Episode 5×01 – “Revival”

Directed by Steward Lee

Written by Chris Collins

Fortune cookie – “Strength of character can defeat strength in numbers.”

Plot:

Savage Oppress and Darth Maul are wreaking havoc across the galaxy. Obi-Wan and Adi Gallia follow down a distress signal and hunt down the rogue Sith. Maul and Oppress attack Hondo Ohnaka’s base in an attempt to build up an army of pirates. Adi dies (again). Obi-Wan makes an unlikely alliance with Hondo and beats the crap out of the Sith brothers, who then escape. The Jedi report to Palpatine, who tells them not to pursue Maul and Oppress. Obi-Wan expresses discomfort with this, while Yoda says they need to listen to the Chancellor.

And then Palpatine gives the evilest smile ever and I love it.

Maul building up an army of pirates? Yeah, I guess it could work…but it seemed more of plot device to bring back Hondo. Which is fine with me, of course.

Because I love Hondo. He’s hilarious, and his humor fits in perfectly with the tone of Star Wars. His “team-up” with Obi-Wan was great. I want him to be in all the episodes.

Seeing Hondo and the rest of the pirates face off against Sith, with absolutely no fear, was awesome. As Hondo says, they’re running away from Kenobi! How dangerous can they be?

Obi-Wan says the Sith will not die? Yeah, Palpatine knows all about that.

Tech:

I loved the choral music during the battle scenes. It was very Sith-like and very epic.

The animation and lighting design has improved immensely over the previous four seasons. And the voice acting is tremendous.

The “flying saucer” ship design was awesome.

Obi-Wan fighting with two lightsabers, against a single-bladed Maul and double-bladed Oppress? Yeah, he rocks.

The mist coming out of Oppress’s shoulder and Maul’s leg was a great effect. Does this mean they’re still imbued with Nightsister power? Or was it just something that looked cool?

Impact:

Alas, another continuity shitstorm has hit the fandom, this time in the form of Adi Gallia’s death. (She previously “died” in the Dark Horse comics.) Fans are already speculating how both deaths can be reconciled, stating that we never saw her dead body on the show. I’m sorry to disappoint our continuity-obsessed fans, but Adi’s official death definitely occurred in this episode of The Clone Wars. While I hardly know anything about the prequel-era EU, and therefore don’t care much about this contradiction, I realize that it does bother other fans. I respect that, but I urge fans to calm down and not start crying about how Dave Filoni is ruining the EU.

(Also, if you’re still surprised that The Clone Wars is overriding and changing things from the EU—well I don’t know what to tell you.)

I do agree with fans who argue that Adi’s death was pointless. Why would the writers would create such a large continuity snafu without taking advantage of it as a plot point/major character moment. Obi-Wan shows some sorrow after his fight with Maul and Oppress, but then Adi is never again mentioned. In fact, she’s never even mentioned by name in the entire episode. Why use  her if it’s not going to be a major turning point? If the writers wanted to show how dangerous Maul and Oppress are, they could have used another Jedi in Adi’s role. As it was, it was death for the sake of death, which I hate.

But again, whatever Lucas says goes, so we might as well get used to it. In the end, Adi Gallia and Even Piell are minor Jedi, and casual fans won’t know of any discrepancies. Or, you can just ignore The Clone Wars altogether. Either option works!

Pushing aside the continuity snafu, let’s focus on the Rule of Two. Fans have long expressed displeasure that Maul and Oppress are running around the galaxy, calling themselves Sith. Because we all know that “only two there are, no more no less, a master and an apprentice.” Right now, those two Sith are Sidious and Tyranus, so where do Maul and Oppress fit? In this episode we learned that Maul considers himself to be Oppress’s master. We also saw Palpatine advise the Jedi to not go after the two extra Sith Lords.

And, judging by the evil smile he wore at the end of the episode (and footage in the Season 5 trailer), we know why: Sidious is personally going after the extra Sith.

I absolutely cannot wait.