Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x07 - 08
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tori_reviewsStar Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x07: “Legacy of Terror”
This episode was pretty boring, especially after the last one. I spend the whole time wanting Anakin to make some comment about hating sand, because at least that would have been something to pay attention to (look, terrible though it is, I have thoughts about that line that I will get to one day). That said, judging by the name of the next episode, I'm guessing this was set up for the real story next time (though even before I saw that title I thought it seemed there ought to be a final beat; that said, no it wasn't over, whether or not they were going to carry on the story immediately).
Instead I'm going to once again point out the the Republic is the invading army here. When Obi-wan talks about hoping they don't have to take Geonosis a third time, I wonder if they're planing on leaving an occupying force. This isn't driving off invaders, this is conquering a planet in rebellion. And then we're back to wondering why planets go into rebellion and it's just the same rant all over again.
That said, this episode makes me suspect there's some similarity between the Geonosians and the Buggers in Ender's Game, and that the queens of the society basically run the show, and all the other strains of the species are subservient to the queens by nature. I mean their society clearly wouldn't be shaped around the same units of division that human society does, but nor do they seem completely drone like. I'm a bit torn on whether this makes me think it's right that Poggle the Lesser is a male (or coded male at least), or think it should have been a female (although with either coding, they could be sexless in the reproductive sense). On one hand this theory would mean the queens should be the leaders of the civilization; on the other, among the different types of Geonosians, it would not be the queen-females who would be active the way Poggle is.
That confused ramble done, I'm going to close by wondering why it is that Mundi seems to be flirting with everyone, especially Obi-wan. That are some serious bedroom eyes the animators gave him. But there's also something really unpleasant about his features, I think his eyes are too big or he doesn't blink enough or something like that. They just also seem to have hearts in them when he talks with Obi-wan.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x08: “Brain Invaders”
And we've swung back to a good episode; while it doesn't quite make up for my dislike for the setup episode, it does a lot to justify the story arc. I'd say my biggest nitpick is why they sent three Jedi Masters and a Jedi Knight often treated as a master on the same ship and none of them could go with the padawans. I'm not sure what that would have done for the plot and it would have robbed the story of the things it can do by isolating the younger characters, so I get why the writers would sort them that way, I'm just not sure why the characters would sort that way.
I would actually have liked to get Barris' opinion at the end (though I guess we still could) on whether Ahsoka made the right call. It's easy for Anakin to say, it is the call he would have made after all. But this episode highlights that a thing being the call Anakin would make is not the greatest measuring stick. Which I suppose is why this episode had to end the way it did, instead of committing to answer about whether it was the right call. Because we know we can't trust Anakin's moral judgment, so he can't give a truly satisfying answer; and even though it sounds like solid advice, it's hard to trust. And while Ahsoka may not have seen what we did about Anakin, she clearly isn't ready to just accept his reassurance for different reasons. So it's an interesting way of putting us in the same state as the character's uncertainty, even through we're there for different means.
That said, I wish there had been another polish on the story in one way; it doesn't quite convey that Ahsoka wouldn't kill Barris because of their friendship. They haven't known each other that long in this story, and the episode shows Ahsoka is willing to take down people she considers friends if she needs to. If we saw her struggling more and more as troopers she considers her friends have to be stopped, and then she couldn't make that call at the end because she couldn't lose another friend or something like that, that's weightier on both sides. Because, neither did she surrender and allow the parasites to take her down because she wouldn't kill them, she kept fighting until she could trust the situation to other people as well as being partially frozen. As is, it read to me as; they had a solution, and Barris was able to communicate for herself because of it, so Ahsoka knew there was reason to hope and not have to put people down to save the greater number. And yeah, she's relieved that she was able to find a non-lethal way against Barris and what remains of the clones, but that's not really her having her mind clouded by attachment.
Anakin on the other hand... I've noted a few times lately that the show was hinting towards Anakin's ultimate fall to the dark side, but in ways that may or may not be read as signposts if we didn't know that was the direction he was going in. But this time, the warning sign is written quite clearly. I appreciate that there was the early dialog between Ahsoka and Barris that discussed how Anakin's thoughts on a post war environment are radical; I mean, we know he's at least a little okay with a dictatorship. And the discussion that he'll always do what needs to be done, and that being a nebulous attitude, is one we see in play with his actions this episode. This is one of those times when we see the temptation of the dark side, because it gets results. There would have been more death if he hadn't pushed Poggle the way he did; so the next time he needs an answer *now* he's seen that torture gets results so he might as well do it again. And yeah, this is also the Anakin who slaughtered Sand People.
Anakin's actions here put me in a bit of a quandary in how I think about this show and its target age group. Because there's nothing here that isn't in the movies, and if you've seen the movies you already know Anakin is going to be a bad guy at some point. But, since Anakin is shown as the hero of this show, you run the risk of some Jack Bauer effect of showing that these are just the 'actions of a hero.' And obviously this was exactly what the movies were going for, to show that the greatest of heroes can be the darkest of villains; but because of the limited time and the time skips, they were largely unsuccessful at getting across. So I worry a bit about how this comes across to kids; because it works. I worry that the same trap Anakin falls in to might catch a few young viewers. Especially since no one in the story can call him out on it since his slide to the dark side will seem to them to come out of nowhere in ep3.
This episode was pretty boring, especially after the last one. I spend the whole time wanting Anakin to make some comment about hating sand, because at least that would have been something to pay attention to (look, terrible though it is, I have thoughts about that line that I will get to one day). That said, judging by the name of the next episode, I'm guessing this was set up for the real story next time (though even before I saw that title I thought it seemed there ought to be a final beat; that said, no it wasn't over, whether or not they were going to carry on the story immediately).
Instead I'm going to once again point out the the Republic is the invading army here. When Obi-wan talks about hoping they don't have to take Geonosis a third time, I wonder if they're planing on leaving an occupying force. This isn't driving off invaders, this is conquering a planet in rebellion. And then we're back to wondering why planets go into rebellion and it's just the same rant all over again.
That said, this episode makes me suspect there's some similarity between the Geonosians and the Buggers in Ender's Game, and that the queens of the society basically run the show, and all the other strains of the species are subservient to the queens by nature. I mean their society clearly wouldn't be shaped around the same units of division that human society does, but nor do they seem completely drone like. I'm a bit torn on whether this makes me think it's right that Poggle the Lesser is a male (or coded male at least), or think it should have been a female (although with either coding, they could be sexless in the reproductive sense). On one hand this theory would mean the queens should be the leaders of the civilization; on the other, among the different types of Geonosians, it would not be the queen-females who would be active the way Poggle is.
That confused ramble done, I'm going to close by wondering why it is that Mundi seems to be flirting with everyone, especially Obi-wan. That are some serious bedroom eyes the animators gave him. But there's also something really unpleasant about his features, I think his eyes are too big or he doesn't blink enough or something like that. They just also seem to have hearts in them when he talks with Obi-wan.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x08: “Brain Invaders”
And we've swung back to a good episode; while it doesn't quite make up for my dislike for the setup episode, it does a lot to justify the story arc. I'd say my biggest nitpick is why they sent three Jedi Masters and a Jedi Knight often treated as a master on the same ship and none of them could go with the padawans. I'm not sure what that would have done for the plot and it would have robbed the story of the things it can do by isolating the younger characters, so I get why the writers would sort them that way, I'm just not sure why the characters would sort that way.
I would actually have liked to get Barris' opinion at the end (though I guess we still could) on whether Ahsoka made the right call. It's easy for Anakin to say, it is the call he would have made after all. But this episode highlights that a thing being the call Anakin would make is not the greatest measuring stick. Which I suppose is why this episode had to end the way it did, instead of committing to answer about whether it was the right call. Because we know we can't trust Anakin's moral judgment, so he can't give a truly satisfying answer; and even though it sounds like solid advice, it's hard to trust. And while Ahsoka may not have seen what we did about Anakin, she clearly isn't ready to just accept his reassurance for different reasons. So it's an interesting way of putting us in the same state as the character's uncertainty, even through we're there for different means.
That said, I wish there had been another polish on the story in one way; it doesn't quite convey that Ahsoka wouldn't kill Barris because of their friendship. They haven't known each other that long in this story, and the episode shows Ahsoka is willing to take down people she considers friends if she needs to. If we saw her struggling more and more as troopers she considers her friends have to be stopped, and then she couldn't make that call at the end because she couldn't lose another friend or something like that, that's weightier on both sides. Because, neither did she surrender and allow the parasites to take her down because she wouldn't kill them, she kept fighting until she could trust the situation to other people as well as being partially frozen. As is, it read to me as; they had a solution, and Barris was able to communicate for herself because of it, so Ahsoka knew there was reason to hope and not have to put people down to save the greater number. And yeah, she's relieved that she was able to find a non-lethal way against Barris and what remains of the clones, but that's not really her having her mind clouded by attachment.
Anakin on the other hand... I've noted a few times lately that the show was hinting towards Anakin's ultimate fall to the dark side, but in ways that may or may not be read as signposts if we didn't know that was the direction he was going in. But this time, the warning sign is written quite clearly. I appreciate that there was the early dialog between Ahsoka and Barris that discussed how Anakin's thoughts on a post war environment are radical; I mean, we know he's at least a little okay with a dictatorship. And the discussion that he'll always do what needs to be done, and that being a nebulous attitude, is one we see in play with his actions this episode. This is one of those times when we see the temptation of the dark side, because it gets results. There would have been more death if he hadn't pushed Poggle the way he did; so the next time he needs an answer *now* he's seen that torture gets results so he might as well do it again. And yeah, this is also the Anakin who slaughtered Sand People.
Anakin's actions here put me in a bit of a quandary in how I think about this show and its target age group. Because there's nothing here that isn't in the movies, and if you've seen the movies you already know Anakin is going to be a bad guy at some point. But, since Anakin is shown as the hero of this show, you run the risk of some Jack Bauer effect of showing that these are just the 'actions of a hero.' And obviously this was exactly what the movies were going for, to show that the greatest of heroes can be the darkest of villains; but because of the limited time and the time skips, they were largely unsuccessful at getting across. So I worry a bit about how this comes across to kids; because it works. I worry that the same trap Anakin falls in to might catch a few young viewers. Especially since no one in the story can call him out on it since his slide to the dark side will seem to them to come out of nowhere in ep3.
