Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Clone Wars -- "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back" (Ep. 2.19)

-- The most dangerous beast is the beast within.


[Remember, you can sign up to join the Clone Wars Project at any time by clicking this link.]


Remember last episode and the conflict I mentioned? It was about whether to keep the zillo beast alive or not. You know, a philosophical conflict between the Jedi and Palpatine. One of the reasons Palpatine wanted to get rid of the Jedi is that you can't just say "no" to them, so, when Mace Windu wanted to spare the beast and move it to some other world to live on, Palpatine couldn't say "no" even though he wanted to. So, of course, he turned the situation to his advantage.

By having the zillo beast taken to Coruscant instead of wherever it was supposed to go.

You can imagine the results.
Actually, you should just watch the episode so that you don't have to imagine them.

I do have to wonder, though, how much of what happened Palpatine foresaw, because... well, again, you should just watch the episode.

All the creature stuff aside, I think the most significant thing about this episode is what's revealed about the relationship between Anakin and Padme. Padme takes Anakin with her to support her in convincing Palpatine to not have the zillo beast killed, but, during the conversation, Anakin waffles and comes to Palpatine's defense at one point. Padme pulls him aside and asks him whose side he's on. Anakin, of course, says hers but that he can see both sides and Palpatine has some valid points. Basically, he becomes the only Jedi who doesn't 100% believe the zillo beast should be saved. That's the implication anyway.

Of course, that's not just about the relationship between Anakin and Padme but about Anakin and his relationship to the rest of the Jedi. Hints of the growing rift between Anakin's ideology and the ideology of the Jedi as a whole. It's these little things that happen within the overall arc of the show that make it interesting and bridges the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and reveal how it is that Anakin came to betray the Jedi Order.


"A lot of the general's plans involve falling."

4 comments:

  1. I think it's interesting that you and I latch onto different aspects of these stories. I expect we're looking for different things. It speaks to the high quality of the work, I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TAS: That's true. The show has a lot more layers than it would appear just by looking from the outside.

      Delete
  2. I enjoyed reading both of your comments on the same story.
    I started to watch this one (I gave up trying to catch up) but I fell asleep and now I am only one behind. Maybe next week I can comment but without all the backstory.... who knows what I will say besides ooooooooooooh pretty.

    cheers, parsnip

    cheers, parsnip

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. parsnip: LOL
      I'll be looking forward to whatever you have to say even if it's only, "Pretty!"

      Delete