Clone Wars Debriefing: "A Necessary Bond"

[lazypadawan]

The finale of the Young Jedi arc begins with a terrific action sequence every bit as good as any you’ll find in the actual films. Ahsoka and the younglings who rescued her are on the run and the remaining Jedi novices on the ship attempt to rescue them. It doesn’t go very well, otherwise there would be nothing to do the remaining 15-20 minutes of the show. Meanwhile, General Grievous and friends take over the planet from Hondo’s pirate gang. Hondo and his gang realize quickly that Separatists will screw you over eventually, forcing them to rebuild an alliance with the Jedi.

The real point of this episode is to show that Hondo, in spite of his rather douche-y behavior of the past couple of weeks, has a heart. He’s trying to boost confidence in the young Jedi by asking them to turn on their new lightsabers and a minute later, he’s privately expressing to Ahsoka his reservations about having children fight. He takes to one of the kids, Katooni, and helps her overcome her doubts while she inspires him to do the right thing.

At the end of the episode, he seems to be the same old pirate, trying to extort money out of Obi-Wan and getting indignant when he’s met with skepticism. But then he nods at Katooni, an expression of friendship.

Ahsoka also gets to display her leadership and diplomatic skills, not to mention her capacity to forgive when it’s necessary. She is the one who convinces the pirates their chances are better as her allies rather than on their own. Without even thinking about it, she takes on Grievous to help her young charges escape.

Professor Huyang is back and he becomes a surrogate Threepio with Artoo, giving the episode an additional Star Wars movie feel. And looky here, it’s the Slave I, which we haven’t seen since the end of Season Three.

The end of the episode finds the Jedi Kids ready to take on the galaxy. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them again, whether it’s in a future episode or on their own show.

Comments

[darth-pipes.livejournal.com]

That was a terrific episode in every day. Who would have guessed that Hondo would be the star of this season so far? He had a couple of great lines, my favorite when listing what he had lost to Obi-Wan and throwing in his men left. "Some of them died, I think." Just the flippant way he says it was hysterical. Seriously...can the new sequel trilogy contain one character like Hondo?

The action was fantastic and I liked the end with the younglings a lot. Also, when you mention Yoda as a padawan, let the Professor finish the story, Obi-Wan!

[krpalmer.livejournal.com]

I'd figured there would be just one episode featuring Grievous this season, so I was sort of surprised to see him show up with the invading battle droids. I did have sort of the same feeling when Hondo first showed up in this "plot arc," though, that he'd somehow been brought in to extend the story... he did seem to extend it in a good way, though. During the final confrontation, I went from wondering if Ahsoka and all the young Jedi would swarm him and make an effortless getaway to becoming actually concerned this would somehow be it for Ahsoka with her having helped out a younger generation yet... It does seem to me that Grievous's last few appearances have been trying to build him back up as a threatening villain, even if that means missing out on a chance to show Ahsoka has "grown in the Force."

For some reason, the little glance exchanged between Hondo and Katooni at the end of the episode had me imagining she could fall in with his pirate band later and escape Order 66 that way. It was almost surprising to think that, given I was a little suspicious immediately after Revenge of the Sith the Expanded Universe authors had grabbed at every chance they got to have their favourite Jedi survive...

Anyway, this "plot arc" did win me over, and I suppose that impressed me not because of any stereotypical objection to "kid heroes" but just because I have a certain reluctance to put too much mystical weight on "building lightsabres..."

[sreya.livejournal.com]

I had the exact same thought about Hondo and Katooni! Though it would have to be quite a while after Order 66, I can't see Hondo taking the chance of harboring a Jedi while the heat is still on, even if he DOES seem to like her well enough. Wouldn't be good business. *wink*