Picking up from the events of the last episode, “Voyage of Temptation” follows Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker escorting the Mandalorian Duchess Satine to Coruscant to plead her case about remaining neutral during the war.

Things get complicated when it is learned that the Death Watch have subverted a Senator aboard the ship and have helped him smuggle assassin droids to kill the Jedi and the Duchess.

While that is the major plot developing in this episode, an interesting sub-plot involves Obi-Wan’s past involvement with Satine.  It turns out that he and Qui-Gon had been tasked with protecting her while he was still a padawan.  They kindled a romance that went nowhere, but Obi-Wan claims that he would have left the Jedi Order had she asked him to.

That whole subplot shades the conversation that Obi-Wan and Anakin had in Attack of the Clones in an incredibly interesting way. (”Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin, they betray you.  You’ve made a commitment to the Jedi Order, a commitment not easily broken.”, etc.) I’d always wondered why Obi-Wan hadn’t dealt with those feelings a little more sternly, but it seems as though, from past experience, that he knew it was something that Jedi struggle with.

In fact, that’s one thing I loved about the prequels that a lot of people had a hard time with, and that was Anakin’s struggle with his feelings for Padme.  ”He’s just a big whiny baby,” people would say, but it’s a hard thing for a celibate monk to go through puberty and not have feelings for the opposite sex.  How else was he supposed to act?  Think back to how awkward you were when you were first trying to date, and then add to that the fact that you’d been placed in what was essentially an asexual environment and in a religion that forbids romantic contact with the opposite sex.  It would have probably  been too much for me to deal with. In any case, it’s was incredibly compelling drama and it was refreshing to see hints of that reinforced with Obi-Wan’s past experience.

There was nothing to complain about as far as the action sequences in the episode were concerned, Anakin and the Clones fighting the droids in the cargo hold and Obi-Wan and Satine holding them off in the dining area were very fun to watch.  Perhaps the coolest part of the episode, action-wise anyway, was when the Death Watch sent in reinforcements and had a cadre of Super Battle Droids smash into the side of the ship and are unleashed, wreaking havoc for the Jedi.  Why there weren’t Mandalorian Commando’s pouring out, I don’t know.

I my guess?

They’re saving that for the finale of the arc.  Which looks pretty cool.

Again, at the end of the day though, there felt like something was missing from this episode.  It was well written and well animated, the concept was fun…  But there was something off about it.  And the more I think about it, it feels like it might have been the pacing again.

And another question I have here: Does this take place before Ahsoka is Anakin’s padawan?  Where the hell is she?  I don’t mind being skipped around on the timeline, I’d just like to know where we stand.  Is there any chance that they’ll come up with a list of the episodes if we wanted to watch them all in chronological order?  I think that would be incredibly helpful.

Next week’s episode looks like it might be the coup de grace for the Mandalore Plot and I’m looking forward to it more than I could imagine.

Let’s see if it blows my hair back more than these last two entries have.

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For other Clone Wars news and reviews of previous episodes, click this link.