Warp Beasts and Sith
Because we’re talking a bit about monsters.
The Ark 2.2 “Kill Or Be Killed”
With so few humans left, they really need to stop threatening to airlock people.
(Also, you need…never mind).
There are quite a few people who want to airlock Kelly, but it’s becoming more and more clear that her implants have been controlling her.
The overall mistrust (and Musk Lite wanting to restart his eugenics program) is causing some pretty major tension. Will a trial help?
And what can they do with Kelly. Lock her up…until they need her, of course. Ark One is also in a shoddy state and they are jumping back to Ark Three to get spare parts so they can follow the other arks to Trappist-1.
Which leads to…looks like next episode is going to be quite Star Trek.
Star Wars: Clone Wars: 4.13 “Escape From Kadawo”
Time for the Jedi to save everyone. Except for the slaver queen who actually does seem to have fallen for Anakin. She actually faces down Dooku when Dooku demands his execution…and pays the price.
Now it’s time to rescue the slaves from the Kadawo Mining Facility. Anakin is royally pissed. Obi-Wan has been enslaved.
But its Ahsoka who comes up with the way to save the slaves, who are her own species. Or rather, a colonial offshoot. As usual, this ends with them joining the Republic.
It’s such a shame they’re going to lose.
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.14 “A Friend In Need”
One thing I appreciate about this show is that they do stories of varying length and mostly get it right. This is a one off episode.
Peace talks are taking place on Mandalore, but they’re interrupted by a furious Separatist senator who blames Dooku for the death of his mother.
Ahsoka pulls him out and tries to get him to go to Coruscant, but he uses sleep gas on her and hooks up with Death Watch. (Note that we know they aren’t honorable Mandalorians from the amount they take off their helmets).
Is this the very, very start of the Rebel Alliance? He goes off to look for a third way…and one has to wonder.
Also some points made about justice and vengeance.
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.15 “Deception”
Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead! As he has the ultimate plot immortality, we know he isn’t.
In fact, he’s faking his death, disguising himself as the bounty hunter who killed him, and infiltrating a plot against the Chancellor.
Anakin’s going to kill him for real when he finds out and Ahsoka might not try to stop him.
Space prison is the same as regular prison down to the crappy food. But Obi-Wan’s good at this. One starts to understand how he survived the Purge.
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.16 “Friends And Enemies”
Oh, Anakin. Palpatine has your number. Your feelings make you special. Your lack of a BS detector…
Palpatine manipulates Anakin into going after “Hardin,” likely in the hope that Anakin will kill his own friend and take a fast downward elevator to the Dark Side.
Thankfully, Obi-Wan is still the better fighter. Anakin now knows his master is alive, but still didn’t recognize him through the alien makeup. He’s confused. We’re confused ;).
Well, no, but…the plot does indeed continue. And I still think Anakin is going to have some serious words with his old master when this is all over…
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.17 “The Box”
I’ve never understood why villains waste particularly talented minions…or in this case contractors…in contrived contests to the death. The Box is a death trap designed to see who can handle complicated security systems.
But there was no need to kill anyone. Waste of talent, Dooku. Waste of talent.
Needless to say, disguised Obi-Wan, protected by Prequel Armor, is pretty much the best. The team is assembled…to kidnap Palpatine and hopefully set up a prisoner exchange.
Interesting contests, but I couldn’t get past Waste Of Talent.
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.18 “Crisis on Naboo”
Another thing that seems odd…how does Dooku not know that Hardin is Obi-Wan?
A: Of course he does and he’s made it part of his plan. He’s actually pulling the classic “Assassination attempt designed to fail, real attempt after security relaxes” trick.
(He also insults Anakin. That one’s a burn. But we see the possibility of a rift between Anakin and Obi-Wan and we see how Palpatine is seriously starting to get to Anakin. There’s a lot of show left to happen, but…
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.19 “Massacre”
Wow. Just…wow. Ventress goes home to the Night Sisters, who make a very reasonable suggestion. Come home, stay home, renounce Dooku, avoid the war.
It’s a shame Dooku won’t let her do that. The Night Sisters are powerful, but even raising their entire cemetery as zombies and making a poppet of Dooku doesn’t allow them to win.
Ventress is abandoned, resistance is futile, and now she has to go find a new path.
(This also explains why we never heard of the Night Sisters before, although I have to assume they aren’t all dead…)
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.20 “Bounty”
Ventress goes to a certain shady starport bar on Tatooine. The band has one song. Seriously. There, she kills a guy who creeps on her…
…who happens to be one of Boba Fett’s bounty hunters. His second, Bossk, gives her an ultimatum: Join them for the next job or he’s calling the cops.
She accepts, but has no respect for Boba when she sees he hasn’t even made it through puberty yet.
And when she discovers it’s a kidnap job, she double crosses Boba and the client to return the young girl, who’s like 13, that the crime lord intended to marry. Eww. Have to admit I’m on her side.
When the team asks her to stay, she leaves, having started to find her conscience again.
(I mean. Eww).
I like Ventress. Her arc is interesting. Can you be redeemed from the Dark Side? She certainly seems determined to try…
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.21 “Brothers”
So, I have a major problem with this episode. First of all, a sophont snake makes no sense. He has absolutely no manipulative appendages, so how does he use tools? Tools come before language.
Second of all, can we please knock it off with snakes being a symbol of evil? It’s boring and unfair on actual snakes, who are amazing.
Maul has been turned into a drider. Seriously. A. Drider.
Yeah, this is all kind of too much, but hopefully the second part will be better.
Star Wars: Clone Wars 4.22 “Revenge”
Okay, so, better, although I’m not sure the magic prosthetics made of spare parts are actually an upgrade from drider.
Obi-Wan teaming up with Ventress is hilarious, including “Red’s not my color” when she lends him one of her lightsabers and “You’re going to run?” “I learned from you.”
Under different circumstances, these two would totally be friends, and I think the “red” line is my favorite in this entire show.
Made up for the anti-snake stereotypes last episode. Mostly.
Star Wars: Clone Wars 5.1 “Revival”
Maul mildly beats up his brother to convince him that Maul is the master and Savage the apprentice. Then he tries to recruit himself some minions…by “stealing” them from a pirate.
Unfortunately for Maul, the pirate has a history with Kenobi and, apparently, there’s some mutual respect there.
Pretty good lightsaber fights and I loved the pirate “king.” Maul has now vanished, perhaps dead…but we all know he’ll be back…
They basically spread a standard two parter over the season end here to get a good cliffhanger.
Star Wars: Clone Wars 5.2 “A War on Two Fronts”
So, this is the first time we hear the word “Rebel” and it’s on Alderaan. We actually get to see a good bit of the doomed world (although no baby Bail, yet).
Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka head to Alderaan to act as advisors to rebels involved in guerilla warfare. The Jedi council isn’t actually too keen on the idea because it’s “too close to terrorism.”
One man’s terrorist…
That the Rebel Alliance started on Alderaan makes sense than any of my other theories on the matter. And we get plenty of Ahsoka being adorable.