User Reviews

I should have known "Brain Invaders" was just a statistical anomaly. I mean this is a series where of the 22 episodes of the first season 13 centered on a battle and 9 involved a rescue mission - often in the same episode. The only episodes in season 1 to break this mold were "Cloak of Darkness" (#1.9), "Trespass" (#1.15) and "Mystery of a Thousand Moons" (#1.18). Talk about lack of originality. And here we have another rescue mission, this time with a "surprise" twist that is a surprise *only* to the characters, not the viewers. Hello! Anybody home? If you want to write a *good* twist, you keep the viewers in the dark about it just like the characters. But then again, this *is* a Lucasfilm production and they made the same mistake with Returm of the Jedi way back in 1983. Mind you, it was the first Star Wars film I was allowed to see in a theater, and at the time, I thought it was the greatest film ever. I know better now. I hope those young viewers enthralled at the time of the first airing of this series will some years down the line realize how hollow and repetitive this is.

"Grievous Intrigue" is by no means among the weakest episodes of "The Clone Wars". The first battle is very well choreographed. Anakin's infiltration of Grievous' ship is a nice nod to Han Solo's use of the Falcon's landing claw in The Empire Strikes Back. The way Grievous uses all four of his lightsabers to cut through the airlock of Obi-Wan's ship is cool. Grievous and Obi-Wan's duels are cool. And the airlock struggle is genuinely exciting. However, when there comes an opportunity to deepen Grievous' character when Obi-Wan talks with him, it is wasted. Ironically, Obi-Wan says: "I hear a lot of talking, General, but in the final accounting, where does the talking get you?" Exactly nowhere in terms of character development. And the Let's-Go-to-Commercial-Cliffhanger of "The story of Obi-Wan Kenobi ends here!" is as pointless as all such cliffhangers in this series. Hello? We already know which characters make it to Episode III. Therefore, no suspension, only yawning while lazily pondering, "I wonder how they will get out of trouble this week..." And the droid captain of General Grievous' ship is a baffling creation. By his own admission, Grievous' out-thinking the Jedi's tactics is "very impressive, even by my standards". Who does this droid think he is? I'd expect Grievous to have beheaded him ages ago for insolence. All in all, given that this episode involves both battles and a rescue mission but gives us *nothing* special, it therefore is worth of only an average 5/10.

I have been having difficulty with the first two seasons overall (everyone says that the show begins to get really good in season 3), but this episode definitely made me feel even more fatigue. Don't get me wrong- season 2 has been a slight improvement over season 1, but the show still continues to engage in pointless cul-de-sacs.

Nothing of any real note is accomplished here. A new Jedi is saved, there are some okay action scenes, and Grievous, by canonical necessity, gets away again. I wouldn't mind Grievous not being caught or defeated if there were some kind of ripple effects of his attempted capture. Something character-wise or thematically should be accomplished. We get neither this episode. We don't even really get any significant plot advancements. The Geonosis plotline started strong but then went on too long, but it at least continued the campaign against the Separatists. This episode is stalling at its finest.