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Last weekend's episode was A War on Two Fronts. Near as I can tell, there was a planet whose government joined the bad guys, but the citizens didn't want to, so they were going to rebel against the droid army. The Jedi (who apparently hadn't watched the original trilogy) weren't too keen on helping a bunch of "rebels", but they decided they could go in and train them. Just not fight for them.

 

Somewhere in there, Ahsoka ran into an old love interest from a previous season, who had moved from being a diplomat to a rebel. And there was some other rebel who was a girl, and some other guy, and some sort of love-quadrangle thing going on with all four of them. Which means hearts will be broken, and someone will probably get killed.

 

Speaking of which, there was a pretty good amount of action in this episode again, once the droids started attacking. The episode ended with the rebels infiltrating their capital city, apparently to raise a ruckus of some sort.

 

What made the episode particularly interesting though, were the increasing disagreements between Anakin and the Jedi Council on how the war should be waged. Anakin figures that any way that the war can be won is acceptable, and is becoming increasingly frustrated by the Jedis' lack of willingness to break with their traditional rules of engagement. So little by little, his dark side is beginning to appear. It makes his character more complex and interesting, and his eventual turn to the Dark Side much more believable.

 

Too bad they couldn't have put more of that into Episode III, rather than "Oh, I guess I'm Darth Vader now. Time to do some killin'."

This week brought Front Runners. The Jedi continued to train the rebels, who got better at blowing up droids and irking the new King who was collaborating with the occupying droid army.

 

Then they got really good at blowing up a power station. Now they're gonna be in trouble, because Count Dooku is sending in reinforcements.

 

There's a bit more of the side story with Ahsoka and the guy she likes liking someone else, and a good moment in there where Anakin has to council her on keeping her feelings in check because he knows what she's going through.

 

One thing that continues to impress me though is the cinematic quality of some of the episodes. They put a lot of work into these shows, and they're visually very impressive. Fortunately, the plots and character developments are keeping pace, so it's not just eye candy.

This week's episode was The Soft War, because you know how unpleasant those hard ones are.

 

So the rebels kept rebelling, but without the Jedi because they were just there to train and advise them, then leave. So they left, except for Ahsoka, who was only supposed to observe.

 

Well, she did pretty good, up until the very end. Then she just had to butt in and save someone's life. Now the cat's out of the bag, and Count Dooku is going to know the Jedi are in cahoots with the rebels, and he is not going to be happy about that.

 

Again, they deal with some pretty heavy subject matter - torture, public execution (seems to be a theme this week), and a close-up shot of someone getting, well, shot. These are the Clone Wars, after all.

 

All-in-all, another really good episode. Some of the animation (particularly Ahsoka's facial expressions) is excellent. They're also writing some really interesting dialog about whether what the rebels are doing is the right or wrong thing to do, depending on a particular point-of-view. Good action, acting, writing and visuals. What more could you want in a Saturday morning cartoon?

 

A duck being shot in the face with a shotgun?

 

Sorry... too violent.

Two weeks ago (still catching up on stuff) brought Tipping Points, the finale of the Onderon storyline. The Droids stepped up their assault on the rebels, and the Jedi just kind of sat back, chillin', not getting involved because it was an "internal affair". Well, Anakin didn't like that (he's starting to lose patience with the way the Jedi are running things), and ended up hiring illegal arms dealers to supply the rebels under the table. Although this was done with the Jedi knowing about it, so they weren't exactly guiltless here, either. Anyway, that was the tipping point, and Count Dooku decided the planet was more trouble than it was worth. And there was more death, because, y'know, it's war.

 

Then last week brought The Gathering - a total departure from the previous storyline. This followed a group of younglings as they traveled with Ahsoka and Yoda to some mysterious planet to find the crystals they need to make their lightsabers. So the kids each had to go through a challenge unique to their own weaknesses in order to get their respective crystals. It was a pretty cool episode, and not just because it took place in an ice cave (it still never ceases to amaze me the amount of detail they put into their CG environments for a TV show). We got a little more of a look into some behind-the-scenes Jedi shenanigans, and also how Ahsoka is being given more responsibility as she matures. The kids didn't actually get around to making their lightsabers, but hopefully we'll get to see that at some point, because there's some potential comedy gold in the making there. (Think grade-school pranks, but with lightsabers. Fun stuff!)

 

And following the recent acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, Clone Wars Supervising Director Dave Filoni blogged a little bit about the future of the series. Apparently, it's all been planned out right up to its - and Ahsoka's - conclusion. Will she survive? I couldn't begin to guess, but I'd bet that whatever happens, it will have a huge impact on Anakin.

Today brought A Test of Strength. So then... remember how last time I said it'd be cool to see how Jedis actually build their lightsabers?

 

Well, I win! 'Cause that's what they showed today. At least that's what the younglings were working on when their ship was attacked by Ninjas!

 

No... not Ninjas. What's the other thing? Vampires? No...

 

Oh! Pirates! Right. So they were attacked, and Ahsoka had to teach them how to grow up in a hurry. And also there was some droid there who has been teaching Jedi how to make lightsabers for 1000 years.

 

I dunno... seems like they could just have written it down someplace.

 

Anyway, Ahsoka saved the day, but now finds herself trapped on the pirate ship. What with all the cutlasses, and Jolly Rogers and whatnot. So, she's in big trouble. Tune in next week, same Jedi time, same Jedi channel, to find out if how she escapes!

Two weeks ago brought Bound For Rescue, and last week's episode was A Necessary Bond.

 

The Jedi Younglings set out to rescue Ahsoka from Hyundai... no... Honda? Nissan? Anyway, the pirate that kidnapped her. To do so, they joined a circus.

 

Um... yeah. The preposterousness is with you, young Jedi. But it was still a pretty good episode.

 

The follow-up episode had them having to make an alliance with the pirates in order to escape an invasion by the droid army. It was a solid episode with a lot of good action, and an excellent lightsaber battle between Ahsoka and General Grievous.

 

Also airing on Cartoon Network recently was Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. This was a comical, Lego take on the events between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. It was full of funny little in-jokes, signs to read, and the best "Noooooo!" joke I've seen. If you run across it, it's well-worth checking out for a laugh.

You know... if Disney had taken over Star Wars before these episodes had gone into production, I would have suspected that the tone of the series had changed for the worse. But as it is, it looks like these were just silly, diversionary episodes, designed to give a break from all of the heaviness. Those episodes being Secret Weapons and A Sunny Day in the Void.

 

Basically, a rag-tag group of wacky droids are led by the tiniest commander in the Republic on a secret mission to steal a decryption device from a Droid starship. Hilarity ensues. How tiny is this guy? His action figure would be life size. His entire command console fits inside an R2 unit's head. And he's a nutjob, too. And one of the droids is also a complete nutjob, although more literally . He's like the little repair droids from Epsiode I that kept getting sucked into podracer engines. But wackier.

 

Anyway, the first episode has them stealing the thing, and the second episode has them crashing on a desert planet, after a rather spectacular-looking run-in with a herd of comets. (Do comets travel in herds? Packs? Prides?) And the commander goes a little loopy and starts hallucinating. It's actually pretty funny, although not really in keeping with the more serious tone of the rest of the series. But I guess you have to have some comic relief, and it's way better than Jar-Jar.

Catching up on back episodes of The Clone Wars.

 

Missing In Action had nothing to do with Chuck Norris. But it still featured a guy in a beard, kicking butt. So... close enough. The droids and their tiny commander are still stranded in the middle of nowhere. Also in the middle of nowhere, is a guy washing dishes at a seedy diner. Turns out, this guy is a clone. Or used to be, until he forgot. Yep... the ol' amnesia bit. Anyway, the Separatist droid army happens to be there too, mining some fuel. So the good guys enlist the help of the clone, and decide to steal the shuttle they're loading all this fuel into. Heroics ensue. It's actually a pretty cool sequence where the clone sacrifices himself so the others can get away. (His sacrifice is offscreen, so obviously they're planning to bring him back someday.)

 

Following that up, was Point of No Return. Once on board the shuttle, they take it up to an orbiting Republic warship. Much to their surprise, there's no crew. Just cargo holds full of this fuel (which turns out to be highly unstable and explosive... which I guess most fuels are), and some Separatist droids. Turns out - the whole thing is a giant bomb, meant to ram and destroy a space station where a whole bunch of the Republic's main military leaders are having a conference. Again, more heroics ensue, as well as the coolest looking explosion since the original Death Star blew up (without the ring of fire). They need to blow up more of that fuel, because it makes awesome explosions. It's like Mythbusters cool.

 

With that plotline out of the way, our attention turns to the Maul brothers in Eminence, last left adrift, defeated and dying. Fortunately, they get picked up by Deathwatch - the Mandalorian warriors who are way cooler than Boba Fett ever was. They happen to share the Maul bros.' hatred for a certain Obi-Wan Kenobi, so they decide to team up and have a go at creating a massive criminal underworld army to take control of Mandalore, and use it as a base to build up their own Empire.

 

And in the episode Shades of Reason, they do just that. Betrayal, murder, a really cool lightsaber fight, and some political shenanigans later, and Darth Maul is sittin' on the throne (a real one, not a toilet - although I suppose there could be a toilet hidden in it. After all, if I was a king, I'd probably want one of those. Although as I pointed out when he first returned without his lower half, how does he poop?), running a puppet government. You go with your bad, nutty self there, DM!

 

So things are looking up for the Maul boys. They have an army, a planet, and most of their limbs. Looks like ol' Obi-Wan is in a heap of trouble.

Things heat up a bit with Lawless (which does not guest-star Lucy Lawless), when Obi-Wan finds out what's going on on Mandalore. However, since the Separatists aren't behind it, the Jedi can't officially interfere. But Obi-Wan unofficially does, and naturally, gets himself captured and someone else killed in the process. Meanwhile, Palpatine doesn't take to kindly to the Maul bros. being all Sith-y without his permission, so he personally goes over to Mandalore to teach 'em both some manners.

 

I've said this before - in many ways this series eclipses the prequel trilogy. The ensuing lightsaber fight is one of those ways. Let's just say at least one person does not have a good day.

 

In Sabotage, we step away from the Maul bros. for awhile, as someone has taken it upon themselves to bomb the Jedi temple on Courasocnaust. Cursorsarnt. Couroausonauts. Ummm... the big planet made out of buildings. Anakin and Ahsoka - apparently the only two Jedi in the galaxy who weren't on the planet at the time, and are therefore the only two who aren't suspects - are tasked with figuring out whodunnit. Did a disgruntled Jedi do it? Did some hangar technician do it? Did some hangar technician's wife feed him explosive nanobots mixed in with his Bantha meatloaf and use him as a walking bomb? Well, yeah... pretty-much that last one.

 

But the bigger plot point here is a growing distrust of the Jedi amongst the citizens of the Republic as the war continues to drag on. There are demonstrations and now apparently some underground plot device protest movement is rearing its head. So that's something else the Jedi have to deal with. All part of the Emperor's plan? Dunno... but it probably isn't breaking his heart any.

 

There are a couple of moments in the episode where Ahsoka is having difficulties dealing with the notion it might have been be a Jedi who bombed the temple. Anakin brings up fallen Jedi of the past, and tries to reassure her that even if some Jedi have turned to the dark side, as long as they keep doing what's right, it'll be okay.

 

Yeah... so good luck with that one. We all know how that turns out. But it did make for some chilly, poignant moments. Again - it's too bad none of that tone ever really made it into the prequels.

Last week brought The Fugitive The Jedi Who Knew Too Much. Ahsoka is framed for a murder she didn't commit and has to take it on the lam. You know the drill - escape from prison, avoid the authorities, make daring escapes, run through huge drainage pipes, and then jump out of one into a gaping chasm (are there non-gaping ones?).

 

So who framed her? Well, we didn't find that out yet, other than it's someone who can Force-choke a prisoner to death, keep Ahsoka from sensing them, and kill a whole bunch of clones in order to break her out of prison. No idea if he's a one-armed man or not. Meanwhile, Anakin has to try and keep the clones from killing her, although she does a pretty spectacular job of escaping from them anyway. For the first time (I think) since the original Star Wars, we get to see blasters set to "stun". I forgot they actually did that. Made for a pretty cool chase scene.

 

So now she's on the run in order to clear her name. This was one of their better episodes this season, as we really got to see more emotions from both Anakin and Ahsoka, and see a bit more of their master/padawan relationship as well. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't been regularly watching the series.

Last week brought the next-to-last episode of this season, meaning the next episode which runs this week is the last one. Follow that?

 

Anyway, it was To Catch a Jedi. And since Ahsoka was running from the law, guess which Jedi they were trying to catch!

 

Go on, I'll wait.

 

No... not the weird blue chick with the things growing out of her head.

 

Seriously, are you not paying attention at all?

 

No... not Yoda, either.

 

It was Ahsoka.

 

I know - shocker, right?

 

Anyway, for some inexplicable reason, she teamed up with Asajj Ventress who for some other inexplicable reason is now a Bounty Hunter with a Heart of Gold™. Instead of turning Ahsoka in for the reward money, she helps her out to try and get to the bottom of who framed her.

 

So what does she get for turning over a new leaf?

 

An oil-drum to the face, and her lightsabers stolen. That'll teach her to be good. You listening kids? It gets you nowhere!

 

Right - so Ahsoka gets captured, and winds up even more framed than before, because she gets captured in the warehouse where all of the explosives were kept that were used to blow up the Jedi temple. So now she's being accused of not just murdering the person who blew up the temple, but also for blowing it up in the first place.

 

Not really sure how that works. All I know is, the Jedi are being of no help. Buncha jerks.

 

Next week she gets put on trial, and presumably executed.

 

What - you didn't see her in Episode III did you?

 

Thought so.

The last episode of the season - The Wrong Jedi - aired this weekend.

 

And if you'd been paying attention, you wouldn't be surprised to find out that yes, they had arrested the wrong Jedi.

 

The right Jedi, who was actually behind all of the recent shenanigans, shouldn't really have been too much of a surprise either. Not if you were paying attention.

 

What was a surprise, is how the episode ended. It was surprising in that it was surprisingly poignant, and emotionally powerful. Surprising for a cartoon show. And a surprising direction for the creators of the show to take.

 

It opens up a whole lot of questions about where The Clone Wars goes from here, and seems like it could be yet-another wedge (no, not Wedge) that gets driven between Anakin and the Jedi Council, pushing him ever closer to the Dark Side™. Not only does he have more reason than ever to distrust the Jedi council,

he now really has no one around to help keep him in check. A good side to help balance out his dark side. Someone he has to behave around and set a good example for.

 

 

The big question is how far they'll follow through with it, and if they'll cop-out on their decision, or make it a permanent change for the duration of the series.

 

I guess we'll have to wait for next season to find out.