"A Friend in Need" Review

I'll start this off and say that this episode had both one really good thing, and one really bad thing in it. The good thing is that the Mandolorians are back and even better than before. The bad thing is, Lux and Ahsoka are "falling in love". To be honest, I'm not sure which one outweighs the other-I was cheering just as much as I was gagging. But I will be ab;e to say that it WAS better than the controversial episode "Shadow Warrior". As for how much better though, that's for you to decide, and that's why I'm here with my review.

This episode started out kind of weird. It starts with a peace conference between the Republic and Separatist Allianace. Wait a minute! PEACE!? Didn't we already explore this in Season 3, and Dooku stopped it from happening in the first place? Why, we did! Then why are we going back to that? Did the Separatist leaders decide that Dooku should get a life and decided to have one without his consent? Did the old man get hospitalized by a group of clones? Did he finally have a stroke and die?

Well, despite the numerous reasons of how this could be happening, Lux decided to ruin it by claiming that Dooku had killed his mother and that everyone was being deceived. He was promptly taken off of the premises like a disobedient child (somthing kind of expected when a teenager decides to interupt a meeting that holds the fate of the galaxy) and he was brought before a holotransmission of Dooku (I guess you can rule out my second and third reason of why there was a peace conference in the first place).

Dooku ordered Lux's execution and just as the commando droids were about to kill him (without weapons), Ahsoka saved the day and rescued Lux like the damsel in distress he was. She and he manage to get off of the Separatist ship and onto Ahsoka's (kind of weird conidering it wasn't a Jedi starfighter and Jedi aren't supposed to have possessions) all while getting shot at by commando droids and holding hands (talk about a romantic first date). This scene got pretty cool though, because the Senate guards began shooting at the commando droids when they realized what was going on and a small battle broke loose on the landing pad. So much for the peace talks...

Well, once Ahsoka and Lux were out of Mandolore's atmosphere (for whatever reason they had to leave the entire planet to be safe), Lux decided to tell her that going to Coruscant wasn't an option, he had other plans, and he knocked her out. Wow, way to go Bonteri, if you're gonna fall in love with someone, the least you can do is avoid knocking her out on the first date.

Well, Ahsoka woke up in the cockpit without her lightsabers and saw Lux out on the snowy landscape of some planet (it said the name somwhere in the episode but I have no idea how to spell it). As she confronted him, a Death Watch squad landed in on the area with their jetpacks and Bo Katan, the female Mandolorian we've all been looking foward to seeing, was introduced. R2 nearly blew Lux's and Ahsoka's cover as "betrothed" (they certainly act like it at times) by trying to deliver Ahsoka her lightsabers that he had found, but Ahsoka gave him the indication to keep for the time-being.

Lux and Ahsoka were brought to the Death Watch camp, and once he and she were alone, he told that he had teamed up with them to defeat Dooku. He had used some sort of tracker to identify his location during his meeting at the beginning of the episode. Ahsoka tried to talk Lux out of it, but the Madnolorians were approaching so Lux kissed her to get her quiet. So now they can say that their first walk together was avoiding the CIS and their first kiss was to avoid Death Watch. It's amazing how these lovely dates of theirs go.

Well, Lux delievered the information, and to "celebrate" Ahsoka was enslaved temporarily and R2 was ordered to fix up droids for Mandolorian target practice. As the true man in this relationship, Lux decided to do absoutely nothing. During a celebratory feast, Ahsoka and Lux witnessed a meeting between Pre Visla and the chieftain of the planet's true inhabitants. The chieftain told Pre to get off the planet and return his women who had been enslved like Ahsoka had been. Visla surprisingly agreed, but then the next day we saw his real motives. As the chieftain's granddaughter was being return, Visla stabbed her in the back and had his men burn the village to a crisp. Lux, still being the true man in the relationship, merely tries to talk to Visla about this. Visla's reply was simply put, "Never take orders from the weak".

Lux tried no further to prevent the village's destruction, so Ahsoka, whose apparently more of a man than Lux in this relationship, decides to actually do something about it. She begins to engage several; of the Mandolorians, including Visla, however she is eventually beaten and captured. Lux, in his attempt to regain his position as the true man in the relationship, tries to talk Visla out of executing her. Visla refuses, saying she's a Jedi and no better than Dooku. Just as he was about to kill her though, R2 comes in and like Ahsoka did earlier, proves that Lux is not a man at all. R2 uses his awesome little fire hydrant gagdet (seriously, what CAN'T that little guy do?) to cause both a distraction and a limited field of vision. While some chaos ensues, he delievers Ahsoka her lightsabers, and she breaks free.

This scene was truly awesome. I know I may have beeen pretty pessimistic about this whole Luxsoka thing, but the action in this episode still made it worth watching. As Visla and Asoka engage in a pretty heated lightsaber duel, he kicks her outside. Just as you think, "Oh no, they're all gonna die!" though, all the droids that R2 repaired started a battle against the Death Watch. Visla and Ahsoka continue to duel, and Lux (still being the man in the situation) decides to run for the nearest speeder. He at least waits for his "betrothed" though, and he, Ahsoka, and R2 espace through the snow. Bo Katan and a couple other Mandolorians pursue, and after an interestiong battle aboard the speeder itself, the couple and the droid are home-free, making it to the ship to escape from Death Watch. However, as Ahsoka and R2 reach the cockpit, R2 informs Ahsoka that the escape pod is activating. She goes down there to see that Lux is indeed breaking up with her temporarily, but he says that he will see her again. It was so emotional that it almost made me tear up. Oh wait, did I say tear up? I meant GAG myself!

I hate to say it, but I really can't rate this episode over a 6.5/10. Death Watch, all the action, even R2-D2 (who was great in this episode by the way for you R2 lovers) were truly superb, but when it was mixed with Luxsoka, it is nearly ruined. I'd still recommend this episode if you wish to see Death Watch again, but beyond that, there's not much to it but a pointless relationship between Lux and Ahsoka. And I really can't say much for the next episode considering we all know Obi-wan can't REALLY be dead. I do hope this isn't an omen for what the rest of the season will be like, because in general this season hasn't disappointed me much. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Until next time, MTFBWY!