Full Series The Clone Wars - Episode 5.4 - The Soft War - discussion thread

It was better than the last two, but hardly spectacular.

1.) I liked how the old King took responsibility for his inaction.
2.) "Resistance is not terrorism." = win
3.) Enjoyed the rescue by the General

4.) Hated that a Padawan could level an entire squad of B-2's and Droidekas.
Reminded me of Savage's escape from Kenobi and Skywalker. Mocha-Sue.

 

Give that one up to the multitude of ways in which the Force is used consistently. Given how Dooku and Maul can just pick Obi-Wan up when they feel like it and throw him around, I bet Anakin regrets not doing that.

Obi-Wan: It's over Anakin. I have the high ground!
Anakin: Damn!... Or do you...?
Obi-Wan: Wait. What are you doing? Put me down at once!
*Anakin pitches him over into the lava*
Anakin: Well, that was remarkably easy.

 

I agree to an extent, but knowing that most of the droids got back up, made it better for me. She just temporarily delayed them, nothing too major.

 

What I don't get is why the droid popper didn't affect Kalani.

 

Or what about all the TCW Jedi leaping around like Supermen when young Vader can't jump 16.5 feet.

 

Maybe they finally made a droid popper resistant droid so we don't have to see those things again..

 

Maybe he is a different kind of droid that doesn't get affected by the poppers

 

The droid poppers didn't emit electronic interference at the climax. A proper droid popper would have taken out Kalani and all the droids, thus eliminating any threat (unless a SBD collapsed on Ahsoka, which would be pretty funny). The poppers emitted gas; apparently they wanted a smoke screen instead.

 

The way I see it, there is little to no contradiction. Before the Clone Wars Onderon was a neutral planet. The outbreak of the Clone Wars had nearly every system in the galaxy picking a side, and Mina became very opposed to what she saw as the corruption of the Republic. She sided with the Confederacy of Independent Systems and supported the overthrow of King Dendup so that her home world could better reflect her new Separatist ideals. There was probably nothing wrong in her eyes with this action because she was blinded by her idealism. This is the way I'm viewing the timeline of events here and I don't really see anything wrong with that.

 

Wouldn't that have made Mina an enemy of Dendup? That wasn't what he wanted. Where was the animosity? Why would Dendup complement Lux by saying his mother would be proud then?

 

To think this all could have been averted if the writers/Dave watched HOBS before writing the script...

 

Soft War like I said earlier it was a great episode but I was getting bored with the whole sneaking around planting bombs.

That and that droid that Dooku sent to that planet to deal with the "terrorists/rebels"

Great looking droid but what a sucky one since he got knocked down and didnt even get back up to do anything cool

 

I'm sure there's some way to spin it so that it makes sense, and the writers/Filoni can then think to themselves "..um... yeah... Yeah! That's what we were going for!"

Like Mina could have advocated siding with the CIS while Dendup was wary and wanted Onderon to be free. Mina could have been a moderating influence that saw Onderon well treated by the CIS due to Mina's strong support . Dendup perhaps was not treated particularly poorly early on, only for relations to go sour when Mina was murdered and Rash is put in charge as a CIS puppet to keep Onderon under control. Rash might have been a minister of Dendups that also supported an alliance with the CIS and usurped Dendup when it appeared Dendup was going to back out.

I mean I'm sure with enough thought there's some way to after the fact turn it into something that makes sense. I question whether the writers accounted for this though, since it is a glaring shift in Onderonian/CIS relations since Heroes on Both Sides that is not addressed.

 

As usual your theory is great, thanks for that. I think what really derails the reconciling of Mina, Dendup, and Onderon is the time line of all this. How long ago would HOBS have taken place? I wasn't sure about the order of events on what happened first. Then there is the whole issue of how Dendup doesn't seem to have any animosity. The idea that she was a moderating influence clears some stuff up and I guess HOBS and events early in "Pursuit of Peace" could have happened simultaneously. Mina was quite likely already on a tight leash before Padme crept behind enemy lines to see her. Although she admired Dooku she did seem like she could have been alteast a tiny thorn before then.

 

It's not like Mina was the one who locked him up personally. She simply said, "I disagree with you." This is all speculation, of course, but Dendup and Mina probably respected each other, they just didn't share the same political views, and I'm sure if she knew how he would eventually be treated she would probably have done something about it.

 

after duel of mustafar? Go make it better.

That Guy heisinger from the Episode Bounty was also not affected from those. It seems such models/Lifeforms have special devices to make them stay alive where usual droids colapse.

 

This episode had the same faults as Front runners.

I didn't find Kalani the super tactical droid that super. The best bit about him is his voice. I didn't like how Steela killed 2 Magna guards with a shot each.. A jedi would struggle to kill 2 Magna guards.

I hope tipping points is better

 

Steela is a Mary Sue than?

 

I figured it was a typo, but on the OS - I believe on Dendup's bio when you click on Rash's related entry at the bottom - it says something about Rash sweeping into the throne room after Dendup's "ouster." I figured it meant "ousting," but if it's not a mistake, then it could imply that maybe the CIS was acting through a proxy that ousted Dendup and Rash enters as the hero that deals with that usurper but then usurps the throne himself. And it also makes mention to Dendup being perceived as being a coward and that sentiment being fanned by Rash. So it could be something like the CIS had been antagonizing Onderon for awhile through a proxy, hoping Onderon would join the CIS for protection, then maybe Dendup believed neutrality was still in the best interest of Onderon while the people got worked up over the constant attacks. The people then perhaps turned to Rash and Dendup lost popular support (which could explain why Dendup seems to have completely given up, if he feels nobody supports him anymore). Mina could have been one of the ones duped into believing that Rash was a hero and that Dooku and Rash were Onderon's saviors. As to why Dendup harbors no ill will toward Mina, it could just simply be that he understands that she was tricked along with everyone else and doesn't judge her poorly for that.

 

I feel like this episode was something written by Alexander Dumas.

 

DM99 Remove the stupid line about underestimating power, and it would be all better.

 

I think that is not a stupid line. I already believe Anakin wanted to lose this duell. He could not kill Obi Wan because of sentimental reasons. Obi Wan raised him like a father.

He had something to say, to make Obi Wan do the finishing strike. Before he jumps he says also "This is the End for you my Master." He alarms Obi Wan to make him kill/free himself. After Padme refusing him he was lost. He had no reason and no interest left to be a servant of the dark side.

All this duell against Obi Wan was not to kill him, it was to force him to join Anakin. But Obi Wan was to strong to force him to the dark side. Choking Padme and fighting Obi Wan was of the same reason. He wanted them to obey him and follow him. He failed.

 

If he had no interest in being a servant to the dark side, then why didn't he walk away from it prior to the duel? I don't think Obi-Wan wanted to kill Anakin, if he did, why did he waste his breath trying to bring him back or warn him not to jump? Anakin seemed to believe Obi-Wan stole Padme from him and wanted Kenobi dead IMO.

 

She sure is.

 

Helping to kill Mace Windu and simply walking away? Killing hundreds of Jedi in the Temple and walking away? NO.

Obi Wan is a tactician. A master with many years of experience and Soresu Master. He knew how to distract Anakin and disturb his concentration. Anakin at the end believed Kenobi would help him(beeing killed was also a help for him in this situation), but Obi Wan blamed Anakin after defeating him, before he won he claimed "I have failed you." right after he blamed Anakin.

Anakin lost because he was to sentimental. Obi Wan did won because he was icecold in the right moment. He took revenge for the Jedi. He did not help anakin, he did not forgive him or killed/freed him in a mercifull way. He just walked away with a indiferrent look.