Review of the Jedi: The Disappeared Part Two

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

It's gonna be a short one this week. Because while I enjoyed The Disappeared two-parter, there's really not much for me to say.

In a rarity for this series, our second chapter picks up right where we left off. The evil Frangawl Cult has abducted the Queen of Bardotta, Jar Jar's ex-girlfriend, and taken her and a ball of Force energy to an unknown planet. Hot on the trail is Jar Jar and Mace Windu, who've formed a weirdly effective team. Will they be able to rescue the Queen before the Frangawl can pull off their nefarious scheme? And who is this mysterious "Great Mother" who leads them?

This pair of episodes greatest strength continues to be the team-up of Mace and Jar Jar. As I said last time, it's an unlikely pair but it works surprisingly well. What makes it work is that despite both irritating the other (yes, Mace irritates Jar Jar) they put it aside for the sake of the mission and eventually bring out the best in each other. For example, Jar Jar's cowardice annoys Mace but unlike other Jedi who just tell him to shut up and stay out of the way Mace tries to help Jar Jar find his inner courage and bring out the skills within him. And Jar Jar is laser-focused on saving the Queen, so Mace and his meditative, methodical Jedi approach gets on his nerves because he sees it as slow and wasting time. But Jar Jar knows he has to rely on Mace and shows an idealism that Mace as a Jedi finds motivating. It's kind of like when the gruff, old detective is partnered with the naive, young rookie in a cop movie.

Why does Mace's lightsaber have BBQ sauce on it?

But despite that and our odd couple protagonists, this two-parter isn't a buddy cop movie. It's a classic pulp adventure story. Really all the elements are there; the exotic locations, the evil cultists, the vague evil plot, the rescue the queen storyline. My Indiana Jones comparison last week wasn't far off. But it's the main reason this two-parter feels so light. See another key feature of those old adventure stories was a heavy emphasis on action over everything else. They were like popcorn movies, meant to be enjoyable and entertaining but ultimately disposable. Which is a pretty good summary of these episodes. There are some fun action beats like Mace fighting off two Gundarks bare-handed but they're momentary thrills. Nothing leaves much impact.

"Ask Again Later"

This approach defangs the villain as well. There are actually some interesting ideas here, like how do the Frangawl draw out Force Energy if they can't control the Force like Jedi or Sith. Or how did their alliance with Mother Talzin begin? Oh yeah, she's the Great Mother. Spoilers. We've never seen the Force shown this way in other Star Wars stories or people with this kind of relationship to it. There's a lot you could explore with this, but ultimately it's just another MacGuffin. Something poorly explained that the plot revolves around. The Cultists are just generically evil and Mother Talzin's involvement doesn't make sense. Like she was chosen because she's a known villain but not one connected with bigger galactic events that her involvement would feel petty.

Overall, an enjoyable if light two-parter. Jar Jar and Mace were fun together and the action beats were good. That made up for the paper-thin plotting and the reliance on cliche. I wish the Bardottan and Frangawl relationship with the Force was explored in more depth. Interacting but not controlling the Force is a cool idea with fascinating implications for the mechanics of the Star Wars universe, but sadly ended up being window dressing. This misstep was made up for by making very few other mistakes, giving us a competent if unexceptional two-parter. Enjoyable but non-essential.

See you next week.