Review of the Jedi: Sacrifice

Join the Serial Wordsmith for a special four-day finale to his recaps and reviews of the last season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

And as Yoda's journey comes to a close, so does on our own. This is the last new Clone Wars episode and so this is my last Review of the Jedi. I may bring the series back for Rebels and Episode VII, but for now this is the end. Before we get to the episode I just want to thank everyone who's read these reviews and I hope I didn't waste your time. Now then...

When we left Yoda he had embarked on a journey to learn how to preserve his consciousness after death. This brought him to a strange planet where five Force Priestesses initiated the diminutive Jedi Master through a series of trials. He overcame them but one trial still remained, on the Sith homeworld of Moraband. And before you pedantic nerds gang up on me, yeah I know it was originally called Korriban. But it's not like they changed anything else about the place so what's the big deal? Anyway, this episode begins with Yoda arriving on the planet and making his way into an ancient Sith tomb.

Here he encounters the spirits of dead Sith who try to lead him astray, which is important to the overall spiritual journey narrative this arc has been following.

Review of the Jedi: Destiny

Join the Serial Wordsmith for a special four-day finale to his recaps and reviews of the last season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Yoda's spiritual journey continues as we enter the second phase. The diminutive Jedi Master has followed Qui-Gon's trail to a mysterious planet in a nebula brimming with Force energy. And deep within the hollow planet he encounters strange Force priestesses who will lead him through his training.  Grave trials await him and it will require facing some long buried feelings.

As I predicted yesterday, this arc is following the traditional path students of the mystic persuasion take. After accepting the path, the student must face trials that are just as much about overcoming the limitations within them as overcoming whatever the physical trial is. You can see this in hundreds of Kung Fu movies or for a more apt comparison Avatar: The Last Airbender. Recall how near the end of that show's second season, Aang had to undergo spiritual training to let go of his material attachments and unlock his full Avatar powers. That's essentially what's happening in this episode but with Yoda learning the Force Ghost ability. And it's the decision to make Yoda the initiate that sets this episode and arc apart from those similar stories. And it all goes back to that Jedi dogmatism I brought up last time.

Review of the Jedi: Voices

Join the Serial Wordsmith for a special four-day finale to his recaps and reviews of the last season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Ah, so that's how they're going to keep this going.

After the mystery of Sifo-Dyas was mostly wrapped up last episode, I was curious on what the next three episodes would focus on. The answer is unexpected but clever in its own way. The focus has shrunk from the galaxy-wide conspiracy to a more personal story with a single main character. That's odd for this show which has always relied on the strength of its ensemble cast but the choice of that single character is strange as well. Yoda.

Not to say that Yoda is a bad character, far from it, but his function in the Star Wars story is why he's a weird choice for a lead. Ever since his first appearance in Empire Strikes Back, Yoda has been the wise mentor. He's the old smart guy who's there to give the younger, dumber protagonist advice and then dies to inspire said protagonist. And the reason characters like that usually don't get the spotlight is because, by virtue of their being old and wise, their character arc is assumed to be complete. The only thing they have left to do is pass on their wisdom and die. You can see this with other characters that fit this archetype; Dumbledore, Gandalf, Mr. Miyagi though he didn't die. But the way the writers get around this, and what gives these next few episodes their hook, is by giving Yoda a problem his wisdom can't solve. They present him with something he doesn't understand.

Review of the Jedi: The Lost One

Join the Serial Wordsmith for a special four-day finale to his recaps and reviews of the last season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Yes those of you that read the header, with only four episodes left I've decided to ditch the weekly format. For the next four days there will be a new Review of the Jedi each day as we spiral down to the series finale. And we begin with the arc I've been most excited for, the Search for Sifo-Dyas.

Now granted part of that excitement comes from the fact that I'm a huge nerd, nerds like when loose threads of continuity are explained, and Master Sifo-Dyas is nothing if not a loose thread of continuity. To refresh your memory, while tracking down Jango Fett during Attack of the Clones Obi-Wan found himself on Planet Kamino. Strangely enough, the Kaminoans were expecting him. They had grown an entire clone army for the Republic supposedly under the orders of a Jedi Master named Sifo-Dyas. Obi-Wan informs them that Sifo-Dyas has been dead for some time and that no one in the Republic has authorized this army but the Kaminoans seem unconcerned. They direct him to Jango Fett, the template for the clones, who's never heard of Sifo-Dyas. He was hired by a man called Tyrannus. Before we could learn more the rest of the movie happened and war had broken out. The Jedi had bigger priorities.

To make a long story short, Sifo-Dyas is the great unresolved mystery of the Prequel Era. The circumstances of his death and how the clone army was arranged are key to how Palpatine destroyed the Republic. Basing a story around exploring that would make any Star Wars fan excited, but beyond that using it as the series finale for The Clone Wars is a thematic slam dunk. There's been a dark cloud having over this series from the beginning because we all know where it leads. Revenge of the Sith and the creation of the Empire, all of the characters we've grown to love either dead or turned evil. Kind of a bummer. So ending the series by focusing on what caused all that darkness makes sense, like we've come full circle, and it also fits with how downbeat and morally murky the show itself has become. Finishing the story on the Sith homeworld isn't just engaging, it feels like a natural stopping point. But we have a while until we get there and a lot of shit to pull into the light in the meantime. Without further ado...

Is he a Good Man? Doctor Who returns

Our long Doctor-less fallow period is about to end. Since Matt Smith retired the role back in December, The BBC has been tight-lipped about what's in store for Peter Capaldi's initial season as the Twelfth Doctor. Steven Moffat and the other big brass have hinted at a darker, more mature Doctor with a focus  on pure sci-fi stories as opposed to Smith's more whimsical fairytale tone. And if true, the first official trailer for the new season seems to bear it out.



It certainly does seem darker with voiceover by a Dalek of all things. And the emphasis on explosions, shadows, and rapid cuts of action seem to indicate a more violent show, if not a more violent Doctor, than we've seen since the '05 revival. The effects also looked to have stepped up as well, the few new aliens featured here being more naturalistic and harder sci-fi than those of the Smith era. That brief shot of a T-Rex in particular is probably the most accurate depiction of the dinosaur I've seen since Jurassic Park, perhaps indicating that the rumors of moving to a less fantastical sensibility are true. Of course, this is still Doctor Who so the humor and fun we expect will still be there.