Full Series Grade the Episode: S05E09: A Necessary Bond

Sorry about the delay with this thread!

You guys know the drill.

Poll results are available by clicking on the number of votes next to each score.

That being said, we'd still prefer you to post with your score and what you liked and disliked

 

Awesome episode, the battle was amazing and so was the duel between Grievous and Ahsoka

10/10

 

2/10, less interesting than the keyboard I'm typing this on.

 

Brilliant episode to end a fantastic arc! 10/10!

 

I really liked this episode and thought it was a nice one to wrap up the Young Jedi arc with; the animation and action was really good, Hondo was great as he usually is (and nice to have him face Grievous for the first time on the show) and the highlight was probably Ahsoka vs. Grievous, with some help from Hondo in his Firespray-class ship at the end, which was a solid one. I also really liked how Hondo showed a more soft side as he formed something of a bond with Katooni; the little bit at the end where they exchanged glances was pretty sweet. It's not a perfect episode (sort of liked the episode before it a little more) but very enjoyable nonetheless. 8/10

 

Great, great, great episode! One of the best arc endings there is!

+Pirate chase was very well done in terms of scale and scape as well, even if it was a minute or so lengthier than it needed to be
+Hondo as usual was hilarious
+Grievous was actually threatening, they've been on a roll with him since Massacre
+The younglings were great
+There was something oddly endearing about Hondo helping Katooni build her lightsaber
+The pirates/younglings versus battle droids was awesome, even if it was a tad bit too brief
+Ahsoka versus Grievous was brilliant, loved the choreography, especially Ahsoka's constant aiming for Grievous's lower torso and Grievous's wheel-spin manuever
+Huyang/R2 had great pairing, well done with the choice of David Tennant I must say, well done!
+Yoda's lightsaber adventure? This just makes me want the show to catch up with Huyang again!

Overall, a 10/10. Kudos to the TCW team for another solid arc. Brilliance it was!

 

I was going to take off a point for the oddly convenient plot device of Grievous wanting to confiscate all of Hondo's stuff for salvage, but that seems to be a very minor quibble compared to the well-done chase scenes - and the pirates battling droids - and Hondo's pitch-perfect characterization - and especially the great battle between Ahsoka and Grievous - all which give me no choice but to rate this: 10/10.
Easily one of my favorite episodes!

 

Fixed, well since I'm here its time to play devils advocate again:

This episode was frankly weaker than the previous two in the arc. I watched the entire arc together before tackling this one which was probably a mistake. This episode dragged and the big Grievous invasion seemed anticlimatic. Only Petro and Katooni developed over the course. In this episode particularly, the other younglings were just shoved into the background and didn't do much which bothered me. I did enjoy the invasion and Grievous's fight with Ahsoka was awesome. This arc provided some good character growth for Ahsoka, new character Huyang, and most of all Hondo. Hondo was the most interesting man in the Galaxy (Stay thirsty my friends) and his interactions with Katooni were sweet. She should have just gone with him. The ending shot was the coolest in the series.

I'll give this episode a 7/10. Enjoyed it over all but a few weak points and I felt let down by the arc.

 

I think I'm a Seerow clone - I gave it a 7 and I agree with her reasoning. In fact, I've "liked" a lot of her posts lately.

 

PROS

• Sweet droid invasion.
• Grievous "You can dispense with the pleasantries" was actually pretty cool. NOTE TO TCW: Stop giving Vader lines to Blander, give them to Wood's mechanical Grievous, they sound so much better.
• Cool skillz for the Younglings.
• Hondo's "Great...I feel so safe" was funny.
• Grievous' spider walk.
• The music that kicked off that final duel was stunning.

CONS

• Jedi Youngling ladder was a bit much.
• The pirate speeder simply didn't have enough firepower to do the damage it did to the training ship. Later, the AAT shoots the Slave I and does no damage.
• Apparently Hondo's base can't detect a massive invasion.
• B1 battle droid ego and power trip was lame.
• Adi Gallia's daughter magically constructs her lightsaber on the spot, despite failing before.
• Stupid sound effect during Ahsoka's lame slo-mo jump. Don't ever do that again, TCW.
• Not a fan of Grievous' bike, I prefer his wheelbike.
• Speeder bike chase looked like it was on rails at times.
• Grievous has Ahsoka completely helpless in his claw, why not just kill her? It would have been easy. DON'T PUT A CHARACTER IN AN EASILY FATAL POSITION UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO KILL THEM. JUST DON'T.
• Ahsoka was shoehorned in this arc, yet received no substantial development. What a waste.

Despite more complaints than praise, the episode was still relatively entertaining and not a failure. Still a disappointing end to an otherwise awesome arc.

7/10. My average grade for this arc was 8.5, one of the highest scores I've ever given.

At the time of this post, which may be a bit early, there were 18 votes with an average score of 8.28.

 

We'll finish with a 10/10.

Was amused by how Katooni magically managed to get her Jedi clothes back considering she left them on the carnival ship.

Hondo changes his moods at the drop of a hat, it seems. Good thing today he likes kids, otherwise he would've been royally screwed. He stole the entire show at the end trying to make Obi-Wan pay for his losses.

R2 mouthing off to the battle droid was amusing.
Glad to see they gave David Tennant more lines. He makes every role worth watching.
the battle between Ahsoka nad Grievous was tense, and I thought it was kind of funny that he apparently has enough of a spine to howl about how he'll never be beaten while he's at point blank range of Slave I. Too bad he needed to live.

Overall, I could watch this whole arc over and over again.

 

Do you not realize that it was the magically Force-powered pouch at her belt where she could store her clothes and dis-assembled lightsaber for whenever she might need them?! Plus Huyang's arms for when they are eventually going to re-attach them!

 

GENIUS episode. Everything was amazing.


10000 out 10.


PS:

CW Grade the Episode: S05E09: Bound for Rescue !?


An error I sense...

 

++Grievous outclassing Ahsoka

9/10

 

9/10
Took a point off for the scene where Hondo is talking to the jedi and he gives an inspirational speech to Adi Jr. Such a sappy scene, made me thing it was an After School Special.

 

An overall decent episode, but much like Tipping Points, it didn't feel like climax-of-a-4-part-arc material to me at all. I think the chase scene being dragged out to fill the entire first third of the episode was a mistake, and Grievous laughing hysterically - at the fact that he failed to keep his prey from escaping (?) - was nonsensical to the point of being really annoying. The episode before this had him at perhaps his most intimidating of the entire series, but then this took him a notch back down the ladder. The lightsaber duel looked fantastic, though. Hondo at the very end was hilariously classic, and seeing Slave I is always a treat.

8/10

 

anakinfan, your journey toward the dark side is complete.

 

8/10

Solid episode. Wish the last fight with Grievous and Tano was a little longer. I was also hoping for the Younglings to joing the fight. But overall decent episode.

 

8/10

good episode.... grevious saved the episode, only reason its so high is because of him.

okay so now for the entire arc

Youngling ARC: 7.5/10

without grevious & kenobi, that rating would have been much MUCH lower. overall a bad story arc, however grevious gave the last few episodes some moments to shine.

 

How old does your son think Ahsoka is vs. how old she actually is?
Also, it was not a dangerous mission - as in the original mission of obtaining lightsaber crystals. It only became dangerous later on.

 

That's exactly my point. Ahsoka was NOT sent on a mission to fight Grievous. Her "mission" was to chaperone the younglings on their quest for their lightsaber crystals. You claim she was put in charge of a "dangerous mission".