User Reviews

Ahsoka said that Anakin is the kind of person who will do anything to get the better outcome. This episode's theme of attachment was shown through Anakin's attachment to his Padawan and how it guided him into enhanced interrogation more typical of Vader than a Jedi. This was contrasted with the other Jedi who could not get the results from force mind manipulation but did not go further. This included Luminara-the master of the other endangered Padawan-who had stated in the previous episode her fatalistic acceptance of the potential death of her Padawan as being ultimately out of her control.

As Anakin expounds to Ahsoka at the end of the episode the Jedi lesson on non-attachment it is clear that he has not learnt it himself, and even is averse to it to an extent. It is not a knowing hypocrisy, but it shows how the Jedi wisdom must be complete. His lack of understanding in this area will eventually cause a lot of grief which will be amplified by all his other wisdom and power.

This episode was fun to watch. The duels among Ahsoka and Bariss were great. Ahsoka also had some kind of an attachment to Bariss and she wouldn't want to kill her. She also speaks to Bariss about Anakin and says that he does what he thinks is right. This is a great thing to say about Anakin, because he does what he thinks is right, even if the council may disagree. Anakin, also tortures the Geonosian sepratist, and torture, is not the Jedi way. The Jedi use their mind tricks at the very most. It kind of reminds me of how Kylo Ren tortures Poe Dameron about the map.

"They don't bother to knock. She's the only chance anyone has got." Wow, I thought the previous episode was "high concept", but this one really takes the crown! But with a difference - IT'S ACTUALLY GOOD! (I "shouted" in case anyone who's read my review of the previous episode thought I was being unfair in my review. You will now see that I am objective.) Both this and "Legacy of Terror" incorporate movies/genres I really like to the Star Wars universe, and after defiling Aliens and zombie movies, I was not looking forward to this one. But I should have known from the delicious B-movie-ish title that this would redeem the series.

So *why* does this one work? I won't repeat myself by telling why "Legacy of Terror" did not work, and even though the episodes are part of a larger story arc, this one easily beats the preceding ones (don't get me started on what's wrong with the unimaginatively named "Weapons Factory"). I see that IMDb has Andrew Kreisberg credited as a writer, whereas "Legacy of Terror" has *no* credited writer at all, only a supervising writer. Hmm... Maybe he supervised a room full of monkeys writing "Legacy of Terror". Anyway, the director of both is the same, and to be fair, Steward Lee did the best he could with the awful, awful script (supposing there was one) of the previous episode. Here, the writer is the architect of fear (yes, I used that intentionally - please feel free to do a search if it does not ring a bell) and director the contractor who builds the shocker.

I was actually shocked when watching this episode. Compared to Legacy of Lameness, this felt scary - and I'm an adult! I wonder how many kids got nightmares from this one. The parasites slithering into mouths of the clones, Barriss impaling the clone with her lightsaber. Also, Anakin torturing a prisoner is also a bit harsh for a kids' series. Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly in his character and nicely foreshadows his actions as Darth Vader at the beginning of Episode IV. And don't you forget that Mr. Lucas felt the need to "soften" Han Solo's character in the moronic 1997 Special Edition by having him literally sitting on his ass and letting Greedo shoot first. I can't wait for the sanitized version of this episode! But I digress. (That was also intentional. Maybe the fact that this episode "borrows" elements from unexpected movies has somehow conditioned me to consciously borrow phrases from here and there.) From beginning to end, this is a well-structured episode that has a gripping feel and moves at such speed that the previous episode seems... well, like a shambling zombie in comparison (couldn't resist). *Now* there really is a feeling that the heroes are in mortal peril and the borrowed elements actually work in a Star Wars environment. There's almost nothing to criticize here.

Almost. The way the Wisdom of the Week is incorporated into the episode in the last line of dialog is clumsy. That's it. That is my only criticism. Most episodes of this series follow a simple formula like Michael Bay: blow s**t up, then blow some more s**t up (since you can't kill living humanoids... wait, that *did* happen in this episode!). Here there is a plot with real progression, not just a fight after fight with boring pseudo-philosophical Jedi mumbling as filler. This is easily the best episode of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" Mk. II, although Genndy Tartakovsky's Mk. I still has this series beaten. Which reminds me - I think I know why Mk. I DVDs are OoP and no new ones seem to be coming: you see, Tartakovsky had the honor of *introducing* General Grievous and did a *fantastic* job at it. There was one very cool thing that happened in the final episode of season 2 of Mk. I - let's just say that before that moment, Grievous was not having respiratory problems like he did in Episode III. And the last scene of Mk. I leads *straight* to the opening scene of Episode III. Since Mr. Lucas realized Grievous was cool and wanted to use him in Mk. II, he had to erase Tartakovsky's series from the canon. After all, you can't use a character if he hasn't been introduced according to the canon. So he retcons like with Greedo. I would have a word with Mr. Lucas but since it's been stated in print that apparently no one dares to disagree with him, Mr. Lucas would probably be unfamiliar with the concept of constructive criticism and thus beyond any suggestions. So let's just hope great, if not classic, episodes like this one somehow escape his tampering in the future as well. I give a 8/10.