Star Wars Retrospective #5
Hondo: “But you know what I always say. Speak softly, and drive a big tank!”
2×01. “Holocron Heist” – As with “Dooku Captured”, this is another episode I was looking forward to ahead of time. This time for Cad Bane, easily one of the coolest villains in the series. Conversely, this is the first episode where I could feel my dislike of Mace Windu starting to creep in. Not to say that I think he’s a badly-written character; far from it. But he’s hard to root for, and otherwise just not that likeable much of the time.
2×02. “Cargo of Doom” – Cad Bane strikes again, as Anakin and Ahsoka lead a daring assault on his ship to recover the Jedi Holocron and save the kidnapped Bolla Ropal! I remembered liking Bane, but I forgot just how much of a methodical mastermind he is. He takes on two Jedi and an army of clones and completely tricks the Jedi into getting what he wants…
2×03. “Children of the Force” – …and not only that, but even after his capture, he ends up outsmarting two more Jedi and makes a clean getaway. As villainous as he is and as much as I wanted his evil scheme to be foiled, at the same time he’s such a classy and clever villain, there is a part of me that kinda does root for him. All the same, I do look forward to the next couple of times he and Obi-Wan will cross paths. 😉
2×17. “Bounty Hunters” – As with “Defenders of Peace”, this is another “protect the villagers” episode, although this one I thought was better done. It helps that it has the added dynamic of the heroes teaming up with a gang of bounty hunters who were already hired before the heroes even showed up, which is a great setup in itself. Oh, and have I mentioned before how much I like Hondo? 🙂
2×18. “The Zillo Beast” – Star Wars meets Godzilla! One of my favourite darkly humorous moments is when, after the Zillo Beast blows up several of the clone trooper tanks, it picks up yet another tank. But instead of the two clone troopers inside screaming in terror, one of them angrily yells, “Whose bright idea was this anyway?!” Lol!
2×19. “The Zillo Beast Strikes Back” – One of the highlight episodes of Season 2 for me. We also get what is surprisingly one of the biggest tearjerkers in the series when the Zillo Beast dies. Too bad the cliffhanger at the end was never followed up on. Maybe they’ll revisit this in The Bad Batch? Here’s hoping.
2×04. “Senate Spy” – I was surprised at how much I liked this one upon seeing it again. Something about Padmé having a former love interest, and Anakin getting all jealous and huffy and immature about it, is just funny to me. Aside from that, it’s a great and suspenseful espionage episode. After Attack of the Clones, this is the first TCW episode to give us a real good look at Anakin’s darker side when he abandons Rush to possible death, even after Rush helped save them. It also ends with a nice lead-in to the next part of the story…
2×05. “Landing at Point Rain” – Already Season 2 is showing to be a step up from Season 1. This is similar to the Ryloth arc (or at least it starts off that way), but this one I enjoyed quite a bit more, even if it’s hard to put my finger on why. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rex make for an endearing action trio as well.
2×06. “Weapons Factory” – I forgot Barriss was introduced this early in the series, but she ended up being perhaps the most interesting part of the episode. This is another reason why watching something for a second time can be a benefit, when it makes you look at it from a completely different context than last time. In this case, seeing how kind and noble Barriss is here, yet knowing how things will eventually play out…
2×07. “Legacy of Terror” – We went from a comedic romance drama/spy espionage sort of story, to two war-themed episodes, and now into a horror-laden direction. I forgot all about the bug zombies, haha. I’m not always the biggest horror fan, but here I enjoyed it. The characters descending into the dark tunnels is truly suspenseful and nerve-wracking.
2×08. “Brain Invaders – Another uncharacteristically (or not?) freaky episode for Star Wars. This one feels like something out of The X-Files. But again, I dig it. Also a great moment is when Anakin ruthlessly interrogates and tortures Poggle for information. In this case it’s understandable and I was rooting for Anakin, while at the same time it does hint at what he will eventually become.
2×09. “Grievous Intrigue” – Yet another episode I could barely recall. The only familiar part was Obi-Wan and the clones holding onto the rope for dear life so they don’t get sucked out into space. A fast-paced episode with plenty of good action, although it largely seems to act as a set-up for the next episode, once Grievous escapes to Saleucami and the heroes chase after him…
2×10. “The Deserter” – Now this episode, on the other hand, I could remember very well. I always admired how much effort the show put into characterizing and humanizing the clones, and this is just one episode amongst countless others that does a beautiful job of it. Rex is stunned when he first discovers Cut, but by the end of it, the two men grow to respect their vastly different lifestyles. It’s a heartwarming moment when, despite Cut being a war deserter, Rex defies protocol by keeping Cut a secret from the rest of the army. I like that the narrative doesn’t portray Cut’s decision as shameful in any way. It’s likewise heartwarming when Cut even offers to let Rex stay with him and his family, and there is subsequently an element of sadness that Rex declines and thus returns to continue fighting in the war.
2×11. “Lightsaber Lost” – On paper, the premise of Ahsoka losing her lightsaber and having to get it back sounds silly, but it makes for another great chase/espionage episode. In fact, this one was even better than I remembered it. This is also probably where I realized just how much I love Coruscant as a setting; one of the coolest planets in all of Star Wars. Lastly, I couldn’t help but admire Tera’s lightsaber. First time we ever saw a white lightsaber in the series, which is pretty cool. 🙂
2×12. “The Mandalore Plot” – And now we get to see a black lightsaber. Cool! 🙂 This episode especially is one which benefits from a rewatch. At the time, the Mandalore situation seemed like just another one of the Clone Wars’ many sub-arcs. But we can see now that this kicks off one of the most significant storylines in the franchise.
2×13. “Voyage of Temptation” – Not much to say about this one, but it keeps the Mandalore plot moving along nicely. We see that Anakin is not the only one with an awkward romance. 😛
2×14. “Duchess of Mandalore” – Now this was exciting! Another one of the best of this season. Again I’m reminded how great Coruscant is. But yeesh, poor Satine! Betrayed by two people in a row whom she thought were allies, one of her friends is murdered, and then she watches two more genuine allies die right in front of her as still more assassination attempts are made on her life.
2×20. “Death Trap” – I remembered being somewhat more “eh” about this story arc the first time I saw it, but this time around it grew on me. This is a more average set-up episode, but the next two episodes are excellent. We also meet the delightfully loathsome Aurra Sing here. I like the Jedi fortune cookie in this one: Who my father was matters less than my memory of him.
2×21. “R2 Come Home” – This arc also makes me surprisingly sympathetic to Boba. Another case where I kinda find myself rooting for the villain, although it helps that I’m not a big Mace Windu fan. 😛 R2 is great, providing comedic highlights by dropping debris onto the bounty hunters while being simultaneously a great ally. R2 was one of my favourite Star Wars characters back in the original trilogy, and his Clone Wars appearances only reinforce the sentiment.
2×22. “Lethal Trackdown” – Yay, more Hondo! This is the first time we start to see that there’s more to him than being a scummy, greedy pirate. Him encouraging Boba to reveal the location of the hostages, saying it’s what his father would have wanted, is a touching moment. He also wisely decides to keep his nose out of Jedi affairs after his previous defeats… even though we’ll see in Season 5 that he didn’t quite learn his lesson after all, haha. This episode has another great Jedi fortune cookie: Revenge is a confession of pain.
