Cold Credits

The air was heavy with the stench of sweat and blood as Cad's intense red eyes peered into the dead gaze of an Imperial officer; his plain grey uniform stained red by his own blood.
The Duros placed his pistol back in its holster at his hip and looked coldly to his partner; a rather stout man with a blank stare and a head wrapped in white cloth as if it were covering some deep wound, in fact, the wounds were beyond skin deep.
"Come on. We've got a job to do." Bane said to his partner in his rasping voice as he moved to complete the mission.
"Not until you cut me in on the pay, you slimy Neimoidian." Dengar said reading his blaster rifle.
Bane stopped dead in his tracks and slowly faced the man, a new kind of red burning in his lidless eyes.
"What did you call me?" He said as his hand slid towards his pistol.
"That's right." Dengar continued undaunted by Bane's sudden turn on him.
"You're a slimy, low down, Neimoidian coward," At that moment something primal snapped in Bane and he whipped out his pistol and squeezed off two shots but not before Dengar was on top of him with a drawn vibroblade.
Dengar sliced the weapon from Bane's hand and cut the pistol on his opposite hip as well.
Bane looked to his dismantled weapons and then to Dengar saying; "Oh, you don't want to be doing that boy." With that he delivered a devastating blow to Dengar's nose causing it to explode with blood.
With inhuman efficiency he recovered and began twisting the alien's wrist the wrong way only to have an electric jolt pulse through his body. He dropped the vibroblade and collapsed to his knees.
Bane recovered one of his pistols and placed his muzzle to Dengar's forehead.
"Now." He said. "I'll be keeping my credits if it's alright with you."
Seeing no sign of dissent he placed the weapon in his good holster and recovered its twin. He looked to Dengar with cold eyes.
"On your feet. We need to recover those stolen plans from Alderaan's senator."

                                                     -THE END-

"The Box"--Review.

I really enjoyed this episode. The Box was a very interesting training course for the bounty hunters, and to me, seemed to be a physical embodiment of the inner workings of Maralo's mind.

I was actually afraid for the characters in this episode unlike last week's episode which seemed relativity uneventful.

The ever shifting environment of the Box was a very interesting playing field for our wannabe contenders for Dooku's mission.

In all not a whole lot of character development in this episode and it failed to really establish anything and built up little for the finale.

In all it was a cool episode. I'm looking forward to the conclusion next week. Until next time.       

"Friends and Enemies"--Review

Honestly this arc isn't really grabbing my attention. This episode just seemed relativity uneventful.

I might point out, though, that Indian Jones's iconic hat did make an appearance in this episode.
I don't really have a whole lot to say; the bounty hunters were awesome but they're just not my thing.

I'm sorry I just don't have much to offer in this review.

"Deception"--Review

One of the more complex episodes in my opinion.

The overall idea of a Jedi, Obi-Wan in particular, going undercover posing as a bounty hunter to learn about, and thwart, a terrorist plot against Palpatine reminded me of something that our own CIA might do in the real world.

Seeing Obi-Wan bald and without his signature beard was a little strange for me; and when they transformed his face, I'm assuming with nano-bots, it somewhat reminded me of a scene from "GI Joe: Rise of Cobra".
Seeing him play the villain was very interesting and at one point his morality was, in a way, questioned when he refused to kill a non-clone Coruscant official. How this whole thing plays out will be very interesting.

This episode saw the return of Cad Bane, Boba, and an improved Bossk along with one Eval (his first name escapes me). Boba, who only had one scene, has grown since we last saw him back in Season Two and is now a defensive teenager.
I love the improvements to Bossk's model; now he's much more reptilian whereas in the Season Two finale he looked more like a cheap plastic toy.

Anakin, not being in on the whole ruse, behaved with furious anger towards the whole matter. Some might say his emotions and expressions were overly exaggerated. We saw similar rage in the "Slavers Arc" towards the Zygerrian slavers.

Being the first episode in a four part arc this episode only gave us the initial deceptive rouse of Obi-Wan and the jail break. 

This episode felt hollow. Perhaps because this is only the first episode in a larger story and nothing is really at stake . . . Yet. I'm looking forward to the conclusion of this arc and can't wait until next week. Until then may the Force be with you.

"A Friend in Need" Review.

This was an awesome episode I have no doubt about that in my mind.

We got a look into the inner workings of the sinister Death Watch. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Ahsoka and Lux in this episode and their relationship has really blossomed since their first meeting back in "Heroes on Both Sides". Lux's desire to avenge his Mother's death was a driving force for him here and it pushed him to trust anyone who might be able to help him--even terrorists.
The serine, snowy, planet of the Mandolorians was the perfect setting for this episode.

This episode also deepened Ahsoka's character as well and the scene where Pre was about to execute her was done spectacularly. And her escape, with the help of R2 and some reluctant droids, was also extremely well done.

I held my breath when Lux kissed Ahsoka to conceal her babbling about his plans. A ploy I've seen appear a few times.

Bo Katan. Pre's second in command. Like Boba in the Original Trilogy we don't know must about her and we didn't even get to see her face.

The climax of the episode, I thought, was the fight between Pre and Ahsoka. That girl has some mad lightsaber skills.

The local people the Mandos kept as sub-servants reminded me of the nomadic Huns from the Alps and they practically grew out of the environment. The scene where the Mandos , in tyrannical manner, burn the local's village and Ahsoka is forced to reveal that she's a Jedi was probably my favorite scene in this whole episode. The contrast of the fire against the slowly falling snow was breathtaking.

In the end this was a well orchestrated episode with plenty of complications and plot twists. I can't wait  to see next week's episode.
   

"Escape from Kadavo" Review

This was an awesome conclusion to the "Slavers Arc". Maybe a little slow at first but still good.

The slave processing plant on the sinister Kadavo, I thought, carried echoes of the underbelly of ancient Roman baths with the furnaces and eerie red lighting. That was possibly the most horrific set concocted by the Clone Wars crew.

The operation to rescue the Togruta slaves was totally awesome even though Plo and the Wolfpack were once again rescuing the main cast.

The death of the Zygerrian Queen at Dooku's hand was rather intense and, in the end, she realized that even she did not hold all the power. Despite her position as an antagonist her death still struck an emotional note for me.

The action in this episode was really epic and not at all hollow. The lives of innocent people hung in the balance and kept the suspense high and on edge.  I wish they would have included a subplot about one of the Togruta colonists; it would have added that much more suspense to this awesome arc.

When the aged Togruta governor asked to have a private conversation with Ahsoka I was half expecting him to tell her she resembled his long lost daughter or something of that nature. I was a little disappointing when he didn't.   

While this arc had nothing on Umbara it was still awesome, I'd say, slightly above average I can't wait for next week's episode. Until then thanks for reading.

"Slaves of the Republic" Review

While this episode started out slow it carried echos of Luke's plan, in ROTJ, to free the carbon frozen Han from Jabba's palace. I like how the Jedi had their lightsabers concealed in R2. It was a nice homage to the final episode of the Star Wars Saga. 

The Zygerrian culture, with its slave markets and alpha predator mentality, reminds me of the Egyptian and Persian empires both of which thrived on slave labor. The Zygerrian queen reminded me of the Biblical feminine fatal Delilah who seduced the mighty Samson. In fact her Zygerrian counterpart did much the same thing to Anakin.

By the end of this episode the stakes had been raised and our hero, Anakin, was caught in a conundrum. With Obi-Wan and Ahsoka practically slaves he's forced to be the queen's bodyguard; and if he doesn't comply it's his friends who will pay.
I liked seeing Ahsoka Force nudge her soon to be slave master over the edge, however, once he reclaimed himself he activated a shock collar around her neck. Not a pretty sight.

I really liked Ahsoka's slave outfit of flowing blue silks and semi-precious stones. Her small head-dress dress was also a very elegant piece.

The Zygerrians used what appeared to be lightwhips. I don't think these were necessarily that. I, personally, think the whip part was made of conductive nanofiber that could rapidly retreat into the small handle.  

In all it was a good episode. The only downside is now we have to wait a whole five weeks for the rest of this arc and the next episode. So . . . Until then.