Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 3x15 - 16
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tori_reviewsStar Wars: The Clone Wars – 3x15: “Overlords”
I don't think this is the first time I've said this reviewing this show, but it's always a weird feeling when I end up thinking that I kind of wish I liked an episode less than I actually do. It was good to bring my opinion back up after my negative feelings towards the three-parter, but sometimes I think that what I like when I like an episode is exactly why there are so many episodes (and more prominent ones) that I don't like in this show.
That said, I also wish I liked it more that I do, but that's an easier one to nail down; this could have been vastly improved if this was what the show was usually shown to be about. About actually exploring the characters, about the exploration of destiny vs. free will, about what it means to be the Chosen One. As an isolated case, I like what this is, but I like it in a way where I'm annoyed that it is an isolated case.
And that in turn is why I kind of wish I liked it a little less; I wish my reaction to this wasn't to be angry that it's not part of the much more Babylon 5 show it could have been. I wish I could judge it on the same plane as I do most of the other episodes. In other episodes, the more political ones usually, I may say that I like this-or-that version of the show more than the fightfightfight version we get at other times, but those are two faces of the same show, and I have episodes on each side I like and ones on each side that I find to have depth; but this...is something else.
This is an actual character journey. And it's compressed and a little vague and more than a bit contrived and the lessons it's going are muddled; but it's mythic and grand. This isn't about the plot, it's about an idea, so I'm not going to end up judging it on plot terms so much as I am talking about the ideas in it.
For one, to this day I still see people talking about how 'bringing balance to the Force' is defeating the dark side and that being when things are in balance; but this episode explicitly says what I always took from the prophesy, that too much dark or too much light are both out of balance. That when Anakin falls to the dark side, that is balancing the scales that for a long time had been too far balanced to the light.
Also, considering this episode introduces a different destined fate for the Chosen One, I think that negates there being any real destiny for the Chosen One. Technically you could argue that the 'bring balance to the Force' aspect and keeping control of Force planet would be compatible, but he definitely doesn't fulfill the second half of that, so you can't argue that he did ultimately fulfill the prophesy as Yoda and others would interpret it.
The thing is, that if this had been given room to breathe, I think Anakin's choice here could have been very powerful; even knowing what it leads to. Unfortunately the episode doesn't present why he should have taken the role here, only calls it a part of his destiny, and you can easily frame his rejection of that as the ultimate hero move. Because I am always pro telling godlike dicks to get the hell out of galaxy and standing up for free will.
I'm also not sure how I can take the message of this episode as anything but that 'good' and 'bad' are not the same as 'light' and 'dark.' That what is above either is the ability to control both. This leads to a Grey Jedi concept which I kind of don't think the show is really in favor of, and yet comes through so clear in what we see here that it's all I see.
The show may be heading for a kind of pivot here. I'm not holding my breath that it will shake up the style of show it is and actually directly deal with what was brought up here; but I could see this fueling another step in Anakin's development. Now he's been told he definitely is the Chosen One, that he is super mega awesome powered. And that ultimate power is not necessarily of the Light. I can't speak for whether that will actually play out, but I'm a bit more optimistic that I would have been last episode.
There's also something a little weird in what might have been foreshadowing if we didn't know it wasn't. Because if Anakin is 'meant' to take the place of Father, then does it not somewhat follow that there would be a parallel between Anakin's children and Sister and Brother? Only I'm not seeing where there is one.
Also, I can't tell if the sequels were trying to have a parallel to this, or if it shows that there absolutely should have been one. But really, couldn't it have made a lot of sense to use elements of this story in the sequels? Maybe it will be followed up on in the show in a way that would get in the way of the idea; but as is, I can see how the sequels could have worked if say Bother and Sister had been unleashed on the galaxy, and so things are set up for a major clash between avatars of the two sides. Also, Luke could have been on this planet, trying to fix things but for some reason he can't do much until he has a champion too. This is kind of the first time I've brought it up, but just as a lot of people say this show helps the story of the prequels a lot; it also shows that there were ideas that could have meshed with the sequels too if those had been done with more care.
Also, I feel like the show isn't really willing to address Anakin killing the Tuskin Raisers. That's really a flaw of ep2's kit gloves approach to it, but I thought I should mention it here since they actually brought up that it happened.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 3x16: “Altar of Mortis”
Well, there's the much more familiar feeling of wishing I liked something more than I do. And I didn't dislike this exactly, but it's a big let down after the last episode. Or maybe undercuts a lot of what I liked in that episode, starting with how it so quickly retcons them back down to the planet.
It really feels like last episode was an event episode written by a different hand than what we're getting here, where someone else wants to play with the scene that was set up but didn't have the same understanding of the material. I said last episode was a real departure from what the show usually is; this feels like it's trying to retrofit the 'outside' ideas back into the regular format. And both are worse for the comparison.
Before I try to work through those thoughts any more, I have to point out that the animation this episode seemed kind of weightless. It was most noticeable on Sister, though if it had just been her I would have assumed it was part of her ethereal nature, but no one seemed to move quite right. The facial animations were a bit hit and miss too; and the whole thing lacked the epic vibe that clearly last episode was shooting for (whether it succeeded or not, as it did seem oddly constrained to a 'set' for an animated story).
It also seemed to make people a bit stupid. Obi-wan is just oblivious to things going on around him, between not noticing a fight going on behind him while he was flying and turning around to go 'oh there's the tower I was looking for.' Anakin is more uncontrolled than usual; and on one hand, that is kind of justified in story; but on the other, his twists and turns wouldn't need to be given an outside impulse if this show was better written because that darkness is already in Anakin. Ahsoka is very helpless early on, only to become hyper-able when the story needs her to be a threat.
Where last episode it seemed very clear that Father, Sister, and Brother were avatars of the Force itself, this episode only kind of stuck to that and otherwise made it a family squabble. And while in combat it seems to try and make Light and Dark even, in terms of actually acting, Light is portrayed as kind of an idiot as opposed to the very devious and active Dark. Where last episode I felt the Grey Jedi conclusion was possibly unintended but clear; I'm sure it was unintended in this one and yet it still seemed a reasonable read to me.
That said, if I'm reading the stabbing scene correctly, I do like the implication that the Dark will always destroy that which it cares about when pursuing selfish goals. Because Brother does seem to care about Sister, maybe even the balance she provides him, from the way he howls when he ends up killing her instead of Father. Assuming that was intended, I thought it was well handled.
I don't know how they write out of this, as I'm fairly sure the show is not going to become about this mythic treatment of events (some sort of need to hunt down the Dark Side itself in order to stop the war) at this stage. They've put a lot of time into the more straight forward way things have worked until now. But at least the next episode will continue this story; it's still possible that they will get back to the vibe of last episode instead of this one, and we'll see what happens after it when we get there.
I don't think this is the first time I've said this reviewing this show, but it's always a weird feeling when I end up thinking that I kind of wish I liked an episode less than I actually do. It was good to bring my opinion back up after my negative feelings towards the three-parter, but sometimes I think that what I like when I like an episode is exactly why there are so many episodes (and more prominent ones) that I don't like in this show.
That said, I also wish I liked it more that I do, but that's an easier one to nail down; this could have been vastly improved if this was what the show was usually shown to be about. About actually exploring the characters, about the exploration of destiny vs. free will, about what it means to be the Chosen One. As an isolated case, I like what this is, but I like it in a way where I'm annoyed that it is an isolated case.
And that in turn is why I kind of wish I liked it a little less; I wish my reaction to this wasn't to be angry that it's not part of the much more Babylon 5 show it could have been. I wish I could judge it on the same plane as I do most of the other episodes. In other episodes, the more political ones usually, I may say that I like this-or-that version of the show more than the fightfightfight version we get at other times, but those are two faces of the same show, and I have episodes on each side I like and ones on each side that I find to have depth; but this...is something else.
This is an actual character journey. And it's compressed and a little vague and more than a bit contrived and the lessons it's going are muddled; but it's mythic and grand. This isn't about the plot, it's about an idea, so I'm not going to end up judging it on plot terms so much as I am talking about the ideas in it.
For one, to this day I still see people talking about how 'bringing balance to the Force' is defeating the dark side and that being when things are in balance; but this episode explicitly says what I always took from the prophesy, that too much dark or too much light are both out of balance. That when Anakin falls to the dark side, that is balancing the scales that for a long time had been too far balanced to the light.
Also, considering this episode introduces a different destined fate for the Chosen One, I think that negates there being any real destiny for the Chosen One. Technically you could argue that the 'bring balance to the Force' aspect and keeping control of Force planet would be compatible, but he definitely doesn't fulfill the second half of that, so you can't argue that he did ultimately fulfill the prophesy as Yoda and others would interpret it.
The thing is, that if this had been given room to breathe, I think Anakin's choice here could have been very powerful; even knowing what it leads to. Unfortunately the episode doesn't present why he should have taken the role here, only calls it a part of his destiny, and you can easily frame his rejection of that as the ultimate hero move. Because I am always pro telling godlike dicks to get the hell out of galaxy and standing up for free will.
I'm also not sure how I can take the message of this episode as anything but that 'good' and 'bad' are not the same as 'light' and 'dark.' That what is above either is the ability to control both. This leads to a Grey Jedi concept which I kind of don't think the show is really in favor of, and yet comes through so clear in what we see here that it's all I see.
The show may be heading for a kind of pivot here. I'm not holding my breath that it will shake up the style of show it is and actually directly deal with what was brought up here; but I could see this fueling another step in Anakin's development. Now he's been told he definitely is the Chosen One, that he is super mega awesome powered. And that ultimate power is not necessarily of the Light. I can't speak for whether that will actually play out, but I'm a bit more optimistic that I would have been last episode.
There's also something a little weird in what might have been foreshadowing if we didn't know it wasn't. Because if Anakin is 'meant' to take the place of Father, then does it not somewhat follow that there would be a parallel between Anakin's children and Sister and Brother? Only I'm not seeing where there is one.
Also, I can't tell if the sequels were trying to have a parallel to this, or if it shows that there absolutely should have been one. But really, couldn't it have made a lot of sense to use elements of this story in the sequels? Maybe it will be followed up on in the show in a way that would get in the way of the idea; but as is, I can see how the sequels could have worked if say Bother and Sister had been unleashed on the galaxy, and so things are set up for a major clash between avatars of the two sides. Also, Luke could have been on this planet, trying to fix things but for some reason he can't do much until he has a champion too. This is kind of the first time I've brought it up, but just as a lot of people say this show helps the story of the prequels a lot; it also shows that there were ideas that could have meshed with the sequels too if those had been done with more care.
Also, I feel like the show isn't really willing to address Anakin killing the Tuskin Raisers. That's really a flaw of ep2's kit gloves approach to it, but I thought I should mention it here since they actually brought up that it happened.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 3x16: “Altar of Mortis”
Well, there's the much more familiar feeling of wishing I liked something more than I do. And I didn't dislike this exactly, but it's a big let down after the last episode. Or maybe undercuts a lot of what I liked in that episode, starting with how it so quickly retcons them back down to the planet.
It really feels like last episode was an event episode written by a different hand than what we're getting here, where someone else wants to play with the scene that was set up but didn't have the same understanding of the material. I said last episode was a real departure from what the show usually is; this feels like it's trying to retrofit the 'outside' ideas back into the regular format. And both are worse for the comparison.
Before I try to work through those thoughts any more, I have to point out that the animation this episode seemed kind of weightless. It was most noticeable on Sister, though if it had just been her I would have assumed it was part of her ethereal nature, but no one seemed to move quite right. The facial animations were a bit hit and miss too; and the whole thing lacked the epic vibe that clearly last episode was shooting for (whether it succeeded or not, as it did seem oddly constrained to a 'set' for an animated story).
It also seemed to make people a bit stupid. Obi-wan is just oblivious to things going on around him, between not noticing a fight going on behind him while he was flying and turning around to go 'oh there's the tower I was looking for.' Anakin is more uncontrolled than usual; and on one hand, that is kind of justified in story; but on the other, his twists and turns wouldn't need to be given an outside impulse if this show was better written because that darkness is already in Anakin. Ahsoka is very helpless early on, only to become hyper-able when the story needs her to be a threat.
Where last episode it seemed very clear that Father, Sister, and Brother were avatars of the Force itself, this episode only kind of stuck to that and otherwise made it a family squabble. And while in combat it seems to try and make Light and Dark even, in terms of actually acting, Light is portrayed as kind of an idiot as opposed to the very devious and active Dark. Where last episode I felt the Grey Jedi conclusion was possibly unintended but clear; I'm sure it was unintended in this one and yet it still seemed a reasonable read to me.
That said, if I'm reading the stabbing scene correctly, I do like the implication that the Dark will always destroy that which it cares about when pursuing selfish goals. Because Brother does seem to care about Sister, maybe even the balance she provides him, from the way he howls when he ends up killing her instead of Father. Assuming that was intended, I thought it was well handled.
I don't know how they write out of this, as I'm fairly sure the show is not going to become about this mythic treatment of events (some sort of need to hunt down the Dark Side itself in order to stop the war) at this stage. They've put a lot of time into the more straight forward way things have worked until now. But at least the next episode will continue this story; it's still possible that they will get back to the vibe of last episode instead of this one, and we'll see what happens after it when we get there.
