Well, things are certainly moving at a breakneck pace on The Clone Wars these days. After consolidating the forces of the underworld in the last episode, Maul elaborates on a plan to infiltrate Mandalore and install Death Watch as the heroes of the day.
With Duchess Satine imprisoned as bait for Kenobi and an army at his disposal, Maul is pleased. But slightly surprised, it seems, at how quickly Pre Vizsla betrayed him and took the power on his own.
This is an episode I’d have loved to have seen exploded into its own four part arc. I would have loved to have seen the infiltration of Mandalore and how it affected Mandalorians, then another episode of Vizsla saving the day, then an episode of the betrayal. It was good, a fantastic episode, but so much happened in such a compressed amount of time I wish they would have taken a bit of time. Maul has hatched a ham-fisted version of a Sidious style plan in the space of about four minutes and I would have loved to have seen it play out over the course of more episodes. It’s almost too bad they don’t play the episodes more chronologically and they could have had this playing out in the background over half a dozen episodes.
But that’s not how it’s done here on The Clone Wars, and that’s fine, too.
This episode had a lot of cool things going on. And one of my favorite laugh-out-loud moments of the show. For some reason, it’s hilarious to me that Satine is almost a paranoid crazy-person when it comes to Death Watch. If anything even remotely bad happens, she breathlessly asks, “Was it Death Watch?!”
With the exclamation point and everything.
She jumps at shadows and isn’t the most reasonable person. It’s a character trait that I find hilarious.
The action on this episode had plenty of moments that left my mouth agape. Maul and Vizsla’s fight was incredible, though I got the idea that Maul was holding back to make the fight seem fair to those watching.
I loved watching Maul and Savage breaking out of the prison and for once unleashing the full power of their force. And I love watching how Maul has learned his lessons over the years from training under, then studying, Sidious.
I also loved seeing the shifting landscape of alliances. With Death Watch switching sides repeatedly, and Maul marshalling the forces of the underworld and the neutral systems under Mandalore’s alliance, Maul has made it impossible for the Republic and Separatists to ignore him. Things are going insane.
And, if you’ll permit me discussion of a spoiler here, why did Pre Vizsla have to die? He was such a cool character, and complex if not single-minded. Though, if it allows Bo Katan to take the spotlight, it was a necessary sacrifice. Favreau did an excellent job voicing him and I’m sad to see his association with Star Wars drawing to an end, at least for now.
And once more, the animation and lighting on the show takes a leap ahead. The lighting effects around the lightsabers are always fantastic, but when you combine that with the beautiful lighting set up in the Mandalorian throne room, you’re given a recipe for stunning visuals.
Overall, I think this episode was fantastic, but moved too quickly, cramming too many events that deserve more attention into a half hour time slot.
For upcoming exclusive interviews with the cast of The Clone Wars, be sure to listen to the Full of Sith podcast.