Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x011- 12
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tori_reviewsStar Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x11: “Lightsaber Lost”
Hmmm. You know, in the right light I could see how someone might see this as a frivolous side quest, maybe even a bit comic with how they keep arriving just a little too late in their chase. I think even in that light one would admit there are some bigger concepts in here; but I find myself seeing all the bigger concepts and hardly any of the comedy. Though I did get a chuckle out of the slow old driver bit; so one joke landed as it was probably meant to. I did like this episode, and I think it's actually a really good one for me to talk about; probably because it has a lot of subtle stuff going on, but doesn't involve me needing to rant about the treatment of clones.
For one, since this is a bit of a slower episode in some ways, there's more time than usual to just soak in the Jedi Temple as a place instead of some place where action happens. And when they do that it makes me sad about how it's all going to end soon. All these people, everyone they pass in the hall, everyone that offers to help with a problem, every youngling that looks up to them; they're going to be dead, many at the hands of the show's main hero.
And I don't think it's an accident that that was on my mind on and off throughout the episode; the shadow of where things are headed hung over a lot of the story. Both in the perception of the Jedi in the world, and Ahsoka's actions.
I should probably watch parts of this with the subtitles on, because I couldn't understand much of whatever Palpatine was saying on the big screen Ahsoka was hanging on, but he was definitely talking about the Jedi for parts of it. It was enough that I definitely assume it's part of his grander plan, crafting a perception of the Jedi that suits his long term goals. Because that's a very deliberate piece for the writers/producers to drop into the episode when it didn't have to be anything specific in the background while our focus is on Ahsoka. And then you have the line towards the end about how having a lightsaber makes you as powerful as a Jedi. The Jedi are seen as warriors, only set apart by their weapons, and that doesn't feel like what public attitudes towards Jedi would have always been. I'm sure there was always a market for pilfered lightsabers, and they're thought of as cool or collectors' items, but not as the thing that gives a Jedi their power.
And there's Ashoka herself. She's very Anakin in her behavior, and watching it...it looks scary. There's only so much difference between her throwing petty criminals around to get answers, and Anakin torturing prisoners for information. And like with Anakin, it seems to get her what she's looking for. She's quick to anger and pride, and the lesson to take a chill pill and think through her actions is not a lessons she's getting from Anakin. I'm sure Obi-wan tried, with Anakin is not Ahsoka herself. Which shows it's not as if direct lessons are always the best way for life lessons to influence a padawan, nor the best way to check someone from walking down a path that ends in Darth Vader.
But while the episode is sort of very explicit with its lessons about patience, I think it's interesting the way it actually comes through. Because we're shown that Ahsoka's recklessness does work and gets results; but the old master gets there just as well with his patience and reflection. Anakin's style of quick actions is not the only way to get where you're going.
I suppose I should also wonder what it says that Ahsoka is so afraid to tell Anakin she lost her lightsaber. I don't read much into it aside from a conceit to get the plot going, but a lot of things in this ep seem crafted with a lot of intent so maybe I should think on it more. I did expect there to be a final note on that story about how he knew all along (after all, he knows where she usually carried it) and was waiting to see what she did; but that didn't happen.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x12: “The Mandalore Plot”
I think if I was just watching this episode I would have enjoyed it more, but I'm not sure. I think it was a good story, and good start to what looks to be a multi-part story, but there are some niggles I found really distracting. And I'm not sure whether or not they would have bothered me as much if I was just zipping through the episodes.
In general I feel like this episode is being...dishonest with me in a few different ways. Or maybe it's dishonest with itself, or just lacks conviction in some of the things it's doing. It's kind of an odd feeling I'm getting from it, but it all kind of has the same basic feeling.
The biggest place this shows up is with the portrayal of the the Mandalorians. It has this weird dichotomy to it on a couple of different levels. On one level I know that the EU had a lot of behind the scenes (and occasionally on the page) conflict over what the Mandalorians were. Whether Boba Fett was an example of a true Mandalorian or if he was an outlier and Mandalore was really this place of high culture and ancient thought. And this episode seems to be trying to plant a flag between those two and weave them together...and it doesn't work for me.
The other angle is not entirely different from that, but has a different makeup. I get a vibe from this episode that the writers were trying not to make the Mandalorians a planet of hats (as has happened in many instances where we see one example of a society and use that to extrapolate what the whole culture is like), but in doing so kind of turn them into just a different planet of hats. Or maybe a planet of hats that's wearing a disguise of a different hat on top of it.
Either way I want to phrase it, this doesn't feel like a real place with a thought-out culture and history, and yet it's pretending like it is that. So when Satine says things like how Mandalore is such a peaceful place and the wars are behind them, I don't believe her. But I don't know if I should think it's the character protesting too much or the writers trying to push something that just doesn't sound right.
Tied in with that is that as soon as we start to have the stakes of the story revealed and what the conflict is, I stopped trusting everyone we encountered. Satine seems genuine enough, but I don't trust her aides and I sure as hell didn't trust the guy they were supposed to have dinner with. And yet I feel like the show doesn't want me to think this is a vast conspiracy, and debatably wants me to be surprised when he turns out to be a bad guy. But I always got the feeling that claiming Mandalore is such a peaceful place was a lie, so I expect there to be agents wanting to bring back the warrior ways all around.
(I do wonder how this fits in with future canon things like 'The Mandalorian' but that's a question for another day.)
Another problem is the relationship between Satine and Obi-wan. I feel like I'm missing something in it because I honestly can't tell if this is going for a bickering new sexual tension or snippy exes. Either way I don't really like it, and the story doesn't spend quite enough time building their dynamic for me to buy into it yet. And it's not just that I know people talk about Obi-wan and Satine as a romantic pairing on the show that makes me use relationship descriptors for how they come across, it's that it has all the hallmarks of one of those types of story reasons for their behavior.
I want to like that we get an Obi-wan focused episode like this, but because it feels like it's not playing straight with me, I can't just enjoy it on its own terms.
~~~~
Story time, and not a roleplaying one in this case.
It took me a while seeing occasional mentions of Satine as a thing, especially in context of being tied in with Obi-wan, for me to understand this was an actual character. I thought people were making a joke.
Because back in about 2001 or so I was at a sci-fi convention and there was a group doing super nerdy improv, and some of them were in cosplay they had just been wearing around the convention but used within the improv. One was dressed as a Jedi, and I'm not sure what the other one was dressed as but it had a bright red coat that looked a bit like a maybe a band leader jacket. I don't remember what the rest of the conversation had been but at some point the Jedi goes “I can't. You coat, it reminds me of the Moulin Rouge. SATIIIINNNNNEEEEEE.”
You know...since Ewan McGregor was in Moulin Rouge...look the joke stuck with me.
Hmmm. You know, in the right light I could see how someone might see this as a frivolous side quest, maybe even a bit comic with how they keep arriving just a little too late in their chase. I think even in that light one would admit there are some bigger concepts in here; but I find myself seeing all the bigger concepts and hardly any of the comedy. Though I did get a chuckle out of the slow old driver bit; so one joke landed as it was probably meant to. I did like this episode, and I think it's actually a really good one for me to talk about; probably because it has a lot of subtle stuff going on, but doesn't involve me needing to rant about the treatment of clones.
For one, since this is a bit of a slower episode in some ways, there's more time than usual to just soak in the Jedi Temple as a place instead of some place where action happens. And when they do that it makes me sad about how it's all going to end soon. All these people, everyone they pass in the hall, everyone that offers to help with a problem, every youngling that looks up to them; they're going to be dead, many at the hands of the show's main hero.
And I don't think it's an accident that that was on my mind on and off throughout the episode; the shadow of where things are headed hung over a lot of the story. Both in the perception of the Jedi in the world, and Ahsoka's actions.
I should probably watch parts of this with the subtitles on, because I couldn't understand much of whatever Palpatine was saying on the big screen Ahsoka was hanging on, but he was definitely talking about the Jedi for parts of it. It was enough that I definitely assume it's part of his grander plan, crafting a perception of the Jedi that suits his long term goals. Because that's a very deliberate piece for the writers/producers to drop into the episode when it didn't have to be anything specific in the background while our focus is on Ahsoka. And then you have the line towards the end about how having a lightsaber makes you as powerful as a Jedi. The Jedi are seen as warriors, only set apart by their weapons, and that doesn't feel like what public attitudes towards Jedi would have always been. I'm sure there was always a market for pilfered lightsabers, and they're thought of as cool or collectors' items, but not as the thing that gives a Jedi their power.
And there's Ashoka herself. She's very Anakin in her behavior, and watching it...it looks scary. There's only so much difference between her throwing petty criminals around to get answers, and Anakin torturing prisoners for information. And like with Anakin, it seems to get her what she's looking for. She's quick to anger and pride, and the lesson to take a chill pill and think through her actions is not a lessons she's getting from Anakin. I'm sure Obi-wan tried, with Anakin is not Ahsoka herself. Which shows it's not as if direct lessons are always the best way for life lessons to influence a padawan, nor the best way to check someone from walking down a path that ends in Darth Vader.
But while the episode is sort of very explicit with its lessons about patience, I think it's interesting the way it actually comes through. Because we're shown that Ahsoka's recklessness does work and gets results; but the old master gets there just as well with his patience and reflection. Anakin's style of quick actions is not the only way to get where you're going.
I suppose I should also wonder what it says that Ahsoka is so afraid to tell Anakin she lost her lightsaber. I don't read much into it aside from a conceit to get the plot going, but a lot of things in this ep seem crafted with a lot of intent so maybe I should think on it more. I did expect there to be a final note on that story about how he knew all along (after all, he knows where she usually carried it) and was waiting to see what she did; but that didn't happen.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x12: “The Mandalore Plot”
I think if I was just watching this episode I would have enjoyed it more, but I'm not sure. I think it was a good story, and good start to what looks to be a multi-part story, but there are some niggles I found really distracting. And I'm not sure whether or not they would have bothered me as much if I was just zipping through the episodes.
In general I feel like this episode is being...dishonest with me in a few different ways. Or maybe it's dishonest with itself, or just lacks conviction in some of the things it's doing. It's kind of an odd feeling I'm getting from it, but it all kind of has the same basic feeling.
The biggest place this shows up is with the portrayal of the the Mandalorians. It has this weird dichotomy to it on a couple of different levels. On one level I know that the EU had a lot of behind the scenes (and occasionally on the page) conflict over what the Mandalorians were. Whether Boba Fett was an example of a true Mandalorian or if he was an outlier and Mandalore was really this place of high culture and ancient thought. And this episode seems to be trying to plant a flag between those two and weave them together...and it doesn't work for me.
The other angle is not entirely different from that, but has a different makeup. I get a vibe from this episode that the writers were trying not to make the Mandalorians a planet of hats (as has happened in many instances where we see one example of a society and use that to extrapolate what the whole culture is like), but in doing so kind of turn them into just a different planet of hats. Or maybe a planet of hats that's wearing a disguise of a different hat on top of it.
Either way I want to phrase it, this doesn't feel like a real place with a thought-out culture and history, and yet it's pretending like it is that. So when Satine says things like how Mandalore is such a peaceful place and the wars are behind them, I don't believe her. But I don't know if I should think it's the character protesting too much or the writers trying to push something that just doesn't sound right.
Tied in with that is that as soon as we start to have the stakes of the story revealed and what the conflict is, I stopped trusting everyone we encountered. Satine seems genuine enough, but I don't trust her aides and I sure as hell didn't trust the guy they were supposed to have dinner with. And yet I feel like the show doesn't want me to think this is a vast conspiracy, and debatably wants me to be surprised when he turns out to be a bad guy. But I always got the feeling that claiming Mandalore is such a peaceful place was a lie, so I expect there to be agents wanting to bring back the warrior ways all around.
(I do wonder how this fits in with future canon things like 'The Mandalorian' but that's a question for another day.)
Another problem is the relationship between Satine and Obi-wan. I feel like I'm missing something in it because I honestly can't tell if this is going for a bickering new sexual tension or snippy exes. Either way I don't really like it, and the story doesn't spend quite enough time building their dynamic for me to buy into it yet. And it's not just that I know people talk about Obi-wan and Satine as a romantic pairing on the show that makes me use relationship descriptors for how they come across, it's that it has all the hallmarks of one of those types of story reasons for their behavior.
I want to like that we get an Obi-wan focused episode like this, but because it feels like it's not playing straight with me, I can't just enjoy it on its own terms.
~~~~
Story time, and not a roleplaying one in this case.
It took me a while seeing occasional mentions of Satine as a thing, especially in context of being tied in with Obi-wan, for me to understand this was an actual character. I thought people were making a joke.
Because back in about 2001 or so I was at a sci-fi convention and there was a group doing super nerdy improv, and some of them were in cosplay they had just been wearing around the convention but used within the improv. One was dressed as a Jedi, and I'm not sure what the other one was dressed as but it had a bright red coat that looked a bit like a maybe a band leader jacket. I don't remember what the rest of the conversation had been but at some point the Jedi goes “I can't. You coat, it reminds me of the Moulin Rouge. SATIIIINNNNNEEEEEE.”
You know...since Ewan McGregor was in Moulin Rouge...look the joke stuck with me.
