The Lost Missions have been found and Season Six has finally arrived!  Gosh, it feels like just last week that I finished watching Season Five.  Up first, we’ve got the Clone Trooper arc.  In the interest of saving those of you who didn’t marathon the episodes this weekend from spoilers, we’ll have the entire post beneath a cut.

The Unknown
There’s something about this episode that feels very familiar and I can’t quite place my finger on it.  I’m not sure if it’s because the general fight looks similar or because I feel like I’ve seen the twin sisters before or what.

As an opening episode for the arc, this is definitely a strong one.  We, as viewers, can recognize the side effects of Order 66 but it doesn’t take away from the intrigue.  Why did Tup kill the Jedi now?  Add in another layer of in-universe intrigue and you are set.  Anakin, Rex, and the rest are all equally confused as to why Tup seems to have blacked out and killed the Jedi and as to why the Separatists want to get their hands on him.

I find it interesting how they’re including Dooku knowing about the clone army.  I could be wrong but this feels like the first time anyone’s ever really done anything with it, both in the show and in the books.   I think that we sometimes forget how far ahead Palpatine really did plan and that Dooku was in fact his apprentice and co-conspirator here.  It was Tyrannus who recruited Jango Fett after all.   Honestly, this was just a really good thing to work into the storyline especially in order to add another aspect to this story line.

Overall, this was a solidly good start to the arc.

Conspiracy
No one can figure out what’s wrong with Tup either physically or mentally so Rex and Fives are taking him back to Kamino because if they can’t figure out what’s wrong with him then no one can.  Rex has to go back to the war but Fives get to stay since they suspect that he might have some sort of virus which could be what drove Tup crazy.

The mystery deepens as no one can quite figure out what happened to the Tup.  It looks like Kamino continued to stay in contact with Lord Tyrannus and defer to him instead of the Jedi Council as a whole.  To me, this suggests that the Kaminoans realized that everything wasn’t completely above board with the creation of the army.  I also really like that Shaak Ti is so willing to stand up for simultaneously figuring out what’s wrong with Tup and also making sure that he’s treated as humanely as possible.

It’s really quite heartbreaking when Tup dies even though Fives and the medical droid manage to extract the tumor that was messing with this head.  Poor Tups.  He deserved so much better than this.  All of the clones do.

Fugitive
I have to admit that I was not expecting to enjoy the team up between Fives and the medical droid nearly as much as I am.  The droid’s attempt at being nonchalant by singing ‘la la la la la!’ might be my new favorite thing.

It’s interesting that Order 66 seems to be the result of an inhibitor chip.  Supposedly, the chip is supposed to place a check on their aggression.  I’m not sure I follow that logic.  Wouldn’t you want soldiers to be aggressive?  Out of universe, I’m not sure how I feel about Order 66 being more of an unconscious thing.  I sort of liked how it was simply another possibility amongst a long list of orders that were unlikely to ever be carried out.

Once again, Shaak Ti proves to be a solidly good person and refuses to let the Kaminoans terminate Fives.  I like that she cares equally about the truth and about preserving life.  That said, it’s hardly her fault that sending Fives to Coruscant will probably not turn out the way she intended.  (Curse you, Palpatine!)

Orders
I should start this review with how Palpatine managed to manipulate Fives into attacking him but really I have to start with the sheer lunacy of someone showing a picture around and going “Hey, have you seen this clone?”  I know they tend to have varied hairstyles and/or tattoos but honestly.

Poor Fives.  I’d say that it’s a shame that this is how his story ends but honestly, I don’t think that any of the clones get a good ending.  It’s obvious that any storyline involving Order 66 would never go well but it’s really just heartbreaking that both Tup and Fives end up dead when their only crime was respectively having a loose wire and wanting to find the truth.  It’s a shame that Fives was too unbalanced to be able to trust Anakin and Rex because I think they were willing to believe him if shown the evidence.

Oh man.  When did Star Wars become such a tragedy?

That’s it for the first arc of the Lost Missions!  Next up, I believe we get a political story involving Padmé to which I am definitely looking forward.