Clone Wars review and roundup: First half of the Ahsoka arc: ‘Sabotage’ &’The Jedi Who Knew Too Much’

We’re heading into the final stretch of the season for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, with the last two episodes of the Ahsoka arc coming this way in the next two Saturdays. ‘Sabotage’ put a terrorist attack on the Jedi Temple, with Ahsoka catching the culprit, but ‘The Jedi Who Knew Too Much’ now has Ahsoka on the run, framed for killing that suspect, and some clonetroopers I do a little reviewing and catch up on other reviews and news for The Clone Wars:

Quick review: ‘Sabotage’ – After an action-packed start on Cato Neimodia, the plot turns into a crime show procedural, which TV.com enjoyed. As someone who has watched way too much CSI, I felt that while the Russo-ISC droid (the droid version of the sunglass-flipping David Caruso character on CSI: Miami) was doing its job, the overall story felt a little forced by trying to have a police procedural (usually a 1-hour show) turned into a half hour show accessible to a younger audience. Most notably, while I can understand why the public would be protesting the war or the Jedi’s role in it, I don’t quite get why the Temple’s civilian employees and their relatives would be their own anti-Jedi protest. If anything, shouldn’t they be calling for answers or justice? Also, while the droid was all CSI, about the evidence leading them to solve the case, Ahsoka and Anakin are very you’re-guilty-because-you’re-the-only-lead-we-have. This perhaps fits with Anakin’s impulsive style, which is why perhaps Anakin and Ahsoka maybe aren’t the best suited to be detectives. Surely there are other Jedi out in the field, or local Coruscant investigators, that might be better as cops. But perhaps if this is all a trap by Sidious, then perhaps he suggested to the Jedi Council that his golden boy and padawan would be ‘best’ for the job, setting them up to fail… or worse, as seen in ‘The Jedi Who Knew Too Much’. As a procedural crammed into half the time, it just didn’t feel very police procedural to me – too much jumping to conclusion, but perhaps there was no room for the red herring. Maybe without the luxurious action/comedy scenes on Cato Neimodia, there would have been room for more investigation nuance? Still, I loved the crime scene reconstruction holograms.

Review Roundup: Bryan at Big Shiny Robot called the episode ‘reasonably dry’ and rated it at 3.5/5, while Megan at Fangirlblog felt that it pulled its punches. JediNet talks about the opening sequence on Cato Neimodia, and Rooqoo Depot goes 5/5 for the episode, pulling in Blade Runner references and noting the power of rumors in turning the public against the Jedi.

Quick Review: ‘The Jedi Who Knew Too Much’ – The action revs back up with this episode. Letta Turmond, now imprisoned at a Republic military base, is killed with the Force while Ahsoka is visiting her, and the evidence keeps pointing that Ahsoka is the killer on the run. Unable to trust even Anakin, Ahsoka is forced to escape, The Fugitive style. “It wasn’t me… it was the one-armed Aqualish!” While I knew that Ahsoka would be framed in this episode, I was amazed at how well it played out – a Force choking while Ahsoka is the only one in the cell with the suspect. Only now Ahsoka sees that not everyone in the military is necessarily her ally – Admiral Tarkin is a great frenemy here for her, which fits even better with the Anakin/Tarkin dynamic that leads to their relationship in ANH. Ahsoka, while not the child from the first season, still is an unsure teenager, wiser than Bariss in one scene, yet willing to believe that her escape window is part of Anakin’s plan, and falls completely into the frame job. While the last half of the episode was solid action, it gave room for interesting bits, like Rex unwilling to believe that his friend would kill clones, but then a moment later calling out the APB on her as a killer. (And has Rex been seeing the Silence? He can’t be tick-marking his armor for every Sep kill he’s made). A great episode with the promise of even more to come.

Review Roundup: Eric at IGN focuses on the Barriss Offee angle (as well as the rain), Bryan points out the architectural cues of the Republic military base in his review at Big Shiny Robot, and Noel at TV.com tries to piece together the plot to discredit the Jedi and compares this to the Hitchcock namesake of this episode. Adam at Galactic Hunter gives 4 stars, saying “No episode looked and felt more like the original Star Wars than this one.” And Pete at Lightsaber Rattling tries to pick apart Palpatine’s machinations between the Jedi and the military.

Other things worth checking out:

• In an interview at IGN, Sam Witwer discusses Maul’s fate, Episode VII, and playing Maul in LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out (and in a Lipton Brisk commercial)
• On the official site, Dave Filoni and voice actor Stephen Stanton discuss Tarkin’s role and motivations in the featurette ‘Military Might’
• Full of Sith talks with Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter and Tom Kane about the end of season five, and a little about season six.