comes a full-on bounty hunter. Daniel Logan actually plays Boba (and the other clone cadets) really well, talking to himself almost as well as Dee Bradley Baker does.

Outside of the Boba Fett revenge plot there's not much going on in this episode, but seeing Boba again and having him be an inexperienced conflicted character is enough to make the episode worthwhile.


Episode 216 - R2 Come Home

Adversity is a friendship's truest test.
Revenge! Boba Fett, son of the notorious bounty hunter Jango Fett, infiltrated a Jedi cruiser in an attempt to assassinate General Mace Windu, the man who killed his father.

After a near miss at Windu's quarters, Boba was forced to destroy the cruiser and escape with the help of notorious bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Now, having lost contact with Admiral Kilian when his doomed starship crashed, the Jedi search for survivors with aid of a Republic rescue ship....​

R2-D2 is one of the best Star Wars characters. He just is. At the same time, R2-D2 is kind of an asshole. This is what R2 Come Home is about.

It's really interesting to see how Anakin treats R2 when compared to how the other Jedi treat their droids. Mace Windu just doesn't understand why Anakin would even let R2-D2 be as emotional and eccentric as he is, and of course this episode shows why this is a good thing.

R2 gets a lot to do in this episode: He gets to fight off the invading bounty hunters (Boba, Aurra Sing and some guy named Castas) Home Alone-style, and he gets to attack a Gundark to a Jedi Starfighter before then sending said Starfighter speeding off into the side of the crashed Jedi cruiser. It's probably one of the best things R2 gets to ever do. Then we get to see him dogfight with Slave I (which is almost as good as the dogfight in Attack of the Clones!) and rush back to the Jedi Temple in order to tell Ahsoka that Mace and Anakin are stuck down the well trapped in the wreckage.

The Bounty Hunters themselves are also pretty great. Boba doesn't seem quite as morally conflicted as last episode, but that makes sense since all they're here to do is kill Mace Windu (and I guess he's not too bothered about Anakin). Aurra Sing is great and I really like her relationship with Boba. It's really not ever explained why, but she obviously feels very protective over him (I guess she was close with Jango?). It's a really nice dimension to her otherwise hard character. She even gets to use her head aerial! The other guy, Castas, is a bit of a throwaway character, though.

Oh yeah, and Bossk is there. Bossk is the best one out of all of them. He's Bossk.

This is a good episode for fans of R2-D2 and everyone should be a fan of R2-D2.


Episode 217 - Lethal Trackdown

Revenge is a confession of pain.

Lethal trackdown! The young Boba Fett has taken the law into his own hands and made two attempts on the life of Mace Windu, the Jedi Master who killed his father.

Boba's mentor, bounty hunter Aurra Sing, has taken three Republic officers hostage in an effort to force Windu to face Boba on their terms, a tactic that does not sit well with the young vigilante....​

For a three-episode arc that's about the fact that Mace Windu killed someone, there actually really isn't a lot of Mace Windu in it. And I guess I should be mad that this episode takes a story that probably should have been about Mace and instead makes it into a Plo Koon and Ahsoka episode... but this episode is great, so I can't be mad.

For the Boba side of things, we start to see how he's really in way too deep hanging out with Aurra. He's still against killing random people, while she has no problems with it. She thinks that makes him weak, all leading up to the point where she abandon's him and lets him get captured. I guess that's what you get for hanging out with Bounty Hunters, Boba!

But the main focus of the episode is with Plo Koon and Ahsoka tracking down Aurra, and to do so they go deep into the Coruscant underworld. Not only is there a really nice dynamic between the two, but as in Lightsaber Lost the whole underworld looks amazing. While looking for Aurra they enter a nightclub, which is covered in colourful lighting and looks amazing, especially when they ignite their lightsabers.

Also bonus points for all the pin-up art of various species all over the walls, including a starfighter pilot and a sexy hutt.

The action itself is fast and well done, with the highlight being Ahsoka climbing up the side of Slave I while it's taking off, and cutting off one of it's wings. IS AURRA SING DEAD?? NO??? MAYBE??

Boba and poor, poor Bossk get arrested. I'm sure we'll see them again!

Overall this is a pretty great episode, and easily the best of the Boba Fett arc. My only complaint is that maybe it doesn't feel quite big enough to end the season but that's not really much of a complaint. All three episodes re-establish Boba into the Clone Wars timeline, and make him a really interesting character to boot. And Ahsoka episodes are always good.

Bonus shoutout for this shot of Anakin from the start of the episode. This show looks really good at times:

 

[CaptainWacky]

I think it was this point (or most of the second season) where it was really clear just how great this show was. Not only was it doing great episodes every week but they were all so different from each other. It could go from an episode about Young Boba Feet (which as you said could have easily been shit) to an episode where R2 was Lassie IN THE SAME ARC and it didn't feel jarring and they were both great episodes.

That really is one sexy Hutt.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 305 - Corruption

The challenge of hope is to overcome corruption.

Desperate times on Mandalore! Having won neutrality for the Mandalorian system, Duchess Satine now finds herself an outsider with very little aid to her people. Supplies are hard to come by, except on the black market.
As a result, the Duchess faces a world consumed by greed.

Hoping to alleviate some of the tension rising in the capital city of Sundari, Satine has called upon her friend Padmé Amidalato make a diplomatic visit.​

Alright! Season 3! And we're back on Mandalore! The last Mandalore arc was really good so I'm looking forward to seeing what we get this time and... and.. and... this episode is about the tea on Mandalore.

And it's so. Fucking. Boring.

It's an episode where Padmé and Satine - two good characters - team up to investigate the black market tea that's poisoning children and WHY IS THIS AN EPISODE? I don't care! I don't care! I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE TEA ON MANDALORE!

They keep trying to frame it like they're talking about something interesting but, yeah, it's tea. That's it. Satine is an interesting character mainly because of her relationship with Obi-Wan... who isn't in this episode. Mandalore is an interesting setting because of the conflict between the neutral government and the warlike Death Watch... who aren't in this episode. It's just tea.

OK, so, good things about this episode... um... It's cool to see Padmé and Satine hanging out? Although calling them friends is a bit strange since they shared about two lines in the last arc. Ummmmm, I like Padmé's hair in this episode??

But that's it. It's so boring. This is the most boring episode. It's not even entertainingly bad! IT'S NOTHING.

But at least we don't have to hear any more about the fucking tea.


Episode 306 - The Academy

Those who enforce the law must obey the law.

A world in crisis! The peaceful planet of Mandalore is being strangled by the grip of corruption. With shortages of every kind, citizens must turn to the black market in order to survive.

Desperate to free her people, Duchess Satine has asked her friend Padmé Amidala to speak with the Jedi Council in hopes that they will send assistance to her struggling world.​

OH GOD WE'RE STILL ON MANDALORE.

But at least Ahsoka's here! She even comments on how it doesn't really make any sense for her to be there! Ahsoka makes everything better. Or she would if she were actually the main character of this episode, but she isn't. Instead the episode stars Satine's nephew, Korkie. Korkie Kryze. And Korkie's an idiot.

So Ahsoka is on Mandalore to teach the students of the academy about corruption, and by that I mean she literally just explains the dictionary definition of corruption to them because I guess they didn't know that??? Then the rest of the episode is about Korkie and his idiot friends bumbling around trying to expose who is in charge of the black market stuff from the last episode and falling into some very obvious traps and OHHH GOD THIS EPISODE. Last episode was boring, but this episode is just plain bad when Ahsoka's not on screen.

When Ahsoka is there it's at least tolerable, but that doesn't stop the plot being terrible or Korkie being terrible or the fact that, really, who cares about the fact that the Prime Minister of Mandalore is corrupt? There's a space war going on!

These episodes made me dislike Satine which is a REAL FUCKING SHAME because she was so good before.

Woof.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 307 - Assassin

The future has many paths – choose wisely.

Criminals captured! Jedi Master Plo Koon and Padawan Ahsoka Tano successfully thwarted an attempt on Mace Windu's life, killing bounty hunter Aurra Sing in the process. Since that time, young Ahsoka has grown strong in the ways of the Force.

Now, after several harrowing adventures alongside her Master, the two Jedi have returned to the Temple on Coruscant to receive their next mission...​

Oh Clone Wars, I can't stay mad at you!

After two boring episodes that were only saved by the presence of Ahsoka we get what we finally want - a proper Ahsoka episode. And not just that, it's an Ahsoka/Padmé episode! THEY HUG! THEY HUG AND IT'S THE BEST THING!

Seriously I can't overstate how good the Ahsoka/Padmé friendship is. It would have been so easy for them to have Ahsoka jealous and suspicious of Padmé and her relationship with Anakin, but instead they chose to make them close friends and it's so. Much. Better. It's great to see two good characters get along and be friends! No really, it's really great!

This is a really good episode for Ahsoka. Although she's done things away from Anakin before, this gives a really good insight into how she actually feels about being on her own, and away from her master. It's episodes like this that make Ahsoka a character in her own right and not just "Anakin's Padawan", and it also highlights just how good Ashley Eckstein is (she's amazing).

We also get some nice Padmé character development, where she talks to Ahsoka about her time as Queen. It's always nice when this show revisits the events of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and puts them into a new light.

It's nice to see more of Alderaan! Since the planet gets pretty damn important later on (or rather, its absence does) it's cool it see a bit more of it.

I'd like to talk about the music quickly. When the series started I was annoyed that the composer Kevin Kiner didn't really use any of the main Star Wars themes. The music of Star Wars is such a big part of it, it felt really odd to not have them. Eventually I changed my mind, and actually came to appreciate the fact that this show has it's musical identity. It also means that when he does drop a theme from the films in it's that much more effective. He does that twice in this episode: Yoda's theme plays when Ahsoka is talking to him, and Leia's theme plays when they arrive on Alderaan. Because they're so rarely played, it really makes these moments special. In fact, I'd say that I prefer this approach to what he does in Rebels, where the majority of the score is music taken pretty much directly from the films (albeit rearranged some), and it does start to get a bit samey after a while.

Aurra Sing is A) Not dead and B) Still cool. Also Ziro the Hutt's back!!!!!!!

This is a really, really good episode because it's a really really good Ahsoka episode.

Bonus great shot in this episode:

 

[CaptainWacky]

I edited your post about the boring episodes to 305 and 306 (you had them 205 and 206) because it's important okay.

I like Star Wars girls cuddling.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 302 - ARC Troopers

Fighting a war tests a soldier's skills, defending his home tests a soldier's heart.

Separatist attack! After the destruction of the Republic outpost on the Rishi Moon, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress plan an attack on the planet Kamino, home ofthe cloning factories.

Meanwhile, aboard a Jedi cruiser, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi examine an intercepted message from General Grievous....​

Hey we're back on Kamino! I'd say this episode is one that's affected a lot by watching the episodes in chronological order. In broadcast order, this comes right after "Clone Cadets", but now that I'm watching them with a lot of separation the episode feels a bit different. Mainly in that it does feel like a long time since we saw people like Shaak Ti and 99, so it's easier to identify with the characters being reunited with them. It's actually been a while since we saw Echo and Fives, so it's nice to catch up with them again! I like how their armour shows that they have obviously been in many battles since the last time we saw them, and that they both have tributes to Heavy painted on them. Because of the strong impression the characters made in Clone Cadets and Rookies, they're good characters to follow through a plot line (even if they don't really get to do a lot).

But most importantly, making her triumphant return, the wonderful Asajj Ventress! Did you know she's not in Season 2 at all? That's crazy! But she's back now and she's still amazing and great and I love the character of Asajj Ventress and she even kills Clones in ways that are TOO HOT FOR TV now.



Which is why I watch it on Blu-Ray!

The episode itself in a nice "long action scene" episode in the vein of "Landing at Point Rain", and while it never quite gets up to the level of that episode it's still pretty damn good. 99 gets killed, which is sad, Obi-Wan and Grievous fight while Anakin and Asajj fight (because ANAKIN MUST NOT MEET GRIEVOUS UNTIL REVENGE OF THE SITH) and Echo and Fives get promoted to ARC Troopers (which is why the episode is called that!).

This is a good action episode with Asajj Ventress being awesome in it and Asajj Ventress being awesome is one of the best parts of this show.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 304 - Sphere of Influence

A child stolen is a hope lost.

Pantora in peril! The newly elected Chairman of Pantora, Baron Papanoida, is caught in a deadly political game. The Trade Federation has blockaded Pantora and suspended all commerce with the system. Isolated from the rest of the Republic, the people of Pantora are beginning to rally against the Senate, who have seemed unsympathetic to their plight.

To make matters worse, Count Dooku has come forward offering aid if Pantora joins the Separatist Alliance. Chairman Papanoida has dispatched Senator Chuchi to Coruscant with the hope that she can motivate the Senate to act in favor of Pantora before Lott Dod can legitimize the blockade...​

Hey, uh, isn't this just the same set up as The Phantom Menace? I think this is just the same set up as The Phantom Menace. But this episode is way better than that film, because Ahsoka Tano wasn't in that film, and she is in this episode.

This episode not only brings back Sentator "Cutie" Chuchi, but also introduces us to the leader of her planet, Baron Papanoida, and his family. Based off a George Lucas cameo character (meaning the character looks like a slightly more svelte Lucas), the rest of his family is also based off Lucas' daughters and son. It's a nice little detail, especially as it means that we get the character Chi Eekway looking like Katie Lucas in an episode that was in part written by her.

The episode splits off into two plot threads: Ahsoka and Chuchi attempt to rescue the Baron's kidnapped daughters, while the Baron and his son (who looks like Jett Lucas but is played by Seth Green in a guest role I had totally forgotten about) go off in search of the kidnappers themselves.

The Ahsoka/Chuchi story is pretty good, mostly because it's always good to have an Ahsoka story. It's nice to see Chuchi back, and her character is definitely more confident than we saw her last time. She's referred to as already being "close friends" with Ahsoka, which is a bit strange considering they've never actually been on screen together, and it's not really needed as their friendship doesn't really come into play in the story. But at least it shows that Ahsoka has non-Jedi friends around her own age (although I'm not actually sure how old Chuchi is supposed to be...), I guess?

Because she's sharing the episode she doesn't really get as much character development as she did in, say, Assassin, but there's a nice moment where she tries the Jedi Mind Trick for the first time and doesn't get it quite right.

The Baron's plot is actually also pretty good! It turns out the person who kidnapped his daughters was actually Greedo (of "Greedo" fame), so he goes to Jabba's palace on Tattooine to track him down. There's actually some good Jabba stuff here, we see Rotta again (YEAH) and he even seems to empathise with the Baron on a father-to-father level. Maybe he's not all bad?

Questioning Greedo takes them to Mos Eisley, and into a familiar cantina. It's actually pretty cool seeing such a famous Star Wars locale being visited (although obviously this is the first time we see it chronologically) although would it have killed them to put Bea Arthur in as a young Ackmena tending bar and give the Holiday Special that sweet sweet canonicity that it deserves?

This whole plot - a character who looks like George Lucas tracking down Greedo by visiting various original trilogy settings - could have come off as a bit fannish, but overall I think they pull it off. The Baron does come off as a bit of a badass duel wielding blaster pistols as he fights in the cantina, but I'd probably put that as more Dave Filoni thinking it would be a fun idea to have George Lucas be as badass rather than something coming from Lucas' own ego.

This is a nice and solid story and I wish we could see Ahsoka and Chuchi hang out more (MAYBE WITH BARRISS??) but it will never happen.

 

[CaptainWacky]

I forgot about Greedo being in that episode.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 308 - Evil Plans

A failure in planning is a plan for failure.

Evil plans! With the Jedi Council focused on the war effort, criminal minds are left unchecked to spread fear and corruption. Galactic gangster Jabba the Hutt has sent bounty hunter Cad Bane on a nefarious mission, which shall strike at the heart of the Republic.

Meanwhile, the unsuspecting citizens of Coruscant go about their daily lives....

​

Padmé's holding a party! The plot of this episode is that Padmé is holding a party and sends 3P0 and R2 out to get some fruit, but Cad Bane captures 3P0 while R2 goes to a droid spa. This is a weird episode.

It's actually nice to see C-3P0 do his job for once! For a protocol droid, we never really get to see him handle protocol. But we do here, and he's actually pretty good at it!

This episode really does make you pity C-3P0, he does go through an awful lot of shit (that he doesn't end up remembering, but still). And I guess it's times like this it's nice to have Anthony Daniels doing the voice, as 3P0 as a character is actually kind of a hard one to get right. He's fussy, a bit self centered, but overall you still like him.

I think the best part of this episode is the sequence of R2-D2 at the droid spa. It just feels so different from literally everything we've seen on the show, but still makes sense in the Star Wars universe. The contrast between the super bright and colourful scenes of the spa and the dark and gloomy scenes of 3P0's torture makes for a really good looking episode, too.

But of course eventually R2 surrenders himself to Cad Bane to save 3P0's life, because although R2-D2 can be an asshole sometimes, he's not all bad. He's not Chopper!

At the end we learn that Cad Bane wanted the plans for the Senate building, so he can deliver them to Jabba the Hutt! Jabba and the rest of the Hutt Council (we only see them in holograms) need to rescue Ziro! It was good they had that brief scene of Ziro in jail a few episodes ago otherwise it would have been very easy to forget he was even there.

So Cad Bane takes the job, I WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN??


Episode 122 - Hostage Crisis

A secret shared is a trust formed.

Danger looms! Despite recent victories in the Outer Rim, criminal minds plot at the very heart of the Republic! The bounty hunter Cad Bane has assembled some of the deadliest criminals in the galaxy and plans a daring attack to seize members of the Senate.

What can be the aim of this despicable act?​

We know what the aim is, Mr. Narrator, they told us at the end of the last episode!

SO YEAH here we are back in Season 1. I think out of all the episodes this is the one that gets moved around the most when watching the show chronologically. Going back to the show in Season 1 is kind of noticeable - the animation is noticeably stiffer, and the direction isn't as good - but by the end of the first Season the show had already improved a lot, so the difference isn't too jarring.

It's kind of weird that this episode got so much prominence put on it way after it was aired. Not only does it now have a story directly before and after it, effectively making this episode now the middle part of a three part arc, but they even set it all up with Ahsoka's vision at the end of a totally different story!

And in the end, there's not that much benefit from watching it out of order. The main difference is that this episode would have been our first look at Cad Bane, and the reintroduction of Aurra Sing, but we've already seen a lot of them now anyway! One little point I did like is that when Bane sees Anakin he already knows who he is, which actually makes sense now that we've already seen them meet eat other.

As for the episode itself it's... okay? There's a nice little sub plot where Anakin gets pissy at Padmé about not paying much attention to him (and again, Matt Lanter plays this in a way that doesn't make us hate Anakin too much) and gives her his lightsaber as a symbol of how important she is to him. What this means is that when Bane & The Gang invade he has to do it unarmed, which makes for a nice change.

Other than that it's just the senators (including Senator Chuchi, which is nice!) standing around talking to Bane which isn't super interesting.

In the end Bane takes Ziro away... but to where? IF ONLY THEY MADE AN EPISODE TO FOLLOW UP ON THIS AMAZING CLIFFHANGER (it's not that much of a cliffhanger).

Hey look at that, we're watching season 3 and we're finally done with season 1!


Episode 309 - Hunt for Ziro

Love comes in all shapes and sizes.

A great escape! Cad Bane and his notorious crew of bounty hunters liberated Ziro the Hutt from a Republic prison after holding the Galactic Senate hostage.

The Jedi Council has assigned Obi-Wan Kenobi to retrieve Ziro the Hutt with the help of Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos. Unknown to the Jedi, we find Ziro in the clutches of the five Hutt families on the distant world of Nal Hutta....​

OK I may have thought the droid spa stuff was a bit strange but this episode is fucking nuts. AND IT'S AMAZING.

Let's just go through the list of some of the things are happen and are in this episode:

• We see the Hutt Council in the flesh for the first time and they're all crazy and great but the best one is the one who looks like Don Corleone and is actually just called "Marlo the Hutt" THAT'S HIS ACTUAL CANONICAL NAME.
  
  
  
  
• Obi-Wan works with Quinlan Vos who is just like this crazy surfer dude who just thinks that, like, Obi-Wan should just chill out, man.
• SY FUCKING SNOOTLES is in this episode and she sings a musical number that has call backs to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• OH YEAH AND SHE'S ALSO ZIRO'S ACTUAL GIRLFRIEND
• The Hutts also have a DJ and the record scratch sound effect is used not once but TWICE. The DJ's name is "Rang Thang" which is pretty great.
  
  
  
  
• We meet Ziro's mother and she's a giant super fat slug with creatures on her head instead of hair and it's amazing.
  
  

So, uh, yeah. This episode.

Okay so Sy Snootles. She's great. I mean obviously she's great because of her association to Max Rebo but even here on her own she's great. She kills Ziro and gets away with it! Before this episode if you had told me that Sy Snootles would be a femme fatale I would not have believed you. But she is. And it's amazing.

Vos is good in this episode, too. His depiction here as a sort of laid back but crazy Jedi who probably smokes a lot of weed is very different from his portrayal in the comics (which I admittedly haven't read) which he's a bit more dark and brooding. But I like him here. We also get to see his special talent of Psychometry, where he can use the force to sense the history of an object, which is nice. He also makes a really good companion to Obi-Wan, who of course makes a wonderful straight man.

Even after all the crazy stuff is out of the way, there's still a pretty excellent fight between Obi-Wan, Vos and Cad Bane where Cad Bane makes excellent use of his rocket boots and manages to evade the Jedi. It's a pretty great sequence at the end of a pretty damn great episode.

SO YEAH. This episode is crazy as hell and it's super good because of it!

 

[CaptainWacky]

GOOD SCREENSHOTS. I loved R2 going to the robot spa. R2 deserved some pampering.

And yeah I love the Sy Snootles episode. It was the right kind of nuts.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 310 - Heroes on Both Sides

Fear is a great motivator.

Conflict with no end in sight! Across the galaxy, the quagmire of war continues.

While clone troopers suffer casualties at alarming rates, the Galactic Senate convenes an emergency session to debate the true cost of the war....​

The big question this episode asks is: Why are they fighting this war in the first place? And it's a really important question because, really, that never got explained that well. The Separatists already exist by the time Attack of the Clones starts, so really the only set-up they get is in the opening crawl, with "Several thousand solar systems have declared their intentions to leave the Republic.". That's it. Why do they want to leave? Well, Count Dooku actually explains this to Obi-Wan, but by that point we already know he's a villain so we don't really take a lot of stock in what he's saying (although he is 100% telling the truth).

Which is why this episode is important, as we finally see the actual people who want to leave the Republic, and find out more of their motivations. And as it turns out they're mostly normal people who see the corruption in the Senate (which, it should be said, 100% does exist) and want to leave. We the audience learn this information with Ahsoka, who starts off with the very black and white opinion of the war - passed down to her from the Jedi and Anakin, and ends the episode with a much more nuanced viewpoint.

We even get to see Count Dooku be the political leader he actually is, and why people would follow him (also keeping in mind that they have never seen him use his Sith Powers).

Ultimately, despite people on both sides wanting peace, an attack on Coruscant causes a blackout and causes the senate to deregulate the banks so they can buy even more Clones. Behind this, on both sides, is Palpatine ensuring that the war just keeps escalating.

This episode is a really good look at the actual reasons behind this war, both from the point of view of the people on both sides, but also the fact that, in the end, everything that is happening is 100% Palpatine masterminding everything.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

We're here! We're here! We're finally at the big change point of the series: When everyone gets their character models upgraded! And they look so much better! We only see Anakin briefly but he looks a lot closer to how he will in Revenge of the Sith, and wears less armour now (simply because it was easier to do certain cloth physics now). But more importantly Ahsoka now has her much improved and overall best look!

This is one of the easiest visual markers that we're into the "actually pretty damn great 95% of the time now" phase of the show, and I am very excited to be here.


Episode 311 - Pursuit of Peace

Truth can strike down the spectre of fear.

Peace shattered! Once-promising negotiations between the Republic and the Separatists are now in shambles following a droid suicide bombing on the capital city planet of Coruscant.

As fear and anger prevail, the Senate overwhelmingly passes a bill to deregulate the banks, opening a gateway to additional troops, and an increase in fighting....​

A direct follow-up to the previous episode, this episode is now 100% Padmé focused, and is actually a pretty great episode at showing why Padmé is really good at her job.

The basic set up is that now that the banks are deregulated, the Kaminoan senator proposes that the Republic buys 5,000,000 more Clone units (as a side note, I love that a Senator can just straight up say "I propose you all spend a lot of money with us!" and no one sees this as a problem because that's how fucked up this government is). However the cost of the loan they would need to pay for the Clones would mean that less money is spent on things like power and water for the actual people of the Republic, so Padmé and Bail Organa must stop the bill, and Dooku sends two bounty hunters to make sure they don't.

On the face of it this could have been a really boring politics episode (and indeed this is another one of those episodes I had pretty much forgotten about), but it's actually pretty great mainly because of the focus it gives on Padmé. It's actually not that often we get to see her do proper Senator things, and it's nice to see her at work, and doing it well. And just when the episode might start to get too politics heavy, there's a great little speeder chase between the Bounty Hunters and Padmé.

I think this is also the most Bail Organa we've actually ever gotten in an episode before, and it's really interesting to see how he's actually pretty well respected in the Senate (more so than Padmé, who is still seen as very young).

Overall, this is a solid episode. It's not earth-shatteringly great but it is a not-terrible look at how fucked up the Senate actually is.

A couple of notes:

One of the Bounty Hunters is a Selkath, a species from the Knights of the Old Repiblic game. Since that's all now non-canon, it's nice that this little part of it survives into continuity through this episode.

The big CANON CHANGING REVEAL that's in this episode is that Padmé's elaborate hair styles ARE NOT HER REAL HAIR but in fact a headdress THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Episode 215 - Senate Murders

Searching for the truth is easy. Accepting the truth is hard.

War on many fronts! While battles are fought by clones in the field, a different war is waged in the Galactic Senate. As heavy losses add up, a group of senators led by Halle Burtoni of Kamino propose an escalation of troop production.

Senator Padmé Amidala, recognizing that more troops will only prolong the fighting, works tirelessly with her allies to introduce a bill to cut down military spending and stop the creation of more clone troopers…​

And we're back in season 2! This is, thankfully, the last out of order episode I will have to watch - everything after this is chronological. This episode jumps ahead so much pretty much specifically because of this guy:

Onaconda Farr, first seen in "Bombad Jedi" and killed in this episode, actually appeared in a lot of episodes made after this one, usually only in the background. Because of those appearances, this episode gets pushed right here into the middle of season 3.

But I was actually impressed at how will this fits in with the previous episodes. This episodes expands on the situation set up in both "Heroes on Both Sides" and "Pursuit of Peace", and feels like a natural conclusion to the story. It also helps that a lot of the side characters, mostly new senators, were set up in the previous episode making them fit a bit more naturally into the story. This is especially important to Onaconda's aide, Lolo, who ends up being the person who murders him. As the episode originally aired this would have been the first time we saw that character, so her being the murderer does sort of come out of nowhere, and we don't really care that much because we don't know the character. Now we've seen her around Onaconda in previous episodes, and while she had nothing to do then, it does set her up nicely for her appearance here.

The episode itself is... okay? The murders get investigated by the odd-looking Lieutenant Divo (who had a brief appearance in "Sphere of Influence") who I was never sure about as a character. I don't think the episode ever really knows if it wants to treat him as a comedy character or as an actual detective who we should take seriously, and as such the character comes across as a bit muddled.

What I do like about the episode is that the obvious bad guys (the Kaminoan senator especially) were not actually the killers, but it was Lolo who was angry at Onoconda for letting the Separatists onto Rodia in "Bombad Jedi".

At least now I can stop looking at the chronological episode guide and just watch the episodes in order!

 

[CaptainWacky]

I love the transforming bomb droids and General Grievous sending them to die.



There should be more droids that transform into things.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Let's watch another three episodes, I have nothing to do today!

Episode 312 - Nightsisters

The swiftest path to destruction is through vengeance.

Galactic showdown! In a fierce battle for survival, the Republic and Separatist armies have clashed in the distant Sullust system.

Count Dooku's most cunning assassin, Asajj Ventress, leads the vicious attack....​

I love Asajj Ventress. I love Asajj Ventress. I love Asajj Ventress. My whole review of this episode could just be the phrase "I love Asajj Ventress" copy & pasted about 50 times, but I guess I'll actually write stuff instead.

From her initial appearance in the Tartakovsky series through to her appearances in the earlier episodes of this show, Asajj Ventress has never really been more than a henchwoman. She's the person in the plot who can have a lightsaber fight with people because it would be silly for Dooku to do it all the time. But, especially with the version of the character in this show, there's always been a little more to her than that. She obviously seeks Dooku's approval desperately, she really doesn't like General Grievous, and she flirts outrageously with Obi-Wan.

Now then, finally, she becomes her own character. When Dooku dismisses her as his assassin and tries to kill her, not only does this mean that we finally get to see Asajj as her own character, but we get to see that she is fucking powerful.

There's really only one person to thank for this: The episode's writer, Katie Lucas. While having the obvious family connection, Katie Lucas' writing for the show has always been pretty good (Lemur people not withstanding) but she obviously has a great deal of affection for Asajj as a character, and as such this episode is an amazing look into a character that has, until now, been pretty two dimensional.

We finally learn her history: taken from the Nightsisters as a baby, she was first sold to a slaver and then rescued and taken in and trained by a Jedi Knight. When he dies, she turns to the dark and, and Count Dooku - pretty much exactly where we saw her for the first time in the Tartakovsky series.
Tying Asajj's story in with the Nightsisters, who had already been around in the EU for a long time by then, is very clever. Not only because they're not having to make up an order of witches from nothing, but because it somehow fits so well with her character.

The Nightsisters themselves are pretty cool, too. Although, let's face it, they're the Bene Gesserit - specifically Mother Talzin is the Reverend Mother.

Even with all this great character stuff, we get an excellent space battle at the start and a really good lightsaber duel between Dooku, Asajj and the Nightsisters at the end.

This is a great episode, but what really elevates it is the little touches. In her last appearance as Dooku's apprentice, not only does she fly in the same ship we first saw her in waaaaayyy back in the Tartakovsky series, but she even has the exact same outfit, created especially for this episode.

They really didn't have to add those details, but it's amazing that they did.

As an existing fan of Asajj Ventress, this episode is basically everything I could have wanted. And there's still two more to go!


Episode 313 - Monster

Evil is not born, it is taught.

A bid for revenge! Betrayed and left for dead by Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress has begun a deadly game with her former Master, launching a secret assassination attempt against him with the help of her kin, the mysterious Nightsisters.

Deceived into thinking the Jedi were behind the recent attack, Dooku has traveled across the galaxy to enlist the Nightsisters in his quest for vengeance....​

The Asajj Train continues, and now not only did we get some of her backstory in the last episode, but now - somehow - we're actually getting backstory for Darth Maul! And he's dead! (????)

In tricking Dooku to take on a new assassin, Asajj goes to the same village where Darth Maul originally came from (I guess Mother Talzin must have sent him to Sideous directly??) to find a new assassin and put them through a series of trials.

What I really like about this episode is that even thought Asajj no longer works for Dooku, they didn't instantly turn her into a good guy. She's still the crazy evil person she always was, it's just that now her hatred is focused on Dooku rather than the Jedi. What this means is that as she's no longer allied with the Separatist - the ACTUAL bad guys - she now gets to win! But it also means that for this episode, our only real "good" characters are Savage and his brother Feral. But we as the audience know Asajj well enough by now that she can carry the story and still be evil. It's great.

While a straightforward episode, it's written and directly well enough that the basic plot is elevated into something great. The various trials Asajj puts them through are fun to watch, and the transformation of Savage into the titular monster means that, at the end, there are no good guys left. Especially after Asajj makes him kill his brother!

Okay, but really, but really this episode looks amazing:

AND I really like Asajj's Nightsister outfit. It's the boots.

SO YEAH. ANOTHER GOOD ONE. THANKS KATIE LUCAS!


Episode 314 - Witches of the Mist

The path to evil may bring great power, but not loyalty.

Mysterious deaths! Unknown to the Jedi, a new threat has unleashed on the galaxy: Savage Opress, a pawn in the dangerous game between Count Dooku and his former assassin, Ventress.

The victims of his brutal massacre on the planet of Devaron are being returned to the Jedi Temple for evaluation. It's up to the Jedi Council to find this mysterious killer, and eradicate him....​

SHOUTOUT TO ALL THE BOYS IN DELTA SQUAD!

These episodes seem to be tailored specifically for me, because the first thing we get in this episode is a cameo of all four members of Delta Squad from the 2005 video game "Republic Commando". Like Asajj's ship and clothes in "Nightsisters", a lot of work was done for this brief cameo - all four members are recreated exactly, complete with the unique customisation of their armour. For one scene. It's pretty amazing.

This episode tracks Obi-Wan and Anakin's seach for Savage - but before it really starts the episode goes out of it's way to make sure the audience knows that while some Zabrak are from Iridona these particular Zabrak are from Dathomir. I'm sure the Wookieepdia editors where thankful for the clarification.

The Jedi's search takes them to Dathomir, where they meet both the Nightbrothers and the Nightsisters, and Mother Talzin even tells them where Savage is at that moment. It's pretty straightforward, I guess?

The better parts of the episode are to do with Count Dooku's training of Savage - notably how brutal it is. We've seen how the Jedi train their apprentices, but now we see what makes the Sith way so different. It's based on pure emotion , and relies on the apprentice hating their master. I guess that's why the Sith keep killing each other!

The climax of the episode is an amazing series of lightsaber fights, that go from Savage and Asajj vs. Dooku, to Savage vs. Asajj vs. Dooku, to Asajj vs. Dooku.

I like the fact that Savage eventually betrays Asajj because, well, she wasn't that great of a master, and Savage was basically just a pawn to her. Over these last two episodes, you actually kind of empathise with Savage. He was turned from a normal person into a crazed monster, and he finally realises that he doesn't have to obey anyone.

While the episode doesn't focus on Asajj as much as the previous two, it is a nice end to her arc for this story. She does ultimately loose - failing to kill Dooku and losing Savage, and she escapes in the end with no clue as to what she will do next.

Savage escapes to... and Talzin tells him of his brother... who's still alive... IT'S DARTH MAUL???

I love these three episodes. They take Asajj Ventress and make her her own character, and give her a place in this story that's not just "Dooku's assassin". From the way these episodes end, she could basically do anything now, and set up a lot of interesting dynamics to be paid off in future episodes. Thanks again Katie Lucas.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Remember when we heard the name "Savage Opress" and thought it would be stupid.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Well luckily they pronounced it Sa-vage O-press which makes it sound not dumb.

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 315 - Overlords

Balance is found in the one who faces his guilt.

Mysterious message! A transmission has been intercepted far beyond the Outer Rim, deep in the Chrelythiumn system. Why the call has been made, and from where cannot be established. But buried in the message is a Jedi distress code that has not been used in over 2,000 years.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka are sent to investigate. Fearing a Separatist trap, they are to meet with a heavily armed Jedi cruiser....​

Man, this episode. Where to even start with this episode?

This episode is so weird, so un-Star Wars. In a way, especially at the start, it feels a bit more Star Trek, with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka landing on a strange alien planet to meet strange godlike aliens reminding me a lot of Sisko meeting the wormhole aliens in Emissary. But what does make it Star Wars is that it never explains exactly what's going on, or who these people are, and instead uses this as an opportunity to explore one of the fundimental concepts of the prequels.

The concept of "The Chosen One" isn't something that actually gets mentioned a lot after The Phantom Menace. But yet it's a vitally important part of why Qui Gon thought Anakin needed to be trained, which of course directly lead to Obi-Wan training him. In The Phantom Menance we only only hear the Jedi's interpritation of what The Chosen One is: that he will "bring balance to the force" and "destroy the Sith". Clearly, this shows that the Jedi believe that the mere existence of the Sith is what is causing the force to be out of balance, and that a 'balanced' force is one where only Jedi exist.

This episode takes that concept head on and shows that, no, to bring balance to the force is exactly that - a balance between both light and dark, where they both exist but are equal. And we see here clearly that Anakin is The Chosen One and does have the potential within him to be that balancing force. Whether or not he as a person will allow himself to do that is another question, and when he is told that he must stay behind on Mortis to keep the balance, his refusal is shown as something that will have a negative effect on the galaxy at large.

But we don't just see how this affects Anakin, we see how this is affecting those around him. The best part of the episode by far is the sequence where each of the three main characters see a vision. Obi-Wan sees Qui Gon - played again by Liam Neeson in an amazing cameo. Having Neeson back actually makes a huge impact as it really does feel like this character (who we haven't seen for a long time now!) is actually back with us - also helped by Kevin Kiner playing (the much underrated) Qui Gon's theme from the Phantom Menace score. It lets Obi-Wan actually talk to him about Anakin and his status as The Chosen One, something he wasn't actually able to do before Qui Gon was killed.

Anakin's vision of his mother - played again by Pernilla August in another cameo - is more a reminder that Anakin is still not in control of a lot of his feelings regarding his mother's death. Although it turns out to be a trick by The Son, it's a nice foreshadowing of how something like that can be used to manipulate Anakin to the dark side.

Ahsoka's vision is now, in retrospect, probably one of the most prescient. Her older self telling Ahsoka that she must leave Anakin and the Jedi, else she be brought down the dark path, of course reflects what her journey would eventually become.

For what it's worth, while Shmi is shown to the The Son and the older Ahsoka may very well be The Daughter, I think that the Qui Gon we see here is actually the real Qui Gon. We would later learn that Qui Gon is part of the Living Force, and we are told in this episode that Mortis acts like a magnification point for the force, which would explain why he was able to take some sort of physical form.

This is a really interesting episode that explores some important Star Wars concepts about the Force and The Chosen One. And of course, it's really really pretty.

Episode 316 - Altar of Mortis

He who surrenders hope, surrenders life.

Mystery on Mortis! Sent to discover the origin of a mysterious distress call, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano are stranded on a distant planet. There, they discover three beings more powerful with the Force than any Jedi have seen before.

The Father keeps a fragile balance between his Daughter, who allies with the light side, and the Son, who drifts ever closer to the dark. With his strength failing, the Father asks Anakin to stay and take his place, preserving the balance between light and dark. But after passing a perilous test, Skywalker refuses.

Now we find our heroes about to depart for their journey home, or so they think....​

Overlords works really well as a self-contained episode of weirdness, so I have mixed feelings about the fact that this is actually a three-episode arc. Especially because while the last episode was mainly about Anakin and his role as the Chosen One, this episode only focuses on The Son wanting to escape Mortis and take over the main universe. Which compared to what we got in the last episode, is a bit boring. It helps that Sam Witwer is actually really good as The Son, being able to sound like an evil godlike figure who is still somewhat an immature child.

What saves the episode, really, is Ashley Eckstien. Ahsoka gets corrupted by The Son and Ashley Eckstien plays it so damn well. Evil Ahsoka is probably the highlight of the episode for me, mostly because a lot of it comes off as a lot of Ahsoka's hidden insecurities and feelings coming to the surface. She doesn't like being called Snips! The fight between her and Anakin is actually a lot more powerful now that we know that this is not the last time they would fight like this.

I think the problem with this episode is that it's very much a middle chapter - all it's here to do is set up that The Son wants to leave, and that he accidentally kills his sister while trying to kill his father. Ahsoka herself actually dies - for real! - and is brought back to life by Anakin and this kind of gets glossed over?

Episode still pretty though.

Episode 317 - Ghosts of Mortis

He who seeks to control fate shall never find peace.

Stranded! Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano are caught in the middle of a treacherous battle between good and evil.

The scales now tip toward the dark side. Our three warriors must guard against attack as they plan their escape. A great weight has been placed on Anakin's shoulders, for it is now that he must face who he really is…​

"Overlords" showed us what The Chosen One should be: someone who takes both the light and the dark and keeps them both in check and in balance. And all things being perfect, that's probably exactly what Anakin would have done. But Anakin is hardly perfect.

Throughout these last two episodes, it was repeatedly stated that the events that happen on Mortis will effect what happens in the wider galaxy, and looking at the events that happen in the episode, we can see that this is exactly true.

The Son, a representation of the Dark Side of the force, destroys the Daughter, who is the light. This plunges Mortis into darkness, and even causes Anakin to join him for a while - falling to the dark side so that he can bring what he thinks is peace. Eventually, the balancing force sacrifices himself to allow Anakin to kill the son, leaving Mortis is balance - not by keeping both forces in check, but by destroying them both totally.

This is a mirror for what will happen in Revenge of the Sith through to Return of the Jedi. The Dark side wipes out the light - in this case Palpatine wiping out the Jedi - which sends the galaxy into a time of darkness, with Anakin helping him after giving in to his feelings. Eventually the balancing force (in this case, Anakin) sacrifices himself to kill Palpatine and allow the Dark Side to fall. With the misguided Jedi order and the evil Sith both now gone, the force is in balance, and ready for Luke - a new kind of Jedi, uncorrupted by the narrow minded dogmatic views of the old Jedi - to start anew.

It's actually a really neat way of exploring Anakin's role as the Chosen One. He does bring balance to the Force, but he had to destroy both the Jedi and the Sith to do it.

As part of this mirroring, we actually get to see Anakin fall to the dark side right here. By showing him all of the terrible things he will do in the future, The Son turns Anakin to the dark side, ironically turning him into the exact thing he was trying to stop. The sequence of him seeing his future is easily the best part of the episode, basically because it's a huge fanservice moment - it's really cool to hear the Clone Wars cast say lines from Revenge of the Sith, and even see Alderaan and Vader himself. The final cherry on the top is the inclusion of the "Battle of the Heroes" theme, until now only heard during Anakin and Obi-Wan's duel on Mustafar.

Ahsoka... doesn't really get a lot to do in this episode? I mean after literally dying in the previous episode (seriously they never ever bring that up and it's kind of weird) she spends all this episode trying to fix the ship. But it's all worth it because we get to see Ahsoka in goggles, which as it turns out is amazing.

She spends the entire episode fixing that ship and rolling her eyes at the crazy stuff that's going on around her, which as it turns out is also amazing.

Overall - these three episodes are really important, both at explaining what "The Chosen One" actually is, but also seeing how Anakin handles it. We get some excellent moments, and the return of Qui Gon. They also all look visually amazing. "Overlords" would have worked really well as a single episode, but I feel that "Ghosts of Mortis" adds enough to justify expanding the story, it's just a shame that "Altar of Mortis" feels like such a filler episode. I'm really interested to see if any of this will tie in with the concept of the Bendu in the new Rebels season. Like The Father, the Bendu represents the mid-point between the light and the dark side - are they related in any way?

 

[CaptainWacky]

GOOD REVIEWS.

I remember liking those episodes a lot because they were so different and looked so amazing, but thinking the story did feel a bit padded. Still I'd much rather have a slightly padded three-part story with lots of crazy stuff and character moments than a four-part comedy droid story!

 

[The Tomtrek]

Episode 318 - The Citadel

Adaptation is the key to survival.

Captured! Returning from a perilous assignment in the Outer Rim, Jedi Master Even Piell's cruiser has fallen under attack and been boarded. Seeking vital information he carries about secret hyperspace lanes called the Nexus Route, Separatist forces have taken him alive.

Now the Jedi are preparing a stealth mission into the heart of Separatist space in an effort to rescue Master Piell from the deadly prison known as the Citadel....

I like being in Season 3, because it means that even if the episode is fairly by-the-books, there's now a base level of quality that means that we're still going to get a pretty damn good episode.

And this is what this is - the episode set up is pretty straightforward: The Jedi need to rescue one of their own from a highly fortified prison before he breaks, but it's filled with some nice character work and great set pieces.

Character-wise, this is mainly an episode for Ahsoka. After Anakin tells her she can't come on the mission (which does not make her happy, obviously) she sneaks in anyway, but manages to prove her usefulness. It's not big stuff but it's the sort of thing that might not have been there (or if it was, not done as well) if this were a season 1 episode.

Having them sneak in by being frozen in carbonite is a really nice nod - in that it references one of the most famous Star Wars moments without feeling cheap. I also like how it was Anakin who came up with the idea of carbon freezing everyone, an idea he will use again in a few decades time!

But of course the big thing about this episode is the introduction of Captain Tarkin. There's not really much to say about him other than, well, he's great and Stephen Stanton does a really good job voicing him. Like the best voices in this series, it's very obvious who he's playing, but he's not just doing an impression of an existing voice.

Unlike James Arnold Taylor as the bad guy, Osi Sobeck, who is basically just an alien Christopher Walken?? And it kind of works???

OVERALL - I like this episode. It's solid.


Episode 319 - Counterattack

Anything that can go wrong will.

Escape from a Separatist prison! Carrying information about secret routes into the heart of the Republic and Separatist homeworlds, Jedi Master Even Piell was captured and imprisoned in a fortress known as the Citadel.

Leading an elite strike team, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker rescue Master Piell and his officers. Now the Jedi have split up to evade Separatist forces as they attempt to escape the Citadel....​

It's actually kind of hard to write about these episodes because, although there's nothing really wrong with them, they're just a bit.. standard? This episode has the Jedi, Tarkin and the Clones try to evade capture in the Citadel. And it's really well done, but there's not a lot more to say apart from that!

Well, okay, that's not entirely true. We get to see the first bit of bonding between Tarkin and Anakin, where we see that Tarkin feels like the Jedi are not ruthless enough to fight a war, and Anakin happens to agree with him. We also see Tarkin raise the (valid) point that it's a bit weird to have part of a major rescue mission lead by a 16 year old. I like Tarkin in these episodes, this is pretty much the only time we ever see him where he's not an out-and-out villain, just a guy with some opinions about how the Jedi are too weak.

There's also a nice sub-plot about R2-D2 commanding some reprogrammed battle droids, and R2 being heroic is always good.

It's also worth noting that this episode sees the death of Echo, meaning that Fives is now the last remaining member of Domino squad! I'm sure he won't come to a really really fucking tragic end.

What I do like about these episodes is how they look. Although they're set on a lava planet, they made the decision to make the lava yellow rather than the standard orange. This means that it looks a bit different from places like Mustafar, or the volcanic part of Mortis we saw a few episodes ago, and gives a lot of the scenes a nice yellow tint, making the episodes look a bit unique.

While this episode is very much a "middle episode", it doesn't drag in the same way something like "Altar of Mortis" did. On to part three!


Episode 320 - Citadel Rescue

Without honor, victory is hollow.

Trapped behind enemy lines! Carrying secret information vital to the Republic's war effort, Jedi Master Even Piell and Captain Tarkin were taken prisoner by the Separatists. An elite strike team led by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker landed on the planet Lola Sayu and infiltrated the prison.

The team rescued Master Piell and Tarkin, but they were pursued by the prison's evil commandant, Osi Sobeck. During the escape, their ship was destroyed. Now we find them on the run, desperate to escape the trap that is the Citadel....​

Putting Tarkin in these episodes was such a good idea. Because Tarkin rules. But what makes him interesting here is that he's very much an enabler for Anakin's more extreme political side, the same side of him that told Padmé that a dictatorship would be a good idea back in Attack of the Clones. Ahsoka? She's so done with Tarkin's shit.

Which is great, because it's a way to show the differences between Anakin and Ahsoka. So far in the series we've seen how Anakin's political views have been rubbing off on Ahsoka, but now she's a bit more mature and has had more experience (especially in episodes like "Heroes on Both Sides") that she now has her own opinions about the Jedi and their role in things. It's a nice way to show how much she's developed as a character, and to show that she may not always agree with Anakin...

So, yeah, even Even Piell dies in this episode. This is a big thing for a few reasons:

1. He passes on his responsibilities to Ahsoka, forcing her to become a vital part of a mission that she wasn't even supposed to have been on.
2. It's one of those times that the show directly contradicted what was then canon - that Master Piell survived the events of Revenge of the Sith. Not any more he doesn't!
3. We get a great scene of his funeral where he gets sent off a lavafall which is a pretty damn great way to have a funeral.

Piell himself was a pretty cool character, although he didn't get a lot of time to establish himself really. I do like how whenever this show brings in one of the established background Jedi they always do something to make them unique and memorable. Like killing them!

To mix things up, we even get a cool space battle at the end of the episode.

Again, these episodes are pretty good. They're well made, well acted, well directed... they're just not very memorable apart from that? If these episodes had been in Season 2 they would have been the standout episodes of the season, but now they're following both the Nightsisters and Mortis arcs, they don't look as good in comparison. But they are still good.