Apparently the subtitle of this season was “Secrets Revealed.” I suppose that makes as much sense as anything.
Season three of The Clone Wars really didn’t pull its punches. Lots of episode arcs this time around, where three or four tied together to complete a single story. There was a lot more death in this season, and a pretty intense look into the political difficulties that lead to the fall of the Republic.
With that in mind, let’s get down to it.
Warning as per usual: This is a liveblog with lots of hyperbole and cursing sprinkled throughout, as it is a conveyance of my real-time reaction to things. If that’s not your jam, this might not be the liveblog you are looking for. (See what I did there?)
Also, you can catch up on my earlier liveblogging sessions covering season one and season two.
Clone Cadets:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars—Season Three. I have eaten tacos and will continue this mighty journey, fortified.
Oo, we get to see clone training? I have always wanted this.
Whooooaa, 99, the janitor clone? That hurts.
Okay, the domino squad is adorable. Despite being incompetent.
Shaak Ti is on a Yoda level of inscrutability.
WHY MUST THEY SLEEP IN TUBES?
99 is going to make me cry.
Jerk bounty hunter not getting smacked for being such an ass. Shaak Ti let him off easy.
Someone please, go to Kamino and pick up 99 and take him somewhere he can be safe and feel special, PLEASE I CAN’T DEAL WITH THIS.
ARC Troopers:
Aw shit, here come the 501st, you got them mad….
Omg, I forgot, these timelines are so wonky, so in the next episode it’s been a long time [since “Clone Cadets”] and 99 finds out that Hevy is dead, wait, Show, you stop that, you cannot do that to me, you are a cartoon show. Show, you are very mean.
I feel like Obi-Wan says “Something’s not right” every episode.
Aaand Obi-Wan’s making friends with sea creatures. His thing with giant animals.
Wow, they’re just killing clones and clone babies left and right.
Oh no, Asajj, no kissing people you kill, that is one giant barrel of Not Okay. And Grievous, you need to back off, she is way crazier than you.
You guys better take care of my 99, or imma be so mad.
Ouch, Grievous just grabbed Obi-Wan BY THE FACE.
You know, this episode is practically all action sequences, and it’s all so well-conceived and clear and exciting.
DAMMIT I KNEW YOU WERE GONNA KILL HIM, I KNEW IT, SHOW, WE ARE HAVING STRONG WORDS, DO YOU HEAR ME? SIT IN THE CORNER AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE.
Supply Lines:
Evil Guys, you really need to stop sieging Ryloth. I think the Twi’leks have had enough.
Obi-Wan is like, “Bail, Bail, no you don’t understand. All we had was a Jar Jar. You have to go.”
It’s actually kind of awful; I mean, no other Gungan with better diplomacy skills wanted the Senate job? No one wants to let Jar Jar do anything because they shouldn’t, but the Gungans deserve a decent representative.
I’m actually really curious as to how this non-chronological set up worked for people. It’s super confusing to realize that this episode technically takes place before the very first [episode of the show]. The voiceovers at the start of each ep don’t make that clear.
Wait, so the plan is that everyone knows Jar Jar is whacko, so whatever distraction he enacts, no one would ever suspect him? I mean… sure.
Holy shit. So the Twi’leks got their aid, but not in time to save that Jedi and his clone troops. Freaking dark.
Sphere of Influence:
It’s the George Lucas alien?!!?
The Senate is kind of like British Parliament—they have no problem talking smack.
George Lucas’ alien family is super important in this episode…
“This is a job for the local police.” Really, Anakin? Really.
“I still can’t believe they let you teach.” No one can, Padmé. No one can.
GREEDO?!! George Lucas is ONTO YOU.
BABY HUTT.
“They literally call (the Separatists) the fucking Confederacy.” —Kelsey
Haha, precision for Jedi Mind Tricks. That was excellent.
I love that they actually show Jabba as a single parent, since Hutts are supposed to be asexual [as in, asexually reproduce].
Awesome political move by lady senator. Stick it to the Trade Federation.
Corruption:
Uh-oh. Satine is back. Time for things to get complicated. Emotionally.
Mandalore parade for Padmé!
Kelsey, on seeing the crates of contraband brought to Mandalore: MOUNTAIN DEW, BABY. AW YEAH.
Costume changes in this episode are so pretty.
Someone please explain how the Trade Federation is allowed to make trade SO DIFFICULT.
Stealthy ladies… saving childrens….
“Impressive shooting… for a senator.” Dude, do you know who you’re talking to? Have you MET Padmé Amidala.
“Can you send me a Jedi now that we’ve bonded?” “Sure, I can send your boyfriend over as soon as he’s got a moment.”
The Academy:
Obi-Wan ruined it so hard, offworlders can’t carry weapons on Mandalore. No one is surprised.
Ahsoka, you had ONE JOB. …apparently that boiled down to making the Mandalorian students into spies.
These kids are idiots.
Thank goodness Auntie Ahsoka is there to make it all better.
Weirdest holding cell ever.
We’re breaking out the shock collars? Are you kidding?
Anakin’s all, I’m fine. There’s just some… Padawan pride. In my eye.
Assassin:
Totally misread the title card of this one to say: The future has many paths—choose whiskey.
Creepy Aurra Sing prophetic dream. Ick.
Yes, Yoda. We know how big you are on future visions.
Ahsoka’s all, Padmé you’re in danger. Captain Typho’s like, Fuck again?
Okay, I know they are basically warrior monks, but the Jedi never have ANY luggage. They have no pajamas.
Aw, Padmé’s like my husband is your daddy—can I be your mama, Ahsoka?
PRINCESS LEIA THEME
I want “friend of the Jedi” to be a euphemism for “sleeping with the Jedi.”
No one here notices that Padmé is being played by a robot?
Blanche du Bois the Hutt got played by the old Prisoner’s Dilemma ploy.
Evil Plans:
3PO planning a diplomatic party. Be still my heart. It must make him SO HAPPY.
I need every episode of this show to be R2 and 3PO reverse-haggling Coruscant fruit vendors.
R2 wants a spa treatment and HE GOT 3PO KIDNAPPED, R2 THIS IS NOT YOUR BEST DAY.
He has literally been taken in by sexy robot ladies while his 3PO gets zapped and drilled by Cad Bane.
That 4-LOM lookalike shouting “murderer!” seriously freaked me out.
And R2 gave himself up to save his 3PO. Imma cry.
Anakin’s all, sorry, my bad, I probably should have just gotten the fruit myself. Yeah, bad husband.
HUTT CONSPIRACY. LET’S DO THIS.
I feel like Anakin is meaner to 3PO because he’s aware that he’s responsible for all of his weirdness.
Hunt for Ziro:
Blanche du Bois the Hutt is my favorite. Forever.
Crap, when Obi-Wan is calling another Jedi “crazy” with no qualifiers, you know you’re in trouble.
BURN OUT JEDI. THIS IS BEAUTIFUL.
This showgirl routine with the Hutt headdresses is amazing. Is that early days Sy Snoodles?
Wait, what is this couple?!!!!?1? How is this real? What is going on? I must be high right now.
Man, the fact that the Hutts are allies of the Republic and Jedi is messed. up.
Oh wow, Ziro’s mom. He’s borrowing the car from his mom, his mom is like Ursula the seawitch and the singing alligator from All Dogs Go to Heaven combined, I cannot.
Okay, or they don’t reproduce asexually? Because they are looking at his dead mummified dad, Hutts are mummified whaaaaaaa?
But! But no! No, WHY DID YOU KILL BLANCHE DU BOIS THE HUTT, YOU HEARTLESS—
Obi-Wan’s all, what? Two lightsabers. Not even trying.
“I never did enjoy hanging out with you.” Good pun, Obi-Wan. Good pun.
Heroes on Both Sides:
Watching while eating pizza—messiest option!
“The quagmire of war.” Oh yes.
Omg really? Deregulating banks and new lines of credit to prevent the war from bankrupting the Republic. DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE?
Anakin’s like, Don’t try to make me stop war, Padmé. I like war.
Ahsoka: Wow, you and Anakin are kind of alike, no wonder you get along! Padmé: WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING WE ARE SUCH GREAT FRIENDS YEAH.
Yay, it’s a “let’s humanize the Separatists” episode!
Ahsoka is not cool with you checking her out. Do not be cute with Ahsoka.
Aaahahaha, “you’re a corporation, not a people.” Nice try Separatists. Keep plugging away at that one.
Oh Padmé. You and your Separatist friend tried.
Padmé’s like, I lost this one bigtime, but your Padawan doesn’t believe the war is all GoodVSEvil anymore, so I win this round with our closest-thing-we-have-to-an-offspring, Anakin.
Pursuit of Peace:
These Senate platforms should function like bumper cars, so they can bash each other when they disagree.
Bail Organa knows a cover-up when he sees one. And the Rodian senator tried for the cutest joke. Aw. <3
25% interest from the Banking Clan, ugh, this is so familiar and so terrible. And they beat up poor Ono.
Jerk Quarren senator.
Go Padmé! Steal that speeder! (Though how Count Dooku was going to explain that he had Anakin’s wife killed to Palpatine would have been hilarious.)
Bail, knows not to go into covered parking lots alone.
They were all, we need a dude to give this speech. Then Padmé’s aid was all, no Padmé, you got this. And she did. SO GOOD.
Nightsisters:
So saying “There is a disturbance in the Force,” is really just Palpatine’s way of saying, “I got some bad news.”
Of course Asajj likes Obi-Wan best, Anakin. He flirted with her.
You know, Ventress is constantly facing down two Jedi at once and hasn’t been killed yet. I feel like people should start being a little more afraid.
I heard the word DATHOMIR. Oh very YES.
WHUT ASAJJ IS A NIGHTSISTER YES THIS IS SO GOOD MAKES ALL THE SENSE, GOOD JOB SHOW.
They have the Water of Life? That’s just adorable.
Hm, this background is very confusing. She was given away to “protect the clan”? What, into slavery? Huh? To a guy? That’s not how Dathomir was supposed to work. And was she trained by an independent Jedi? Because it doesn’t seem like he was part of the Jedi Temple crowd.
That fight against Dooku did basically nothing. I’m guessing this is before the Dathomir quarantine too? That works.
Monster:
Nightsisters are super not interested in your crusade, Dooku.
…Darth Maul was from Dathomir? No. Not a fan of that. Especially since the men of Dathomir were not supposed to be Force sensitive. Also it’s too convenient. Also, boo.
At least Asajj is running the show here. Taking out all the potentials.
No test with rancors? Dathomir is supposed to have rancors. Missed opportunity.
So they just ’roided that guy up. How is this going to help them?
Ugh, and now he’s gotta kill his brother/bestie/bf? Dark.
So I’m guessing that the point is that the Nightsisters are actually giving Force to these guys? Interesting? Of course, that means that Darth Maul needs explaining on that front.
I cannot get over that his name is Savage.
Witches of the Mist:
Obi-Wan just straight up called Savage an animal—is that fair?
Wow, Yoda, Mace, giving Obi-Wan flashbacks like that without starting that recording saying THIS IS NOT DARTH MAUL is sort of rude.
Oooookay, they explained Maul coming from Dathomir to my satisfaction. Way more sense. Better.
When Dooku trains his new apprentice by giving Yoda’s most famous lessons and you’re like *wince*
Nightsisters, playing the loooooong gaaaaaaame. *rocks out*
Just crushed the king of Toydaria’s trachea with the Force like it was something crumply.
ALL THE RED LIGHTSABERS.
Obi-Wan: We’ll take him together. Anakin: Right. (Translation: Not like the last time when I got my arm cut off, heh.)
Oh, I am not liking where this is gonna go for Savage.
WHUT. NO, DARTH MAUL. NO. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS NIGHTSISTERS. WHY.
Overlords:
Red Doom Ship. (Probably from the Negative Zone?)
Obi-Wan immediately into weird alien lady. Obi-Wan, she’s not talking to you.
Her green hair is GIGANTIC.
AND THEN HE TURNED INTO A BAT?!??
Okay, so are they the personifications of each side of the Force? Can we really go there? That seems crazy.
OH MY GOD QUI-GON IS HERE. HE IS HERE. HE IS TALKING TO OBI-WAN.
I don’t think I’m okay. I was not OH GOD SHMI. STOP IT. NOT OKAY.
I mean, I think we’d all like to be able to grab a lightsaber by the blade.
Space yin yang!
So they’re giving Anakin the Spider-Man test? Great job guys.
So he was supposed to stay and look after that guy’s kids? Who are maybe personifications of the Force and/or real living beings? How was this not a part of the prophecy the Jedi had? How does this metaphor really help us out? Does that mean Anakin is not the Chosen One by refusing the guy? I HAVE LOTS OF QUESTIONS, THIS EPISODE IS USELESS.
Altar of Mortis:
Interesting. Evil Dark Side son wants to destroy both Jedi and Sith… which is exactly what happens, of course.
Guess we better go to the green eye of Sauron.
Thank goodness we’ve got some cheat codes to the evil brother.
Puts it in a really different perspective to know that Anakin has had his own Padawan fight him before turning around to fight his master.
Okay, so they killed the Light Side.
Does that mean that this is why Anakin’s turn is inevitable? Also, why didn’t they just TURN AROUND AND KNIFE THE GUY.
Also, really thought it was interesting how the dialogue in this episode vaguely echoes some of the most famous lines Vader gives.
Ghosts of Mortis:
Mechanic Ahsoka is my favorite.
Old Man, none of your decisions involving your kids make any sense. At all. You change your mind all the time.
YAY Qui-Gon is back.
the fact that Anakin thinks nothing of still calling Qui-Gon ’master’ kind of tells you everything you need to know in regard to Obi-Wan being his teacher.
Got some lava-shadowing going on.
Serious burden of dream knowledge. This seems like a problem.
Figured that knowledge was going to be erased. But it does basically make that whole ’what Anakin does *is* bringing balance to the Force,’ I’d say.
Man, and there’s some myth reversal going on there with father’s knowing their son’s are good and stuff.
So yeah, that totally confirms it. “You brought balance to this world.” By killing everybody. “You’ll do it again.” By killing everybody.
That. was so. MESSED UP.
The Citadel:
I wish this Nexus route was the Nexus from Star Trek Generations.
R2 HAS HIS OWN SQUAD OF BATTLEDROIDS.
“Don’t you go thumbing your gears at me.” 3PO’s droid swears are the best.
They are being carbon frozen, what is going on. Whaaaaaaaat. You guys, you can’t do that, is not safe.
So that’s why Vader thought to use it. I kind of love that.
The Citadel is such a lovely place.
Obi-Wan has no sympathy for Anakin’s Padawan never listening to him. He’s just figures it’s about time Anakin share in his pain.
Then Ahsoka went in through the ventilation shaft and Kelsey and I both shuddered as our claustrophobia alarms went off.
Is that EV-9D9? Because that would make so much sense.
See? Somebody magnetized Anakin. Was wondering how long it was gonna take for someone to figure that out.
Is that TARKIN?
The Citadel warden is terrifying. I hope he dies soon.
Counterattack:
Fortune cookie tag for this episode is “Anything that can go wrong will.” Thanks. Yeah, I needed that.
That clone just got cut IN HALF by a security door and they did not shield us from that at aaaalllll.
“How can you admire such a horrible place?” Because he’s an oily little weasel, Ahsoka. Do not make friends.
This is actually so interesting, because this whole arc is mirroring rescuing Leia from the Death Star in so many ways, but this time they’re rescuing a Jedi and Tarkin.
These are not good episodes for the clone troopers. Yikes.
Ew, no Anakin. No agreeing with Tarkin.
Aw, Echo. I’m sorry Echo.
Citadel Rescue:
Watching Anakin give Tarkin a piggyback ride is so surreal.
Aw, R2’s troops are dead. They had a good run.
We’ve been saving these alien bloodhounds for… a rainy day? Guys, if you break them out ahead of time… ugh, nevermind.
Obi-Wan’s is having none of Anakin’s latest infatuation.
Obi-Wan just Chuck Norris’d that alien bloodhound.
Ahsoka, now is not the time to stop taking responsibility.
“You have to get to this island for the rendezvous.” By which we mean you have to get to this random landmass in the middle of a lake of lava to get rescued.
Like THEY ARE IN THE KILLBOX, RHODEY SAID THIS IS WHERE YOU GO TO DIE IN IRON MAN 2, WHY ARE WE HERE.
Me: I want to hug Plo Koon. He seems cuddly. Kelsey: Yeah, I bet he’s really fucking cuddly.
This rescue is actually pretty boss.
Soundtrack for that episode was all over the place. There was a Lord of the Rings bit, and a Xena bit….
Padawan Lost:
Well, crap. Ahsoka’s bagged.
Liking the peek into Trandoshan culture. Works real well.
They’re like Lost Boys, but they’re Jedi younglings. Only they don’t get to have any fun.
Suddenly Bossk and daddy Cradossk don’t seem so bad.
Oof. That was a nasty bait and switch. It was all victory over killing Jr. and then Jedi-Rufio gets it. Booooooo.
Plo Koon’s like Anakin, what I’m trying to say YOU’RE NOT ALL THAT, AHSOKA CAN DEAL.
Wookiee Hunt:
Can I have one of those yellow monkey-bats?
OH MY GOD YOU FOUND CHEWIE.
The Wookiee Way!
Chewie is clearly the only reason Han had a working ship. Dude can MacGuyver luck out of his own singed fur and some mud.
Wookiee rescue! With the merc lady! Best of teamups!
Chewie boost!
Animated Chewie is awesome ’cause he can be so much more mobile than usual. Not to mention expressive.
Anakin’s still panicking over Ahsoka getting kidnapped, while Plo Koon’s waving from the corner all, “Yeah, not surprised to see you.”
Smiley Yoda is the best way to end a season, methinks.
Season 4—why do I have the feeling it is going to be sadder?
Emmet Asher-Perrin will be in the corner drinking space whiskey in memory of 99. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
I love these reviews so much seriously, it’s like you were in my brain.
Season 4 is basically “Were the Clone Wars not enough like the Vietnam War for you? We can fix that.”
What Colin R said.
Also, I just started S5 and have been watching mostly by myself, so it’s kinda nice to see somebody else having the same reactions I had watching a week or two ago.
The Nightsister arc didn’t really bother me, since Dathomir is a whole planet, and (as much as SF writers tend to forget this) planets are really, really big and diverse. I figure there just happens to be a Zabrak colony on that particular part of Dathomir.
And the Mortis arc was apparently written by Lucas himself, which explains why it’s so. . . tonally different from the rest of the series.
Hilarious, brilliant, and makes me remember my own reactions so much. Blanche du Bois the Hutt ROFL
I just started watching The Clone Wars recently and your reviews are fantastic. Basically exactly what goes through my head. I’m so impressed that this series has managed to make me care about Anakin (and not just care about him because Luke cares).
I had the exact same reaction to Padmé’s “I don’t know why they let you teach.” NO ONE KNOWS WHY THEY LET HIM TEACH
Anyways, thanks for the great reviews!
The Citadel = Christopher Walken Warden
(Sorry, this is long. I have lots of thoughts and nobody else to really talk about Clone Wars with!)
Finally got around to season 3 :) So far, I’d say this is the best season, and the first half or so I REALLY
enjoyed – I definitely look forward to reading the commentary on these posts though – sometimes I was thinking very similar things or making similar jokes with my husband.
Yes, the timeline jumping is INCREDIBLY confusing to me – especially becuase they never even seem to indicate in any way when they are doing it; it would be nice if they would at least put a ‘stardate’ or something on the episodes. As it is I have to have a wiki open when we watch the show so I know where in time each episode takes place. But if I hadn’t heard/read somewhere that this was a thing, I’d probably just be really confused and trying to figure out why characters I thought were dead weren’t (doesn’t help that I am watching the seasons at such a slow rate).
I like her character a lot more in this season and can tell where her conscience is developing and will ultimately lead her, but I think Ahsoka still gets away with way too much at times. I love the new look too – love the new costumes, and do we ever figure out where Anakin gets his scar?
I think my favorite arc was the first one – I really enjoyed the political arcs (especially anything with Satine), seeing Padme get more to do (I like the Ahsoka/Padme team up) and it was definitely kind of chilling watching some of it considering current politics. I often do kind of wonder what the average person’s view of all these events would be. Is there even a right sight? Or is Palpatine’s ultimate victory the fact that he engineered a situation with NO right side. The Jedi in some ways have morally damaged themselves by playing along (the use of the clone army, for one thing). (Also, I can’t believe the show actually did a ‘make gaze’ on Ahsoka, but her glare kind of made it worth it, lol)
The Ziro arc was um…interesting. I guess that is not a backstory I ever envisioned for Sy Snootles, ha. “I must be high right now”. HA. Quinlan Vos was so great though. I want more of the Obi-Wan/Quinlan teamup. I swear at one point he said something that was basically ‘the Dude’ but now I can’t remember, but I love it.
Nightsisters/Savage arc – I love that they brought back Dathomir and the Nightsisters and the ‘Sith Witch’ art concept. Kind of wish we’d seen rancors, but oh well. I like hearing more about Ventress and from what I’ve heard, she was supposed to have a little more development in the future seasons that ultimately got axed (got turned into a book)…so far it seems her life has just been about people using her and I kind of want her to just go off and do her thing. The whole ‘Darth Maul’ thing I thought was lame when I first heard about it and I still think it’s kind of lame. I mean, fine, I guess he can have a long lost brother somewhere (although so far he didn’t get to do much here but get brainwashed) but I just don’t see the appeal in bringing back an almost obviously dead character. Because if getting bisected and falling down a near bottomless shaft can’t be a ‘trustworthy’ death…it just feels lazy to me. It feels like trying to have your cake and eat it too – having a cool character with a cool/dramatic death, but then still getting to bring him back when you want to. Yes, we get it, Darth Maul was super cool but eh…
The Mortis arc – I have way more to say on this below, but this was not at all to my taste. I’d prefer to pretend this just never happened and is not part of the canon. “THIS EPISODE IS USELESS.” – basically how I feel about all 3 of thes episodes.
Also, and this:
“So yeah, that totally confirms it. “You brought balance to this world.” By killing everybody. “You’ll do it again.” By killing everybody. That. was so. MESSED UP.” This is just not a…workable philosophy.
Citadel arc – okay, now we’re talking :) (Although this is one of those examples where I think Ahsoka just gets away with stuff she should not). I love how the second he shows up everybody is all IT’S YOUNG TARKIN without him having to say anything because Peter Cushing had such a distinctive face shape and it’s so easy to evoke. I looooved the little foreshadowings of Anakin and Tarkin somewhat agreeing but also being super bitchy with each other which definitely reminds me of their rivalry in the movies. And I also prefer this type of foreshadowing to Anakin’s fall than the ridiculusly heavy handed FORCE CHILDREN thing from the previous few episodes.
Padawan Lost arc (well, just two episodes) – pretty good as far as episodes go although perhaps not what I’d expect for a season finale. Once again we have Ahsoka coming down and being the savior, but in this case it feels more earned since she IS better than they are given her training and experience. Is this where Yoda and Chewbacca meet? I liked the scene with Anakin and Ahsoka’s reuniting – I think he’s a lot more attached to her than he realizes and it’s another nice look at his personality and that tendency in him. It definitely is going to make their ultimate fates more sad.
—Ramblings about the Force/Mortis arc here below—
The Mortis plot line. Yikes. Honestly, I am not in any way surprised George Lucas was behind that (in fact, I dug out a bunch of my old Star Wars Insiders from this time to read through the articles I had skipped when they first come out, and they do mention that there were some episodes Lucas would be heavily involved in and I had a feeling it was these ones). So it pains me to say that they ended up being the low point of the series so far to me. I guess I just can’t figure out what the message is actually supposed to be. What are these episodes supposed to be saying about the Force, and Anakin, and balance and the purpose of the Chosen One? Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to just hang out and chat with George Lucas about matters of philosophy, etc – and really get a feel for how he views the Force. But in some ways Star Wars tries to be both a classic ‘good and evil’ tale, and a more ‘Eastern’ dualism kind of philosophy and they just don’t always mesh well.
While watching the episodes I just had more questions – not the intriguing kind, but just…felt more confused than I had after the fact. Maybe because I spent the first episode or so trying to figure out if the characters were supposeds to be literal manifestations of the light and dark side (I don’t think they were, but then that begs the question, who are they and why are they there and why are they so powerful?).
But I guess I can’t totally get behind the dualism, and this idea (also prevalent in Wheel of Time), that ‘balance’ means an equal part of light and dark. Yes, in real life, in the absolutely literal sense, we need light and darkness. Or even destruction and creation. But in the moral sense? We need people to do bad things and be selfish and kill people? I know that will always be the case, but I guess I reject the idea that it is somehow necessary for us to recognize good.
Granted, one thing I’d like to know is if Lucas feels the ‘dark side’ is an actual thing – that there is Force energy that is just literally ‘dark’ (whatever that means), and if so, does that mean it may be possible to use it for good and not have it necessarily be a moral failing? Or is it inherently evil? Which I have a hard time getting behind, really – the idea that something can be inherently evil. In something like Wheel of Time it makes sense – there is a literal taint on one part of the Power (although I wasn’t a huge fan of how the relationship between the Creator/Dark One was ultimately played out at the end). But here, that’s not the case, so I suppose the other explanation could just be that the ‘dark’ side of the Force is just too tempting to use rightly because of the nature/quality of its power, which is why Jedi shy away from it. (I could go with that, to be honest.)
Or is the ‘dark side’ more of an idea regarding how and why you use the Force and representative of something inside of you – that being out of balance is itself what leads to darkness (ie, being too attached, too emotional – or maybe even too DETATCHED). I feel like the movies/show can’t quite decide on that front – one hand you hear that the ‘Dark Side’ will forever dominate your destiny and while it may be quicker and more powerful, it’s always wrong (which, yes, that’s Yoda’s point of view but I don’t think Lucas is trying to be tricky here and the viewer is suppoesed to agree). On the other hand you get stuff like this where apparently Anakin’s destiny is to use/control both sides of the Force. To what end? Are we – as viewers – really supposed to think that the ‘right’ thing for Anakin to do was to stay on this planet and hold the Force in balance, because reasons? And that’s why he fell? It just all seemed very circular to me – he was destined to fall because this prophecy said he had to fall. Or was this guy just kind of nuts and there was no real metaphysical implications to these characters at all and he just wanted somebody to make sure his kid didn’t go wreak havoc on the rest of the galaxy and misinterpreted the prophecy himself? (Maybe THAT will be my interpretation of these episodes).
I prefer the stories that foreshadow Anakin’s fall by showing how his tendency/desire for good, or even the ‘greater good’, is subtly and slowly twisted and that it could have been avoided, not that it was simply destined and just needed to happen because of some mysterious view of balance (I admit this is a storytelling preference of mine). For me, Anakin’s fall (and eventual redemption) is only meaningful, tragic, instructive, etc if there is an actual choice involved. My view of ‘balance’ as the preferred state isn’t so much, ‘well the good guys have been winning for too long, so now it’s time for the bad guys to win’ or ‘let’s just kill everybody and start over’, but something a little more inherently positive in and of itself. But I suppose as Yoda points out, the prophecy could be misread and perhaps it’s more of a warning that somebody will come along and do this, not something they should be hoping for ;) Although I thought Lucas did say at one point – an interview, or the commentary, or something – that it was killing the Emperor that brought balance to the Force (and not just because all the Jedi were dead too). I’ve always interpreted that as meaning that the Emperor himself and all his greed and hatred is what is pulling the Force out of balance (which is even hinted at in the prequels I think).
Most frustratingly: given that at the end of the arc all their memories are wiped, what was even the point? Nobody learns from it. Why did I just sit through 3 episodes of that? It’s like, “hey Anakin, you could possibly end up doing all these horrible things but now you’re going to forget that so there’s no way you can learn from this experience and possibly prevent it.” There are a lot of interesting things that could be discussed here or revealed about the nature of the Force, what ‘balance’ means, what the Chosen One is actually supposed to do (and if that’s even a good thing), but I feel like instead it just muddied the waters. One on hand, the episodes bugged me, but on the other, I would have preferred MORE.