Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Tipping Points"

And now we reach the conclusion of the Onderon arc, and what a conclusion it was! In my opinion, this is one of the best episodes of the series to date!

The episode started off really nicely, though at the same time brought up one of my minor nitpicks. General Tandin, who was so important in allowing the Rebel cause to still exist in this episode, was barely involved in this episode, and more often than not you could forget he was even in this episode! To add insult to injury for Tandin, he was demoted so that Steela Gerrera could be the new leader of the army. I found it amusing when Lux Bonteri tried to congratulate Steela, but she walked right past him. Lux caught himself so he could summon a creature to fly him and Ahsoka Tano. Having thought otherwise, Steela turns around and kisses Lux, saying, "Just in case". Ahsoka (who Lux previously kissed in a episode in Season 4, "A Friend in Need"), tries not to act jealous and gives Lux a playful punch on the arm, but behind his back Ahsoka is upset.

The battle scenes in this episode were amazing, really well done. Admittedly, I again felt the Droid Army had its ground forces taken out WAY too easily again, but there was so much going on in this episode it was understandable. The main treat here was finally seeing the Droid Gunships on the show, known as HMP Predators in the trivia. It was really cool finally seeing them in action, and they kicked some major butt! It was also cool when the weaponry the Rebels had been using before wouldn't work on the Gunships. Explosions like the one pictured above were superbly animated. I liked a move too where Saw is knocked off his flying beast to the ground, and Tandin picks him up in a move similar to Tarpals helping Jar-Jar Binks up in The Phantom Menace.

This above scene was important in several ways: First of all, we see how Saw's character has changed a lot: He used to be arrogant earlier in the arc, but now even he has come to admit that his sister Steela is the best leader among the Rebels, and Steela says she learnt from the best, referring to Saw, her brother. We also see Lux get frustrated with Ahsoka for what I think is the first time, and that she hasn't been able to do as much as she'd like, as she can only really observe. Thirdly is that in A War on Two Fronts, the first Onderon episode, Steela appears to challenge Ahsoka as she wonders why Lux trusts this Ahsoka, but in this scene Steela shows she now completely trusts Ahsoka. This might also be cause for Ahsoka to feel bad in a later scene...

With the dark tone of this episode, it needed a funny character to shed a bit of light on this episode. That light came in the form of everyone's favourite Weequay Pirate, Hondo Ohnaka. As always, Hondo added a humour side to an episode that would otherwise miss it. He was only in two small scenes, but they were still great to watch. Surprisingly, out of the two I preferred the scene where Anakin Skywalker comes to visit Hondo on Florrum, maybe because most of the other scene (the scene pictured above), was shown in a trailer before the season, though there were some dialogue differences. It amused me when Anakin told Hondo he was the man to go to for shipping weapons, but only illegally. This won't be the last we see of Hondo this season, as he's coming in the next arc as well!

And now the episode really gets to it's major point, which is why the episode is titled "Tipping Points", after all. Saw and the other Rebels start to use the rocket launchers delivered by Hondo illegally to blast the new Droid Gunships, and the Rebels seemed to have got the upper hand again. However, Droids started attacking "The Nest", which was where the Rebels were hiding King Dendup to protect him. The Commando Droids, (finally menacing again for the first time in a while), eliminated many Rebels. There was a brutal moment where one Commando Droid demanded a wounded Rebel tell them where Dendup was. The Rebel refused to tell, and the red lighting created from the blaster bolt was reflected off the Droid as it executed the wounded Rebel. When Steela arrives to destroy a Droid Gunship around "The Nest", Dendup and two guards try to make a run for it. They get trapped at the edge of a cliff, but Steela arrives to shoot the last Commando Droid with both guards dead. The odds are back on the Rebels side and they seem to have won completely, or so they think, as we now hit what may be the most emotional scene so far in the show.

All the ground army Droids are destroyed, but two Gunships still remain. Saw orders for the Rebels to shoot one down, then he insists on taking down the last one himself. Saw scores a direct hit, and raises his arm to celebrate, but an unfortunate twist to occur. With his sister, Steela, and Dendup still on the edge of the cliff, the Gunship crashes against the cliff, and it cracks. Steela pushes Dendup to safety, but can't reach safety herself, and slips closer to a long fall. Her "boyfriend", Lux Bonteri, tries to grab her, and almost falls off the cliff himself, but Ahsoka uses the force to save him. As Ahsoka does the same with Steela, with it's last bit of  energy, the Droid Gunship/HMP Predator, opens fire. It's bolt pierces Ahsoka's shoulder, and Ahsoka falls backwards, and Steela plummets to her death. In my opinion, there is NO way they could have done this death scene any better. The actions, the music, Lux's reaction to her death, the way he drops his gun and all that heavy breathing, Saw shouting, "Steela!", and even Ahsoka stunned by Steela's death. It was gut-wrenching to watch as Saw, Steela's own brother who had downed the gunship that resulted in her death, blamed himself for the loss, leaving him alone. Lux tried to console Saw, saying Steela knew what the risks were.

And now we reach another important moment, how is it going to finish on the villain end of things? Again, the crew didn't disappoint with another amazing scene. King Sanjay Rash again demands reinforcements from Dooku, who asks General Kalani for his input on the situation. Kalani tells Dooku it will take time to crush the Rebels, but Dooku is fed up and doesn't want a "prolonged war", and tells Kalani to take the remaining Droids elsewhere, to the Agamar system. Confused, King Rash prepares to ask what they plan to do with Onderon, but General Kalani executes King Rash by shooting him in the heart like a badass. This signify's an important thing, the Separatists DID NOT lose the Battle of Onderon. So often we see the Separatists lose battles on the show, but this wasn't a defeat, because they chose to focus their efforts and resources elsewhere, rather than continue to do so on Onderon. 

The final scene from this episode, much like the other two final scenes previously, was also critical. We see how Saw and Lux feel about Steela's death, the hand Lux places on Saw's shoulder shows how things have changed between them, as Saw perhaps was a bully towards Lux at the start, but now Lux shares Saw's pain. Anakin & Obi-Wan, back on Onderon for this final scene, remark on how this journey has been a important one for Ahsoka, and agree that Steela will be looked up to as a hero by many people. Ahsoka offers her condolences to Saw about Steela's death, while perhaps also feeling a little bad, maybe blaming herself for dropping Steela when she was shot, but Saw just walks away. Then we come to what I consider a crucial moment in this show: And that is how much Lux Bonteri's character has changed: Back when we first met him in Season 3, he had full support for the Separatists, he had his mother, he had what we presume a good life, but also presumably he was immature, but after what he's being through he has completely changed, and it's been great to watch him change. His mother was executed by Count Dooku's orders, a man who Lux probably looked up to, he tried to join Death Watch to get revenge on Dooku, but Ahsoka helped him realize it was a bad call and escaped. Now, at the end of the Onderon journey, Lux has finally decided the Republic is the right side to be on, and announces Dendup has made him the Senator of Onderon. THIS highlights how much has changed for Lux ever since we first met him two seasons ago, and I really don't care one bit what anyone else says, but to me Lux is one of the most developed characters of the show and has one of the most interesting stories, plus is one of the best original The Clone Wars characters. That is all...

My verdict: A stunning episode, one which I consider to be among the best episodes in the show. They ended the Onderon arc on a high, and the three final scenes were amazing. Rating: 10/10 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "The Soft War"

Next up is "The Soft War", the third episode in the four-part Onderon arc! This is where things really started to get serious!

This episode certainly opened up dramatically! Within minutes we saw Droid Army reinforcements completely massacred and destroyed in a Rebel ambush. It was actually quite hard to watch. Props to the crew because back in the day the Droid Army didn't always look like as huge a army as it did here, but the army was taken out WAY too quickly. Many Battle Droids & Super Battle Droids in mere moments were wiped out, and I swear that MTT vehicle didn't get hit by any grenades, only blaster bolts. Hmmm...

The villains were again great to watch in this episode, with two new ones as well. General Kalani, the Droid, who was briefly introduced by Dooku in the last episode, now appeared in full form, and the voice-acting was terrific for Kalani. The other new villain was General Tandin, leader of the Onderon Army. However, Tandin and thus his army would have a change of heart later in the episode. It was really cool watching the Generals, Kalani and Tandin, arguing with each other about what they should do. Again, King Rash talks to the "true" King, Dendup, and asks him to tell the "terrorists" or Rebels to stand down, he also tried in the last episode. Again, Dendup says he can't, and that it is the will of the people. 

At the Rebel camp, the minor Rebel known as Dono brings shocking news to Ahsoka, Steela, Saw & Lux: King Dendup is sentenced to be executed in public the next day. The Rebels are divided on what to do, and Saw brashly decides to try and free Dendup on his own, against his sister and the leader of the Rebels, Steela's, orders. Saw is captured trying to escape with Dendup. With all eyes on Steela, she refuses to launch another mission to rescue her brother, stating Dendup is the priority. This helps mark Steela out as the true leader for the Rebels, placing no one above each other.

General Kalani tortures Saw to try and get any info out of him regarding the Rebels. However, Saw refuses to give in and doesn't give anything away. Tandin insists on talking to Saw himself, and in the talk we see signs that Tandin is ready to change sides, after Saw makes a well-reasoned argument, stating that Tandin is just a tool under the Separatist rule, and they all will be unless they free Onderon. This causes Tandin's change of sides in the next scene.

Finally we reach the execution scene, where they prepare to execute Dendup (pictured above). To demonstrate how they will execute Dendup, King Rash takes a bite of some fruit (like I mentioned about Rash in the last review, he always leaves it after the first bite), and drops the fruit onto the device. The Magnaguards stab the device, leaving a cut in the fruit. As the Magnaguards ready themselves to execute Dendup, the Rebels make their move. Steela shoots both Magnaguards with clean shots to the head, and Lux Bonteri tosses a couple of smoke grenades. With King Rash and the Droids blinded, the Rebels charge. Lux smacks King Rash on the back of the head, while the other Rebels target the Battle Droids. Soon, Dendup is freed and they prepare to escape, but Dono is shot dead as Super Battle Droids arrive and surround them. The execution is back on again, and Dendup is back in the same position, with Saw Gerrera, Steela Gerrera and Lux Bonteri also to be executed after. Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who has been on Onderon as an observer, now prepares to blow her cover to save them. But she doesn't have to, as General Tandin rushes in with his army to stop the execution. King Rash calls Tandin a traitor, to which Tandin replies, "I was, not anymore." The watching Onderon civilians cheer as Tandin grabs King Rash around the neck to use as a shield. The Rebels, along with Dendup, make their escape. However, the Droids and General Kalani surround Tandin, but Ahsoka this time does blow her cover by force-pushing all the Droids over as if they were skittles in bowling. As they make their escape, the civilians turn on Rash and announce they want him and the Separatists gone, standing in the way of the Super Battle Droids attempting to follow the Rebels. This scene marks how much has changed since the first Onderon episode, and that the civilians now completely back the Rebels.

Back at the camp, they are joined by General Tandin and his army. Tandin announces that Dendup has his full trust, and the Rebels celebrate this victory. While the celebrations go on, Ahsoka & Lux have a brief but interesting moment:
"Ahsoka! I knew you couldn't resist a good fight." -Lux
"Am I becoming that predictable?" -Ahsoka
"Only to me." -Lux

My verdict: This arc just kept getting better! The execution scene was really cool, and while only a minor character (Dono), was killed, we still had our first named character death of the arc. Rating: 9/10

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Front Runners"

Finally getting around to catching up on my The Clone Wars episode reviews, starting with "Front Runners"!

One aspect of this episode I enjoyed was how the Rebels went about doing their business to free Onderon, such as ambushing Battle Droid squads in the streets. In the picture above, Rebel Saw Gerrera saved a civilian from a couple of Battle Droids who wanted to arrest him. The Rebels didn't have a wide variety of weaponry, but they did well in making use of what they did have, such as the Droid poppers used to stun Droids. It was also interesting to watch the reactions of the civilians towards the Rebels, and at first the civilians don't like the Rebels whatsoever, thinking of them as terrorists, unaware that the Rebels just want to free Onderon from the Separatist control. It was interesting to watch as the civilians perspective changes further on in this arc.

Another thing I liked in this episode was the introduction of the main villain in this arc, or main at least as far as keeping the Separatists on Onderon goes. The "puppet" King the Separatists placed in control of Onderon known as Sanjay Rash. Lame the name of the character may be, but the actual character was anything but in my opinion. I really liked the voice-acting for his character, which I thought was really cool. I also find it interesting how much he likes fruit, yet only takes one bite each time, very different. The "true" king who is a good guy was also introduced in this episode, King Dendup. Dendup reminds me a lot of Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter, because both of them are very old but are really wise. The voice-acting for Dendup was also really good.

One of the main things I looked forward to ahead of this episode was the departure of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex from Onderon. This definitely allowed for better story-telling for the character Ahsoka Tano in this arc, and needless to say I was very happy. Let's face it, most of you know that I dislike Anakin & Rex on this show, Anakin especially, so I was glad they left. Yes, they both had a purpose in the previous episode, A War on Two Fronts, and for both characters it was one of their better episodes in a while. However, it was right for them to leave Onderon as they had done what they needed to do already. While Obi-Wan is my favourite Star Wars character, he was pointless in that previous episode so he wasn't needed either. 

I enjoyed the action in this episode. It was a bit repetitive in that the Rebels kept using the same weaponry, but it was still good, plus by the end of the episode it felt like the Rebel cause was actually going somewhere, as they had achieved something. Having captured a AAT vehicle, they successfully blew up the city's power generator, which greatly damaged the Battle Droids in the city.

 The final two scenes played a important part in setting up for the rest of the arc. First of all, as the Rebels celebrated their small accomplishment, they knew they needed a leader from among them to rally behind. Whilst Saw Gerrera, a arrogant character who thought of himself as the best leader, was completely sure he would be voted leader, the majority of the Rebels voted on his sister, Steela Gerrera, as the best leader, with Captain Rex even commenting, "Steela is a born leader". Whilst Saw tries to be happy for her, it is clear to all how annoyed he is, especially when he walks out. What confused me there was Steela's "bombshell" to Ahsoka that Saw was her brother, as I thought Ahsoka would know or it would appear obvious, which it really did, one of my more major complaints with the episode. Even cooler was on the villain side of things, with King Rash pleading for reinforcements, Dooku decides to send his best, and introduces to us the first Super Tactical Droid on the show, known as General Kalani, who you will hear more about from me in other reviews. Dooku remarks, "he will succeed where you have failed," to King Rash.

My verdict: A fairly good episode. Not amazing, but it served as a good set-up for the final two episodes, with the Rebels getting somewhere, Steela becoming the Rebel leader and the introduction of General Kalani. Rating: 8.5/10