Battle Meditation Review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3 Finale: Padawan Lost and Wookiee Hunt (Episodes 3.21 & 3.22)

Episode Title & Number: "Padawan Lost" Episode 3.21 and "Wookiee Hunt" Episode 3.22

Original Air Date:4/1/11

Review Blurb:  Where Ahsoka gets lost in the fog of war,  Ahsoka shows she is more mature then Anakin, and Wookiees rule and lizards drool.

Jedi Fortune Cookie:  "Without humility, courage is a dangerous game." & "A great student is what the teacher hopes to be."

Episode Dramatis Personae:

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master
Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Padawan
Yoda, Jedi Grand Master
Plo Koon, Jedi Master
Lo-Taren, Trandoshan Hunter/Slaver
Garnac, Trandoshan Leader
Dar, Trandoshan Hunter/Slaver, Son of Garnac
Kalifa, Jedi Youngling (Human Female)
Jinx, Jedi Youngling (Twi'lek Male)
O-Mer, Jedi Youngling (Cerean Male)
Chewbacca, Wookiee
Sugi, Bounty Hunter (Zabrak Female)   
Seripas, Bounty Hunter

Episode Summary:

Newsreel:
Padawan Lost: Turmoil in the Outer Rim! Located near a major hyperspace lane, the planet Felucia is caught in an unending battle between Republic and Separatist forces. Clone tank divisions make a valiant push deep into Separatist- controlled territory, led by Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

General Grievous, learning of the impending Jedi attack, has dispatched reinforcements to one of his droid outposts, hoping to secure his grip on the system...

Wookiee Hunt:   Jedi abducted! Ahsoka Tano is missing in action. Captured and released into a hostile jungle, she fights to stay alive with the help of a small band of Jedi younglings.

As Anakin Skywalker scours the galaxy desperate to find his lost apprentice, Trandoshan sport hunters track their youngling prey.

With the death of their leader Kalifa, and separated from their friends, we find Ahsoka on the run as the hunters close in around her....

Episode Guide Synopsis:

Padawan Lost: Ahsoka and a group of abducted younglings find themselves trapped on a Trandoshan moon, prey in an elaborate and cruel hunt. The forlorn younglings have lost all hope, despite the best efforts of their spirited leader, Kalifa. Ahsoka rallies them to defend themselves and strike back against the Trandoshan, an effort with deadly consequences.

Wookiee Hunt:  As Ahsoka and her youngling allies struggle to evade the Trandoshan hunters, their efforts receive an unexpected boost when a new captive -- Chewbacca the Wookiee -- arrives. Chewie scrounges parts from a wrecked Trandoshan slave ship, assembling a communicator to send out a distress signal. Help arrives in the towering, shaggy form of Wookiee warriors led by General Tarfful. Freed from captivity, Ahsoka returns to the Jedi Temple and is reunited with Anakin Skywalker.

EPISODE GUIDE LINKS: EP. 3.21 AND EP. 3.22

Don't eat the neon mushrooms..

REVIEW:

I) Story/Writing:

One of the benefits of being the Supervising Director of the Clone Wars is that you get to pick and choose what episodes you direct.  Well Dave Filoni certainly picked a couple great episodes to take the reigns of and close Season 3 with a bang...err growl as it were.

As I discussed in the Preview for the season finale, the two episodes were written by Bonnie Mark who is a writer with television writing experience on  hour long dramas like NYPD Blue, Homicide and Third Watch. 
With the level of animation, acting, and production talent on this show there is no reason that the writers cannot take this show in a more complicated and mature direction.  I think what we have seen in The Clone Wars is the evolution of storytelling that is raising the bar for what we should expect from animated shows and so called "kids shows."  There is no reason that animation cannot be done on the small screen like it is done by Pixar and others on the big screen, with stories that work on multiple levels and for multiple age grouped audiences.  It feels like this is the direction that The Clone Wars is going and its being done in an organic, evolutionary way.  Some of the nuances of some stories may be lost on younger children, but challenging them to think is only a good thing.

The story itself is top notch, not only the main plot (Ahsoka), but the secondary plot (Anakin) is very well done.  The Anakin plot also does a lot to build his character and in my opinion foreshadows and helps explain the fear and desperation that we see driving him in Episode III.

This story I think also puts the Mandalore arc from the first half of season 3 into perspective.  Episode 3.6 "The Academy," saw Ahsoka travel to Mandalore and take the role of teacher and mentor to some young Mandolorians.  This experience helps Ahsoka grow and gives her experience interacting with younger people who look to her as the older more experienced person.  This is a change from her leadership role with Clone Troopers, and also a change from her role as Padawan/student as a Jedi. 

We are also seeing Ahsoka starting to really pile up a body count.  While she is not on the Jack Bauer ("24") role yet, she certainly has something against saurian alien species it appears.  First Osi Sobeck and now the Trandoshans.  If I am a Barabel, I am walking on the opposite side of the street then Ahsoka. 

One of my favorite parts of the episode was the jet pack scene in "Padawan Lost."  It was a little thing, but after Plo Koon tells his troopers to follow him and then Force leaps over the wall, I was laughing.  I'm thinking in my head, what kind of sarcastic responses the troopers must have been muttering under their breaths.  But then they had jet packs and did follow him. A nice little surprise.

Lots of deaths in these episodes, but I think they all worked well for story telling purposes.

The closing scene had a very interesting look on Yoda's face as he gazed at Ahsoka and Anakin walking away.  My interpretation was that he was pondering Anakin's reactions and trying to determine how he was doing with his attachment issue. This brings this episode very nicely in line with The Clone Wars movie and Yoda's explanation of the introduction of a Padawan to Anakin.  As he is watching Ahsoka and Anakin leave, I think Yoda is sinking into the Force and I am not sure from his animated reaction whether he was happy, bemused or contemplative with what he felt.

The biggest surprise for me was that the season finale didn't really end on a cliff hanger.  It was a pretty clean storytelling break.  I was expecting a little more of a "...to be continued." ending to Season 3.

II) Acting:

Ashley Eckstein is getting pretty good at this acting thing.  Matt Lanter really had me feeling Episode III Anakin in this one.  Solid job all around. 

Wow...

III) Animation:

I would so move to Wasskah.  Its real pretty looking especially at night.  I really liked the little floating yellow criters.   To cute.  The scene with Anakin and Plo Koon in the Jedi Temple looks like a brilliant painting.
 

IV) New Characters/Planets/Vehicles:

Trandoshan Slave Ship

Wasskah, Moon

Wolf Pack

Wampa Throne.. Space Pimp

Trandoshan Hunting Pod

Kalifa, One and Done

Redshirt

O-Mer and Jinx

Trandoshan Hunting Base

Sugi, Serapis and Tarfful to the rescue

Tarfful

Wookiee Backrub

V) Continuity Clashes: "How I learned to stop worrying and love the ret-cons." 

"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have." ~ Yoda, Revenge of the Sith

Its nice when Star Wars media serves to enrich the tapestry of continuity instead of creating snags in that tapestry.  In the case of the Season 3 Finale, I think we got a lot of enrichment without any major clashes with continuity.  I have already discussed how the events  of the finale enrich the story of Anakin.  But one of the last scenes in "Wookiee Hunt," immediately made me think of Yoda from Episode III.  In "Wookiee Hunt" after rescuing Chewbacca, Ahsoka and the younglings we see a huddle of Wookies on a platform on Coruscant.  When that huddle breaks up, who is at the center but Master Yoda.  Its a small touch but it takes a line from the movies and gives it added depth. 

VI) Rating This Episode:

The first half of the season finale "Padawan Lost," was really solid, but its tough to give it the same or a higher grade then "Wookiee Hunt."  I would give "Padawan Lost" a 8.0 and "Wookie Hunt" a 9.0.  Combined the Clone Wars Season 3 finale gets a 8.5.  Very solid duology.   My advice to you, let the Wookiee win. 

Did anyone else catch Jar Jar's head mounted on the wall? (I know its another Gungan but lets pretend.. )

VII) Next on The Clone Wars:

SEASON 4: ?????????????????

Unfortunately Season 3 is now over and we will have a bit of a wait for new Clone Wars. What will we see in Season 4? I am not sure yet, but if I was a betting man. A Darth Maul/Savage Opress arc and possibly a larger overarching arc involving Maul for the whole season. I think we see continued independence of Ahsoka from Anakin, possibly with solo missions and team ups with other Jedi like Plo Koon. Visits to some new worlds. It would be cool to make a trip to Corellia. Hopefully now that they have the character models we see a Republic Commando arc.

Don't forget to keep visiting Lightsaber Rattling as we will be updating with the latest news and rumors for Clone Wars: Season 4 as news breaks.

Rapid Review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Wookiee Hunt (Ep. 3.22) SPOILER FREE

Say hello to my hairy friend, Chewbacca!

In the interest of not spoiling the season 3 finale for any readers, this review like my last Rapid Review of Episode 3.21 Padawan Lost, will be spoiler free.  Once the episodes air on April 1st I will be posting my usual Battle Meditation in depth review of the episodes.

This episode picks up where Padawan Lost left off and continues what is really an interesting story and continues the great character development we have seen in the second half of season 3 for Ahsoka Tano.

It is hardly a secret that we see Chewie in this episode, but boy is he in almost every scene once he is introduced.

Ashley Eckstein will no doubt draw tons of praise for her work as Ahsoka, which was spot on.

The visuals were terrifically done and I can't wait to sit down with the Season 3 Blu Ray. 

There are some really interesting scenes in here, particularly the ending which ties some of the stuff we have seen in the movies together.

Wookiee Hunt is full of action and is a really fun bit of Star Wars, plus I think I saw Jar Jar's head mounted on a wall.  

Check back next weekend for my Spoiler full review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 3 Finale Event, Padawan Lost and Wookiee Hunt.

Don't forget to check out our Star Wars Novel Giveaway featuring Fatal Alliance and Outcast:  http://bit.ly/ehzumw

Rapid Review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Padawan Lost (Ep. 3.21) SPOILER FREE

As regular readers of the site are aware, I post in depth reviews of each Clone Wars episode, including tons of spoilers and speculation.  The season finale episodes will get similar treatment, however I am going to wait until they air. 

In the interim, after watching the first half of the Season 3 finale, which was episode 3.21 "Padawan Lost,"  I can say that the excitement and adventure that Dave Filoni promised us when addressing the crowd at the LA screening of the Clone Wars Savage Opress is in full effect.

Padawan Lost without delving into spoilers is full of action and drama, with an interesting look at Trandoshan culture and the character traits of two of the series leading characters in Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker. 

Matt Lanter the actor who portrays Anakin has done a great job in the second half of Season 3.  As with any actor I think that these voice actors have to settle into their roles and I think what we are seeing now is Lanter fully comfortable in the skin of Anakin and truly making the character his own. 

As fans have seen in the preview clips we return to Felucia and the visuals here are pretty amazing.  There is tons of color in this episode. 

I also really enjoyed the sense of scope that Padawan Lost left me with, there are a lot of wide shots that give you a real good look at the environment. 

We get some interesting new characters introduced and the ending is a total cliff hanger.  It will be interesting if they leave a certain subplot unresolved in the second half of the season finale, episode 3.22 "Wookiee Hunt," and thus set up an early subplot for season 4. 

 There is a certain scene that feels a bit like Beowulf, and makes me wonder if we are going to get more back story or world building regarding the Trandoshans in the future in TCW. 

Also this episode features quite possibly the coolest piece of furniture in the GFFA.

There are some pretty surprising and shocking moments in this episode, with some really good drama.  All in all a totally enjoyable episode of TCW, I can't wait until April 1st, to hear what everyone thinks about it.

Battle Meditation Review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Citadel Rescue (Episode 3.20)

So long Sobeck...Talk about heartburn

Episode Title & Number: "Citadel Rescue" Episode 3.20

Original Air Date: 3/11/11

Review Blurb:  Continuity gets smashed but it was sooooo worth it.

Jedi Fortune Cookie:  "Without honor, victory is hollow."

"Unfortunately war tends to distort our point of view.  If we sacrifice our code, even for victory, we may lose that which is most important, our honor." ~ Obi-Wan Kenobi

Episode Dramatis Personae:

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master
Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Padawan
R2-D2, Astromech Droid
Osi Sobeck, Citadel Commander
Even Piell, Jedi Master
Captain Tarkin, Republic Navy Captain
Clone Captain Rex, Clone Trooper Captain
Fives, ARC Trooper
Count Dooku (via Holocom), Separatist Leader
Mace Windu, Jedi Master
Saesee Tiin, Jedi Master
Yoda, Jedi Grand Master
Plo Koon, Jedi Master
Adi Gallia, Jedi Master

Admiral Coburn, Republic Navy

Episode Summary:

Newsreel:

Trapped behind enemy lines! Carrying secret information vital to the Republic's war effort, Jedi Master Even Piell and Captain Tarkin were taken prisoner by the Separatists. An elite strike team led by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker landed on the planet Lola Sayu and infiltrated the prison.

The team rescued Master Piell and Tarkin but they were pursued by the prison's evil commandant, Osi Sobeck. During the escape, their ship was destroyed.

Now, we find them on the run, desperate to escape the trap that is the Citadel....

Episode Guide Synopsis:

After their ship and only way off the planet is destroyed, Anakin and Obi-Wan must lead the escaped prisoners across Lola Sayu's perilous landscape as Plo Koon commands a task force of four cruisers and their fighters through the Separatist defenses in a daring rescue. Even Piell is ravaged by anooba tracking beasts, but before he dies, he passes on his Nexus Routes coordinates to Ahsoka. When the survivors return to Coruscant, Ahsoka knows half the intel, and refuses to disclose it to anyone but the Jedi Council, while Tarkin refuses to hand over his half to anyone other than the Chancellor.

EPISODE GUIDE LINK

REVIEW:

I) Story/Writing:

Lets take a look at the story through the lens of a couple characters in this episode as well as a few random things that stuck out to me.


TARKIN:

"General Skywalker, I stand by my principles no matter what. Besides, I needn't worry about my career, I have fallen into favor with the Chancelor. He shall support me." ~Captain Tarkin
I really enjoyed Tarkin in this episode.  His continued banter with Anakin, both fleshed out his philosophy and ambition, but it also started to show how the two shared a great deal in terms of attitude and ambition.

It is certainly clear that there is a lot going on off stage with Palpatine and Tarkin already.  Tarkin tells Anakin that Palpatine is basically his benefactor/mentor at this point while they march across the Citadel.  At the conclusion of the episode Tarkin also reveals that he was under orders to be debriefed personally by Palpatine following the mission.

The fact that in the original script Tarkin was to kill Sobeck in cold blood, and the fact that in the finished episode he takes a blaster shot at the disarmed Sobeck, gives us a glimpse at the dark side of Tarkin's character and foreshadows the Tarkin we know and love from Episode IV.

I was hoping we would see a scene between Palpatine and Tarkin in this episode, but I think they are saving that for later in the series.   What I take from this is that we will be seeing Tarkin again in TCW and this foreshadows an interesting turn in the series that may occur.  I think that we are going to see a gradual change from Republic to Empire by way of personnel changes within the Republic military and political structure.  People like Tarkin becoming more involved in the series helps you understand how this change could occur in the midst of war and also makes it more logical how overnight the government of the galaxy could change without missing a beat.  I think we see a conscious effort going forward to show this transition occurring as Palpatine gets all the pieces in place before the events of Episode III. 

PIELL:

Jedi Master Even Piell made a brief but memorable series of appearances in TCW series.  He will almost certainly be a highly sought after action figure.  The continuity effects of his death in this episode will be discussed in depth in the continuity section of this review (see below), but I believe his death served a very good story telling purpose.   There are two major deaths in this episode (Sobeck and Piell) and they both profoundly effect Ahsoka.

There will be some of the more intense EU fans that will be in denial of the characters demise.  They will point to the fact that his body was wrapped in a funeral shroud and force dropped into the river of lava.  Once his body is in the river of lava, we see the shroud on fire, but we never see it completely consumed.  The shroud containing Piell then goes over a lava fall and presumably to oblivion.   They may argue that he put himself into a Jedi hibernation trance and somehow created a force bubble around his body to prevent it from being consumed by the lava.  He thus escapes death to being a covert Jedi operative in the galaxy who everyone believes to be dead.  In fact Tarkin will report directly to Palpatine that he saw him dead, so Palpatine will believe Piell is dead.  This gives you a possible way for Piell to survive Order 66 and escape Palpatine's notice and survive until the events of the Coruscant Nights series. 

I do not believe the forgoing theory because the Episode Guide is definitive on the character's fate, and because he was a film character he is one of George Lucas' characters not an EU creation.  In this situation I think Lucas put his foot down on continuity because of the story he wanted to tell. 


AHSOKA:

When we look back at this episode with a little bit of perspective, I believe this will be a crucial episode for the character of Ahsoka Tano.  There is just so much going on with Ahsoka in this episode that she is quietly the star of the show.

We see a very powerful Jedi in Ahsoka in this episode.  She is able to force push an Anoobas off of Master Piell and over a ridge into the lava.  We also see Ahsoka disagreeing opening with Anakin and being very skeptical of Captain Tarkin and his views. 

Yet even though she dislikes Tarkin she takes another individuals life (Sobeck) to save him.  This was a pivotal scene.  Much like Anakin in the earlier Mandalore story line, she stabs Sobeck through the back with her lightsaber killing him.  Outside of Geonosians and Droids, this maybe the most personal killing of Ahsoka's young life.  No doubt the effects of her actions will cause her to reflect and have a profound effect on the character going forward.  Its one thing to kill droids its another for a Jedi to take a sentient life and feel the death in the force.

We also see Ahsoka giving her words and thus committing her honor to her promise to the dying Master Piell to memorize his half of the Nexus Route coordinates and gives those coordinates only to the Jedi Council.  She stands up to Tarkin and the Jedi at the end of the show to fulfill this promise to Piell.  This is a very bold move for a teenager surrounded by adults with very powerful personalities.   Piell's death also has to weigh heavily on Ahsoka as the mission has gone wrong, and there is no doubt she will blame herself for some of the missions failure and as a result blame herself for Piell's death.

Lastly we have the relationship and interaction between Plo Koon and Ahsoka.  In a perfect world, Koon should have been Ahsoka's Master.  Yoda and presumably the Jedi Council sensing the issues of attachment with Anakin assigned him a Padawan and presumably they needed one powerful enough to keep up with him, hence Ahsoka's assignment.  This episode we have Anakin opening asking Plo if he assigned Ahsoka to the mission, it is clear that Anakin thinks Ahsoka is lying.  Plo says that it "appears" he did, this is open to two interpretation, either Plo is lying or he is taking a very Obi-Wanish view of the truth and feels that the Force actually assigned Ahsoka to the mission.

We also have a very dramatic closing image with Plo Koon's arm around Ahsoka leaving Obi-Wan and Anakin behind.  Could this foreshadow a potential rift between Anakin and Ahsoka that leads to Ahsoka changing Masters to Plo Koon.  Or a potential promotion of Ahsoka to Jedi Knight who works more closely with Plo Koon and his troops?   I will be examining this in depth at a later.


ETC:

Lets start off with the score by Kevin Kiner.  This episode was perfectly composed musically.  With all of the danger, action and death, the music complimented the visuals perfectly.  I love how this episode sounded. 

One of the things that TCW does best is space battles.  The space battles look so good.  Many look almost Episode III quality.  I hope that we get to see many more of these as the series goes forward.

Obi-Wan was in full effect in this episode kicking butt.  It is nice to see the younger Obi-Wan in action and this gives the character more martial legitimacy.  We know Anakin is a bad arse fighter, but he is bested by Obi-Wan in Episode III and unsure of how he will fare when confronting Obi-Wan in Episode IV.  This episode gives us further evidence of just how well rounded a Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi is.

Are the Nexus Routes the path with which General Grievous uses to stage his invasion of Coruscant and kidnapping of Palpatine in Episode III?  If Palpatine eventually forces the Jedi to disclose their half of the information, then he has an easy way to set up the events at the beginning of Episode III. 

II) Acting:

Very well rounded performances by the actors in this episode.  Loved the continued interaction and budding friendship between Tarkin and Anakin.  Ahsoka's sarcasm and scepticism came through in Ashley Eckstein's performance.  This episode also featured a ton of different voices and characters which was nice.  I really liked Dee Bradley Baker's turn as Saesee Tin, this character comes off as calm and measured. 

III) Animation:

Going into Season 3 we heard a lot about the rain and water effects in TCW.  This was brought up at Celebration V and we saw a very good use of this both in the Season Premier and the Nightsisters/Savage Opress arc.   In the Citadel arc we saw a tremendous amount and quality of lava animation.   In contrast to the red of Mustafar, the sulfuric yellow lava of Lola Sayu was consistently impressive through out this episode.

The quality of the facial animations was also on display.  On the gang's long march across Lola Sayu we get Ahsoka raising her eyebrow and rolling her eyes.  The animation style of the characters is so much better then the beginning of the series and I think that makes the show much more accessible to the casual fan or those who may be Star Wars fans but Clone Wars agnostics.  

IV) New Characters/Planets/Vehicles:

New clone pilot design

Master Gallia's Starfighter

Plo's Bros Space Gunship

Master Tiin's Starfighter = Awesome

Master Tiin where he belongs..

I love the look of this ship. Love!

Anoobas: Ep I Concept Art with the ears of an Egyptian god. 

V) Continuity Clashes: "How I learned to stop worrying and love the ret-cons."

"Oh, don't be an idiot.  Move me and I'll come apart like a holopuzzle.  I'm done--we both know it.  Someone must take over my mission." ~Dying 'Even Piell' to Nick Rostu.

This may be the most controversial episode of Season 3 for Expanded Universe fans.  It invalidates two entire chapters in Michael Reaves' 2008 book Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight.  This book begins with fugitive Jedi Master Even Piell running from Stormtrooper pursuit on Coruscant.  The first and third chapters of the book are told from the perspective of Piell before he dies in the third chapter.

A summary of Piell's role in the book from Wookieepedia:

The novel starts off with former Jedi Master Even Piell running through the Coruscant Underworld, chased by stormtroopers. Piell is cornered in an old abandoned building and is forced to confront the stormtroopers in a violent battle. He is killed, but the building is then raided by members of the rebel team Whiplash, led by Nick Rostu. The Whiplash members defeat the stormtroopers, and in his dying words, Piell tells Rostu about a droid dubbed "Bug-Eyes" that contains information vital to helping the Whiplash underground in its battle against the Galactic Empire. Before he dies, Piell also tells Rostu to contact his former apprentice, Jax Pavan, and inform him about Bug-Eyes

The new wrinkle in continuity caused by Piell's death in this episode is addressed directly in the Episode Guide:

The Expanded Universe of Star Wars novels originally had Even Piell survive the Clone Wars only to be killed while as a fugitive in the early days of the Empire. Piell's death in the Citadel Mission is the character's true fate.

Thankfully, Leland Chee the keeper of the Star Wars Holocron and enforcer of Continuity has commented on his StarWars.com Blog:

This certainly affects a chunk of the continuity of the first Coruscant Nights book in which Even Piell's death was originally depicted. The rest of the continuity of that series will remain intact, though this does leave open the question of who was Jax Pavan's Master.

Piell has long been a sticking point because we never killed him off in the pre-Ep3 Clone Wars EU, and yet he was still missing from the Ep3 Jedi Council (he was in the Ep2 Jedi Council only because they reused Ep1 footage). We never fully explained who Anakin replaced when Palpatine appointed him to the Council and so we just went off the assumption that it was Piell who got the short shrift. So when we went looking for a prominent Jedi to kill off early on in Coruscant Nights, Even Piell fit the bill.

It wasn't until after the Coruscant Nights trilogy was completed that we learned that Even Piell's death would be rewritten with this episode. In the interim, we've tried to minimize that number of sources that mentioned Piell's fate.

Hopefully this answers some of the questions regarding this change in continuity.

This addresses some of the questions but not the totality of them.   One thing for certain is that Even Piell is dead.  From here we have a number of scenarios we could follow:

Scenario 1: Clone Piell

The Emperor loves cloning, and we have precedent for cloned force users from the Force Unleashed as well as the EU.  Could Palpatine have had a DNA sample of Piell and cloned the dead Jedi Master for some reason, including surgical reconstruction of the real Even Piell's scars and lost eye.  Also with some kind of flash learning about the real Even Piell.  The clone is convinced he is Master Piell and somehow escapes from the Emperor's control.  This makes the Even Piell in the novel believe he was Jax Pavan's Master.

Scenario 2: Lannik Solidarity

What if there was another Lannik Jedi, who happened to have a Padawan named Jax Pavin.  Perhaps this particular Jedi took on the persona of Piell for the purposes of paying tribute to the great Jedi Master but also as a way to confuse Imperial forces who know that Piell died during the Clone Wars.  Why would he do this? Perhaps he has family that he fears for (not the most likely scenario given he is a Jedi, but you never know).  Perhaps he just wants to play mind games with the Emperor.

Scenario 3:  Nick Rostu is Crazy

I blame the fever wasps.  Perhaps Nick Rostu is simply nuts and imagined the whole scenario with Even Piell. Or perhaps chapters 1 and 3 of Jedi Twilight can be treated like a story that Rostu told to Pavan to attempt to get Pavan to take on the mission which was really Rostu's idea.  This seems like a clumsy fit. 

Scenario 4:  Jedi Twilight Chapters 1 and 3 Thrown Out

This is both the easiest, the cheapest way to go. as well as the surest way to anger EU fans. The official line could simply be that while they exist in print, for the purpose of continuity chapters 1 and 3 of Jedi Twilight are not part of continuity and are to be treated like they do not exist. 

Solution:  Short Story Retcon

I think the most elegant solution in terms of preserving Jedi Twilight and continuity would be for Michael Reaves or another author be commissioned to write a short story, published as a free e-book/PDF at StarWars.com as well as re-printed in the Star Wars Insider Magazine.  This story could and should go with the cloned Even Piell story line as roughly outlined above.  

VI) Rating This Episode:

Citadel Rescue was a plump TCW episode, feeling more like a 45 minute tour de force then the actual 22 minute running time.  There will be much hand ringing by Expanded Universe fans over the continuity issues that this episode runs into, but this issue aside, it was a terrific Star Wars adventure.  While I don't think this is the best episode of the series, it is arguably the most complete and most polished presentation of Star Wars in this series.  The animation and particularly the score for this episode where immaculate, and the story which featured tons of action and drama was the best of this arc.  Citadel Rescue scores a 9.0 out of 10.  A job well done to the cast and crew of The Clone Wars. 

VII) Next on The Clone Wars:

From the Preview Clip for the 1 Hour Season Finale Event featuring Episodes: Padawans Lost and Wookiee Hunt.

Battle Meditation Review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Counterattack (Episode 3.19)

A Moment of Silence in Honor of ARC Trooper Echo (CT-21-0408)

Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la

Episode Title & Number: "Counterattack" Episode 3.19

Original Air Date: 3/4/11

Review Blurb:  Only two things are certain in the Clone Wars, battle droids are stupid and clones die.

Jedi Fortune Cookie:  "Anything that can go wrong will."

Episode Dramatis Personae:

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master
Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Padawan
R2-D2, Astromech Droid
Osi Sobeck, Citadel Commander
Even Piell, Jedi Master
Captain Tarkin, Republic Navy Captain
Clone Captain Rex, Clone Trooper Captain
Clone Commander Cody, Clone Trooper Commander
Echo, ARC Trooper
Fives, ARC Trooper
Count Dooku (via Holocom), Separatist Leader
Mace Windu, Jedi Master
Saesee Tiin, Jedi Master
Yoda, Jedi Grand Master
Plo Koon, Jedi Master

Episode Summary:

Newsreel:

Escape from a Separatist prison! Carrying information about secret routes into the heart of the Republic and Separatist home-worlds, Jedi Master Even Piell was captured and imprisoned in a fortress known as THE CITADEL.


Leading an elite strike team, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker rescue Master Piell and his officers. Now the Jedi have split up to evade Separatist forces as they attempt to escape the Citadel....

Episode Guide Synopsis:

With freed prisoners in their possession and the brutal warden attempting desperately to thwart them, Obi-Wan and Anakin search for a way out of the Citadel and back to Coruscant. The prison, however, has more traps, perils and pitfalls in s tore for them than they had imagined and they must work past their differences if they are to escape.

EPISODE GUIDE LINK

REVIEW:

I) Story/Writing:

I want to love this episode, there is action and adventure, dramatic moments and multiple fatalities.  But it doesn't feel like there was much story behind "Counterattack."  There was also some groan inducing dialogue. 

I actually really enjoy the battle droid humor in TCW, but in this episode particularly when the battle droids are repeating what R2 says for the benefit of the audience it got rather boring. 

Osi Sobeck had the potential to be a cool little video game mini-boss style villain based on last episode, but in this episode it seemed like he was just a cookie cutter evil underling.  (1) Lie/avoid your superior villain, (2) threaten your underlings, (3) go James Bond style villain and talk to your intended victim instead of just finishing them off.  But what bothered me most was grabbing K2-B4 by the neck threateningly.  Really, you are going to scare a droid by threatening to choke it?  Really?

The Anakin-Ahsoka interaction was also a little annoying.  Holy Passive Aggressive Jedi Anakin. 

The biggest event of the episode is the death of ARC Trooper Echo one of the two last survivors of Domino Squad.  This is the fifth episode that Echo and Fives have appeared in, including "Rookies," "Clone Cadets," "ARC Troopers," "The Citadel," and "Counterattack."  This is a lot of screen time for this group of clones.  But after all that character development particularly in the two part season premier, now we are left with only Fives alive.   On one hand, killing of this character is great for dramatic purposes, on the other its a bit disappointing as we get far to many interchangeable clone characters without any real characterization.  It seems like after investing the time getting the viewers invested in these characters that they could have been made better use of over the remainder of the series.  Hopefully Fives becomes a regular and recurring character and gets to retire to the Clones old folks home. 

II) Acting:

We had a nice little guest appearance via hologram of Corey Burton as Count Dooku.  I actually like how purely evil Dooku was in his scene. 

A bit of a letdown in the performance of Matt Lanter (Anakin) and James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan) in this episode, though Taylor had a lot of work to do with Sobeck and Koon.  These guys just did such a tremendous job in the Mortis story arc, its a bit of an unfair comparison.

Dee Bradley Baker has a lot of clone duties to pull in this episode, and while he does a very good job with the performance, there were times when I had trouble distinguishing the voices of Rex, Echo and Fives and had to look for visual cues based on their armor to distinguish them.

III) Animation:

For me the highlight of this episode was the animation.  It was very well done.  Lots of action scenes with varying backgrounds and tons of characters involved.  There was also a fairly large variety of colors involved from the different colored droids, clones and scenery.  The skies of Lola Sayu have a cool look to them. 

There was also heavy use of holograms in this episode which I always enjoy, this is one of the special effects that TCW animation team does a great job on. 

We get some nice close ups in this episode of Sobeck, Piell and Tiin in this episode and I like the look of their character models, Piell and Tiin in particular. 

This episode also highlights how good the Clone Trooper character models look, more realistic then the Jedi or other unmasked characters. 

IV) New Characters/Planets/Vehicles:

Have I mentioned I really dislike the LA Lakers?

Another ensign err Clone doesn't survive the away team mission.

Fun Jedi Hijinks

Crab cakes!

More Lakers fans. grrr

Master Tiin having a bad hair day

V) Continuity Clashes: "How I learned to stop worrying and love the ret-cons."

We didn't really get anything new story wise in this episode.  It was relatively self contained and didn't implicate much in terms of continuity.  It didn't add or subtract much from the continuity concerns regarding Wilhuff Tarkin brought about by his introduction last week.  It still is unresolved as to how this bout of military service fits into his EU back story.

VI) Rating This Episode:

This episode while solid, didn't really go anywhere.  Its basically the Jedi and Clones running around in circles on the planet avoiding or being captured.  There was the memorable death of Echo going down in a literal blaze of glory.  Fun action but less there then the previous episode.  While this review seems more critical then usual, keep in mind that its still Star Wars and is still better then almost anything else on television.  Counterattack gets a 7.5  

VII) Next on The Clone Wars:

From the Preview Clip for next weeks episode: Obi-Wan practicing Form IV: Ataru? 

Episode 3.20 Citadel Rescue

Cartoon Network Preview Clip LINK