Review of ‘The Clone Wars: To Catch A Jedi’

February 25, 2013 at 7:00 pm | Posted in Reviews, Star Wars, Television, The Clone Wars | Leave a comment
Tags: the clone wars season 5

The plot thickens as Ahsoka dives into the underworld of Coruscant only to find an unlikely ally…and foe. We’re only one episode away from the end of season five of The Clone Wars, and things are escalating as the end draws near.

I really liked this episode. For one, it brings Ventress back in a completely believable way. When we last saw her, she was trying out the bounty hunter business, so it makes complete sense that it would be her that finds Ahsoka. Early previews certainly had people guessing about why Ventress would be attacking Ahsoka and how that would turn out. I was glad to see they ended up on the same side. However, the twist at the end was pretty good. Not only is Ventress not the one behind the bombing plot, but the culprit is a female Jedi of some sort. She also has some serious fighting skills.

Packing in the mystery elements gives these episodes a nice edge. It makes them stand out from other episodes we’ve seen in The Clone Wars. I also like how we’re getting glimpses of the Coruscant underworld as portrayed by the Star Wars 1313 concept art. They even bounce around the subject by going to levels 1312 and 1315. If Star Wars 1313 sees the light of day, it’ll be neat to play around in the footsteps of these episodes.

Another interesting dynamic brought out in “To Catch A Jedi”, is the addition of Plo Koon to the search. With both Anakin and Plo Koon on the hunt, it puts the two most pro-Ahsoka candidates on her trail. With Jedi like Mace Windu voicing grave doubts in the Jedi Council chambers, Ahsoka is lucky to have made a few important friends. And speaking of friends, it was cool to see Barriss helping Ahsoka out. Attachments might be taboo in the Jedi Order, but it’s nice to see they aren’t callous beings (*cough* Mace *cough*).

I also liked the overall dynamics of this episode. The underlevels had a nice, shady vibe and provided for some dark environments. On top of that was a touch of girl power. The episode stars Ahsoka. The episode costars Asajj Ventress. Ahsoka’s friend on the inside turns out to be Barriss. Plus the villain is a female. It certainly shows there’s plenty of room for a non-male focused cast in Star Wars.

But that aside, the episode did a good job of mixing action, character scenes, and environment shots. It was a nice mixture. While it hasn’t eclipsed the drama of the Maul arc yet, I still give this episode a five out of five metal bikinis. I’m also anxious for next week’s reveals: whose the mysterious female? Will Ahsoka get off the hook? Will Ahsoka live? For that matter, will Ventress live? Filoni has told fans that this arc will have more serious consequences than the Maul arc, and Ashley Eckstein said she couldn’t help but cry when she watched it, so the next episode, the season five finale, is sure to be a good one.

Trivia time! Guess who voiced the drunk Gotal…

…Dave Filoni. The Gotal was named Spots Podal.

According to StarWars.com, “Coruscant’s surface is subdivided into striated levels. The highest surface is 5,127, while the uninhabitable lowest depth is Level 1. The action in this episode covers from Level 1312 to Level 1315.”

During the episode there is an image of the train route stops which includes places such as: Burbank, LAAC, Valley Village, Sunset, Beverly Blvd, North Hollywood, Laurel Canyon, Big Rock Ranch, RGC, Letterman, Skywalker Ranch, Skinwalker Ranch, Lucasville, Coach House, and Filoniville.

Those weird cat/ratcoon creatures in the underlevels were tookas which were scene earlier in The Clone Wars in doll form. The tookas were named after a cat Dave Filoni had named Tuuk.

And for anyone who was wondering what was up with the ships Anakin and the clones were flying around in, those are Republic police gunships. The cops featured in this episode were Coruscant underground police.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.