Star Wars The Clone Wars
Anytime there is a show about war, even a cartoon show, there is always an episode or more that deals with an ideologue for Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele was known as the Angel of Death at Auschwitz. He was a monster, performing grotesque experiments on the Jewish people imprisoned there. I'm not sure why this has become a recognizable pattern, but now it's time for "The Clone Wars" to do their mad scientist, Mengele ideologue episodes.
"Blue Shadow Virus," Season One, Episode 17
"Fear is a disease; hope is its only cure."
Narrator: "Battle droids on Naboo! As the Separatist rebellion rages through the galaxy, even peaceful planets are threatened. Following the discovery of Separatist droids wandering the grassy wasteland, Naboo is once again on high alert. Fearing their home is facing another invasion, Senator Amidala and Representative Binks race to Naboo to assess the situation. Meanwhile, near the Gungan swamplands, an even greater threat is about to be discovered..."
After interrogating the medical droid found on Naboo, Padmé finds the secret lab of Dr. Nuovo Vindi. Vindi is using Naboo as a staging area to bring back and release the deadly Blue Shadow Virus. While captured, Vindi reveals to Padmé that he has engineered the virus to be airborne and has lots of virus filled bombs ready to go. Can Obi-Wan and Anakin stop him before he unleashes the plague?
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| Scene from an impending capture. |
Y'all, sometimes watching and recapping "The Clone Wars" can become very repetitive, especially during this first season. "The Clone Wars" really doesn't become the amazing show that it is until season 2, so a lot of season one is pretty formulaic and can be a bit of a slog to watch. It's still entertaining at its base, but if you know what characters are going to be making up an episode or a little mini arc, you can sort of make a very educated guess as to how things are going to go. For instance, if Jar Jar is in an episode, then you know he's going to fuck shit up and somehow either stumble on a clue or fuck shit up so badly he actually saves the day. Padmé will get captured. Anakin will defy orders and win the day. It's all right there.
And you know what? All those things happen in this episode. And can we stop? Can Jar Jar stop getting credit where none is due? Him knocking over all those shelves because he was trying to eat a bug and the bug leading them to the swamp. That is not Sherlock Holmes level deductive reasoning. It's a coincidence. Stop giving him credit. Berate him. It's the only way he'll learn.
And everyone has to know that Anakin and Padmé are secret married, right? The way Anakin is acting when she's captured and may be infected. A blind and deaf person would know they were married. Seriously dude. This episode is just meh. It's great to be back on Naboo but this could take place anywhere and have the same impact. Vindi is a caricature of a character. It was really difficult to pay attention to these.
Grade: C
"Mystery of a Thousand Moons," Season One, Episode 18
"A single chance is a galaxy of hope."
Narrator: "Hard-pressed Jedi and their valiant clone troopers have thwarted and insidious Separatist plot to plant bombs loaded with the deadly Blue Shadow Virus in key Republic systems. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have captured the vile scientist behind the nefarious scheme: Doctor Nuovo Vindi. Now the Jedi plan to transport Vindi to the Republic capital for trial..."
While preparing to take Vindi to Theed for trial, they find one of the virus bombs missing. Vindi's servant droid gets it and releases it, infecting Padmé, Ahsoka, Rex and a squadron of Clone troopers. Vindi won't tell the Jedi where the antidote is but Captain Typho lets the Jedi know that the Reeksa root found on Iego will counter the virus. It's a planet of many moons and in Separatist controlled space, but Anakin and Obi-Wan embark on the suicide mission to save their compadres.
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| Blue tinged for the Blue Shadow Virus |
I just realized that when these episodes aired, it was in an hour long block. That's rough. There's not a lot here to keep people glued to their sets for a full hour. I watched them back to back and my mind was wandering. I'm not going to lie. My notes are light for these two.
Which is maybe why I'm going to continue to my rant about the Padmé/Anakin "secret" marriage. So, let's be really generous and say like Ahsoka, Yoda, Mace Windu, etc don't know. Obi-Wan has to know, right? He's known Anakin since he was a boy and the kid has always been seriously hot for Padmé. And sure Anakin forms unhealthy attachments and all that, but he has to know there's more to that. Listen to how they talk to each other on OPEN COMMS. They aren't even trying to be like down low about it. Obi-Wan isn't dumb, so is he just ignoring it? Does that make him complicit and complacent? Does he bear responsibility? I really went down the rabbit hole here, y'all.
If they really wanted to shake things up, instead of putting Vindi on trial, the Republic could have just used him to make weapons for them like the US did with Nazi scientists during World War II. I suppose that would probably have been too dark.
The visual of the different reprogrammed droids on Iego was cool and felt like a precursor to Maz Kanata's hideout in "The Phantom Menace." Here's something that didn't make sense, this Jaybo kid is clearly a super smart inventor, but he didn't figure out that it wasn't ghosts but a defense shield? Like no one figured that out? Seriously? And a problem when you put major characters in danger, it sucks all the tension out, because you know that nothing bad is going to happen to Ahsoka, Rex or Padmé (at least not yet.) So, it's kind of like unless you are really telling a top notch story, which these two episodes don't, what's the point?
Grade: C-
Next up, we get a three episode arc on Ryloth.
What do you all think? Am I overthinking this? Probably. Let me know in the comments.
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