The fourth season of The Clone Wars kicked off with a three-parter set on Mon Cala. Let’s dig right in.
1. Lee-Char
There’s something about young royalty in the Star Wars universe, isn’t there? Unlike Leia and Padme, however, young Prince Lee-Char does not seem to have the confidence in his leadership abilities, at least not initially. For a character that we spend a lot of time with over the course of three episodes, there really isn’t that much that we know about him, aside from his youth and a relative inexperience.
While it was nice to see him grow into the role over the course of 66 minutes, the episodes really didn’t give much time for Lee-Char to do anything. That may sound like an odd comment to make, but I couldn’t help feel that I barely knew anything about Lee-Char aside from the very basics. I suppose it isn’t all that important, but a little context – even just a scene of him talking about his father – would have gone a long way.
2. Underwater Jedi
Early on in my reviews, I commented on how weird it was to see Jedi use lightsabers in space. I didn’t mean that as a negative; I was marveling at how great it was to see Jedi in a new light. Here, we get a lot of underwater Jedi action. And I don’t mean Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon swimming with Jar Jar; I mean Ahsoka, Kit and Anakin brandishing their laserswords underwater, as well as seeing folks fire blasters underwater, as well. Would blasters shoot differently under water? Is there resistance to lasers when submerged? Why do I care?
3. It’s an Ack!
It was nice to see Admiral Captain Ackbar make his Clone Wars debut here, and while he didn’t get all that much to do, it was a nice bit of connectivity that doesn’t seem like a stretch. I’ve talked about this before; I’m all for the show making the universe feel more unified and complete, but I’m not for every single opportunity to show us an old character to be used. Sometimes, it feels like it is being forced.
Ackbar doesn’t feel that way. Mon Cala is a planet known for primarily one character: Ackbar. It makes total sense that he would be involved in politics, especially as Mon Calamari (yes, that’s their actual species name) seem to live a long time, as Ackbar appears both here and approximately 60 years later in The Last Jedi.
4. Meesa no need more Gungans, okie day?
The Gungans are fine here, really they are, but it seems like The Clone Wars tends to rely on them as the go to species on the show, when they truly don’t add that much to the series. Aside from Jar Jar, and their general dislike of the clumsy, what is there to know/enjoy about the Gungans? Either give them something to do, or leave ’em back on Naboo.
5. Dooku’s insidiousness
These episodes show the lengths to which Dooku will go to make life difficult for the Republic. Think about this: he arranges the assassination of the Mon Calamari’s king, stirs the shit between the two species of the world, and installs one of his goons as leader/muscle. Is Dooku doing this in many systems? Is he trying to win the war one planet at a time?
For a show that has shown lots of different perspectives, I’d love to see a bigger Dooku presence in the series, perhaps even an episode or two from his perspective.
