088: SoraRabbit Watches: Star Wars The Clone Wars Season Four

And we’re back with my ongoing coverage of Star Wars: The Clone Wars! I got distracted from this again and it’s been another year since my last Clone Wars post. It’s certainly past time to continue my coverage. I do plan on finishing this series very soon. (More on that later.)

As a quick explanation, this series covers the three year period between Episodes II and III in the prequel movie series. The show is set during the Clone Wars, a conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists, which eventually grows to become the Empire. The show splits its attention between war-time conflict and political conflict, showing the events that lead to the Empire subjugating much of the galaxy. Chancellor Sheev Palpatine (secretly the Sith Master Darth Sidious) is working with his apprentice Count Dooku (Darth Tyrannus) to guide the war to his ultimate goals. The Jedi have command of a Clone army and struggle to maintain their protective ways while also serving as soldiers for the government.

So many robots. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Four is subtitled “Battle Lines” and consists of 22 episodes. In series numbering, Season Four is made up of Episodes 67 through 88.

As always, I’ll do a summary of the episodes and story arcs of the season, interjecting my thoughts about them. Then I’ll touch on the characters and clones before summarizing my thoughts of the season as a whole.

Two quick notes. For this season and Season Three, I’ve been referring to the wiki for help in identifying clones and characters. I was not doing this for the first two seasons. So some of the clones I list later as being recurring characters may not have been mentioned by name in previous posts. If they weren’t named in the dialog, I didn’t know their names. Sorry about that. I should have been more thorough in the beginning.

Also, as I have mentioned in prior posts, The Clone Wars is an anthology series, so some episodes take place in different parts of the timeline. This is not an issue at all with this season. This season is in full chronological order nestled between the last episode of Season Three and the second episode of Season Five. Can’t get easier than that!

Underwater meeting. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

The season opens with a three episode arc starting on Episode 67. As with many episodes, it starts in progress, with the narrator catching us up. The planet of Mon Cala is populated by the Mon Calimari and the Quarren. The king has been assassinated and the two peoples are in argument about the future of their planet. Prince Lee-Char is too young to rule and the Quarren leader Nossor Ri is being corrupted by the Separatist ambassador. He’s a shark man named Riff Tamson. The Quarren believe they should have the throne. Captain Ackbar (Admiral in Episode VI) is put in charge of teaching the Prince about how to be a leader and the basics of combat.

Not shockingly, Count Dooku is behind all this dissent. Aquatic variants of the Battle Droids attack. (Their feet are little propellers.) The Jedi and clones help the Mon Calimari and we get to see Master Kit Fisto in his aquatic element. Anakin nearly drowns and Ahsoka saves him before having to fight the shark man and save Lee-Char. Just as they seem to be winning, Hydoid Medusas— big cyborg monster jellyfish— attack. A bunch of people are taken prisoner.

Underwater battle. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Picking up where the last episode left off, Count Dooku orders the Prince be found and killed to squash hope. As for the good guys, Yoda suggests they recruit the Gungan warriors, since they’re an aquatic people and have a standing army. Jar-Jar convinces his people to help since Padme’s in danger and the Gungans all love her.

Meanwhile, Kit Fisto has rescued some of the prisoners and they all try to make it for the surface. But then Shark-Man blows up their ship. (I kept forgetting his name as I was watching this, so he’s just Shark-Man to me.) Anakin knocks down an entire building and the fighting starts up again. The Prince inspires his people, the Republic arrives with the Gungans, and the battle intensifies. Although they seem to be doing well, everyone but Ahsoka and the Prince are captured. Well, that didn’t help matters much.

The prince. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

In Part 3, the prisoners are tortured with eels. Prince Lee-Char realizes the only hope for ending the conflict is to unite the Mon Cala and the Quarren. He decides they need to free the prisoners and use them to take down the core of the problem— Riff Tamson. (Shark-Man.) After rallying the prisoners, the Prince allows himself to be captured so he can talk with the Quarren Senator, Nossor Ri. He was his late father’s friend and has been showing increasing doubts as to Tamson’s actions. The Prince talks with them and clearly moves the Quarren with his words and promise of unity. Conversely, Tamson reveals that he really didn’t intend on sharing power with the Quarren at all.

At the Prince’s execution, the prisoners make their move and free Lee-Char, the Quarren standing with them. They overpower the aqua droids and shark people and it all comes down to a duel between Tamson and Lee-Char. The shark guy admits to killing Lee-Char’s father just before the Prince blows him to pieces. Shark filets for everyone. Lee-Char is officially coronated and everyone on Mon Cala is united.

Hooray he’s king now! (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Thoughts: This was a solid opening to the season and set the stage for what was to come. This season is more combat-focused than the previous one, shifting attention to the battles and the effects the war is having on the planets, whether they be part of the Republic or neutral. There was certainly a lot of action in this arc. It was good to see Mon Cala and Ackbar before he became an Admiral. The story made great points about what it takes to be a good ruler. You’re not just a king because you were born into royalty. You have to earn respect from others and from yourself. If you have something to fight for, you can find your courage. Good stuff. It also continues the series’ ongoing themes of war, deception, unity, and the costs of peace. Of course, as with some arcs, it could have been tightened up a bit and made into two parts. There was a lot of being captured and getting set free going on that felt like filler. I think cutting the Gungans out would have shortened the arc and made it stronger… why did they have to subcontract warriors for their civil war?

One cool bit of canon here is that later in the Marvel comics, after the events of Episode IV, King Lee-Char is kidnapped by Darth Vader and eventually dies from his injuries, but not before giving a speech that inspires his people to work with the Rebellion. This is where they got all the cool Mon Cala ships from Episode VI. I had already read those issues before getting to this episode, so it was interesting seeing how he became King. And as a quick side-note, Lee-Char’s name is a reference to Charlie the Tuna. Hehe.

Haunting. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

As another side note, while they’re captured, at one point Padme’s helmet is leaking and she’s about to die. Jar-Jar spits on her helmet to seal the cracks. He calls it “Gungan waterproofing”. That’s not really relevant to the story, but I had to see it and felt I had no choice but to share it. Jar-Jar spit on Padme’s face to save her life and you all have to live with that knowledge. If it hadn’t been for Jar-Jar’s loogie, Luke and Leia would never have been born. We now have a direct correlation between Jar-Jar’s phlegm and the fall of the Empire. I know you probably hate that, but it’s canon.

Sorry to disappoint, but that’s not Jar-Jar. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Episode 70 is a self-contained episode, but also involved the Gungans. Boss Lyonie seems to be working with the Separatists to invade Theed, the capital of the surface-dwellers on the planet. Long story short, he’s being mind-controlled by his shifty-looking minister Rish Loo, who is, obviously, working with the Separatists. Shifty stabs Boss and gets away. To stop the invasion, Jar-Jar has to pretend to be Lyonie. This plan works, the bad guys are stopped, Boss Lyonie recovers, and everyone is happy, except for the Separatists I guess. The Gungans actually manage to capture General Grievous, but Sidious has Dooku capture Anakin and they trade their prisoners. All in all, a pretty pointless episode with too much Jar-Jar. But the fight between Anakin and Dooku was cool. And Jar-Jar didn’t spit on anyone, so I guess that’s an improvement.

Wolffe berates C-3PO. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Next is another self-contained episode, but it does pair with the next one. C-3PO and R2-D2 are travelling with the Wolfpack, a clone battalion led by Master Plo Koon and Commander Wolffe. They’re on a mission to Planet Aleen, where the natives have been suffering from devastating earthquakes. Threepio is there to translate while R2 is there to fix their computers. Basically, Wolffe is in a hurry to get back to the war but C-3PO actually listens to the natives when they ask them to “fix” the earthquakes. They travel underground where they meet a race of tree-men who complain of poison from above. There is also a frog-woman made up of pixies, which is weird. The root of the problem is that the surface dwellers left the door open so the air from above is getting underground and poisoning the tree-men. In turn they retaliated with earthquakes. The droids find their way back up and close the door, restoring the peace.

Ready for anything. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

The next episode is sort of a continuation. C-3PO and R2-D2 are on their way back home and are caught in a Separatist attack. R2 hijacks a ship and the two droids visit different planets, having misadventures. They accidentally kill a king, bring chaotic democracy to an alien race which collapses their civilization, do a Wizard of Oz maneuver on a hologram being run by pit droids, bond as their batteries run out, and are taken by pirates to engage in pit fighting. The pirate ship is boarded by Separatists and the droids are nearly melted down before they’re rescued by Master Plo Koon and finally return home.

Thoughts: This was a fun and amusing episode. It was nice to have two low-stakes episodes focusing on the droids. This episode, in particular, brought me back to my childhood and the short-lived 80’s Droids cartoon. That series mainly involved C-3PO and R2 wandering from planet to planet, getting into trouble. There were undeniable references to their very first appearance in A New Hope, where they were forced to escape their ship due to an enemy attack and land on what appears to be a desolate planet before being disabled by native creatures. So it was a nostalgic episode for that reason, as well.

Too bad C-3PO had his memories wiped after the prequel trilogy, or the beginning of the OG trilogy would have seemed awfully familiar to him! And remember that thanks to Anakin, R2’s memory was never wiped. So he totally remembered this… and his first visit to Tatooine in The Phantom Menace. He was probably trying to warn C-3PO about what happened last time, who just thought he was babbling. Anyway, this was just things that ran through my head while watching this one.

I had to brighten this screenshot up to the max and it’s still dark. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Episode 73 starts a killer four-part arc focusing on the clones of Anakin’s 501st Legion. The Republic are on Planet Umbara, attempting to secure the strategic planet to aid in war efforts. The Separatists and local militia are dug in pretty deep there, so it takes four different battalions, including Anakin and Obi-Wan’s troops, as well as those led by Jedi Masters Saesee Tiin and Pong Krell. The planet is very dark and Fives and Hardcase very nearly get eaten by a Sarlaac-like native plant creature.

Shortly into the conflict, Master Krell informs Anakin that he’s been summoned by Chancellor Palpatine for reasons we never find out. Krell takes command of the 501st and is quickly shown to be dismissive and intolerant of the clones. He refuses to refer to them by name, only their rank and designations. When Rex gently suggests other plans and tactics, Krell demands they follow orders. The road he sends the clones down was mined and Ringo and Oz are killed. They’re then ambushed. Rex tries to save them and Krell bitches him out. Fives defends him and Krell threatens him with his lightsaber. Rex stands up to him, reminding him that the clones are not objects but men, and deserve to be saved. Krell backs off a little, admiring his spirit, explaining that he has his own way of leading but he’s noted Rex’s words.

Yup, still dark. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

In Part 2, Obi-Wan suggests Krell capture the airbase supplying the Umbarans. Krell shifts focus from their seemingly unwinnable position to sending the clones along a narrow gorge to attack the airbase head on. Rex doubts this is wise, but goes along with it. The clone troopers are starting to openly show their dissent, concerned much more about casualties than their General appears to be. Rex points out that Anakin’s plans seem reckless too, but they work. Fives argues that Skywalker leads from the front, not sitting comfortably at the rear like General Krell. Rex pulls him aside and asks him to help ease the men’s minds. Fives reveals that more clone troopers have died under Krell’s command than any other General. He wonders aloud if Rex really believes in Krell or if he’s just following his inbred loyalty conditioning.

In the gorge, several big and heavily-armed metal centipedes attack. The clones manage to destroy all five of them, but not without losing some men. Throughout the episode they keep showing the trooper’s concerns for their fallen comrades and Krell’s indifference to them. He even nudges aside a clone’s corpse to address Obi-Wan’s holo. Rex radios for backup, but Krell refuses, even though we learn that he has an extra platoon standing by, unoccupied.

Rex comes up with a plan to send Fives and Hardcase alone into the airbase on a stealth mission to plant bombs. Krell is pissed to learn of this plan when he ordered them to engage in a full frontal attack. On their mission, we learn that Hardcase’s growth acceleration pod had a leak, which is why he’s hyperactive. Rex’s plan works, with the bombs serving as a distraction and the two in Umbaran ships providing cover. They blast the air support and arrive just in time to save the others in the gorge. Krell orders the full attack and the airbase is taken. Krell tells Rex that he was fortunate his rash plan worked out. When Rex points out that a lot of men died to take the base, Krell says it’s the price of victory. This angers Rex and the others.

So many lasers. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Part 3 shows the attack on the Umbara capital is still going poorly. Even without the airbase, the natives are getting supplies from a heavily-guarded ship in orbit. General Krell orders Rex to lead a suicidal attack on the capital, despite their concerns over the ship’s missiles. Fives thinks they can use the captured ships from the previous episode and hack the access codes to disable the supply ship. Rex suggests this and of course the General shuts the idea down and demands they follow orders. Fives keeps butting heads with Rex. Although Rex doesn’t agree with Krell’s plans, his loyalty is too great to disobey. Fives and Hardcase intend to go through with the better plan regardless.

While trying to get the hang of the ships, Hardcase accidentally blows a hole in the hangar, getting them in trouble with Krell. The clones are divided, with Dogma and the rookie Tup loyal to Krell. Fives, Hardcase, and Jesse steal three of the Umbaran fighters, finding themselves in the middle of a full-scale space battle between the Republic and the Separatist supply ship. Rex covers for them, telling Krell he ordered a reconnaissance to help with the assault on the capital. He also has to redirect Dogma, who was about to tattle to the General.

The three renegade clones infiltrate the supply ship and start blowing shit up. In the process, the core is locked down and Hardcase elects to go ahead on foot, demanding they leave him behind so he can finish their mission. He blows the core, destroying the ship and allowing Fives and Jesse to escape, but is killed in the explosion. RIP Hardcase. He will be missed. Krell finds out what happened and Rex steps in to take the blame. Fives doesn’t let him do that, saying it was all his idea. Krell court marshals Fives and Jesse, stating they will be executed.

Uh oh, treason. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Part 4 picks up with Rex trying to talk Krell out of the court marshal. The General refuses to budge, saying that if they’re not dealt with, insubordination will spread. He also mentions that he thinks some clones are just “defective”. Krell decides to just jump right to the execution to save time, ordering Rex to arrange it. Before the squad fires, Fives makes an impassioned speech about how they’re not droids, they’re men. They should be treated as such. Untouched, Dogma orders them to fire. Every clone in the firing squad misses on purpose and drop their blasters. Dogma is mad, but Rex sides with them, saying that Dogma will have trouble finding anyone to carry out the execution.

Rex stands up to Krell, who is distracted by a report from the frontlines that an attack is pending. Krell orders everyone to ambush the attackers. Before they go, he warns them that the Umbarans will likely disguise themselves as clones. In the battle there are indeed men in clone armor shooting at them, but Rex soon realizes they’re clones and cries out to both sides to stop firing. Even Dogma is shocked to learn they’ve been killing their fellow clones. Waxer (who we’ve seen before in previous episodes) was one of those shot in the battle. Before he dies, he reveals that it was General Krell who gave his squad the order to attack, claiming the enemy wore their armor. Rex decides that he needs to arrest General Krell for treason against the Republic. He gives his men the option to opt out to avoid being charged with treason themselves, but no one backs down.

After freeing Fives and Jesse, Rex and the others confront Krell, surrounding him with their blasters drawn. Krell shows no shame in his actions and uses the Force and his lightsabers against them. After killing several troopers, he jumps out of the window. Dogma stands against Rex, still struggling with his sense of duty. Rex and Tup put Dogma in the brig to keep him out of their way. Krell rampages his way through the jungle, killing every clone he comes across. It’s brutal. Tup comes up with the plan to lure Krell to one of the Sarlaac-like monsters from the beginning of the arc. Krell is nearly eaten, but they manage to stun him and take him into custody.

In the brig, Krell says that he feels the clones are inferior. He no longer thinks of himself as a Jedi. He had a vision of a new power rising and that he’s meant to be one of those in power. He wants to be Count Dooku’s new apprentice. He was planning to sabotage the invasion of Umbara to impress the Count. They learn that Obi-Wan’s men managed to take the capital and the Umbarans are retreating back to the airbase to retake it. The clones identify that they cannot hold the airbase and Krell will be a threat to the entire Republic if he convinces the Umbarans to free him. He knows a lot of compromising information he can give to the Separatists. Rex knows he has to execute him before this happens, but before he can pull the trigger Krell tries to get into his head, saying that he can’t go through with it. Before we find out for sure, Dogma fires, killing Krell.

The retreating militia are headed off, Umbara is under Republic control, and Dogma is taken into custody. Rex gives him a silent nod, acknowledging that he made the right choice. Fives reassures Rex that one day the war will end. Rex wonders aloud what will happen to them then… they’re soldiers and that’s the purpose they were made for.

CLENCH. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Thoughts: This was the best arc of the season, in my opinion and one of my favorites of the series so far. I always enjoy the clone-centric episodes. It was a great showcase for the clones and it gave a different perspective. Usually the Jedi treat the clones with respect and concern, but Master Krell treated them as objects, tools. He had clear contempt for them. The longer the clones are in service and the more battles they survive, the more humanity and individuality they’re showing. Rather than just obediently serving the Jedi and the Republic, they’re making their own judgement calls and even thinking about the future, once the war is over. It was also nice to see a Jedi who was a self-serving dick instead of a magical superhero. Although they did play him a bit as an over-the-top super villain at the end of the arc when he went on his killing spree.

Showing Rex’s struggles between his inbred loyalty and the well-being of his men was compelling. Having Dogma be the one to pull the trigger was a good choice, giving him his own brief character arc and not compromising Rex going forward. Rex’s realization that they were killing their own men, the clone trooper’s guilt at this realization, and the deaths of Waxer and Hardcase were all heart-wrenching. Making the clones come to terms with their lot in life, go against their programming, and showing a Jedi corrupted by power were all amazing narrative choices.

The scene where the clones confront Krell and he accuses them of treason is a call back (call forward?) to the scene in Episode III where Mace Windu attempts to arrest Palpatine and he gleefully accuses them of treason. Also, I wasn’t sure where to mention this, but Krell is a Besalisk, which is the same four-armed race as the greasy CGI diner owner from Episode II, the oddly-named Dexter Jettster.

Those naughty droids. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Episode 77 begins a three-part arc. Kiros, a planet colonized by peace-loving Togruta (the same race as Ahsoka and Shaak Ti) are being invaded by the Separatists. They want to remain neutral and Count Dooku offers them sanctuary. Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, and R2-D2 arrive to find the colonists missing. After a short fight, the Separatist commander Darts D'Nar surrenders. He’s a Zygerrian, who in the past were prominent slavers. It’s apparent they’re back in business now. Anakin threatens his life, still traumatized by his upbringing on Tatooine as a Hutt slave. Obi-Wan worries about his state of mind and asks Ahsoka to keep an eye on him.

D’Nar turns the tables on them and captures Obi-Wan, revealing that the village is rigged with bombs. Worrying the colonists are in danger, Anakin and Ahsoka set about disarming the bombs while Obi-Wan uses D’Nar’s culture against him, challenging him to unarmed combat in exchange for the colonists. Obi-Wan lets the Zygerrian rough him up to buy the others time. Once the bombs are taken care of, he gets his lightsaber back and D’Nar escapes. Anakin, still acting irrationally, jumps aboard his ship and fights some monsters while Ahsoka disarms D’Nar. Anakin threatens him again, his anger worrying his Padawan. The Jedi council tasks them with finding the colonists.

Anakin is in trouble. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

In Part 2, the Jedi and R2, along with Commander Rex, go to Zygerria, undercover as slavers. Ahsoka has to play the role of slave. She almost blows their cover to protect a Twi’lek woman. Anakin flirts with Queen Miraj, gaining her trust. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Rex finds the Governor of the colonists but they’re captured. Rex slips away. Anakin saves the Queen from an assassination attempt and learns Obi-Wan is being put up for auction. She orders Anakin to whip Obi-Wan, but he gets his lightsaber from R2 and frees him instead. Rex covers them and Ahsoka is subdued by the Queen. The others are overwhelmed. Anakin Force chokes the Queen but he stops when she threatens the others. She forces him to be her bodyguard. The others are taken to Planet Kadavo, where the colonists are being held for re-education. The Queen likens the Jedi’s servitude to the Republic as a form of slavery and offers to set Anakin’s friends free if he willingly serves her.

Ouch. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

The arc ends with Part 3, where Darth Sidious has sent Count Dooku to Planet Kadavo to threaten the Queen. They need the slaves for the growing Empire and are concerned that the Queen isn’t going to play ball. The Queen explains to Dooku that she wants to break the Jedi and make slaves of them to show just how powerful the Zygerrians are. Dooku orders them to be executed instead. R2 frees Anakin, who rescues Ahsoka from her birdcage. The Queen is betrayed by her Prime Minister and Force choked by Dooku. Anakin arrives to save her, but is easily defeated by Dooku. He gets away with the Queen, who dies from her injuries, but not before realizing Anakin was right— she’s just as much as slave as those she subjugates.

They storm the area where Obi-Wan and the Togruta are being held but Dooku threatens to kill them all unless Anakin surrenders. Republic reinforcements arrive, led by Master Plo-Koon and his Wolfpack. There’s a big battle on the ground and in the air. The slavers are stopped, the Togruta freed. In the process, they blow up the whole facility, making it harder for the Zygerrians to continue enslaving people.

Thoughts: This was a good arc to reinforce Anakin’s growing difficulty in controlling his emotions. His childhood and his mother are particular triggers for him, allowing the Dark Side to take hold. He really should have sat out this mission, but honestly, he’s probably too far gone down this path at this point to be pulled back. He has too many attachments— Padme, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, R2— to be able to clear his mind and focus on his Jedi teachings.

The problem I had with these episodes is that the Jedi had way too much trouble with the slavers. We got no reason for it, really, aside from them using innocent lives as leverage to make the Jedi stand down. But even aside from that, they were too easy to subdue. Obi-Wan in particular got his ass kicked multiple times in this arc. It seemed like they sacrificed the realism in service for the plot.

…he says while talking about a show depicting space wizards fighting sentient robots.

Burn it all down. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Next is another single episode story featuring the return of Lux Bonteri, the son of Mina Bonteri, the Separatist Senator who was murdered in Season Three. If you recall, Lux and Ahsoka started a friendship and realized that both sides of the conflict was made up of good people despite their disagreements.

Anyway, a peace talk is happening on Mandalore between the Republic and the Separatists. Lux arrives, loudly accusing Count Dooku of murdering his mother. They take him away and Ahsoka is worried that he’ll be executed. Padme agrees that she should follow them, but to be careful not to be seen. Dooku taunts him by hologram as Lux activates what looks like a fancy space-age wristwatch. Dooku orders his execution but Ahsoka rescues him. They fly off in a ship with R2. Anakin tells them that the peace talks have collapsed and they can give Lux amnesty. He refuses to go until he gets revenge for his mother and stuns Ahsoka, hijacking the ship.

Ahsoka wakes on Planet Carlac where Lux has arranged to meet with the Death Watch, the terrorist Mandalorian group shown in Season Two. The device he activated before triangulated Dooku’s location from the hologram broadcast. He presents this to the Death Watch leader, Pre Vizsla. Also present is Bo-Katan Kryze, sister to Duchess Satine of Mandalore. The dark side of the Night Watch camp becomes apparent quickly. They use droids as target practice and kidnap women from a neighboring village to serve them. R2 is ordered to repair the droids so they can shoot them again and Ahsoka is put with the women to make dinner. Although Vizsla promises the chieftain that he would return the captured women, he kills the chieftain’s granddaughter in front of him. He orders his men to kill everyone and set the village on fire. Lux is horrified by this and Ahsoka loses her shit, attacking the Mandalorians. She fights with Pre Vizsla but is overpowered.

Meanwhile, R2 finishes repairing the damaged droids and convinces them to help. He brings Ahsoka her lightsabers (which Lux had hidden earlier) and she gets free, battling Vizsla who is wielding his Darksaber. The droids arrive and back them up. Ahsoka makes Vizsla’s jetpack explode and they get away. But not before Ahsoka has to fight three Mandalorians— including Bo-Katan— while in a moving speeder. As they fly away, Lux takes the escape pod, promising that they’ll meet again.

Bo Katan, Pre Vizsla, and... uh… a third one? (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Thoughts: This was a good one. I like that they’re finally getting back to the Mandalorians. Even though the Death Watch are corrupt bullies and terrorists. Although she is not named or shown without her helmet, this is the first appearance of Bo-Katan Kyrze, who will persist as a character from here on out and plays a vital role in The Mandalorian series from Season Two onward. (Voiced by the talented Katee Sackhoff, who also plays her in live action.) Here she was not given much to do, and just went along with Pre Vizsla’s commands obediently. It will be interesting to see how her character develops as the series goes on.

Oh, and I needed to mention that R2-D2 saves Ahsoka’s life twice in this episode. It made me think of the fondness she showed toward the little droid in The Book of Boba Fett, which I thought was a nice touch.

This was a cool shot. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Episode 81 kicks off a four part arc focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are plans in motion to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. A bounty hunter named Rako Hardeen shoots and seemingly kills Obi-Wan and then gets away. Ahsoka is devastated and Anakin is angry. (Note that while they don’t draw attention to it, Satine Kryze is at the funeral.) We soon learn this is a Jedi plan and Obi-Wan faked his death. Only Yoda and Mace know… his friend’s reactions had to be genuine to sell it. Obi-Wan is disguised (rather painfully, I might add) with a face-shaping device and a robot voice modulator he has to swallow. Hardeen is in a bar, bragging that he killed a Jedi and Obi-Wan captures him so they can get him out of the way. Anakin tracks the fake Hardeen down and while he wants to kill him, he knows his Master wouldn’t have wanted that. So he arrests him instead, which is part of the plan.

Once in prison, Obi-Wan/Hardeen beats up on a big shark guy. This, and the fact that he killed a Jedi impresses Moralo Eval, who is involved in the plot to kidnap the Chancellor. Not impressed is Eval’s cellmate, Cad Bane, still in prison from the crimes he committed in Season Three. Later he sends Boba Fett (!) and Bossk after “Hardeen”. (Yep, this is where they ended up after their arrest way back in Season Two.) The fight turns into a riot, which was the plan to serve as cover for Eval and Bane’s jailbreak. Obi-Wan follows them and despite Bane’s protests, he “hacks” his way into an access panel. (By entering the codes as soon as they turn around.) His ease in getting them out and his refusal to kill a guard makes Bane even more suspicious. They fly off to begin their plans.

Cad Bane and Eval. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Part 2 sees the trio crash land on Nal Hutta (the home world of the Hutts) to evade capture. They head to a town to get new non-prison clothes, weapons, and a ship. (Bane almost kills the weapon dealer with a toothpick, underlining how badass he is.) Bane ditches Obi-Wan, leaving him to the Hutts. He had put a tracking device on their new ship and has the Hutt guard shoot the ship down before escaping. He contacts Mace and Yoda to have them remove the bounty on their heads and get credits for a new ship. He also goes radio silent so he isn’t caught. The Jedi have Palpatine remove the bounty, but he turns around and tells Anakin that Hardeen was spotted on Nal Hutta. Anakin is struggling with his rage at the bounty hunters escape, so rushes off with Ahsoka to track them down.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan has traded his new ship to Eval and Bane in exchange for being cut in on the caper. Eval goes with it, but Bane is even more suspicious that they just happened to be shot down and somehow Hardeen has a new ship. Anakin boards their ship and fights with Bane on top of it, causing both ships to crash. Anakin tries to kill Hardeen but Bane intervenes. Obi-Wan whispers to Anakin not to follow him before knocking him out. The three bounty hunters leave, and Anakin tells Ahsoka that he’s discovered Obi-Wan may still be alive.

They’re in the box. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Part 3 sees the trio meeting with Count Dooku and entering his tournament. Eval was bringing in contestants and designed a box to simulate situations that may come up on the job. (Mainly traps and light saber attacks.) The five who perform the best get the job and the rest will be killed. The contestants are all bounty hunters and one of them is Embo, the guy with the projectile hat who we saw in Season 2. Also Cad Bane kills a dude for his hat. (“What? It’s a nice hat.“) The eleven contestants (minus the one Bane killed) enter the box and to make this concise, the only survivors are Bane, Obi-Wan/Hardeen, Embo, and two others. Dooku starts getting suspicious of Hardeen and threatens to put him in charge, which makes Eval rig the game against him. Bane saves him since he saved Bane several times. Annoyed by the cheating, Dooku sets Eval and Hardeen against each other, but Obi-Wan refuses to kill him.

The final standoff. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Part 4 concludes the arc. Dooku puts Bane in charge and he sets everyone up with roles and holographic disguises. Dooku warns Bane to keep an eye on Hardeen— he senses something from him. The kidnapping attempt begins. The Chancellor and the Jedi have all come to Naboo for the Festivals of Light, which appear to be holographic fireworks. Obi-Wan contacts Mace to tell him what he knows of the plan. (Bane kept some of the details secret.) They knock out the Chancellor and disguise him as a fallen guard while Twazzie (one of the bounty hunters) takes his appearance. Bane and Eval get away in the confusion and Obi-Wan joins them. Dooku is not there to rendezvous with them, so Bane says he can just ransom the Chancellor himself. Obi-Wan pulls a blaster and says he’s taking custody of him and they fight. Mace and Anakin arrive, the secret is revealed, Bane swears vengeance on Obi-Wan, and the Chancellor is safe.

Just when you think the episode is over, Obi-Wan apologizes to Anakin for the ruse, but Anakin is pissed. He’s disillusioned by the council and by Obi-Wan’s decision to keep him in the dark. He wonders aloud what else is being kept from him. Obi-Wan stays as Hardeen for a bit to check the case of his sniper rifle and finds Dooku planted a listening device in it. So he heard him contacting Mace. Meanwhile, Palpatine continues seeding discontent in Anakin and they come across Dooku, waiting for them. Palpatine sent most of the Jedi home, so it’s up to Anakin to duel Dooku. Obi-Wan arrives just in time to stop Dooku from making off with Palpatine. Before he goes, Dooku compliments Obi-Wan on his performance and negs Anakin as a poor duelist.

Thoughts: This was a cool arc. The bounty hunters are always great. I liked seeing Boba Fett and Bossk again and Cad Bane is cool as hell. I am still a bit confused as to why Dooku keeps arranging for Palpatine’s kidnapping. Is it just a way to throw the Jedi off the scent that they’re secretly working together? Or is it more of Palp’s way of preparing Anakin to become his apprentice? Like a way for Ani to feel closer to him or something? I’m not sure. I just don’t get his plans sometimes. Nearest I can figure is he’s trying to get himself kidnapped to show that the Jedi aren’t good at their jobs and also to guide Anakin to the Dark Side. I do recall Dooku finally kidnapped him in Episode III, but it’s been a bit since I’ve seen that, so I don’t recall the specifics.

Side note, this is the first canon occurrence of Obi-Wan using the alias “Ben”, which he goes by while in exile on Tatooine in Episode IV. This is the code name he uses when contacting Yoda and Mace throughout this arc.

Ooooh, shiny. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Episode 85 begins the four part closing arc to the season. After the shenanigans from last season, Asaaj Ventress is on the run. She flees to her home planet of Dathomir to hide from Count Dooku. Mother Talzin implores her to give up the Dark Side and become a true Nightsister. Meanwhile, Dooku has somehow found out where she is and sends General Grievous to slaughter her and the Nightsisters. Right after Ventress’s ritual, Grievous attacks. She leads the Nightsisters against the Droid army while Talzin goes off to get reinforcements from Old Daka, the elder of their tribe. The old lady resurrects the fallen Nightsisters to fight for them. Yes, there are space zombies now! Talzin had a lock of Dooku’s hair (from their previous deal to give him a new apprentice) and makes a voodoo doll with it. He’s wracked with pain and near death. He knows immediately that it’s Talzin.

While this is going on, Ventress duels with Grievous, but is injured and flees into the swamps. Dooku, near death, calls Grievous and orders him to kill Mother Talzin. All the Nightsisters appear to have been killed. Grievous kills Old Daka and Talzin vanishes in green mist. She appears briefly to Ventress, telling her she’ll always be connected to the Nightsisters, but she has her own destiny to follow now.

I guess she’s a bounty hunter now. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

In Part 2, Ventress travels to Tatooine and drinks at the Cantina. She also kills a dude who aggressively hit on her. In the background are Embo and someone who looks an awful lot like Greedo, but he’s not listed anywhere, so it could just be another Rodian. Bossk buys her a drink and informs her that the guy she killed was part of their crew and now she owes them. He recruits her to join the crew, which is led by Boba Fett. (Yeah, somehow they both got out of prison. More on that soon.) Anyway, Ventress is not impressed with being ordered around by a kid, but needs the credits, so agrees to join. They’re supposed to guard a mysterious box on a train from space ninjas. (No, for real.) Long story short, everyone but Ventress and Boba get thrown from the train. The box has a girl in it who’s been kidnapped to be a child bride. The leader of the space ninja is her brother. Ventress betrays Boba, throwing him in the box, takes the credits, and ransoms the girl back to her people. (She makes a good bounty hunter.) She refuses to join the crew full time, but gives everyone their cuts of the bounty even though she could have made off with it. Looks like she’s on the path to redemption.

Side note, I assumed that Boba and Bossk has escaped with everyone else during the Hardeen arc, but according to my research they were recaptured and met up with Bane after he was arrested. Their appearance here was after they got out of prison legitimately. That’s kind of confusing, as they incited a riot and not much time has seemed to have passed since then. But if they’d escaped, they wouldn’t have been safe even in the Outer Rim, since the Republic would have put bounties on their heads. That would have made it difficult for them to openly work as bounty hunters themselves. So maybe the Republic had a prison crowding issue and had to let them out? Who knows.

And Maul is a spider guy. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Part 3 starts with a surprise— the Clone Wars logo for this episode and the next one are red. (Normally it’s yellow.) Here we finally get back to Savage Opress, who if you recall was sent to look for his brother Darth Maul with the help of Mother Talzin’s enchanted amulet. He wreaks havoc at a diner and hijacks a ship to go to the junk planet of Lotho Minor. Talzin is watching him with her magic, Ventress senses he’s near, and Anakin tells Ahsoka that he senses a disturbance. On the junk planet, Savage meets a trash snake (no, really!) who agrees to help him find his brother, telling him about legends of someone pulling people underground and they’re never seen again. Savage evades a giant robotic trash compactor, fights trash natives, avoids acid rain, and then he’s thrown into a pit by the snake. Maul had been living underground, living off the people the snake brought to him. He also built a robotic spider body for himself and went feral. Savage chokes the trash snake and is unable to get through to his brother, who’s gone mad. Yoda senses all this while meditating and warns Obi-Wan that the Sith lord who killed his master Qui-Gon Jinn is still alive somehow.

Look out behind you, Ben! (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Episode 88 ends the arc and the season. Savage brings Maul back to Dathomir where Mother Talzin fixes his brain with magic and also magics up some new robot legs for him and heals his malnutrition. He now recognizes his brother and realizes the Force is out of balance. He’s upset that the Clone Wars have started without him but all he can think of is revenge—starting with the Jedi who chopped him in half, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The brothers head to a nearby planet and start killing children to get Kenobi’s attention. It works. Although everyone knows it’s a trap, Obi-Wan confronts him. We see that a bounty has been placed on Savage by Count Dooku and Ventress takes the job, wanting revenge on the Nightbrother who betrayed her.

Obi-Wan is quickly overpowered by Maul and Savage. As their ship takes off, Ventress hops aboard. She gets their attention, circles back to free Obi-Wan, and the two call a truce. She loans him one of her lightsabers and they battle the brothers together. We see a rare occurrence of Obi-Wan losing his temper while Maul taunts him over his inability to save his master. Seeing they’re outmatched, Obi-Wan and Ventress have to escape in a pod. They know it’s just a reprieve, and the two will continue pursuing them. Maul tells Savage to be patient. They’ll wait for the Jedi to come to them.

Thoughts: This was a great closing arc for the season, continuing some loose plot threads from Season Three and setting up the start of Season Five. Maul is back— and more eloquent than I expected! I just remember a lot of growling from him before. (Granted, I could be remembering wrong, as it’s been a long time since I watched Episode I.) Putting Ventress on Obi-Wan’s side was interesting, showing that she really has developed as a character since leaving the Sith. Also, the Nightsisters are badass. They lasted a long time against the droid army and can raise the dead. Not to mention that Mother Talzin by herself nearly killed Dooku, which is something the entire Republic and Jedi Order have failed to do repeatedly.

This guy was a dick. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Overall Thoughts: This season showed less of the politics and more of the war side of things. With the excellent Umbara arc, we saw that even the Jedi are losing themselves to the conflict, being tempted by power and the Dark Side. We saw more of the Separatists manipulating key planets to swing the conflict to their favor— both Mon Cali and Naboo nearly shifted to the bad guys this time around. We saw the normally noble Mandalorians become terrorists. Lux, a Separatist, vowed to kill Count Dooku. Master Krell tried to sabotage the Republic to secure power for himself. A defunct race of slavers was brought back into power by the Separatists to provide labor for the future Empire. The Togruta were forced to take a side after their freedom was threatened. The longer the war goes on, the more the lines blur and the entire galaxy is pulled into the conflict, even neutral planets and colonies. The stakes have raised, with Maul back and loose on the galaxy and the plans of the Separatists kicking into overdrive.

KIT FISTO!!! (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

We saw several Jedi and other good guys this season. The usual characters were in attendance: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Yoda, Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Senator Padme Amidala, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Jar-Jar Binks. Adi Gallia, Shaak Ti, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Satine Kryze, and Bail Organa also appeared in cameos.

Captain Gial Ackbar appeared for the first time in this season. His charge, young Prince Lee-Char was also introduced. Although technically a Separatist, Lux Bonteri counts as one of the heroes for his efforts to defeat Count Dooku. We can’t quite count Ventress yet, since she’s a wild card and out for herself, but she did ally herself with the light for the first time and showed herself to be a relatively decent person on her first bounty hunting job.

Ahsoka battles Pre Vizsla. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

One of the recurring themes on this series is showing the growth and evolution of Commander Ahsoka Tano as a character. This season under-utilized her, but we did get some interesting moments. By this point, she has fine-tuned her skills and gained some wisdom and confidence. At one point in the season, she’s called “young” and she points out she’s not so young anymore. The war and her accelerated Jedi training have tempered her, aged her beyond her years. Also she gets her first (and only?) kiss this season, from Lux Bonteri. (They had to pose as a couple to keep the Mandalorians from being suspicious of her presence there.) She took out both Pre Vizsla and Bo-Katan as well as continued her friendship with Lux, bridging the gap between the two warring factions in a small way.

A big change for her is her growing concern over her Master, Anakin. She is starting to sense how close he is to the Dark Side, how he lets his emotions cloud his reason. This was especially prevalent in the slaver arc, where she saw Anakin repeatedly let his anger over his past control his actions. He put himself, Ahsoka, and the mission in danger over and over because he couldn’t reign in his anger. She also saw how vicious and near the edge he was when he thought Obi-Wan was dead. While Kenobi is aware of his friend’s problems with emotion, he is too distracted by his duties as a General to focus on it, and Ahsoka is too young and inexperienced to be able to help him much with his struggles. But her closeness to him does allow her to see it firsthand.

Ani vs Dooky. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

The usual bad guys appear— Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious, Count Dooku/Darth Tyrannus, and General Grievous. Cad Bane returns, as well as Asajj Ventress, Savage Opress, and Darth Maul. We saw the Nightsisters again, along with Mother Talzin. We were introduced to (and said goodbye to) Old Daka. Plenty of bounty hunters showed up: Boba Fett, Bossk, Dengar, Embo, and lots more one-off bounty hunters. (Most of which I didn’t bother naming in this post.)

Although he was a Jedi, I have to include Master Pong Krell on the villain side, as he was tempted by the Dark Side. He was racist against clones and was working to sabotage the Republic from the inside in hopes of becoming Darth Tyrannus’s new apprentice. Also, I’m pretty sure he killed the most clones out of anyone this season. Some were killed by his orders, others fell directly at his hand.

And while we’re at it, it’s hard to classify them, but the Death Watch led by Paz Vizsla would likely be on this list too, along with Bo-Katan Kryze. They may shift allegiances later, but for now they’re stamped as terrorists and were shown laying siege to a village full of innocents just because they dared speak against them.

Fives and Rex. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

As always with this series, we met many Clone Troopers this season. Recurring clones included Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Commander Wolffe, Fives, Cutup, Boost, Sinker, Warthog, Kix, Hardcase, Waxer, Boil, Comet, Fox, and possibly more than I missed.

New clones were Monnk, Tup, Dogma, Appo, Oz, Jesse, Hawk, Ringo, Odd Ball, and many more that were not named.

Clones we said goodbye to were numerous, as always, but the named ones were: Hardcase, Waxer, Oz, Ringo, and many others that were not specifically named. And while it was not stated definitively, Dogma was arrested for treason and possibly executed off-scene.

Savage and Talzin. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

As with previous seasons, every episode starts with a title screen showing a lesson. Some of the lessons we learned this season are: You have no choice in destiny. You can only become strong through the fire of adversity. Crowns are inherited, kingdoms earned. There’s more to a person than you can see. The first step towards loyalty is trust. The path of ignorance is guided by fear. The wise man leads, the strong man follows. Our actions define our legacy. Where we are going reflects where we came from. Those who enslave others become slaves themselves. Friendship shows us who we are. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Warfare is based on deception. The strong survive, the noble overcome. Trust is the greatest gift. And more that don’t translate well to this list format.

Clones! (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Season Four was a good one, and I feel the war is swinging into high gear. The longer it goes on, the worse off everyone is. The question was raised this season— by Rex— as to what, exactly, happens to the clones after the war is over, seeing as how they were specifically created to fight in the war. This is an especially layered question. On the surface it asks what purpose a soldier has in peacetime. But underneath, it foreshadows the sad fate of the clones— becoming mind-controlled puppets for the Chancellor to wipe out the Jedi they have spent the war serving under.

As with any anthology series, there were ups and downs. The Jar-Jar-centric episode was pretty bleh and felt utterly pointless by the end. The droid episodes were amusing, but not super relevant to the ongoing plot. As mentioned, the Umbaran arc was my favorite (closely followed by the Darth Maul arc) and I think it was a very good showcase for some of the best surviving clones. Rex and Fives in particular got a lot of character development. And while we have seen many, many clones die over the course of the four seasons, it always hits hardest when it’s clones we’re familiar with. Last season it was Echo. This season it was Waxer and Hardcase. It’s a sign of how well done this show is that genetic duplicates bred to be identical can have their own personalities, character arcs, and deliver a genuine feeling of loss when they die in battle.

Ooooh. (Credit: LucasFilm Animation, Disney)

Thank you for joining me as we finally continue our journey through The Clone Wars. We’re now 88 episodes in! As I touched on at the beginning, I do plan to finish this series soon, and if nothing unexpected comes up (like more medical mishaps or another large tree crashing down in my backyard) I should get through it next year. The remaining seasons were on my list for this year, but life (and video games) (and trees) got in the way. Ah well, I’ll get through it. Three more seasons to go. Then I can move on to Rebels, Tales of the Jedi/Empire, and the Bad Batch. (And, obviously, I have to cover the Ahsoka live action series, which I have yet to watch.)

Anyway, thank you for reading. I appreciate you all. And until next time, always remember to appreciate the clones in your life.