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Clone Wars Debriefing: "Corruption"
Oct. 9th, 2010 01:38 pmThe natives are getting restless. We've had three episodes in a row now dealing with the political side of the Clone Wars and goshdurn it, the fanboys are bored! They want the holy trinity of 'splosions, lightsabers, and clones! I have a feeling they're saving the sexy stuff for sweeps, so be patient.
The common thread over the past few episodes has been the effect of blockades on neutral or pacifist worlds. This time it's Mandalore, where a thriving black market is encouraging "Corruption." Padmé rolls into Mandalore, hoping to assist Duchess Satine and her government do something about the blockades. As astute classic film buffs have noticed, the episode is loosely based on "The Third Man," where black market penicillin has poisoned the children of Vienna. This time whack black market tea drinks are inadvertently poisoning the children of Mandalore. Apparently the manufacturers put stuff into the drinks to save money that's supposed to be harmless but turns out to be toxic in greater concentration. The girls investigate and find out that everyone from dockhands to school superintendents are on the take, which is how the black market tea found its way to the children. It all wraps up with a warehouse shootout almost out of a Prohibition-era gangster flick, with Padmé displaying her shootin' skillz.
It's fun when the film geeks behind Clone Wars choose to pay tribute to classic Hollywood. I don't care what anyone says, I thought "Senate Spy" was one of Season Two's best episodes. Apparently they find Padmé a good foil for these kinds of tributes. Padmé and Satine made for a good team, and guess what folks, they pass the Bechtel test. I'm not anal retentive about that sort of thing. I mean, there are times when it's perfectly justifiable to discuss a man. But despite their common penchant for Jedi hunks, they are all about business here and there's no reason why Padmé would reveal to anyone her secret relationship with Anakin.
The animation was fantastic. Mandalore looks great and the parade scene upon Padmé's arrival was beautifully done. Congratulations to the animation team for finally letting Padmé change her clothes and hair! Maybe someday we'll see a Padmé with her natural curls. Keep working on it, guys.
Satine continues to be something of a puzzle. The reason for that is you're never sure if Satine is a loaded gun so to speak, or if we're supposed to find her admirable at face value. Because while it's obvious her heart is in the right place, there are still a lot of things about her that's troubling. She angrily ends a council meeting and kicks everyone out because people argued with each other and with her. She demands the warehouse holding the tainted tea be burned down even though there's supposed to be an investigation. Huh? She seems to take it very personally that there's even this petty level of corruption on her Kingdom On Mandalore. It's always her way or the highway. Now there are some things that I believe are supposed to let us know that even pacifist absolutist Satine has a hard time controlling all of those Mando warrior impulses. When she threatens to rough up the crooked school superintendent, Padmé has to tell her to calm down.
Where the script gets into trouble is where Clone Wars has always gotten into trouble, and that's when it decides to Send A Message with an episode. Instead of a slimy villain black marketeer like the one in "The Third Man," they decide to make the villain corruption itself. You know this because they keep using "corruption" a lot. While it's not an unserious thing to see kids poisoned, black market drinks and corrupt school officials seem so small for Star Wars. I kept waiting for the link to the Separatists or the Sith or bounty hunters or Death Watch. Since this story is going to continue next week with Ahsoka, maybe there will be some link to something bigger and more evil. But really, this is the sort of thing that the Channel 10 I-Team and the cops could have handled on their own. Why did it need the personal attention of a planetary leader and a visiting galactic Senator?
Moreover, I couldn't help but feel at times the script was secretly written by Ralph Nader. The drinks were permitted into the schools "by an outside vendor" who of course was paying the school superintendent generously in return. Gee, sorta sounds like the controversy over soda pop vending machines in public schools, which were permitted in many school districts during the '90s and '00s as a way to prop up revenues. Personally, I have mixed feelings about that, but now there's a crusade to get rid of the soda machines to "fight obesity." I'm surprised the Mandalorian children weren't poisoned with "sugar" and were suddenly getting fat. Stuff like this takes you out of the fantasy of Star Wars, which is really more about the big picture and grand themes, not minute controversies.
Next week: Look out Mandalore, here comes Ahsoka!
The common thread over the past few episodes has been the effect of blockades on neutral or pacifist worlds. This time it's Mandalore, where a thriving black market is encouraging "Corruption." Padmé rolls into Mandalore, hoping to assist Duchess Satine and her government do something about the blockades. As astute classic film buffs have noticed, the episode is loosely based on "The Third Man," where black market penicillin has poisoned the children of Vienna. This time whack black market tea drinks are inadvertently poisoning the children of Mandalore. Apparently the manufacturers put stuff into the drinks to save money that's supposed to be harmless but turns out to be toxic in greater concentration. The girls investigate and find out that everyone from dockhands to school superintendents are on the take, which is how the black market tea found its way to the children. It all wraps up with a warehouse shootout almost out of a Prohibition-era gangster flick, with Padmé displaying her shootin' skillz.
It's fun when the film geeks behind Clone Wars choose to pay tribute to classic Hollywood. I don't care what anyone says, I thought "Senate Spy" was one of Season Two's best episodes. Apparently they find Padmé a good foil for these kinds of tributes. Padmé and Satine made for a good team, and guess what folks, they pass the Bechtel test. I'm not anal retentive about that sort of thing. I mean, there are times when it's perfectly justifiable to discuss a man. But despite their common penchant for Jedi hunks, they are all about business here and there's no reason why Padmé would reveal to anyone her secret relationship with Anakin.
The animation was fantastic. Mandalore looks great and the parade scene upon Padmé's arrival was beautifully done. Congratulations to the animation team for finally letting Padmé change her clothes and hair! Maybe someday we'll see a Padmé with her natural curls. Keep working on it, guys.
Satine continues to be something of a puzzle. The reason for that is you're never sure if Satine is a loaded gun so to speak, or if we're supposed to find her admirable at face value. Because while it's obvious her heart is in the right place, there are still a lot of things about her that's troubling. She angrily ends a council meeting and kicks everyone out because people argued with each other and with her. She demands the warehouse holding the tainted tea be burned down even though there's supposed to be an investigation. Huh? She seems to take it very personally that there's even this petty level of corruption on her Kingdom On Mandalore. It's always her way or the highway. Now there are some things that I believe are supposed to let us know that even pacifist absolutist Satine has a hard time controlling all of those Mando warrior impulses. When she threatens to rough up the crooked school superintendent, Padmé has to tell her to calm down.
Where the script gets into trouble is where Clone Wars has always gotten into trouble, and that's when it decides to Send A Message with an episode. Instead of a slimy villain black marketeer like the one in "The Third Man," they decide to make the villain corruption itself. You know this because they keep using "corruption" a lot. While it's not an unserious thing to see kids poisoned, black market drinks and corrupt school officials seem so small for Star Wars. I kept waiting for the link to the Separatists or the Sith or bounty hunters or Death Watch. Since this story is going to continue next week with Ahsoka, maybe there will be some link to something bigger and more evil. But really, this is the sort of thing that the Channel 10 I-Team and the cops could have handled on their own. Why did it need the personal attention of a planetary leader and a visiting galactic Senator?
Moreover, I couldn't help but feel at times the script was secretly written by Ralph Nader. The drinks were permitted into the schools "by an outside vendor" who of course was paying the school superintendent generously in return. Gee, sorta sounds like the controversy over soda pop vending machines in public schools, which were permitted in many school districts during the '90s and '00s as a way to prop up revenues. Personally, I have mixed feelings about that, but now there's a crusade to get rid of the soda machines to "fight obesity." I'm surprised the Mandalorian children weren't poisoned with "sugar" and were suddenly getting fat. Stuff like this takes you out of the fantasy of Star Wars, which is really more about the big picture and grand themes, not minute controversies.
Next week: Look out Mandalore, here comes Ahsoka!
