Star Wars The Clone Wars
Season five of "The Clone Wars" is diversifying a little bit. It's telling stories that we haven't focused on to much so far in the series. Let's get into this next four episode arc.
"The Gathering," Season Five, Episode 6
"He who faces himself, finds himself."
Narrator: "As the Clone Wars scorches its destructive path across the galaxy, it is the Jedi who bring order to the chaos. Though as the war progresses, the number of Jedi have declined, and new younglings are harder to find. When a youngling is located, they are brought to the Jedi Temple and learn quickly that their true family is now the Jedi Order. The trials are hard. Tests must be passed. But none is as important as the Gathering. It is then that a Jedi's path will truly begin..."
Ahsoka Tano is escorting six younglings, Petro, Ganodi, Byph, Katooni, Zatt & Gungi, to the planet Ilum. While there they meet with Master Yoda who tells them that their job is to locate their individual Kyber crystals so they can create their lightsabers. The catch is that once the sun sets the entrance to the caves of Ilum will freeze over and the younglings would be trapped for 19 days. Can they overcome their fears and find their crystals in time?
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| Yoda and the younglings. |
This is kind of a weird thing to say but I almost feel like the younglings in the "Star Wars" universe can sometimes come off as a joke. In "Revenge of the Sith," Anakin slaughters most of them when he goes to the Dark Side and because the script that George Lucas wrote is so stilted that moment doesn't hit as hard as it could and should have so there have been a lot of memes making fun of it. All that being said, the first thing that I thought of when I saw these younglings was: "I wonder if Anakin killed them, too?" Super morbid, I know, but I couldn't help it since I think the first time I, and others, heard youngling was when that happened. So, this arc had a lot of work to do right from the jump to get me past that hurdle.
Good news. This episode was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. "The Clone Wars" doesn't focus on very much outside of the war, so it's kind of a treat to get a whole episode that really has nothing to do with the war. It's all about this Jedi tradition and these children trying to make it happen. It's a nice change of pace and kind of a reminder that even though this war is raging, life goes on.
The six younglings who are the focus of these episodes are a nice mixture. There is only one humanoid. We have a Rodian. A Wookie. I love Wookie Jedi. If you're a fan of Wookie Jedi, then I'd check out the "Star Wars The High Republic" series of books/comics because there is one there. The kids aren't super annoying, which is a feat. They have distinct personalities. They play off of each other really well. There is a sense of history there without you having to be told about it.
If I have a complaint about this episode, it's that the story itself is sort of predictable. Each of the younglings have to overcome a fear of some kind to retrieve their crystal. They use the Force to do that. Petro, the most obnoxious one, looks like he is going to leave Katoomi behind but of course he doesn't. Petro looks like he's going to be trapped inside but he crashes out of it because like Yoda points out, it is just ice. I appreciate Yoda in this moment. So, yeah, the story is a bit paint by numbers, but it's the things around it that makes this story enjoyable.
Grade: B+
"A Test of Strength," Season Five, Episode 7
"The young are often underestimated."
Narrator: Ancient Jedi tradition! Six younglings are sent to the secret caverns of Ilum, where they are tested by the Gathering, an ancient Jedi ritual where each youngling must harvest a crystal around which they will construct their own lightsaber. Along the journey, they underwent great perils, hardest of which was to face themselves. Now, having passed the test, they take their first steps into a larger world..."
While on their way back to Coruscant, the younglings attempt to construct their lightsabers using their Kyber crystals and some help from the droid, Huyang. Little do they know, they are being followed by Hondo Ohnaka and his band of Weequay pirates. They want to get ahold of the crystals and sell them and they aren't shy about potentially killing the younglings if need be. Can Ahsoka keep the younglings safe and will they listen to her when she tells them not to engage the pirates?
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| These younglings don't listen. |
Who would've thought that David Tennant would guest voice on "The Clone Wars?" That's right. The headline for me this episode is the Tenth Doctor himself, provides the voice for the droid, Huyang. Huyang is a droid that has been helping younglings design and construct their lightsabers for a long time. I feel like if there is one thing "Star Wars" consistently does right is that they consistently introduce droids that are so memorable and you just want more of them. I doubt that we see Huyang again after this arc, which is a bummer and the fact that you want to see him again is a testament to this show and this universe. I love the design of Huyang. I love his like jewelry appraisal eye thing. It's these little details that really sell things for me. And Tennant is the perfect person to bring this droid to life. He's got this warmth but also snark when he needs it. It's fantastic.
I'm never upset when Hondo Ohnaka and his band of pirates make an appearance on "The Clone Wars." Hondo is another great character that "The Clone Wars" introduced and he's just a treat. Though, I did think him being so cavalier about potentially killing children sort of felt out of character. That is touched on in the last episode of this arc, but it's worth bringing up now.
We didn't get a ton of action in the last episode, but this one makes up for it. I thought the sequence of the pirates boarding the ship was really cool and I'm a big fan of any sort of anti-gravity fighting. We get a lot of that towards the end of the episode and it's cool to see Ahsoka maneuvering in the zero gravity and just how elegant she is and deadly. It's really cool.
The younglings, of course, don't listen to Ahsoka when she tells them to stay put. But, of course, they don't because even though they are Jedi in training, they are still just dumb kids. I did like the kind of "Home Alone" aspect of the younglings going after the pirates. They aren't suddenly hardened warriors. They use their smarts to take out the pirates. Like, Petro using his poorly put together lightsaber as a makeshift bomb. Or the younglings weaponizing those Jedi laser training balls aka Marksman-H. I had zero idea what those were calls until I Googled them for this episode.
You may have thought these episodes would be light, but things are pretty serious when the episode ends. Ahsoka has been kidnapped by the Weequay and the younglings are adrift in space.
Grade: B+
"Bound for Rescue," Season Five, Episode 8
"When we rescue others, we rescue ourselves."
Narrator: "Piracy in deep space! Infamous outlaw Hondo Ohnaka attacks a Jedi transport bearing six younglings who just received their lightsaber crystals. So rare are these crystals, that Hondo knows he can sell them on the black market for a small fortune. In a desperate attempt to save the younglings, Ahsoka Tano is captured by Hondo and his pirate horde. Now, with a damaged ship, the younglings are stranded and alone..."
Ahsoka is being held by Hondo who is planning on selling her to someone who is keen to not only own a Jedi, but a female Jedi. The younglings contact Obi-Wan Kenobi who is going to send Cody to retrieve them but that plan changes when the Republic is attacked by Separatist forces. When the younglings realize they are on their own, they head to Florrum to mount a rescue mission and retrieve Ahsoka.
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| Acrobats! |
The thing that sticks out to me the most is the circus performers. I honestly can't imagine anyone else remembering anything else explicitly from this episode. It's all just kind of ridiculous. The younglings are on Florrum. They just happen to come across this circus that is being ran by a Dug who seems very stressed out. And the younglings think on their feet and tell him they are acrobats. That is smart, I guess? And it leads to a pretty entertaining sequence where they perform for a clearly inebriated Hondo and his pirates. They get him involved him in the show and use him as a distraction to free Ahsoka. Though, when Hondo is like shot into the air and comes crashing down, I'm pretty sure that would have killed him. Look, I know this is a show for kids set in a galaxy far, far away, but I feel like I need to point this out.
The tone of this episode is kind of all over the place in this episode. There is the space action with Obi-Wan and his troopers fending off Grievous. There is the younglings attempting to rescue Ahsoka. There is Ahsoka being held hostage by Hondo. The way it keeps switching form serious to silly, I almost go whiplash. I am not saying that an episode of television can't have these types of tonal shifts, but I just don't think they work the greatest in this particular episode. We go from Hondo basically threatening to sell Ahsoka into sex slavery to this absurdist business with the younglings and the circus.
You know what we haven't gotten from "The Clone Wars" in a few episodes? A big interstellar space battle. Well, they make up for it here with Grievous' fleet attacking Obi-Wan and his clone regiment. I certainly didn't expect Grievous to make an appearance in this little mini arc but I'm not mad about it. I'm always up for a Grievous/Obi-Wan lightsaber battle which we get here. It could have been a little longer for me, but I'm not upset about it. And as I've said before, "The Clone Wars" does these big space battles so well that I will watch them and usually be completely awed and that is the case here.
Grade: B
"A Necessary Bond," Season Five, Episode 9
"Choose your enemies wisely, as they may be your last hope."
Narrator: "Pursued by pirates! While on a rite of passage, six Jedi younglings and Ahsoka Tano are ambushed. While protecting the young Jedi, Ahsoka was captured by the nefarious Hondo Ohnaka and taken to the planet Florrum. Marshaling their courage and training, the younglings infiltrated the pirate stronghold and rescued Ahsoka. Now we find our heroes in a race to their starship, with the pirates closing in..."
Ahsoka and the younglings are on the run from Hondo and his pirates. Things take a turn for the even worse when Separatist forces led by Grievous show up on Florrum and announce it Separatist territory. It seems like Count Dooku is still miffed about that time that Hondo kidnapped him and tried to sell him off. Are we sensing a pattern? Can Ahosaka, the younglings and the pirates put aside their differences and work together to get away from Grievous?
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| Grievous hates Ahsoka. |
I do feel like it is super random that this arc that ended up starting with younglings choosing their Kyber crystals and constructing lightsabers and ends with a Separatist invasion on a pirate planet and Ahsoka and the younglings teaming up with the pirates to stop General Grievous. It is definitely not where I thought where things were going. So, I guess that's a plus. I enjoy when this show keeps me on my toes.
Hondo does a complete turnaround from the episode where he invaded the Jedi ship to take their crystals. He was ready to murder the kids if they got in his way, but no he has an issue turning kids into soldiers. I am glad that Ahsoka calls this out, but there isn't enough explanation. I feel like it is because they want the audience to still enjoy Hondo and it's hard to enjoy someone who is willing to murder kids. And the little bond that he forms with Katooni is cute, but again, it really comes out of nowhere and I don't really get it.
This episode is just kind of OK. It's very expected for the last episode of these kind of mini arcs. It's a lot of action and a that's pretty much it. It's not that the action is bad. It's really good. I'm never going to not want to see Grievous crab walking and skittering towards someone. I loved watching Ahsoka with her two lightsabers go after Grievous with his four. It's another example of how much she has grown since she debuted on the show.
Everyone who knows me knows that I love a callback, so I was into Dooku still holding a grudge against Hondo and the pirates for his kidnapping back in like season 1, I think. That's great. I just wish Dooku had actually been there too rather than just sending Grievous and showing up in a hologram.
Was it strange to anyone else that all the younglings only had lightsabers that were blue and green? I was really hoping that there would be some orange, yellow or purple. This wasn't my favorite episode but overall, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought it would.
Grade: B-
Next up, we get a four episode arc all about R2-D2 leading a team of droids and I'm not nervous about that at all.
What did you all think? Happy to see some focus on the younglings and focus on something outside of the war, well for a minute. Let me know in the comments.
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