THE CLONE WARS EPISODES 111/112/113

WATCH REPORT FOR: April 9, 2022

WATCHED: The Clone Wars "Dooku Captured", "The Gungan General" and "Jedi Crash"

SUMMARY: After shooting down Count Dooku's personal craft, Anakin and Obi-Wan pursue him, but are beaten to their quarry by a band of pirates who capture the Separatist leader and hold him for ransom. The two Jedi are then dispatched to ascertain that the pirates truly hold Dooku and secure Dooku as a prisoner of the Republic, but are betrayed by the pirates and captured as well. They escape by joining forces with Dooku as another envoy force arrives to pay the pirates' price for all three prisoners, then attacks the pirates after being treacherously shot down.

Later, Anakin and Ahsoka attempt to rescue Aayla Secura's cruiser from Separatists, but the ship is forced to crash land on the remote world of Maridun. Anakin's injuries suffered in the battle require attention, and Aayla and Ahsoka seek out the local inhabitants, the pacifistic Lurmen.

OVERALL REVIEW: One thing that Star Wars benefits from, and probably any long-running serialized war story needs, is wild cards. There are only so many times that the basic plot of an episode or mini-arc can boil down to "the Army of the Republic and the Separatist Droids have a big battle". There are also only so many times that the plot can be "the Separatists fight amongst themselves" or "the Republic/Separatists try to convince a neutral group to take a side" or any other variation on the central struggle. The Clone Wars also has the burden of not being able to disrupt the status quo. The war itself can't be decisively won, nor can any of the major characters die, because it all has to feed into Revenge of the Sith.

Enter Hondo Ohnaka! And lots of other new characters as the series goes along, of course, but this post is about the arc that introduces Hondo and his pirates. And it's a really solid intro, too, giving Hondo a fair amount of depth and personality while making it absolutely clear that he's neither a potential Separatist ally nor a Republic supporter. He's a free agent, completely selfish, attempting to play both sides against each other to the point where Dooku, Anakin and Obi-Wan have to work together to escape from the pirate gang. As an exercise in breaking up the formulaic war stories, it's refreshing, and the execution is good enough that the result is highly entertaining as well.

Contrast that with Jedi Crash which is, sigh, a story that begins with a big space battle where nobody dies, although Anakin is gravely injured, and then focuses on efforts to get Anakin enough medical aid to survive while everyone awaits rescue from a backwater planet. They also encounter a neutral group and try to get them to pick a side. If not for the presence of Jedi Master Aayla Secura it would be a pretty forgettable episode overall.