A Long Time Ago, During the Clone Wars: "Rising Malevolence," "Shadow of Malevolence," & "Destroy Malevolence"

 Star Wars The Clone Wars

Remember when I said that sometimes "The Clone Wars" had little three episode arcs? Well, we are to our first one! Woot. Let's dive in and also get the first official "Clone Wars" introduction of some classic prequel trilogy characters.

"Rising Malevolence," Season One, Episode 2

"Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction."

Narrator: "The Clone Starfleet is under siege! Dozens of Republic warships have been destroyed in merciless surprise attacks that leave no survivors. Rumors spread of a terrible new Separatist weapon. In the face of growing fear, the Jedi Council sends Master Plo Koon to hunt down the menace before it strikes again..."

Separatist General Grievous is in command of the Malevolence, a starship that has an ion cannon. One hit and all starship systems are disabled and can be easily be picked off one by one. Plo Koon and a few Clones are hit and adrift in a life pod. Rescue seems unlikely, but Anakin and his new Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, are ready to defy the Council to attempt a rescue. But will they make it in time?

The Head Clanker.

This is a really great start to this mini arc. It immediately begins with a lot of tension. Again, "The Clone Wars" doesn't hesitate to show us the ravages of prolonged war. Plo Koon and the few Clone Troopers in the powered down life pod are in real jeopardy. That whole sequence is very harrowing and the animators linger on the wreckage that the Malevolence has wrought. The image of the dead Clone hanging out the front of the busted front of the life pod gets me every time. This would have also been the first real taste of that that regular "Clone Wars" viewers would have gotten. That is a lot for episode 2.

This episode was the first to really let people know that "The Clone Wars" series was not going to be what the movie was. It was for kids, sure, but there was enough there for adult Star Wars fans to get behind and get excited about. 

We get some more one on one time with Anakin and his new Padawan, Ahsoka. They are very similar, as far as defying the Council. Anakin is just doing it in a more roundabout way, so I guess that is a lesson to teach Ahsoka. Seriously, though. Why would the Council give Anakin a Padawan and then give him a Padawan that was basically him, but less likely to be manipulated to join the Dark side. You all are bringing these headaches on yourselves.

Grade: A-

"Shadow of Malevolence," Season One, Episode 3

"Easy is the path to wisdom for those not blinded by ego."

Narrator: "A deadly weapon, unleashed! The Separatist battleship, Malevolence, advances unopposed through Republic space, tearing apart any ship that stands in its path. After a daring rescue and narrow escape, Anakin Skywalker prepares a counterattack on the enemy and its diabolical droid commander, General Grievous..."

The Republic is still trying to destroy the Malevolence and it's ship debilitating ion cannon. Anakin has a plan. Anakin believes that a squadron of long range Y-wing bombers piloted by Shadow Squadron can out maneuver the Malevolence ion cannon and cripple it. They are in a race to get to a medical outpost before the Malevolence. Anakin, Ahsoka, Plo Koon and Shadow Squadron take a shortcut which may be more dangerous than the Malevolence itself.

Flying Fish

The middle part of any trilogy, even three episode mini-trilogies on "The Clone Wars," are the best and "Shadow of Malevolence" is no exception. This episode is basically one long chase scene, so I guess if you didn't like "The Last Jedi" you may not like this. I keed, I keed.

This episode highlights the compassion that the Jedi and by extension the Republic has for their Clone Army. It could be easy to see these manufactured soldiers as disposable, and kill them off in more and more laughable ways ala Storm Troopers but the show doesn't do that. Grievous and Dooku know that and see it as weakness, which is why they target the Outer Rim Secret Medical Station.

Anakin has them take a smugglers shortcut to get to the Outer Rim called the Balmorra Run and it's maybe not the best idea. You thought the Kessel Run was treacherous, well, it didn't have giant Neebray Mantas. The mantas sequence is so freaking cool. It reminds me of the core sequence in "The Phantom Menace" though the mantas seem less like predatory than the mantas. The mantas just don't give a fuck about the Y-Wings. 

This episode highlights Anakin as a tactician. A lot of the time he seems like he is just defying the Council, flying by the seat of his pants and things just end up working out. But this episode shows Anakin having a solid plan, he adjusts when things go wrong and end up taking out the ion cannons and disabling the Malevolence. We need to see Anakin in this light, so I was into it.

Grade: A

"Destroy Malevolence," Season One, Episode 4

"A plan is only as good as those who see it through."

Narrator: "Grievous in retreat! Before the battleship Malevolence could destroy an Outer Rim medical base, a Republic strike force, under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, crippled the warship, disabling its dreaded ion cannon. Now the Jedi relentlessly pursue the Malevolence..."

The Republic is in hot pursuit of the Malevolence hoping to do more than just cripple it. But Count Dooku and his Master, Darth Sidious, aren't going to give up their weapon without a fight. They lure Senator Padmé Amidala into the path of the Malevolence, hoping to kidnap her and use her as a bargaining chip. Padmé is not the complacent prisoner they hoped but will Anakin be able to keep his mind on the mission with his secret wife in danger?

Prisoner Padmé

I'm sad to say that this little three episode arc sort of piddles out. It doesn't end strongly and this third episode feels a little unnecessary. I love Padmé and I'm happy to see her and C-3PO make their main series debuts, but this feels like all filler. It also irritates me that the way they decide to bring Padmé into the fold is as a hostage. I get that she gets away and I love that, but this is kind of a hallmark of early Padmé appearances in "The Clone Wars." She gets captured. Sometimes she stays captured. Padmé is an amazing, underrated "Star Wars" character and in these early season episodes, it's clear that the writers aren't sure what to do with her, and aren't sure how to involve her in the main action, so this is the route they go. Further down the road, they learn how to make diplomacy just as exciting and engaging as space battles, so I can say that this improves.

This is an OK episode over all. Its basically a long chase/cat-and-mouse game between the Droid soldiers and the Padmé rescue squad of Anakin, Obi-Wan and R2-D2. There is a sort of chase through some underground tunnels which is very reminiscent of the chase through the Droid Factory on Geonosis, which is maybe I didn't love it. I can be honest. The whole thing is just kind of meh. Like, not horrible, but not great and definitely not up to the standard set by the previous two episodes and like did we need more terrible "romantic" dialogue between Padmé and Anakin with a completely inappropriate make out session? Probs not.

Grade: C+

Next up, Rex and Cody get the spotlight and it's a race to rescue R2-D2.

What did you think of this three episode mini-trilogy? Am I being too harsh on the third part? Let me know in the comments.