It’s a bit of a mixed bag of plot lines as Season 4 wraps up.  Obi-Wan’s undercover work from the last disc continues, Asajj Ventress returns, and… well… so does someone else.  I bet you can guess who.

The Box
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
(I have no idea.  I just wanted to ask that.)

Okay Kenobi: I’m seeing a small flaw in your plan of going to Serenno.  Just a tiny one.  It involves you being face to face with Count Dooku.  You don’t think that he might, oh you know, recognize your Force presence?

“Wrong to deceive you, it was.”  “A powerful Jedi you are yet unpredictable and dangerous you can be to both your friends and enemies.”  Your turn, Yoda.  CLEARLY you recognize that Anakin is not the most stable of Jedi AND YET YOU WENT THROUGH WITH THIS PLAN ANYWAYS?

I’m getting the feeling that Cad Bane was strongly influenced by Captain Barbossa given his obsession with getting the best/biggest hat.

Turns out that it’s not what in the box but rather ‘Who will make it out of the box?’ that’s the real question here.  My bet was that it would be Obi-Wan and Cad Bane.  This is the problem with the Dark Side: their quest to figure out who’s Top Dog basically involves killing everyone else.  This is not the best way to encourage growth.  Unsurprisingly, they both made it along with a few others.

Crisis on Naboo
It feels like it’s been a long time since we first heard about the plot to assassinate Chancellor Palpatine.  It’s about time they finally made an attempt.

Unsurprisingly, the very complicated plan that Cad Bane comes up with fails.  Miserably.  The Jedi save the day, hurrah!  In my opinion, it was probably a bad idea to not keep up the illusion that Obi-Wan was actually the bad guy.  If they’d done so, they could’ve possibly used that disguise to infiltrate the shady side of the Republic in the future.

I do like how the writers work in how Anakin feels like the Council (and to an extent) Obi-Wan don’t trust him and lie to him all the time.  It’s a nice lead in to Revenge of the Sith as is Palpatine slyly feeding on Anakin’s distrust.

I have to give props to Count Dooku for having a multilayered plan to capture Palpatine.  Using the bounty hunters as a front was smart as it left everyone feeling complacent after winning the fight.  Granted, it still fails but it was a smart idea in theory!  Too bad Obi-Wan was ultimately smarter than him.

Massacre (DC)
Awww YES.  We’re getting back to Asajj Ventress!  I felt like they abandoned her plotline a little too easily after her defeat last time.  And hey, we’re finally getting Ineffective General Grievous too!  Dooku sending Grievous to execute his revenge of Asajj really… does not say much of his opinion of her.

Visually, this is a really neat battle to watch.  The overwhelmingly redness of Dathomir combined with the fire fight, the lightsabers, the energy bows, and the magic of the Mother are really cool looking, to put it simply.  Once you add in the Undead Sisters, it’s even more visually exciting.

Speaking of the Undead, I’m not sure how I feel about their inclusion in this episode.  On the one hand, it’s cool as hell to watch along with being a neat concept.  (It’s a good thing Dooku fights with droids and they can’t get scared and runaway.)  On the other hand, it’s a weird thing to have in Star Wars.  It feels a little bit too Lord of the Rings and just too fanciful.  So I like it but I don’t like it.  That clears up a lot, no?

If nothing else, you can’t accuse the writers of not telling you exactly what was going to happen in the title.  It’s a massacre of the Nightsisters.  While I obviously don’t know what’s going to happen next, it does feel like this clears up some conflicting canon with the Expanded Universe.  If all the sisters of this tribe were killed then it makes complete sense that they are nowhere to be seen once Han decides to go there on a “romantic” getaway.  I’ll have to think some more on this.

Bounty (DC)
Oh cantina goers.  Will you all never learn not to bother people who don’t want to talk?

Okay when did Boba get out of prison?  Did he get out during that jail-break too while I was looking down?  And honestly, who takes orders from Pipsqueak Fett?  Why is he in charge of anything?  And are there so few bounty hunters in the galaxy that we have to keep using the one-offs from that scene in Empire Strikes Back?

Honestly, I just have a lot of questions from this episode.  I will sum them up thusly:  Why?

You know what? I’m not even mad that Boba Pipsqueak Fett isn’t wearing armor that looks Mandalorian.  It’s not like the di’kut ever had proper beskar’gem in the Expanded Universe.  I am, however, cracking the hell up at Asajj tying him up and putting him in the box in the place of the creeper’s unwilling bride.

Brothers
They changed the main opening Clone Wars logo to red.  I think this means this is the episode where they bring back Maul and I potentially roll my eyes and sigh.  Possibly.  Savage was way more interesting to me before Asajj turned him into a brute and Maul not being dead just confuses me.

It is nice to see Anakin and Ahsoka again though!  I feel like we haven’t gotten quite enough of them the past few arcs.  Tragically, we’re not actually getting to see that much of them in favor of some… weird snake alien guide character and Savage killing a lot of people.

The only way I can think of to describe my reaction to this alive and crazy version of Maul with overgrown horns and some weird spider legs is with a gif.  Or two.  Or three.

Nope.  Not on board with this.  Sorry.

Revenge
Nightsister magic is starting to feel like a bit too much of a deux ex machina at this point.  I mean, it fixed his insanity and it created new metal legs for him?  I can follow them as far as helping cure his insanity.  I can’t recall the exact precedent but it does feel like it fits with what we’ve been told about the Force.

On the other hand, I’m super impressed with how fast Obi-Wan’s hair and beard grew back.

There was an honest attempt to keep an open mind here, I swear!  I would’ve been more than happy to have the show blow me away with how they made this work.  I’m just not enthralled by how the story played out.  It didn’t entertain me as much as I anticipated.

There are some good things about this episode namely the snark from Obi-Wan and Asajj directed at the brothers.  I am definitely also a fan of this pair of enemies being forced to work together against a common, even worse enemy.  It’s a good trope plus it’s a great fight scene to watch.  Actually, as a whole, this is a pretty great episode and a really good season finale.

Still not buying Maul surviving getting cut in half though.

That’s it for this disc and for Season 4!  Tune in next week when I quite possibly make the horrible Waru-esque decision to try and watch all of Season 5 in one week.  As always, you can follow my real time thoughts on Twitter @chaosbria or the hashtag #HondoCaravan.