Review of the Jedi: Fugitive

Join the Serial Wordsmith every Saturday as he recaps and reviews the last season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Something the Clone Wars writers realized in the later seasons is that the audience knowing the outcome of the war wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Because they trusted that the audience (or at least a large segment of it) had seen Revenge of the Sith, it meant they could use our foreknowledge against us. It's like Alfred Hitchcock used to say, "Show two people eating dinner unawares, then show a bomb planted under the table and you have suspense". That's exactly what they've been doing with Fives in this arc and so far it's been working great.

Especially this episode where in true Hitchcock fashion, Fives ends up under suspicion and has to go undercover. But let me back up. After accidentally killing Tup last time by removing his tumor, Dr. Nala Se has been ordered by Dooku to get rid of all the evidence before Shaak Ti and the Jedi can find out about Order 66. And by evidence he means Fives. So stealing Tup's tumor, Fives has to evade his fellow clones on Kamino while pursuing his own investigation of the tumor.

Noah: A Review

The problem with making movies based on the Bible nowadays is that nobody can take the material seriously. Ever since the Good Book was hijacked by fundamentalist nutjobs, the popular idea of "Bible movie" has been of overly sentimental, moralistic propaganda aiming to convert and condemn secular society. So if you were looking for new interpretations of stories everyone knows, or even just some entertaining spectacle, you avoided remotely connected to the Bible.

That's a position I've agreed with for a long time. As a survivor of Catholic education, the last thing I needed was another story about how awesome God and Jesus were. Especially when the people adapting the stories would leave out all the visually cool stuff like giants, monsters and demons. But with Noah, Darren Aronofsky looks to return Bible movies to the glory days of Cecil B Demille, full of drama and spectacle, and for the most part succeeds. But along the way he gives audiences an involving, beautiful-looking film that doesn't just re-tell a story everyone already knows but goes greater into depth than I've ever seen with scripture.

Review of the Jedi: Conspiracy

Join the Serial Wordsmith every Saturday as he recaps and reviews the last season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

When we last left our intrepid star warriors, a clone trooper under Anakin's command had Order 66 hit him early and he shot a Jedi. Oops! Now Dooku and Palpatine are scrambling to nip it in the bud before their big secret is revealed. They lost their chance last episode but it's a four episode arc, so let's see how they do this time.

The episode opens with Tup, the crazy clone, and Fives' shuttle arriving on Kamino. The doctors take Tup's unconscious body away for examination and OH SHIT, IT'S SHAAK TI! FUCK YEAH! Sorry, it's just she's my favorite background Jedi and she was barely in this series during its TV run. I'm just happy to see her. Anyway, the Kaminoans immediately take Tup away but Fives gets sent off to the examination room too. They tell him it's because his test will help with them find out what's wrong with Tup but really they're putting him in quarantine in case he goes nuts too.

Review of the Jedi: The Unknown

Join the Serial Wordsmith every Saturday as he recaps and reviews the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

And we're finally back! A year after I finished reviewing Season 5 of Clone Wars, Season 6 has come to us through the magic of Netflix. And with a new season, new reviews!

We pick up with our intrepid Jedi and their clone troopers on a huge space station circling a planet. They've been trying to capture it from the Separatists for days now only to be deadlocked. Neither side can gain new ground but can hold what ground they have. Anakin is being aided by twin alien Jedi with weird flowing hair and Irish accents, but during their latest assault one of them is shot dead by Tup, a clone under Anakin's command. Why? Because Tup's been having a mental breakdown and it seems Order 66 triggered ahead of time.

Now this is a clever turn of events. We had assumed that Order 66 was just a secret executive order, something Palpatine could order as Commander-in-Chief without having to go through the Jedi Officers. But it turns out that it was actually a response programmed deep into the clones' subconscious. Which fills a pothole from Revenge of the Sith, why the clones just immediately turned on the Jedi without batting an eye. They couldn't control it.

Review of the Jedi Returns!

With the exciting news that Netflix had picked up the rights to show the remaining episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars after its unceremonious cancellation, it means I'm back to review the new episodes. The trailer promises a lot of the great action we've come to expect but some new narrative ideas as well. Padme trapped behind enemy lines! The origin of the clone army revealed! and Yoda being led on a spiritual journey by Qui-Gon Jinn (with Liam Neeson reprising the role once again).

If you're unfamiliar with Review of the Jedi, take a look through the archive for my reviews of Season 5. Though these new reviews will probably be more analytical like my Big O reviews. And even though all the episodes are on Netflix at once, this will remain a weekly series. With that said, come back later for the first Review of the Jedi for the Lost Missions!