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| Saturday, December 13, 2008 05:31 PM |
| On the Viewer - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Episode 9, "Cloak of Darkness") |
 by Fëanor |
The previous episode ended with Nute Gunray captured by the Republic; in this episode, Jedi Master Luminara Unduli and Ahsoka have been given the task of escorting Gunray back to Coruscant to face trial for his crimes. They get him on board a Republic Star Destroyer and hand him over to the guy in charge there, a Captain Argyus (whom I mistrusted immediately, mostly due to his slick hairstyle - and as it turns out, I was right to feel that way). The Star Destroyer is quickly boarded by Separatist droids, and Asajj Ventress, who has been ordered to either get Gunray back, or kill him before he breaks under Jedi interrogation and gives up important Separatist secrets. And indeed the Jedi interrogation is pretty hardcore, with Luminara talking at Gunray the way Vader did when he was trying to turn Luke to the Dark Side in Return of the Jedi. Ahsoka gets impatient with Luminara's methods, however, and threatens Gunray with death if he won't talk. Luminara scolds her for using terror as a weapon (clearly Ahsoka's learning Dark Side methods well from Anakin!), but the threat is pretty effective (even if, as Ahsoka explains to Luminara, she'd never really kill him). Gunray says he's ready to deal... until the boarding begins. Sensing a rescuer may be on the way, he clams up again. Luminara orders Ahsoka to remain with the prisoner, and goes off with a squad of clone troopers to repel the boarders. Ahsoka is pretty unhappy about being left behind, and I thought it was a bad move, too, as obviously two Jedi (even if one is still a padawan) would be more effective than one. But as it turns out, Ahsoka was needed at the prison cell, as Ventress soon arrives there and attacks. Ahsoka shows the Jedi's usual lack of concern for clones and stupidly orders the soldiers to shoot Ventress, which just gets most of the soldiers killed, because, as Ahsoka should know very well by now, you can't hurt an armed Jedi by shooting at her! Unless you shoot her in the back, of course. But even that is hard.
Anyways, Ventress gets the better of Ahsoka, grabbing Gunray and shoving the padawan into his cell. But Luminara shows up and turns the tables yet again, chasing Ventress off and getting Gunray back. Then Luminara heads out to track Ventress down, leaving Ahsoka to guard Gunray once again. Ahsoka feels she should disobey Luminara's order and go help her, and Argyus says sometimes following your instincts, even if it means disobeying an order, is the right thing to do. A nearby clone officer says no, you should always obey orders. Since everybody's dispensing advice, even Gunray gets in on the act, and tells Ahsoka he would never do anything that would risk his own neck. It's a funny moment.
Anyway, as you might expect from somebody trained by Anakin, Ahsoka decides to disobey orders and runs after Luminara. Which actually turns out to be good news for the Jedi Master, as she's about to be cut down by Ventress when Ahsoka intercedes. There follows some fun Jedi fighting, but a betrayal ultimately leads to both Ventress and Gunray escaping (which of course we already knew would happen, given what we know of events in the later Clone Wars continuity, and in Episode III).
The betrayal, when reported to Yoda, disturbs him, as it's further proof that the Jedi are surrounded by enemies (he's more right than he knows!). Luckily, Ventress and Gunray fled in a Republic ship, which means they can be tracked. Jedi Kit Fisto is put on the job, and no doubt he'll be the star of the next episode. Cool!
I'm really getting to love this show. This episode was again loaded with thrilling action, cool robots and vehicles, an exciting and interesting plot, intriguing characters, and fun dialogue. It was particularly interesting seeing the inside of a Republic Star Destroyer, which already very much resembles the Imperial Star Destroyer of the future, and seeing the new Senate Commandos, who look sort of like the Senate Guards from the prequels, but more bad-ass. These things are a visual representation of the corruption of the Republic into the Empire, which is disturbing and cool. |
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