-- Without honor, victory is hollow.
I think fighting a Jedi is somewhat the equivalent of trench warfare during World War I. You just keep throwing more and more men at it until one gets through. Or gets an opening. Or a lucky shot. Or whatever. But sometimes they do fall.
There are two things of interest in this episode:
One is the continued discussion from the previous episode regarding the Jedi not really being suited for war. This is, of course, Tarkin's viewpoint. He believes that the Jedi Code folds them back from being able to achieve a true victory in many cases. Unsurprisingly, Anakin tends to agree with Tarkin. Obi-Wan's response is to question whether victory is worthwhile if you have to sacrifice your honor to attain it.
It's an interesting question, all of it, and it hearkens back to an earlier question about what good it does to maintain a stance of non-violence if it gets you dead. Which is the higher measure: keeping your honor or staying alive?
The second is a conflict over the information that Even Piell was tasked to bring back to the Jedi. In an effort to protect it, he shared the information between himself and Tarkin so that if one of them was captured, the information would be useless. You'd have to have both of them. The issue, then, is that once Tarkin has part of the information, he refuses to divulge it to anyone other than Palpatine. Did Piell have no inkling that this could be an issue? Tarkin never held back about his feelings about the Jedi, so sharing the info with Tarkin seems to be a poor choice for a Jedi Master to make.
Okay, sure, it's probably just a plot device that the writers didn't think through all the way, but it does raise some questions.
Mostly though, as I said in the review for the previous episode, this arc is an action arc, and the philosophy is kept to a minimum.
There are two things of interest in this episode:
One is the continued discussion from the previous episode regarding the Jedi not really being suited for war. This is, of course, Tarkin's viewpoint. He believes that the Jedi Code folds them back from being able to achieve a true victory in many cases. Unsurprisingly, Anakin tends to agree with Tarkin. Obi-Wan's response is to question whether victory is worthwhile if you have to sacrifice your honor to attain it.
It's an interesting question, all of it, and it hearkens back to an earlier question about what good it does to maintain a stance of non-violence if it gets you dead. Which is the higher measure: keeping your honor or staying alive?
The second is a conflict over the information that Even Piell was tasked to bring back to the Jedi. In an effort to protect it, he shared the information between himself and Tarkin so that if one of them was captured, the information would be useless. You'd have to have both of them. The issue, then, is that once Tarkin has part of the information, he refuses to divulge it to anyone other than Palpatine. Did Piell have no inkling that this could be an issue? Tarkin never held back about his feelings about the Jedi, so sharing the info with Tarkin seems to be a poor choice for a Jedi Master to make.
Okay, sure, it's probably just a plot device that the writers didn't think through all the way, but it does raise some questions.
Mostly though, as I said in the review for the previous episode, this arc is an action arc, and the philosophy is kept to a minimum.
I didn't think about the why Tarkin question until just now but, especially in light of previous discussions we've had, is it possible that Piell wasn't entirely sure he could trust a Jedi with all of the intel? Perhaps, big picture, there's a reason why he chose someone outside the Order.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably overthinking. It probably was just a convenient plot device. But now I wonder.
TAS: Yeah, see, >probably< it was just a plot device, but what if it wasn't?
DeleteMy guess, though, is that if there was something more to it, that hasn't been explored since. Nor, I am guessing, is it likely to be.
DeleteTAS: No, they never went back to it. And, probably, there was nothing to go back to, but it's hard to say for sure since Disney pulled the plug on Clone Wars so that they could have Rebels.
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