Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 4x16- 17
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tori_reviewsStar Wars: The Clone Wars – 4x16: “Friends and Enemies”
This episode was also pretty good, though in some ways it's better than the last and in some ways it's worse. Nothing too bad, but a couple too many ticks in the negative column for me to call it great.
For example (and I noted this last episode, but it didn't seem important when it came to the review), the animation continues to be uneven this season. A lot of it is gorgeous, but the movements and interactions still seem a bit off. Although I also find Anakin's facial expressions in this one a bit overdone. They should be a bit extreme, he's wound up for this story, but they do stop looking like expressions he could make at some point.
But my main problem with this seems to remain that I don't care about Bane. I don't find him a compelling villain much less an interesting character. That said, I think this is the best way to use him. Having a reasonable reason why the Jedi can't just overpower him keeps them from needing to make him a Villain Sue where he manages to outclass them all basically just because. So while this is better than his previous appearances, I can't shake the thought that the writers still think this character is a lot cooler than he actually is.
I did mention last time that there was going to be a fine line they had to walk with Anakin in this arc, and I don't quite think they did. Normally I'd add 'not yet' to that, but it is a line that once crossed it's just crossed. Because I think Obi-wan (and the others involved) has to see the vengeance streak in Anakin, which would be something to make it harder to be surprised by RotS.
The flip side of that, is that I like what we get here. The problem is only a prequel problem, not a story problem in the moment.
And the reverse flip side is that there are a lot of things that are more relevant in the light of this being a prequel. We're seeing more of Anakin and Palpatine's relationship, we're seeing how Palpatine encourages Anakin to embrace the side of him that the Jedi try and repress, we see why there would be a real bond between them. This is interesting for trying to figure how many of the pieces in motion here are being controlled by Palpatine. Because the Jedi are trying to act without telling him their plans; but what does he know? Dooku is organizing an assassination attempt on the person he follows, so Palpatine has to controlling that side, but it's indirect so there are points of potential breakdown. Maybe Palpatine already knows there's some kind of plot going on from the Jedi so that's why he tells Anakin to go look into since that will throw a wrench in the Jedi's plans. And just in general, Obi-wan is trying to foil a plot that he doesn't even begin to understand.
Also, I still hate the animation on Palpatine. Actually I think his animation here might be among the better ones, but the character model is still so unappealing. I think it's too much 'the Emperor' and not enough 'kindly old Palpatine.'
I still kind of wonder where Padme is in all this; wouldn't she assume her husband is going through some shit? And she knows how he acts when he's got too much shit to deal with. Is she not around? Because that could be stressing Anakin out too, not having the more positive influence who still encourages him to experience his feelings rather than suppress them.
I also have a question about Ahsoka at the end. When she's defending Anakin rather than trying to stop the bad guy crew, is that a Jedi move or not? Because it is a defensive move, and she may not have a good way to make a move against them; however if the Jedi are supposed to think of the greater good, isn't it more important to stop whatever the bad guy team are up to that to prioritize defending Anakin? So it's kind of an iffy grey area, which I'm okay with but I'm not sure that's the intended reading.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 4x17: “The Box”
I think the best way to describe my reaction to this one is that it's annoying. It's boringly competent, but staggeringly stupid. If you just want some self-contained action it's probably fine, but the entire premise is dumb.
It doesn't make any sense as a story choice, but it really doesn't make sense within the story. I don't understand what, beyond 20-some minutes of distraction, was even the point. It requires writing some of the characters out of character, and while Obi-wan is in character I was consistently yelling about him being terrible at this job. But there's no consequences for him being bad at it, he ends up with everyone's respect at the end (some annoyed at respecting him, but not doubting him).
I thought for sure that last challenge was going to put Obi-wan in a sticky situation since his character is supposed to be a great sniper but we know Obi-wan isn't actually that fond of blasters. I figured the point (narratively at least, if not designed by the characters) was that the chickens were going to come home to roost in the final challenge; he had been acting oddly for a bounty hunter all through the challenges and then he'd balk at the sniper challenge when his character is supposed to be great at it.
I really do not get the point of the challenge. I was expecting some kind of hunger games where everyone was trying to outplay each other for the best personal ending. If the point was for them to emerge from the challenge as a team, the setup is bad as the challenge doesn't encourage cooperation. The first two challenges are a free-for-all where I expected there to be more backstabbing and callousness, and that Obi-wan trying to use teamwork and his efforts to keep everyone alive would stand out. Especially if they aren't going to show anyone else as competent and therefore threatening. The the third challenge is a crap shoot for who happens to be at the end of the line to fall off the path; plus there was one guaranteed survivor, and if they needed that guy specifically why not just put him on the team? The last challenge was at least a test of skill, but only one person ended up having to show they were good at that skill.
This would have made so much more sense as a head-to-head competition between Obi-wan and one of the other bounty hunters (maybe Bane, which would make the most sense as they're already rivals, but you'd have to figure out how to get them both to survive). The others were there by invitation and for Obi-wan to get put on the team he needed to outclass someone. It would show what the others' skills are, instead of several just dying randomly; it would build them up as opponents instead of giving us no idea why they're special wince as is Obi-wan has to save their assess at every turn. It would mean they don't have to ignore Obi-wan's rivalry with Bane and randomly have them be pals.
And if the writing insists on the group race through the challenges, at least use the time for some character building. I get this is between a rock and a hard place (literally in some places) since so many of the extra characters are going to die so you don't want to build them up. But that just makes them cannon fodder and really makes me question how anyone was going to get through this without Obi-wan getting himself into this with them. They may have beaten Dooku's plan just by staying home and letting him kill of bounty hunters trying to find someone to do the plan.
This episode was also pretty good, though in some ways it's better than the last and in some ways it's worse. Nothing too bad, but a couple too many ticks in the negative column for me to call it great.
For example (and I noted this last episode, but it didn't seem important when it came to the review), the animation continues to be uneven this season. A lot of it is gorgeous, but the movements and interactions still seem a bit off. Although I also find Anakin's facial expressions in this one a bit overdone. They should be a bit extreme, he's wound up for this story, but they do stop looking like expressions he could make at some point.
But my main problem with this seems to remain that I don't care about Bane. I don't find him a compelling villain much less an interesting character. That said, I think this is the best way to use him. Having a reasonable reason why the Jedi can't just overpower him keeps them from needing to make him a Villain Sue where he manages to outclass them all basically just because. So while this is better than his previous appearances, I can't shake the thought that the writers still think this character is a lot cooler than he actually is.
I did mention last time that there was going to be a fine line they had to walk with Anakin in this arc, and I don't quite think they did. Normally I'd add 'not yet' to that, but it is a line that once crossed it's just crossed. Because I think Obi-wan (and the others involved) has to see the vengeance streak in Anakin, which would be something to make it harder to be surprised by RotS.
The flip side of that, is that I like what we get here. The problem is only a prequel problem, not a story problem in the moment.
And the reverse flip side is that there are a lot of things that are more relevant in the light of this being a prequel. We're seeing more of Anakin and Palpatine's relationship, we're seeing how Palpatine encourages Anakin to embrace the side of him that the Jedi try and repress, we see why there would be a real bond between them. This is interesting for trying to figure how many of the pieces in motion here are being controlled by Palpatine. Because the Jedi are trying to act without telling him their plans; but what does he know? Dooku is organizing an assassination attempt on the person he follows, so Palpatine has to controlling that side, but it's indirect so there are points of potential breakdown. Maybe Palpatine already knows there's some kind of plot going on from the Jedi so that's why he tells Anakin to go look into since that will throw a wrench in the Jedi's plans. And just in general, Obi-wan is trying to foil a plot that he doesn't even begin to understand.
Also, I still hate the animation on Palpatine. Actually I think his animation here might be among the better ones, but the character model is still so unappealing. I think it's too much 'the Emperor' and not enough 'kindly old Palpatine.'
I still kind of wonder where Padme is in all this; wouldn't she assume her husband is going through some shit? And she knows how he acts when he's got too much shit to deal with. Is she not around? Because that could be stressing Anakin out too, not having the more positive influence who still encourages him to experience his feelings rather than suppress them.
I also have a question about Ahsoka at the end. When she's defending Anakin rather than trying to stop the bad guy crew, is that a Jedi move or not? Because it is a defensive move, and she may not have a good way to make a move against them; however if the Jedi are supposed to think of the greater good, isn't it more important to stop whatever the bad guy team are up to that to prioritize defending Anakin? So it's kind of an iffy grey area, which I'm okay with but I'm not sure that's the intended reading.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 4x17: “The Box”
I think the best way to describe my reaction to this one is that it's annoying. It's boringly competent, but staggeringly stupid. If you just want some self-contained action it's probably fine, but the entire premise is dumb.
It doesn't make any sense as a story choice, but it really doesn't make sense within the story. I don't understand what, beyond 20-some minutes of distraction, was even the point. It requires writing some of the characters out of character, and while Obi-wan is in character I was consistently yelling about him being terrible at this job. But there's no consequences for him being bad at it, he ends up with everyone's respect at the end (some annoyed at respecting him, but not doubting him).
I thought for sure that last challenge was going to put Obi-wan in a sticky situation since his character is supposed to be a great sniper but we know Obi-wan isn't actually that fond of blasters. I figured the point (narratively at least, if not designed by the characters) was that the chickens were going to come home to roost in the final challenge; he had been acting oddly for a bounty hunter all through the challenges and then he'd balk at the sniper challenge when his character is supposed to be great at it.
I really do not get the point of the challenge. I was expecting some kind of hunger games where everyone was trying to outplay each other for the best personal ending. If the point was for them to emerge from the challenge as a team, the setup is bad as the challenge doesn't encourage cooperation. The first two challenges are a free-for-all where I expected there to be more backstabbing and callousness, and that Obi-wan trying to use teamwork and his efforts to keep everyone alive would stand out. Especially if they aren't going to show anyone else as competent and therefore threatening. The the third challenge is a crap shoot for who happens to be at the end of the line to fall off the path; plus there was one guaranteed survivor, and if they needed that guy specifically why not just put him on the team? The last challenge was at least a test of skill, but only one person ended up having to show they were good at that skill.
This would have made so much more sense as a head-to-head competition between Obi-wan and one of the other bounty hunters (maybe Bane, which would make the most sense as they're already rivals, but you'd have to figure out how to get them both to survive). The others were there by invitation and for Obi-wan to get put on the team he needed to outclass someone. It would show what the others' skills are, instead of several just dying randomly; it would build them up as opponents instead of giving us no idea why they're special wince as is Obi-wan has to save their assess at every turn. It would mean they don't have to ignore Obi-wan's rivalry with Bane and randomly have them be pals.
And if the writing insists on the group race through the challenges, at least use the time for some character building. I get this is between a rock and a hard place (literally in some places) since so many of the extra characters are going to die so you don't want to build them up. But that just makes them cannon fodder and really makes me question how anyone was going to get through this without Obi-wan getting himself into this with them. They may have beaten Dooku's plan just by staying home and letting him kill of bounty hunters trying to find someone to do the plan.
