This week’s episode of Clone Wars continues last week’s story, and while the action is still fun and the clone story still interesting, this episode also encounters some obstacles in its storytelling that make it a bit weaker.
This episode reintroduces some Jedi characters, namely Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi, as generals overseeing the clones’ rescue mission of Echo. This is honestly where all of this episode’s weaknesses come from: I said last week that if this show does anything exceptionally, it’s clone stories. Well, if Clone Wars fumbles along with anything, it’s Jedi characterization, and that recurring struggle is prevalent in the first half of this episode. We see Anakin sneak away to talk with a slightly pregnant Padme over a hologram transmission with Rex keeping watch for him, only for Obi Wan to arrive, question Rex about what Anakin is doing, then call Anakin out for secretly talking with Padme. This whole sequence is just so weird to me. As a general, does Anakin not have his own quarters to talk privately with Padme? If he wanted to talk to her, couldn’t he just say he needs to consult with the Senate instead of keeping it all secretive? And why does Obi Wan go through the trouble of hassling Rex if he was just going to call Anakin out publicly for something he presumably was not allowed to do? I believe this scene was supposed to showcase the tension between Anakin and the rest of the Jedi Council, but given what we know from the movies, Anakin and Obi Wan are on good terms with each other right up to the point Obi Wan leaves for Utapau in Episode III. On top of all this, Anakin has the outright gall to tell Padme that Rex is allowing his personal feelings to guide him on this mission. Anakin says this. The KING of impulsivity and emotions. Altogether, it just leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth for the Jedi, which given how messed up the Jedi Order is at this point in time, may be the point all along.
The mission on Skako Minor, however, saves this episode from being just a compilation of awkward Jedi scenes. After a brief run-in with the planet’s native race gets resolved pretty peacefully, the clones and Anakin overrun the facility that is supposedly holding Echo. This leads to a brief albeit confusing part of the story: the facility is being run by Wat Tambor who, when told by the Separatists that clones were coming to the facility, decries their mission as an act of hostility because “The Techno Union has corporate neutrality.” Yeah, all the prequel series needed was more confusing economics-centered politics. This line may be trying to add intrigue and moral grayness to the episode, but come on. This Tambor we’re talking about, avowed Separatist sympathizer and former Confederate minister of Ryloth. And an algorithm clearly aiding the Separatist army has been traced back to his facility. We are so far past any notion of neutrality it’s not even funny. This scene was not that important, but it definitely earned a major eye roll from me.
While this episode was weaker than the first one, it does hold some intrigue about Echo’s future and also helps establish where we are on the timeline of the Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith. Let’s just hope the next few episodes offer some better writing for the Jedi and focus on the more human aspects of the war rather than weird political games by obviously evil antagonists (but then again,no one eschews subtlety and does obviously evil antagonists quite like Star Wars).
