TCW - "Dooku Captured"

The very title of this episode seemed rather suspect from the start. How in the stars can Dooku be captured, let alone by non-Jedi? The answers are somewhat lacking.

The story starts off with a rather shaky idea: Anakin Skywalker has allowed himself to be captured by Dooku and imprisoned on Dooku's ship, while Obi-Wan sneaks on board the ship later to rescue Anakin, so that they can both fight Dooku together.
There are many problems with that plan.

• How do the Jedi know that Dooku wants Anakin alive? He certainly hasn't seemed to show any such mercy in their previous encounters.
• Why did the Jedi have to go separately? If it's as easy to get on board Dooku's ship as Obi-Wan made it seem, then why couldn't Anakin simply have gone with Obi-Wan?
• What was their goal, exactly? Did the Jedi want to capture Dooku? That would seem to contrast with their goal in Revenge of the Sith, where they only wanted to kill him and be done with it.

There's a cool moment where Dooku, while sliding down a (very conveniently-placed) escape shaft, fires lightning backwards over his shoulder at Anakin, which Anakin blocks with his lightsaber. It's cool to see lightning being used in a very specific fashion--like a weapon--rather than the seemingly random "LOOK AT MY POWER!!!" way that it's been used before in the films. The more weaponized, clever use of the Force is an apparent constant in TCW, and is always appreciated.

The Jedi/Dooku confrontation scene seemed rather odd, if only because of continuity. It seemed that the Dooku fight scene in Revenge of the Sith was the first time that Obi-Wan and Anakin had fought against Dooku together since the Battle of Geonosis, so this scene in "Dooku Captured" was a bit odd, considering that it was a very similar situation.

The cave scene bothered me. It really seemed unnecessary, though it was cool to finally see a gundark.

I must say that I never liked the comic banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had an amazing fight scene in the beginning of The Phantom Menace that was devoid of silly lines that would have otherwise ruined the seriousness and coolness of the situation. Revenge of the Sith, on the other hand, had an Obi-Wan/Anakin scene that was filled with cheesy, forced lines. If I never have to hear another line of not-so-witty banter, I'll be happy. Sadly, The Clone Wars seems to be following in Revenge of the Sith's tradition.

Dooku's capture made sense in that he really wouldn't be able to defeat 30-40 pirates, especially not without his lightsaber (and no rocks or ceilings to drop on them). However, it made the entire point of the episode rather unclear.

All in all, this episode was really very... "bleh."

The Jedi Order: Stagnant Philosophy

It is my belief that by the time of The Phantom Menace (32 BBY), the Jedi order had become stagnant. They had been without a strong Dark Side enemy for a millennium, and were piling policies and personal limitations upon the "Jedi Code." In a sense, they were building up the Order more as a philosophical religion than an actual peacekeeping force.

Perhaps more important was the fact that they actually became a peacekeeping force. In previous time periods, the Jedi had been soldiers in war. It was in these times--such as the Sith War (approx. 4000 BBY, chronicled in Knights of the Old Republic) and the Yuuzhan Vong War (25-29 ABY)--that the Jedi Order did not have policies prohibiting romantic attachments. Luke Skywalker married Mara Jade in full knowledge of the Old Republic Jedi Order's stance on the issue. Luke remarked that--although he didn't understand how or why--being with Mara felt "right." Considering that Luke was the first of the Jedi after the Force had been brought back into balance--and the fact that he was the catalyst for the redemption of the Chosen One and the end of the Sith--his opinion should mean quite a bit.

In the period of time before the Clone Wars, the Jedi had become stale. With no great conflict to keep them tethered to the natural world, they simply lost touch with reality, becoming more ethereal philosophers than actual warriors. This is notable because the Jedi need to be warriors. After all, they can't keep the peace without fighting for it.
This lack of "fight" may be the problem. Obi-Wan states in Revenge of the Sith that "only a Sith deals in absolutes." This may or may not mean that Jedi do not believe in absolutes (which does not seem to be true, as they often speak of an absolute light and dark), but it most definitely means that they do not always act in absolutes. This may simply mean that they have mercy, and do not always deal out harsh punishment, but it is more likely that they do not actually have any concrete concepts for actions to be taken.

In essence, the Jedi had become lost in their own rampant idealism and religion, losing their common sense. It was only after the New Jedi Order began that the true Jedi way was accepted. Qui-Gon Jinn was truly the only "true" Jedi Knight seen in the Star Wars prequels, with the possible exception of pre-Dark Side Anakin.

Of course, the truth is that the KOTOR and NJO eras were filled with war and darkside conversions. Does that mean that the Jedi of the prequel films were correct in their overly restrictive philosophy? After all, if not for the Sith secretly lying in wait for a thousand years, perhaps the Jedi would not have fallen; it's not as if too many Jedi were actually turning to the Dark Side during that time.

However, it's my belief that the Star Wars galaxy simply must be at war. History in the Star Wars universe is cyclical; a neverending loop of light and dark struggling against one another. If the stars aren't at war, something's wrong.

TCW - "Lair of Grievous"

This was a rather cool episode, though not without many flaws/boring bits.

This episode is a great example of how The Clone Wars is making each and every Jedi unique, and it's awesome to see. Kit Fisto had a pretty cool characterization, complete with an accent and a rare fighting style. His former apprentice, Nahdar Vebb, was especially interesting, since this is the first main-character Mon Calamari to grace the screen since Admiral Ackbar. Vebb fights with a more rigid and slightly awkward fighting style than that of other Jedi; perhaps this is a result of his Calamari physiology? It would seem so, and it fit very well.

I'm happy to see an episode where Grievous is an actual threat, however I am still slightly upset at the fact that the episode's plot still revolved around Grievous's patheticness, and Grievous still couldn't beat Fisto in the end without backup from hs magnaguards.

Still, though, it was a pretty amazing moment when Fisto grabbed a second saber and revealed that he knew Jar'Kai (the two-saber style).


This is easily the best example of the amazing animation present in TCW. While the early episodes of TCW had extremely stiff animations for the saber fights, this episode really shined as the best example thus far of fluidity and attention to detail. Fisto's head-tails and sabers moved in a dazzling show of circular motion that's not been seen on TCW before. It was perhaps one of the best moments of the series thus far, even though it lasted only a few seconds.

Unfortunately, this episode doesn't hold up as well when viewed as a whole. It's certainly got some great elements, but as an overall narrative it suffers. While the Jar'Kai moment was stellar, the rest of the episode wasn't as entertaining.

TCW - "Cloak of Darkness"

This episode has raised the standard for The Clone Wars in nearly every possible way. "Cloak of Darkness" is (as its name suggests) dark, violent, and amazing.

The often-stiff animations of previous Clone Wars episodes are rarely seen in this episode. The lightsaber battles, often the weakest point of the series, are amazing here. Every strike of the saber is purposeful and well-animated, giving an ultra-stylized yet realistic feel. Without a doubt, the engine room saber fight is actually better than many of the battles seen in the Star Wars films.

Luminara Unduli's characterization was great. Yoda aside, she seems to be the only Jedi we've met thus far who is genuinely gentle. Her voice, movement, and dress all compliment her soft personality. However, she is also shown to be a great warrior. Her only real flaw is her blind belief in the superiority of the Jedi, which she eventually learns from.

One extremely notable thing about this episode is that it begins to show Ahsoka's darker side. She is most definitely the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, as she uses force (and even fear) to accomplish her goals.

The character of Captain Argyus was very cool. His voice was excellently done by James Marsters (of Buffy and Smallville fame), and his characterization was great. His not-so-noble end was perhaps the most shocking thing seen in this show thus far, and perhaps even in all of American TV animation history. Argyus literally is stabbed through the chest and chokes on his own lung.

All in all, this episode stands as the pinnacle of storytelling in this series thus far. Its editing, animation, dialogue, and story are astounding to watch. There were very few moments in which I had to remind myself that this is a TV series with budget constraints. This may be the only episode of The Clone Wars that I can watch completely relaxed, without having to find fault.

If you watch any episode of this series, watch this one.

TCW - "Bombad Jedi"

So this was interesting.
Jar Jar works better here in The Clone Wars than he ever did in the films, but not by a lot. It seems that the Clone Wars crew is in with the audience on the fact that Jar Jar is a joke, and they properly treat him as such.

Jar Jar's antics aren't the problem with this episode; it's the fact that his antics are the only notable thing about the episode. Some interesting stuff happens here—we go to a new planet for the first time, Padmé is captured but escapes, and Nute Gunray is captured by the Republic. But all of those things are secondary to Jar Jar pretending to be a Jedi and stumbling his way into saving the day.

Thus far, we've had stories in The Clone Wars that reach epic heights of storytelling, filled with war drama, action, and all the things we expect from Star Wars. A comedy-centric episode like this one breaks that pattern, but would actually be a nice change of pace, if not for the fact that Jar Jar is hardly the best example of good comedy, even by Star Wars standards.

The best that can really be said about this episode is that it makes Jar Jar seem "not so bad" instead of awful. That's not good enough, I think, to justify the episode's existence. I would rather have had this story as a web-exclusive short rather than an entire 22-minute TCW episode.

TCW - "Duel of the Droids"

This is a bit better than last week's episode, but not by much. At the very least, was cool to see the Jedi-leading-small-team-of-soldiers-into-enemy-territory style of action scene, one of my favorites (and not seen since The Phantom Menace).

General Grievous is a threat again, for the first time since the Tartakovsky Clone Wars animated series. His cat-and-mouse chase with Ahsoka was nicely tense.

The "bumper-battle" between the astro droids was pretty funny. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I always wanted to see R2 droids try to fight each other by bumping into one another. Now my dreams have been realized. Thank you, Lucasfilm.

All in all, I actually feel like this entire 2-part story arc would have been better-served by combining both episodes into one. Instead of the whole subplot with the droid smuggler, R2 could have been stolen by Grievous immediately after the first battle, leading straight to the rescue mission. As it is, this episode is somewhat decent, but barely on the side of "pretty good" instead of boring.

TCW - "Downfall of a Droid"

This feels less on par with the previous episodes we've seen and more like the Clone Wars movie, which is very bad. Given that it was one of the first episodes produced (apparently at the same time as the movie), it's understandable, but still not enjoyable. Everything here feels like a bad first attempt: stiff animations, so-so voice acting, sub-par writing, and electronic rock music that feels horribly out of place.



If there's anything interesting about this episode, it's the fact that it implies R2 is special because his memory has never been wiped and he's been allowed to build up a personality. R2's always been This has been theorized about by fans, but it's nice to hear it confirmed directly.

There's really not a whole lot to say about the episode. It has a decent concept, but the execution is so far off the mark that it's hard to care.