I’ve gotten a bit behind in my reviews of The Clone Wars. Since I’m pretty jazzed about the most recent episode, I figured I’d get caught up by reviewing all the episodes leading up to it in one giant post.
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.
Tags: Ahsoka, Anakin, Cassie Cryar, Clone Wars, Jedi, Obi-Wan, Star Wars, Yoda