Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x01 - 02
Feb. 5th, 2021 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsStar Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x01: “Holocron Heist”
As an episode, I think I like this one (pending how the arc plays out); as a season premier...I'm less sure. It does have a slightly different vibe than s1, which isn't a bad thing if it's meant to signal a shift in storytelling, that shift feels like an improvement; but I also have some issues.
For one, I don't like Bane. I do like them having the option to do smaller scale threats instead of having to be war and battles all the time, but he'd bordering on a villain-sue. At worst, his plans go awry because someone else screws up, and even that hasn't caused him any real problems so far. It's only the second episode with him, and this problem is by no means fully established, but it's a niggle and I hope I don't continue to feel this way about him.
On the flip side, I do kind of understand the corner the writers are in trying to create a villain that can go up against out Jedi main characters. It the war stories, you can always throw more droids at them, but trying to have someone for them to match wits against who can actually be a problem does take some finagling. And I might be willing to give the writers that leeway on an OP villain if it didn't also dumb down the heroes. The contrived way they went about leveling the playing field in the previous episode was already a problem. This episode hands him the victory in the name of plot; and in some ways I'm not sure it needed to.
While it would have been even stranger as a choice for the season premier, if more of the action had been played from Bane's perspective, instead of cutting back and forth between his POV and the Jedis', then I think he it would have ended up presenting him as more cunning than he does in the product we have. He's a man who can't hope to match the Jedi if it comes to fighting, but he can out-play them. That would have established him as a credible threat. Alternately, if we had stuck more closely to the Jedi POV, with them hunting down whatever was going on and always seeming to be one step behind, you don't have to make them look like idiots to make the villain look good.
Or if you hadn't given Yoda such plot-convenient foresight, it could have come on people as a surprise. Mostly I just found Yoda really annoying in this one; but then, I often find Yoda pretty annoying.
Another part of why I find Bane to be an unwelcome addition to things, is that I feel like I'm supposed to find him cool, and I don't. He doesn't have enough character to be cool, but he's taking too much time away from focusing on the series' mains for it to be cool when they go up against him. I'd like it see his presence develop into a cat and mouse game any time he's in the picture; but so far all his importance and presence seems to be in the mind of the writers instead of on screen.
Then again, I've never understood the appeal of Boba Fett either. Maybe I just don't get bounty hunters.
I'm not sure how to take Sidious calling Bane up to do this job. Does that support my theory from last ep or go against it? They don't talk like Bane often works for Sidious, but Palpatine clearly has his number now.
I do feel like some of my thoughts on this ep will be greatly influenced by what comes next, so I guess I'll have to look into that.
At least the animation is better here than it was in the s1 finale.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x02: “Cargo of Doom”
For once I've been able to pin down why I feel weird about an episode; I feel critical of it, but I feel aware of it on a more Watsonian level. Everyone is pretty much in character in their mistakes; and it lets them make mistakes without coming off like idiots the way I felt for parts of last episode.
And that is a major step forward in my appreciation of this show, that I look at it and think of what it does for Anakin's character, what is says about his relationships to other characters, that kind of thing; instead a more detached way of asking what are the writers trying to say about those things. Because this is a really good Anakin episode, masquerading as a big time action show. And I've always said in these things, that I don't mind shows having a lot of action, so long as it is there to support the characters or larger story.
For one, the Admiral is clearly getting frustrated with Anakin's attitude and behavior. And that's an understandable attitude with some of the stuff Anakin has pulled in the series. Though I do feel the need to point out that he made quite an effort to rise to Ahsoka's defense last season; so right now I don't know whether to call it an Anakin thing or a Jedi thing. And since this episode has Anakin getting several people killed for no measurable gain, it's hard to blame people for getting frustrated.
These last couple episodes have seemed a bit more settling in how to portray Anakin and Ahsoka's relationship, where instead of having them feed on each others' reckless tendencies, they're actually learning to check them. There's also an element of 'what goes around comes around' as Anakin finds himself needing to be the adult to Ahsoka the way Obi-wan was for him; and I would say part of the difference is that he's still pretty young himself, but Obi-wan wasn't exactly a well seasoned Jedi Knight in TPM when he took Anakin on.
This is also a fairly subtle but layered look at what will eventually drive Anakin to the Dark Side. Shown here through his choice with Ahsoka, we revisit that he will put the safety of those he cares about over the greater good. And this works a point along that same road but it's not necessarily obviously that without hindsight, because it's a choice most people would make at this stage. Even though it is presented in contrast to the other Jedi who was willing to die to protect the data; it is generally easier to sacrifice one's self instead of those closest to us. But whether we say Anakin's choice was right or moral or understandable; it shows that as a Jedi he's not quite on the right path.
Oh, and speaking of the other Jedi...um, kids show? I have to assume this was allowed because it was bloodless and an alien, but that's still quite a thing to put in a kids show.
As an episode, I think I like this one (pending how the arc plays out); as a season premier...I'm less sure. It does have a slightly different vibe than s1, which isn't a bad thing if it's meant to signal a shift in storytelling, that shift feels like an improvement; but I also have some issues.
For one, I don't like Bane. I do like them having the option to do smaller scale threats instead of having to be war and battles all the time, but he'd bordering on a villain-sue. At worst, his plans go awry because someone else screws up, and even that hasn't caused him any real problems so far. It's only the second episode with him, and this problem is by no means fully established, but it's a niggle and I hope I don't continue to feel this way about him.
On the flip side, I do kind of understand the corner the writers are in trying to create a villain that can go up against out Jedi main characters. It the war stories, you can always throw more droids at them, but trying to have someone for them to match wits against who can actually be a problem does take some finagling. And I might be willing to give the writers that leeway on an OP villain if it didn't also dumb down the heroes. The contrived way they went about leveling the playing field in the previous episode was already a problem. This episode hands him the victory in the name of plot; and in some ways I'm not sure it needed to.
While it would have been even stranger as a choice for the season premier, if more of the action had been played from Bane's perspective, instead of cutting back and forth between his POV and the Jedis', then I think he it would have ended up presenting him as more cunning than he does in the product we have. He's a man who can't hope to match the Jedi if it comes to fighting, but he can out-play them. That would have established him as a credible threat. Alternately, if we had stuck more closely to the Jedi POV, with them hunting down whatever was going on and always seeming to be one step behind, you don't have to make them look like idiots to make the villain look good.
Or if you hadn't given Yoda such plot-convenient foresight, it could have come on people as a surprise. Mostly I just found Yoda really annoying in this one; but then, I often find Yoda pretty annoying.
Another part of why I find Bane to be an unwelcome addition to things, is that I feel like I'm supposed to find him cool, and I don't. He doesn't have enough character to be cool, but he's taking too much time away from focusing on the series' mains for it to be cool when they go up against him. I'd like it see his presence develop into a cat and mouse game any time he's in the picture; but so far all his importance and presence seems to be in the mind of the writers instead of on screen.
Then again, I've never understood the appeal of Boba Fett either. Maybe I just don't get bounty hunters.
I'm not sure how to take Sidious calling Bane up to do this job. Does that support my theory from last ep or go against it? They don't talk like Bane often works for Sidious, but Palpatine clearly has his number now.
I do feel like some of my thoughts on this ep will be greatly influenced by what comes next, so I guess I'll have to look into that.
At least the animation is better here than it was in the s1 finale.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x02: “Cargo of Doom”
For once I've been able to pin down why I feel weird about an episode; I feel critical of it, but I feel aware of it on a more Watsonian level. Everyone is pretty much in character in their mistakes; and it lets them make mistakes without coming off like idiots the way I felt for parts of last episode.
And that is a major step forward in my appreciation of this show, that I look at it and think of what it does for Anakin's character, what is says about his relationships to other characters, that kind of thing; instead a more detached way of asking what are the writers trying to say about those things. Because this is a really good Anakin episode, masquerading as a big time action show. And I've always said in these things, that I don't mind shows having a lot of action, so long as it is there to support the characters or larger story.
For one, the Admiral is clearly getting frustrated with Anakin's attitude and behavior. And that's an understandable attitude with some of the stuff Anakin has pulled in the series. Though I do feel the need to point out that he made quite an effort to rise to Ahsoka's defense last season; so right now I don't know whether to call it an Anakin thing or a Jedi thing. And since this episode has Anakin getting several people killed for no measurable gain, it's hard to blame people for getting frustrated.
These last couple episodes have seemed a bit more settling in how to portray Anakin and Ahsoka's relationship, where instead of having them feed on each others' reckless tendencies, they're actually learning to check them. There's also an element of 'what goes around comes around' as Anakin finds himself needing to be the adult to Ahsoka the way Obi-wan was for him; and I would say part of the difference is that he's still pretty young himself, but Obi-wan wasn't exactly a well seasoned Jedi Knight in TPM when he took Anakin on.
This is also a fairly subtle but layered look at what will eventually drive Anakin to the Dark Side. Shown here through his choice with Ahsoka, we revisit that he will put the safety of those he cares about over the greater good. And this works a point along that same road but it's not necessarily obviously that without hindsight, because it's a choice most people would make at this stage. Even though it is presented in contrast to the other Jedi who was willing to die to protect the data; it is generally easier to sacrifice one's self instead of those closest to us. But whether we say Anakin's choice was right or moral or understandable; it shows that as a Jedi he's not quite on the right path.
Oh, and speaking of the other Jedi...um, kids show? I have to assume this was allowed because it was bloodless and an alien, but that's still quite a thing to put in a kids show.
