THE CLONE WARS EPISODES 117/118

(Looking for Episode 116? It was covered earlier in our chronological watch order, and you can find that post here.)

WATCH REPORT FOR: April 30, 2022

WATCHED: The Clone Wars "Blue Shadow Virus" and "Mystery of a Thousand Moons"

SUMMARY: Mysterious deaths on Naboo lead Senator Amidala and Representative Jar Jar Binks to a Separatist bio-weapons laboratory overseen by Dr. Nuvo Vindi, attempting to revive a deadly virus that was wiped out from the Republic. Padme and Jar Jar are captured by battle droids as Dr. Vindi attempts to complete his cahce of virus-laden bombs, but Anakin, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan and clone troopers arrive to rescue them and capture the doctor.

Despite his restraints, Vindi manages to detonate a single bomb, causing the lab to go into lockdown with Padme, Ahsoka and several clones inside. Anakin and Obi-Wan race to Iego, home of the only known naturally occurring cure for the virus. The two Jedi fight carnivorous plants and must escape a Death Star-like laser security field that forms a deadly lattice among the many moons, but make it back to Naboo in time to save the victims of the virus.

OVERALL REVIEW:

When I reviewed "Dooku Captured" and highlighted Hondo Ohnaka's debut, I mentioned that there would be other new characters introduced as the series went along as well. I did not specify at the time that some of those characters would become franchise mainstays with their own sub-fandoms, while others would be disposably forgettable. These two episodes introduce a couple of characters from the latter category. They can't all be gems!

The mad scientist trope embodied by Dr. Nuvo Vindi might have made for an interesting, pulpy side element in the Clone Wars. He's practically a wild card, technically aligned with the Separatists, certainly protected by numerous battle droids, but his maniacal dedication to resurrecting a deadly virus, fueled more by scientific curiosity than political ideology, makes him as much a threat to the non-droid sentients of the Separatist movement as to the Republic. But he's so, so cartoonish, a Nazi bad guy turned up way past 11 with an accent that sounds like the Looney Tunes version of Josef Mengele. Not a character built to last.

"Blue Shadow Virus" is also notable for introducing the female Gungan Peppi Bow. Just kidding, nothing about Gungans is ever notable, unless one is deeply invested in the following thought experiment: would the Gungans as a species and culture be an interesting addition to Star Wars canon if the most prominent and well-known individual among them were not also the saga's most annoying, and among the most problematic, of all characters? Truly imponderable.

Meanwhile, in "Mystery of a Thousand Moons", we meet Jaybo Hood, young droid reprogrammer and self-styled mini-despot. Most kid characters in an epic war story are bad ideas right out of the gate, and this kid is no exception. The less said about him the better. I will say, however, that I'm somewhere between amused and impressed when the Clone Wars writers take a throwaway line from the prequels and decide to depict it in an episode of their show. Recall that when Anakin first meets Padme in The Phantom Menace, he asks her "Are you an angel?" He elaborates that he heard about them from pilots passing through, that they are the most beautiful creatures in the galaxy, and that they live on "the moons of Iego (I think)." Sure enough, the thousand moons of this episode orbit that very planet Iego, and we get to see the legendary ethereal angels as well. It's completely unnecessary to retroactively ground Anakin's dorky pre-adolescent pickup line in fact! Yet here we are.