lazypadawan | Clone Wars Debriefing: "Children of the Force"

Do Not Let This Guy Babysit Your Kids

So how do you follow up two great episodes? With another great episode!

Picking up immediately after "Cargo of Doom" left off, the surviving clones, Anakin, and Ahsoka return to the Resolute. It's not long before the Jedi figure out there was a stowaway among them. After Bane knees poor Ahsoka in the gut, he takes off. The slippery bounty hunter rips off a ship and escapes despite Anakin's efforts and Yularen's continued p*ssy behavior.

With the Holocron in his hands, Bane's next job is to pick up some of the Force-sensitive kidlets and bring them to Sidious's sekret facility on...Mustafar. The plan is to warp the little tots into "super spies." Bane has misgivings about this for all of two seconds. Then he's off to start baby-napping. I initially heard that Sidious was going to turn these younglings into Sith, which doesn't make sense to me given that he already had designs on Anakin and that pesky Rule of Two. Having seen the show, it's not to turn them into Sith but something closer to the Emperor's Hand(s) in the EU. Okay, I guess that makes sense.

Back at the Jedi Temple, Mace, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Yoda meditate on where Bane is going to go. I bust up laughing when Anakin comes up with Naboo. Yeah, sure, heh heh. Meanwhile, Mace and Obi-Wan head for Rodia.

Bane is already there, disguising himself as a Jedi. He hypnotizes a young Rodian mother into giving up the baby and being angry at the Jedi. When Obi-Wan knocks on her door, she aims a blaster at him. Bane is just sneaking out the back and despite Obi-Wan's best efforts, Bane gets away.

Meanwhile on Naboo, Team Win is waiting for Bane when he tries to kidnap the cutest Gungan baby girl ever. Ahsoka quickly pwns Bane and takes back the headdress jewelry Bane took from her last week. Now in custody, Bane refuses to talk to the Jedi. The three most powerful present--Obi-Wan, Mace, and Anakin--decide to pool their efforts for the mother of all Vulcan mind melds, er, Jedi mind tricks. It's so crazy, even Ahsoka's a little uncomfortable watching. But Bane breaks and he agrees to lead Obi-Wan and Mace to the missing Holocron. Meanwhile the Chancellor demands a report. Obi-Wan wants to blow him off, but Kiss-@$$ Anakin says they should report back to the Chancellor. "Fine, you to go talk to the mo-fo Chancellor," Mace says. Well, not exactly...

Anakin and Ahsoka go back to Coruscant to meet with Palpatine. Palpie basically tells Ahsoka to scram so he can continue to twist Anakin's mind in private. I've been waiting for a scene like this since CW kicked off. Anakin's relationship with Palpatine is crucial to his turn to the Dark Side and it was great seeing them together. The way it was done was a pitch-perfect echo of similar scenes in AOTC and ROTS.

To no one's surprise, Bane leads Obi-Wan and Mace into a trap. Bane gets away, but at least the Jedi manage to retrieve the Holocron as they flee the booby-trapped secret lair. The part where Mace slides under the closing door and retrieves his lightsaber in the nick of time is a nice homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indy's hat = Mace's lightsaber, heh heh. As someone on

capslock_cw pointed out, both Indy and Mace hate snakes ;).

Back on the Resolute, Anakin and Ahsoka examine Bane's captured ship and by noticing ash on the hull and by looking at old gas receipts, they figure out that he may have brought the kidnapped babies to Mustafar. Off they go to the planet that will change Anakin forever, rescuing the babies, and saving the galaxy this week. It's supremely ironic that Anakin saves younglings in an episode with ROTS foreshadowing.

Good Lord did they pack a lot into a little half-hour episode! Lots of planet-hopping, intrigue, and two-fisted Jedi action fill every moment. They do a great job building up the suspense. The chances that two little Jedi babies are going to die on a show for Cartoon Network are pretty slim, but you still wonder. Even the quieter moments, like the aforementioned meeting between Anakin and Palpatine, are excellent. Ahsoka continues to display her master's brashness and bravado. When they get to Naboo, Ahsoka grumbles about having a score to settle with Bane and while Anakin looks a little alarmed for a second, he doesn't say anything. The guy who reviews these shows on TFN thought Anakin should have said something but it's in character IMO that he doesn't say anything. Nobody has more scores to settle than Anakin does and he knows it. And Bane is one ruthless, heartless bastard. He makes Boba Fett look like a teddy bear.

Next week is "Senate Spy," where the Jedi Council pimps out Padmé to spy on a Separatist-leaning senator. After all, she's cute and single, so why not? Oh yeah, there's that secret marriage thing...

Clone Wars Debriefing: "Children of the Force"

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