WARNING: I’m going heavily into SPOILER territory and will be discussing episodes that haven’t aired yet. Read at your own risk.

Last night’s Desmond Hume-centric episode of Lost, entitled “Happily Ever After,” finally did what I’ve been waiting for all season. You see, Lost was famous for its flashbacks in the first three seasons, but then turned the table on everyone in the Season Three finale where the “flashback” was revealed to be a “flashforward.” Season Four continued that trend and then Season Five flashed between half of the cast in “the present” and half of the cast in 1977. This season introduced the “flash-sideways,” and showed what appeared to be an alternate universe where Oceanic 815 never crashed. However, there have been inconsistancies in this alternate reality: Shannon never boarded the plane with Boone, Desmond was on the plane when he originally hadn’t been, Locke was happily engaged, Sawyer was a cop instead of a con man, Jack had a son, etc. It became apparent that something was going on with this side story and it was more than just a glance at “what could have been…”

My initial thoughts were that the flash-sideways were a glimpse into the epilogue of Lost. That the Losties we’ve been following since the beginning of the series would do something that would prevent the plane from crashing in the past and we were seeing their “happy ending.” As the differences have played out, it seemed that whatever they did would have had to have occured far in their past in order for those differences to exist. That got me thinking that perhaps whoever the new Jacob was to be (as it’s been revealed to us that this is all a game by a higher being to prove to another higher being that mankind can evolve to a higher state), that they were going to be the one responsible for sinking the Island (as seen in the Season Six premiere) and change the present.

After “Happily Ever After,” I no longer believe that to be the case.

In the episode, Desmond’s consciousness is directly transported to the alternate universe and he begins to become aware of the previous universe in which the Island existed. He’s also directly told by the former Eloise Hawking, now married to Charles Widmore, that he needs to give up the pursuit to understand the truth because in this reality, he has everything that he ever wanted. Obviously, Eloise knows something is up and this knowledge leads me to believe that someone else is pulling the strings in the alternate universe and giving at least some of our Losties (Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, and Desmond) better lives. Or if there isn’t one pulling the strings, then she at least believes it is a better universe, possibly because she doesn’t kill her son in this world. Actually, the more I think about it, the more likely I think that second option is and that the split in timelines occured after the original Daniel Faraday was killed by his mother in the past and that she may have used his notebook to figure things out once the timelines split. Then again, she shouldn’t have knowledge of Desmond’s previous life, so it might be a bit of both.

Anyway, the former Daniel Faraday, now Daniel Widmore, flat out tells Desmond that he detonated a nuclear bomb that created this alternate reality and that it isn’t right. He tells Desmond where to find Penny - who alternate Desmond has been looking for without knowing why (we as the audience should know that Penny is Desmond’s constant that keeps him rooted in time, as shown in previous episodes). Upon touching Penny, Desmond’s consciousness is transported back to the Island universe and he suddenly knows exactly what it is he has to do there. Meanwhile, alternate reality Desmond also knows what he has to do and makes a plan to start assembling the passengers of Flight 815.

So, what does all of this mean if the alternate reality isn’t the epilogue to the series? Well, frankly, I believe what’s going to happen is this: alternate Desmond knows they shouldn’t exist. And he’s going to play Morpheus and reveal the Matrix to our alternate Losties. But what does that mean for them? Well, I think they’re going to be the ones who reset the past and set reality “right.”

There’s a number of possibilities here. One of them is that the Island segments are the flashbacks, showing what happened after the alternate Losties set things right. Which is an interesting idea, but kind of bland. What I prefer is a little more dramatic and extreme.

There’s really only a couple of questions left for Lost to answer when it comes down to it. Who are Jacob and the Smoke Monster? And will the Smoke Monster/Locke succeed? It’s the second question I’m going to answer by saying “Yes and no.” Frankly, I think Smokie will initially win in the Island universe. I think he’ll escape the Island by killing all the candidates (or tricking them into sacrificing themselves) and that will create some dark times for the Island universe. But what I don’t think he’s counted on is the alternate universe in which Desmond will wake up the remaining candidates, who will then do something in their universe that will set things right. Frankly, I see them somehow crossing into the Island universe, either physically or with their consciousness, and basically resurrecting their fallen selves. Afterall, the second to last episode is entitle “What They All Died For,” which leads me to believe everyone is going to die before the finale. I could see the finale, named “The End,” being the resurrection story with the alternate Losties saving the day and setting everything right. Or at least recapturing the Smoke Monster, who will remain trapped in Locke form. I don’t know, there’s just something greatly poetic about the image Brad Ellis put in my mind of the final scene of Lost being Jack as the new Jacob and Locke as the new Smoke Monster sitting on the beach as Jack brings in yet another group of castaways to try to prove the Smoke Monster wrong about humanity, thus continuing the game that Jacob started thousands of years earlier.

Will I be right? And what does that mean about who’s controlling the alternate universe, if anyone (I like the idea of the Smoke Monster succeeding in the Island world and thus controlling the alternate world and trying to keep everyone happy to keep them from turning on him), but who knows? There’s only five episodes left, and “Happily Ever After” was the episode I’ve been waiting for all season. It’s got me thinking something really epic is happening on the show and that the finale may be more complicated than just “Good vs. Evil” like I originally thought. I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks. Until then, I reserve the right to change my theory based on any new info that’s present between now and the end.

So, uh, like, isn’t that a little bit predjudiced?

• I’ve been playing a lot of Worms on my Playstation 3. Believe it or not, I only became aware of this series last year. I downloaded it from the Playstation Store and now I’m addicted. My buddy Andy and I have spent several late nights holy hand grenading the crap out of each other. I highly recommend it to those who aren’t familiar with it. You can read IGN’s review on the game here.
• Another game getting a lot of play on the PS3 is Super Rub a Dub, even despite IGN’s horrible review of it. But what can I say? The ladies absolutely love moving those ducks around in the tub (a past time I’ll try transferring over to real life..). So, I think I’ll keep it. After all, gotta keep the ladies happy.

• One more video game-related bit and I’ll move on. I just became aware of the upcoming Legend of Zelda-inspired game, 3D Dot Game Heroes for Playstation 3. Holy crap. I want this game. The LoZ series are my favorite games of all time. And IGN really liked 3DGH, so I think it’s safe to say I’ll dig it too. Check out the trailer:

• ORIGINAL STAR WARS CHARACTERS TO RETURN POST-RETURN OF THE JEDI. Is this the new “comedy” series set in the Star Wars universe? (I seriously hope not) Or is it, as some have speculated, a new Clone Wars-style animated series following the adventures of our favorite characters? What about Sansweet referring to “not everyone who dies in sci-fi remains dead?” Could it be that a prequel-era character comes back to plague the original trilogy characters? Darth Maul? A Dooku clone? Asajj Ventress? Grievous? I’ve often thought something like that could happen in a post-ROTJ animated series, but who knows? There’s so much to speculate on and next to nothing has been revealed. Lucasfilm is going to have a lot of explaining to do at CV.
• Call me crazy, but I liked the Vin Diesel starring Riddick film series. Pitch Black and the animated Dark Fury were both great and The Chronicles of Riddick was decent (in a “stupid action flick” kind of way). So, of course the idea of another Riddick film (as has been rumored for years), is kind of exciting for me. Well, one was announced a few months back and now a script review has popped up for it (WARNING: there are spoilers there). Definitely sounds intriguing, and I look forward to hearing more on the project in the future.

Legacy of Terror

When Luminara goes missing, Obi-Wan & Ki-Adi-Mundi lead a Clones Platoon in search of her. When the search leads to a mysterious lair - the Jedi are faced with a horde of undead warriors.

Luminara Unduli is tracking Poggle the Lesser after his new droid foundry has been destroyed (see: Weapons Factory). She chases him to a temple where she gets captured by, wait for it, ZOMBIE GEONOSIANS! Obi-Wan and Anakin lead up a rescue mission in the catacombs beneath the temple and they all encounter the Geonosian Queen/hive-mind, Katrina the Great. The Jedi and the clones rescue Luminara, destroy the temple, and escape to fight another day.

Now, come on, there isn’t much not to love about zombies in Star Wars. That right there sold me on the whole episode. It’s creepy as hell and, as usual, the action is top-notch. Katrina is a great addition to the villain roster and is all kinds of weird and creepy. I’m kind of hoping that at some point, our heroes have to fight her again. And did I mention there are zombies? All in all, a great episode and I’d give it a solid 9 out of 10.

Brain Invaders

When Geonosian brain worms take control of their supply ship - Ahsoka & Barriss must battle to stop the vessel from unleashing the deadly plague upon the galaxy.

Ahsoka and Bariss must rendezvous with Kit Fisto to transport medical supplies. Unfortunately, their clones are infected with the same zombie slugs that reanimate dead Geonosians. When Anakin finds out that something is wrong onboard Ahsoka’s ship, he interrogates Poggle the Lesser and relays the solution to Ahsoka: freeze the buggers. She ruptures the coolant systems and fights a slug-infest Bariss before saving her Jedi friend and the remaining clones by freezing them all out.

Okay, so right off the bat, there is one thing to absolutely love this episode for: Anakin’s interrogation of Poggle. From the Imperial March theme music to the his dark side methods, it’s absolutely great and I strongly hope to see him make use of the dark side in such manners as an easy solution again in the future.

The team-up of Ahsoka and Bariss works nicely also, as they provide great counters to each other in attitude and style, with Bariss playing the Obi-Wan to Ahsoka’s brash Anakin. Again, this is something I’d also like to see more of in future episodes (frankly, I’d be fine with Luminara and Bariss becoming cast regulars).

There really isn’t anything negative I’d have to add than my nitpick of how communication systems in Star Wars seem to work (they just automatically get whoever they’re trying to reach wherever they are without having to dial them up? Why can’t we get cell service that reads our minds in such ways?). Otherwise, in a series that is continually growing stronger, we have another strong episode. 9 out of 10

Grievous Intrigue

Jedi Master Eeth Koth is taken hostage and tortured by Grievous. Anakin, Obi-Wan & Adi Gallia devise a daring rescue plan - but they soon realize Grievous has a plan of his own.

Jedi Council member Eeth Koth is captured by Grievous. Obi-Wan creates a diversion while Anakin and Adi Gallia sneak onboard Grievous’ ship. Grievous duels Kenobi onboard Kenobi’s ship, then retreats when his forces are losing. Anakin and Adi Gallia are successful in their rescue, and Grievous crash lands on the planet Saleucami.

It’s getting harder and harder for me to write about Clone Wars. The show has been so consistently good since mid-way through Season 1, that any criticism I’ve had about it amounts to little more than nitpicks. Once again, for a kid’s show, the writing is stellar, the action pieces are good, and the addition of more Jedi – Koth and Gallia – get the fanboy in me excited. If I had to complain about anything it is that they haven’t fleshed out Koth and Gallia further, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of chances for that in future episodes. Another 9 out of 10 episode.

The Deserter

While searching for Grievous on a distant planet - Rex encounters a deserter.

Grievous crash lands on Saleucami. Obi-Wan and some clones go after him. While tracking him, Rex is injured and stays is put up with some farmers. Turns out that one of them, Cut Lawquane, is a clone deserter. Cut and Rex argue the merits of deserting the military and then are forced to work together when commando droids attack Cut’s farm. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and the rest of the clones find and battle Grievous, who gets away once again. Cut and Rex are successful and Rex decides not to alert the others to Cut’s identity and lets the farmer live in peace with his family.

Okay, the episode sets itself up with competing ideologies, which is great and all, but I found it fairly watered down, which is understandable considering that it is a kids’ show. Sure, the morality of breeding clones for warfare and their rights as people is an interesting topic, but it’s hard to do it justice in twenty minutes of kidfare. Still, I’ve got to give the show’s staff credit for even broaching such a subject, even if it’s the Cliff’s Notes version.

Apart from that, I didn’t really care for the Grievous storyline. There was a bit too much droid humor and the fight with him and Obi-Wan was a bit of a let down after the previous episode. In fact, the whole Grievous plotline felt tagged on, as it is very apparent that the story the staff really wanted to tell was the one of Cut. I wish they’d have figured out how to tell that story apart from the one of tracking Grievous, as both could have used a full episode or two’s attention to flesh out. 7.5 out of 10.

Lightsaber Lost

When a wily pickpocket steals Ahsoka’s lightsaber - she enlists the help of an ancient Jedi to track down her weapon and reclaim her honor.

While Anakin and Ahsoka are busting criminals in Coruscant’s underbelly, a fish-like alien steals Ahsoka’s lightsaber. Enlisting the help of aged Jedi Tera Sinube, Ahsoka tracks down the thief, who points her to a crime boss. Ahsoka and Sinube find the criminal murdered and while his girlfriend, Ione Marcy, says she discovered a group of men in the apartment, Ahsoka discovers Cassie Cryar in the apartment with her lightsaber. She chases Cryar across Coruscant, while Marcy flees once the police show up to the apartment – put not before Sinube had placed a tracking device on her. Marcy helps Cryar escape Ahsoka, who then is rejoined by Sinube. They use the tracking device to follow the criminals to the train station, where Marcy is captured. Cassie takes hostages on the train, and Ahsoka offers herself for them. When Cassie declines, Master Sinube shows up and defeats Cassie, with Ahsoka regaining her lightsaber.

There’s a lot of strong design going on in the episode: Sinube, Ione Marcy, and Cassie are all interesting characters to look at, while the train is another nice design. The action set pieces are fantastic, as usual and Sinube’s lightsaber-cane was a nice touch. Again, not a lot of negatives in this one apart from Sinube having some stereotypical old-guy tendencies. 8 out of 10.

Weapons Factory

Luminara & Anakin act as decoys to divert new enemy super-tanks - while Padawans Barriss Offee & Ahsoka attempt to destroy a Separatist droid factory.

I wasn’t a big fan of this one. It’s not a bad episode, but it kind of felt like two episodes put into a single episode time frame. As if the entire third act - the search for the Padawans - could have been it’s own thing.

Apart from that rushed ending, the rest of the episode was decent. It was nice to see Luminara again and her padawan, Barriss, is a welcome new character to the show. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind more Barriss and Ahsoka team-up episodes (there’s another in “Brain Invaders”), as they make for a good duo.

There’s some good action scenes throughout and I particularly liked the destruction of the droid factory.

As far as the rushed ending was concerned, there were some decent elements to it. Not knowing Ahsoka’s fate in the Star Wars lore, I did have a bit of a genuine concern for here well-being. I didn’t honestly expect her to die (she doesn’t), but there was a part of me that thought it’d be awfully ballsy of the creative team to just kill her off this early on in the second season.

Despite that one setback, the rest of it’s entertaining enough. There have been very few bad episodes of the show, and this keeps the good episode trend going.

As I’ve been spending the better part of three days working on the “bible” (which is a compilation of notes, back story, history, etc.) for the fantasy adventure novel I’m in the process of revising (I needed a break from it, but wanted to remain within that “world”), it has occurred to me, “Hey, Jesse. You’re writing a serial-style adventure story that is largely sword and sorcery fantasy*. But you don’t even really like fantasy literature. What gives?”

And it’s true. I don’t like most fantasy literature I’ve attempted to read. There are exceptions – Tolkien’s tales of Middle-Earth (excluding “Fellowship of the Ring” which I loathed as a novel but loved as a film), CS Lewis’ Narnia books, the Harry Potter series, and Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” (at least, the first three books) – but I often have a difficult time slogging through the foreign names and random terms. Often, it feels like the authors are throwing names and such out there less out of the need to tell the story and moreso to convince the reader of the reality of their fictional world. “Borwath, son of Thrundul, stared across the fjords of Balentor and to the Spires of Miksdae’du, where the vile horde of Garen Jorax was defeated by the alliance of Cal Mortabia in the Age of Annex, before the shaping of the world.” Yeah, it may make for some interesting trivia in something like, say a D&D sourcebook, but as a convention of modern storytelling, it’s quite an easy way to slip out of the narrative and disconnect a reader from the story being told.

At least it is for me. Then again, I’m not a gaming nerd and can’t rightly say I’ve ever truly attempted a role-playing session other than a couple of botched attempts at West End Games’ old Star Wars games in the mid-90s. In fact, the whole of my experience with the realm of fantasy comes from the previously mentioned novels, “Star Wars” (which I argue is space fantasy and not science fiction), and “The Legend of Zelda” video games. Sure, I saw “Willow” as a kid, but have always felt that it suffered from the same issues I have with most fantasy fiction –at times it gets distracted with the details of its world and loses sight of the human story it’s supposed to be telling.

Which is something I’ve been trying very hard to be conscious of in my own writing. At this point in the revision process, I’m trying to keep the story very much rooted in the human experience and make it emotionally engaging rather than detail heavy. Therefore, if the characters really don’t care about the history of the Spires of Miksdai’du, or even know the names of them, they aren’t going to be mentioned. I’m trying to only put that kind of thing in there when it relates to knowledge that the reader absolutely needs to know for comprehension of the world I’m writing or if it actually affects the character. Otherwise, while it might be in my bible, it’s not going into the finished work. I’m much more interested in who these characters are as people and the personal journeys they go on. Maybe that makes me a bad fantasy writer to attempt a more mainstream approach. But so far, the few people who have read the first couple of chapters really seem to dig them, so I think I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. Besides, I’m telling the story I want to tell in the way that most interests me. And I hope that if my enthusiasm carries over, it’ll spread to the reader. If not, well, they should have been slain by Cal Mortabia during the Age of Annex as well…

*I say “largely” because if I extend beyond this initial book, which is very much ‘sword and sorcery’ fantasy, the true nature of the series will in fact revealed to be sword and sorcery novels detailing a ‘high fantasy’ tale.

I don’t necessarily see this is a bad thing. While I enjoyed the tone of the previous “Spider-Man” films as being truthful to the spirit of the comic, there were a few things about the last three films that I didn’t like.

1). They killed off the villains. Green Goblin in the first flick, Doctor Octopus in the second, and Venom and Green Goblin II in the third flick. Seriously? Didn’t the filmmakers learn anything from Burton’s “Batman” ‘89 mistake when they killed off the Joker? You just don’t kill off main villains! They’re reusable and an easy way to get butts back into theaters down the road if the series is sagging, especially if they’re well received villains (you can guarantee that if Heath Ledger were alive and came back for a “Batman 5 or 6″ people would go to that flick in droves). That was just ludicrous.

2). Everyone in the movies knows Peter Parker is Spider-man! Green Goblin, Mary Jane, Doc Ock, Sandman, Venom, Goblin II, shoot, even a trainload of folks in “Spider-Man 2″ saw him without his mask! There’s absolutely no need for him to reveal himself to everyone. Again, that was a mistake that the ‘89-’97 Batman films made and which the ‘05 - Present Bat-flicks have managed to control (isn’t the Rachel character the only unnecessary character to have found out he’s Batman in the new series? And shoot, they killed her off!).

3). Mary Jane. Sure, Peter EVENTUALLY winds up with her, but in the comics, there were other love interests that made Petey’s life a little more complicated: Gwen Stacey, Betty Brant, Felicia Hardy. It’d have been nice for there to be some more variety, instead of getting pigeon-holed with Pete and MJ getting together right away. Also, was it really necessary to have her be the damsel in distress in each flick’s third act?

Those are the three things I didn’t care for that all of the films had in common. There are other nitpicks for each film. Like “Spider-Man” could have probably benefited more from keeping the character in high school and dealing with the loss of his uncle, with maybe having him graduate at the end of the flick instead of half-way through it (not to mention Green Goblin’s “Power Rangers” outfit instead of something more closely resembling his original comics costume). “Spider-Man 2″ made Doc Ock a good man corrupted by machines instead of a mad scientist. And “Spider-Man 3″ had too many villains, some of which were pointless (Sandman) or underdeveloped (Venom) while having bits of ridiculousness thrown in (the strutting scene and the dance number).

Frankly, I think the previous “Spider-Man” franchise has a lot in common with the previous “Batman” franchise, with both showing signs of poor creative decisions that showed a narrow focus and didn’t look at a bigger, multi-film picture. Then throw in both series’ third films adding in more villains to sell more toys, and well, I’m kind of convinced that “Spider-Man 4″ would have been a clusterf**k of “Batman and Robin” proportions (especially if word of Pete and MJ having a baby and the Vulture having a daughter named Felicia Hardy - the comic book’s Black Cat - who was a villain named Vulturess panned out to have been true).

So, where does that leave us? Well, like I said, Sony has decided to reboot the series. I’m not 100% convinced that was necessarily the best choice as I think a “Spider-Man 4″ with new creative blood and new talent brought in could have been decent. But that’s not what they went with.

Instead, they’ve just announced Marc Webb (”(500) Days of Summer”) has signed a three-picture deal to lead this new series. But what else is known?

- The new series will take Peter Parker back to high school, having him learning to deal with his new powers and the knowledge that he was responsible for failing to prevent his uncle’s death (so, it’s an origin flick).

- They’re basing it on the “Ultimate Spider-Man” comics, where “villain-fighting took a back seat to the high school angst.”

- They’re looking to cast unknowns for the leads in a rumored 6 to 9 picture deal.

- Sony has set a budget of $80,000,000, so it most likely will be action-lite.

- Flash Thompson, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane Watson are involved in the current version of the script.

Basically, what this tells me is that Sony is looking to go after the “Twilight” crowd. Now, some websites (I’m looking at you, Chud.com) are comparing this to the TV series “Smallville” and basically calling it a teenage soap opera. Well, I suppose some of their comparisons are valid. But in my view, that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. If the cast are teens (or near-teens), why not do one entire flick with them in high school? Or maybe even three pictures? Spider-Man started off in the comics as a teenager, though admittedly, has spent most of his time in the Marvel Universe as a college student or pre-30 year-old. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with exploring that era of the characters’ lives for a film or three since it’s comic accurate (even if MJ and Gwen didn’t necessarily go to school with Pete). And if the cast is indeed going to be signing for more than three flicks, I can’t believe they’d want to keep them in high school indefinitely. So what’s the problem there?

Yeah, there may be some teen angst, but if it can be done well - and Webb’s proven himself adept at handling character development with “(500) Days of Summer” - then it shouldn’t be a problem.

My only real concern right now is that they’ll try to create high school versions of Spidey’s foes instead of leaving them at their proper ages. I don’t have an issue with playing around with the mythology a little bit but would prefer they stay as close to the comics in tone and spirit as they can. Also, I hope they don’t try to rush into the Venom storyline right away, and hope they develope it gradually (Venom isn’t a foe that Spidey should be facing off against until he’s had some time to be Spider-Man without the symbiote, I think).

Really, as a fan, I’m trying to remain open-minded and optimistic about these changes. I think it could be good. Or it could be worse than “Twilight.” I guess only time will tell. Until then, Excelsior!, True Believers.

Anakin, Ahsoka and Ki-Adi-Mundi lead a landing party to destroy a droid factory on Geonosis.

When this episode was initially previewed, I thought, “Geez, they’re going back to Geonosis? Lame…” Man was I ever wrong.

This episode is light on story and character development. But wow, if it isn’t one of the best action sequences ever done for Star Wars in any medium.

The whole thing is essentially a D-Day invasion by the Republic forces against the newly rebuilt droid factories of Geonosis. As such, it’s 100 times bigger than the previous invasion episodes in the Ryloth Trilogy. The imagery is striking and the sequences well done and amazing.

And by the time Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi utters, “Bring in the flame throwers!” I was blown away.

So it stands that a lot of the bands of that time-frame, I missed out on. In the last couple of years, I’ve been making attempts to catch some of them if the chance arose, as I did when the Smashing Pumpkins played my hometown in August of 2008 and I intend to do when Alice in Chains plays St. Louis in February. And with the reunited Cranberries hitting Chicago, I knew it would be a show I wouldn’t want to miss.

My buddies Andy, Craig and I made the normally 3-hour trek to Chicago in a little over 4 hours thanks to traffic and weather, took a wrong turn off of Lake Shore Dr., ended up having to traverse back alleys and cemeteries to find a parking spot, and made it to the Riviera Theatre half an hour late. Luckily, there were still people streaming in and so the show hadn’t started yet. Unfortunately, it was standing room only and our spot initially wasn’t the greatest (until the fat guy in front of us moved after the fourth or fifth song and we suddenly had a fantastic view of the stage).

The show itself was okay. Don’t get me wrong: they’re the Cranberries and their music in concert is as good as it is on the CD. But for at least the first few songs, something seemed off, as if the band just wasn’t clicking. That changed however and they eventually found a rhythm and pumped out some life into the crowd. Still, the only two performers that seemed like they wanted to be there were singer Dolores O’Riordan and drummer Fergal Lawler, both of whom were much more fun to watch than the rest of the band.

My other problem was, despite doing some new material and some of O’Riordan’s solo stuff, the concert seemed more like a meeting of fan’s expectations than a true show, with the band hitting each of their hits and not straying too far off the beaten path. That kind of bothered me as I would have liked a bit more depth to their set list, much as the Smashing Pumpkins injected into their when they did their 2008 mini-tour (however, “Zombie” right before the encore and “Dreams” as the final song still killed).

Still, despite those slight criticisms and the fact that it was a billion degrees inside the Riviera, the show was still enjoyable. It may not have been the same quasi-religious experience that the Pumpkins produced, but it was still better than some shows I’ve attended (I’m looking squarely at you, Nugent). And based on the new stuff they played, I look forward to them returning to the music scene, should they decide to release a new album.

At the Jedi Council’s request - Padmé investigates a Separatist conspiracy in the Senate.

I don’t know what it was about this episode, but it really failed to connect with me on a storytelling level. The set up was believable enough, but about mid-way through, all the tension that the CW crew seemed to be building to just dropped out and I just didn’t care about the plot anymore.

That’s not to say that the episode is bad; it just seemed like the second half of it needed to be fleshed out - as if they had a rough draft, animated it and just let it go.

There’s a lot of good though too. Banking Clan member Rush Clovis has an interesting design and seems like a character that could create an interesting antagonist, provided they decide to bring him back.

There’s actually a lot of pretty design work at display here, and the episode seems to be a showcase for locations.

But overall, it just didn’t do anything for me and seemed to be the first episode in awhile that was truly forgettable.