THE CLONE WARS EPISODES 103/104

WATCH REPORT FOR: March 12, 2022

WATCHED: The Clone Wars "Shadow of Malevolence" and "Destroy Malevolence"

SUMMARY: The Republic launches a counter-offensive against the Malevolence to prevent it from destroying a medical base treating thousands of clone troopers. The initial plan to bomb the bridge of the Malevolence proves untenable, but redirecting the attack against the ion cannons causes the superweapons to overload, leaving the Malevolence crippled and saving the medical base.

Believing her destination to be a treaty negotiation with the Banking Guild, Padme Amidala arrives at the Malevolence's location and is captured. Obi-Wan and Anakin board the Malevolence to rescue her, and further sabotage the Malevolence, which flies itself into a nearby moon when attempting to jump to hyperspace after the Jedi escape with Padme.

OVERALL REVIEW: These episodes are fine. They're fine! The second installment of the three-parter portrays Anakin as an inspirational leader who happens to be single-minded and stubborn, and toys with the idea of him sacrificing an entire squadron of clone pilots in order to see the battleplan through to the bitter end. Ahsoka plays his conscience, and ultimately he relents. We are watching the entire saga in order, by choice, but I still can't help but think about the fact that the series came out after the prequel trilogy had concluded, not to mention that the prequels came out after the original trilogy. We already know that Anakin will be seduced by the Dark Side. We know that he will murder a room full of helpless younglings! Which kind of takes some of the tension out of whether or not he will lead a bunch of custom-grown cannon fodder straight to their deaths, but so it goes.

I'm still delighted by how much better a sense of humor the Clone Wars has than the prequels (and most other Star Wars stuff, for that matter). Both armies are meant to be largely disposable, but when clones die in battle it's still a little sad. On the other hand when General Grievous gets irritated and backhands a battle droid's head clear off its shoulders and across the bridge of the Malevolence, it makes me laugh out loud every time.

The final chapter of the Malevolence saga has one or two good easter eggs, including General Grievous delivering a "Hello there!" to Obi-Wan Kenobi. It also has Padme getting to be fairly badass: her response to having her cruiser captured by Malevolence's trator beam is to sneak out into the hold after setting her cruiser to self-destruct, which very nearly takes out Grievous. Hells yeah, Padme. It's a decent enough counterweight to the rest of the epsode, which essentially hinges on Anakin thinking, "Oh, Grievous is trying to use the Senator from Naboo as a hostage to get away? Now it's personal!" and mounting a rescue.

At any rate, we are well and truly into the Clone Wars now, past the theatrical pilot, the first multi-part storyline, and several flashback episodes. Eight eps down, a hundred and twenty-five or so to go!

HOW MANY TIMES DOES ANAKIN HANG UP ON OBI-WAN? None. They're mostly on the same page in these episodes. Obi-Wan actually hangs up on Anakin at one point, though that's not his fault, but rather the Separatists jamming their commlinks at an inopportune moment. And near the very end, Dooku and Grievous are communicating and Grievous realizes he has just lost the Malevolence, so he hangs up on Dooku and bolts. Good stuff.