User Reviews

The plot of the episode is pretty straightforward as both the Republic and the CIS are trying to sway neutral systems to their sides. While the Separatists pride themselves on their disruptive technology and the numbers of their battle droids, the Republic counts on the superiority and aura of the Jedi Knights. Thus, Master Yoda is dispatched with a squad of clone troopers to negotiate an alliance with the King of Toydaria.

He will have to fight his way through platoons of battle droids, super battle droids and droidekas sent after him by a new villain who invited herself to the negotiations: Asajj Ventress. The episode packs a lot of action in its runtime and it is pretty enjoyable to see it doubling down on Yoda's portrayal in AOTC as an unrivaled Master of the Force and lightsaber combat. It is quite a fun moment despite the limitations of the animation and the overtop goofyness of the B1 battle droids. Ventress is determined to please her Master, Dooku, and does her best to defeat Yoda despite being schooled by the Grandmaster. It ends up being a promising start in the series and I am quite interested to see more of her character.

The episode features prominently clone troopers Thire, Rys and Jek as well, fighting alongside Master Yoda. The most interesting part of this episode comes for me from the writing of these characters as individuals caught up in a war that is not their own, struggling with an identity beyond mere canon fodder. In a clear standout moment, Master Yoda humanizes them for the audience, poiting out their differences in the Force and offering them words of wisdom. Yoda is here as witty and wise than he will be in ESB and his advice perfectly encapsulates the morals of the episode : "Great leaders inspire greatness in others."

My rating : 7.7/10.

This is a very solid start to the series (still watching it, so I can't judge it as a whole yet), but it's a good start. I think that my only problem with it is that it's pretty much just a filler episode. Again, it's good, but it doesn't really add anything to the story of the series (except from introducing Ventress). I really like the idea of Ventress challenging Yoda and a few Clones against her droids, I like how Yoda sees all the clones as very different persons, even though they have the same appearance. And I think it's pretty well executed. I just wish it brought a little more to the story of the series.