Rebels: "The Protector of Concord Dawn" (Ep. 2.13)

-- "It looks like diplomacy won the day for once."

"There was a time when it always won the day."

You know, the dialogue in this show is pretty good. I always come away with more quotes than I can use. Well, almost always. This episode was one of those episodes where there were a lot of great lines.

And OMG! Sabine is Death Watch! That is something I hadn't seen coming! And not just Death Watch; she's from the house of Vizsla. You know, as in Pre Vizsla, the guy with the Darksaber during the Clone Wars. Things just got that much more more interesting and, then, that much more interesting again! Especially since we meet up with some Mandalorians this episode.

I would say that you should just watch this episode even if you're not a fan of the series, but I'm not sure this episode is one of those that would work without the background. To really appreciate it, you need to have watched Clone Wars, but they fill in just enough of the details that you don't have to have watched Clone Wars, but my "OMG!" is exactly because I have the Clone Wars background to know what stuff means.

Though this episode is exactly centered on Sabine, it does reveal more of her background, and, as I've said before, it's always a good thing when they give the female characters a bit more focus. They can't just be cardboard stand-ups for Ezra and Kanan to act in front of.

"This Jedi philosophy stuff doesn't work for everyone."

"That's why we're at war."

"Kanan, you need to stop talking now."

"When you set your mind to something, you're kind of frightening."

Clone Wars -- "Eminence" (Ep. 5.14)

-- One vision can have many interpretations.

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

[Well, actually, considering that we're into season five, now, probably no one new is going to sign up, BUT! Hop over to The Armchair Squid for his take on the current episode.]

You know in comic books how every so often all the bad guys will get together to take down the super hero? You know, like the Sinister Six in Spider-Man. Or all the time in Batman (okay, not really, but it sometimes seems that way). Oh... You don't read comics? Well, it's a thing, the bad guys teaming up. This episode is like that.

After barely escaping with their lives last episode, Maul and Opress are picked up by Death Watch. That's a match made in Hell if you're Obi-Wan Kenobi, because, really, there's no one around who hates him more than Maul and Pre Vizsla.

But the fun doesn't stop there! No, Maul hatches a plan to raise an army... from the criminal underworld! We have what I think is the first appearance of Black Sun in current Star Wars canon material, having first appeared in a 90's era video game which I can't remember the name of and don't feel like looking up. There's also the Hutts. And more.

This episode has a lot of action but also a lot of development. It's exactly what Ob-Wan was warning about at the end of "Revival," a warning that really went unheeded because of his "vested interest" in Maul. No matter what happens -- and I'm not saying what happens -- it can't be anything good.


"After careful consideration, we will join you."

Clone Wars -- "A Friend in Need" (Ep. 4.14)

-- Friendship shows us who we really are.

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The return of Death Watch... and a plan to assassinate Dooku?

Having the Death Watch around is always interesting, and, hey, it's always cool to see the Darksaber, but I actually don't want to talk about what the episode is about. No, again, I want to focus on something that's off to the side of the story.

When Ahsoka, R2-D2, and Lux Bonteri arrive at the Death Watch camp, the members of the Death Watch are busy torturing... droids. For fun. Their pattern seems to be to torture the droids into inoperability then have someone fix the droids up so that they can torture them some more. And I know some of you, right now, are thinking, "So...? They're droids."

It's important to remember that in Star Wars, droids are sentient. They have self-awareness and value themselves as individuals. This isn't a subject that's ever explored in Star Wars, but it's certainly there in the background. It's actually a parallel line of thought to that of the clones.

Now, most people would probably say it would be wrong to torture clones; they're alive, right? But not everyone believed that. They were, after all, built, so doesn't that make them something like organic machines? "But they can feel pain!" Sure, but so can the droids. "It's not the same!" Why not?

Why not?

Of course, after the Clone War, the making of clones was made illegal. So was the making of droids for combat purposes, though that's barely touched on.

Did you know that science (yeah, I know, for a lot of you, I may as well have just said "magic") is showing us, right now, that dolphins and other marine mammals are self aware? They have names for each other. So, you know, when a dolphin gets caught in a fishing net and pulled out  of the water, some other dolphin out in the ocean is going off to tell the pod, "Samson got caught in a net..." Imagine how you would feel if you found out your neighbor caught and ate your dog.

And some of you are saying, "So what. It's only a dog." Or it's only a dolphin. Or... it's only a black person. Or a Mexican. Or a Muslim. Or a faggot. It's not like they're people, right?



"You don't want to make them angry; they are far from rational."

Clone Wars -- "Duchess of Mandalore" (Ep. 2.14)

-- In war, truth is the first casualty.

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

"Duchess of Mandalore" wraps up the Mandalorian trilogy of episodes. In some ways, it's a stand alone episode in that the plot is self-contained; however, you really need to have watched the previous two episodes to understand the action in this one.

This episode is interesting to me in that it clearly shows Darth Sidious trying to manipulate a political situation... and failing. It actually reveals where the true front of the war is, and that is not on the battlefield. The Jedi never come to realize this. Well, at least not until it is well past too late, which we see in Revenge of the Sith. Sure, sometimes Palpatine's plans are foiled, but it's never because anyone is trying to foil those actual plans; it's always because someone is standing strong in their belief in what they're doing and the plan just doesn't succeed. It might be a fine distinction, but it's an important one.

Unfortunately, this episode doesn't go any deeper into the relationship between Satine and Obi-Wan. Well, not more than that Obi-Wan is pretty much willing to do anything for her, but you should be able to get that from the previous episode. Fortunately, if I'm remembering correctly, Satine will be back and there will be more development of the Ob-Wan/Satine story.

Death Watch is still wrapped up in the plot of this one, and we get to see Obi-Wan go toe-to-toe with another Mandalorian much in the way he goes up against Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. It let's us see how these suits of armor they wear were really designed for combat against the Jedi.

Death Watch will be back, too.

As I said, this is a really good series of episodes and one of the ones that I remember best from my previous viewing of the series. It's not a bad place to start if you just want to test the Clone Wars waters.

Clone Wars -- "Voyage of Temptation" (Ep. 2.13)

-- Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.

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

In this episode is politics. Sort of. At least, that's the backdrop to the story. Satine has to go to Coruscant to affirm that she is staying neutral in the war despite the actions of the Mandalorian terrorist group, Death Watch. Death Watch, of course, doesn't want her to go. In Star Wars, that means you send an assassin.

Or assassin droids, as in this case. Freaky looking spider assassin droids. That have baby spider assassin droids inside them. If you have arachnophobia, this is not the episode for you. I mean, I have no issue with spiders at all -- I'm the designated "take the spider outside" person in our home -- but this episode kind of made my skin crawl.

There are a couple of things we learn in this episode:

1. Obi-Wan and Satine have come down on opposite sides in regards to the Separatists. Obi-Wan is a general and fully invested in defeating the Separatists. Satine is a pacifist and the head of a group of systems that want to stay neutral. To say that they don't see eye to eye is an understatement.

2. Obi-Wan and Satine have a past. Which is all I'm going to say because you should just watch it yourselves. What I will say is that this situation provides an interesting contrast to Anakin's.

In conjunction with the previous episode, this story arc elevates in importance even more. The details we find out about Mandalore along with Obi-Wan's backstory make this one of the most essential arcs in the series. I would say that it's "must see" for any Star Wars fan.

"Senators, I presume you're acquainted with the collection of half truths and hyperbole known as Ob-Wan Kenobi."

Clone Wars -- "The Mandalore Plot" (Ep. 2.12)

-- If you ignore the past, you jeopardize the future.

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I'm not sure if I can say this is my favorite season two story arc or not, but it is one of my favorite arcs from Clone Wars overall, which I can say because it's one of the ones I remembered best before starting to watch the series again (for this thing that The Armchair Squid and I are doing). This arc has more than a few very memorable, and important, characters/concepts/things that it introduces.

Let's deal with the obvious one first:
"The Mandalore Plot" takes us to the planet Mandalore, a place every kid who got one of those early Boba Fett figures back in 1979/80 wanted to go. Face it, Boba Fett may still be the coolest character ever to come out of Star Wars, and they really never gave us anything to go on for decades. When they finally did, it was in the person of Jango Fett, and they still told us nothing. But "The Mandalore Plot" finally gives us some background.

For one thing, the episode reveals that the Mandalorians, or at least the warriors who wore the armor, had a longstanding animosity with the Jedi. I think the implication there is that their armor suits were developed specifically to counter the Jedi, which would explain why Obi-Wan has so much trouble with Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. And, actually, again in this episode of The Clone Wars.

Another thing we get to see is the darksaber, an ancient Jedi weapon stolen by the Mandalorians long ago.

The darksaber is a cool weapon and works similarly to a lightsaber. The series never provides much background on what it is or where it came from or anything like that, but it does turn up in later episodes.

And then there's Satine. Satine is an important character for reasons I'm not going to go into yet: They'd be spoilery. However, I will say one thing: I find it completely amusing that they named the character Satine, the name of Nicole Kidman's character in Moulin Rouge. That's a hint, by the way, but that's all I'm going to say. Well, other than that she'll be back.

Oh, and the introduction of Death Watch. That's a thing, too.

Mostly, The Clone Wars doesn't contain this kind of world building. It does occasionally, but it's generally focused on characters or showing us places we've already been or creating an interesting side note that only exists for an episode or two. This arc, though, seems very foundational to me because of the depth it gives us for Boba Fett's background. You know at some point Disney is going to get around to doing a Boba Fett movie, so I would expect that at least some of this stuff from these episodes will come into play again.

Personally, I'd love to see the darksaber make it to the big screen.

"We'll have to stand and fight or, in your case, just stand."