By: David Gremillion
Now I'll admit, I'm relatively new to The Clone Wars story. True, I have the 2003 series on DVD plus I work out with the Nintendo Wii Clone Wars lightsaber game. Seriously, you work up a sweat on the harder levels. However, what I saw on a sunshine-filled Saturday morning hooked me. I am now ready to admit it...
I'm a Clone Wars junkie.
But why? What did someone who was only seeing their fourth episode of the show see to convince him to get up on a Saturday morning and spend time watching a cartoon? Let's discuss that, shall we?
While the beginning of the episode was a little slow with some questionable dialogue (Crime Lords, really?), once we met Hondo, things started to pick up.
Hondo is what Jar-Jar should have been. Arrogant, but not obnoxious. Funny, but with words, not with slapstick actions. When he spoke, everything he said had meaning. I learned his history, his motivations, and what makes this pirate tick in ten minutes. I still don't know what Darth Maul meant when he said "At last we will have revenge" in The Phantom Menace. Revenge for what? What did the Jedi do to him? Hondo doesn't spout petty banter, he means everything he says.
A refreshing change of pace from Ahsoka making fun of "General Grumpus".
What else did we learn? How about that Palpatine is the smartest guy in the room? Yoda is concerned about Maul, Mace is concerned about Maul, and Obi-Wan is bordering obsession about Maul. Yet it is Papa Palpatine who brings in a much-needed reality check. Maul and Savage are two Sith versus thousands of Jedi. Maul has no army, no fleet of warships, nothing to threaten the Republic with. Why are they Jedi chasing him around when Grievous and Dooku are waging full-on war? The Jedi almost seemed shamed into agreeing that they've really taken their eye off the ball. It is Palpatine, the Sith of all Sith, the single-most villainous character in the entire franchise, has more common sense than the "learned" Jedi Council.
But above all else, we learned that lightsabers are flashy tools, but don't win duels. Savage wields a lightsaber quarterstaff, Darth Maul is a formidable warrior with his own blade. The crowd at Celebration VI went wild when Obi-Wan dueled with two lightsabers. But how did Adi Gallia die? Savage used the Force to push her against a starship's hull, which disarmed her, and then stabbed her. How did Obi-Wan nearly lose his duel? When Darth Maul picked him up and flung him against the wall using the Force. When Obi-Wan was closing in for the kill, with Savage missing an arm, how did the two "Crime Lords" escape? The Force was used yet again to fling Obi-Wan away like a ragdoll.
We learned that the Force trumps all in a duel.
Now the episode was far from perfect. But above all, I learned that I'm setting my alarm back a little earlier on Saturday mornings and it isn't to catch the beginning of "College Gameday" on ESPN.
This article is an opinion piece and represents the views of the writer, and not the entire Star Wars Underworld organization.
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