Monday, March 4, 2013

Clone Wars Episode 5.20: The Wrong Jedi

I'm just a sweet Supreme Chancellor...

Spoilers Ahead



In the season finale, Ahsoka Tano is expelled from the Jedi Order so that the Republic can try her impartially. However, as Padmé goes up against Tarkin for Ahsoka's fate, Anakin tracks down Asajj Ventress to find the truth.

If I hadn't been worried about Clone Wars' fate up to this point, I would be now. This is just the kind of episode that a show makes when its future is uncertain: able to pick up and tell more stories if the tide turns good, but showing events more suited to a series finale than a season cliffhanger.

It makes perfect sense from a dramatic standpoint that Ahsoka would refuse the Jedi's offer to be reinstated once she was cleared. Honestly, in the back of all out minds I think we knew that was where this was headed. Sure, there can be some season 6 stories dealing with Ahsoka's quest to find her own meaning in the world, but honestly her walking off into the sunset is the perfect prelude to Revenge of the Sith. Anything else is just killing time.

Ahsoka is really the heart and soul of this show. She was the whole reason to do this show in the first place. She was the POV character that the target audience could identify with and live vicariously through; a Robin the Boy Wonder done right.

Also, Tim Curry as Palpatine...I'm sorry, he just doesn't work for me. He doesn't sound like Palpatine at all, he sounds like...well, Tim Curry. Which is normally great, I adore Tim Curry, but Palpatine has such an iconic voice and Curry's is so radically different that it throws me off.

Anything else on this episode really ties into...

Ahsoka Framed! Post-Mortem:

This was a really frustrating arc. Like I mentioned last week, none of this would have happened if Ahsoka had just stayed put and not allowed herself to be put in such incriminating circumstances. And yet, this sort of thing happens all the time. I hate it not because it's a bad story to tell, but because human error and distrust bring too much horror to the world.

That being said, yeah it was very well done. An explosive arc to top a season of explosive arcs.

Barris Offee as the master planner - I'm still flabbergasted that I randomly ended up buying Barris' Vintage Collection figure the day before I saw the first episode of the arc. It was the will of the Force - Yeah, she was obvious. Too obvious. Like, when she pulled out Ventress' sabers, my first reaction was disappointment that she wasn't a red herring. But her reasoning was shockingly astute. That she sensed closer to the real issue than even Yoda was extremely interesting.

This arc provided good character development all-around, and in that regard it's a success.

Season 5 Post-Mortem

My favorite arc of this season would be the Younglings arc bar-none. It had the right balance of Dark and Light that made for a perfect Star Wars story. The D-Squad arc would take second except for the fact that, at the end of the day, I can't stand Gascon, so it drops a bit in favor of the overwhelmingly dark but still well-done Darth Maul Returns arc (which I still haven't done a post-mortem on because it still won't seem finished until Maul is down for good). Ahsoka Framed! is on the same level as D-Squad as there are things I love and things I hate about both arcs. That leaves the Onderon arc...yeah, still not a fan. It's not bad or anything, it's actually quite well-done but...I dunno, it had a hard time keeping me invested.

I love this show. I regret coming into it so late. See you all next season (I hope I hope I hope)!!!!

2 comments:

  1. But her reasoning was shockingly astute. That she sensed closer to the real issue than even Yoda was extremely interesting.

    Actually, I don't find that surprising, considering the portrayal of the Jedi Order since THE PHANTOM MENACE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly! That the most powerful Force-users can't sense it but a low-level knight can...I know had Qui-Gon lived he'd have seen it too.

      Delete