Full Series Grade the Episode: S05E16: Lawless

Wow, harsh.

 

Note to no one in particular: when your review of a 22-minute episode begins to hit 3 pages, it's time to wrap it up.

All I'll say is that I went back and rewatched "The Lawless" about 30 minutes ago in order to better evaluate it. Assigning a remotely objective grade was excruciatingly difficult: my awe of the episode's climactic fight and its victor threatened to overwhelm any semblance of criticism.

As I've griped before, The Clone Wars is plagued by the flaws of the prequels with frustrating perpetuity. "The Lawless" was not bereft of its dialogue and pacing issues: for all its purported urgency, Satine's initial escape from the prison was undermined by her casual gait (i.e. she should have been running like hell) and Bo-Katan's departing words to Obi-Wan were clumsy as hell (e.g. "Now go" should have been "Now go!"). These may seem subtle to most, but they were jarring to me; throwing me out of an otherwise epic current.

I appreciated the (probably unintentional) recurring theme of Republic-Jedi corruption. Yoda and Ki-Adi-Mundi's objects made perfect political sense: the jilted Republic would clearly be disinterested in aiding Mandalore as reprisal for their lack of allegiance. On the other hand, it made terrible moral sense. Which is further proof that for all the good Jedi do, their ultimate loyalty is to the Republic and not the greater good.

Maul's cunning was displayed again for a disbelieving audience. Luring Obi-Wan back to Mandalore was deliciously sinister and served as another reminder that his sense of ambition is inextricably linked with his thirst for vengeance. Satine's death was pointlessly sadistic and cruel, which met with my approval in order to cement Maul's viciousness. Obi-Wan's reaction was both appropriate and commensurate with who he's been established to be. Obi-Wan's rescue by Bo-Katan had greater potential as a story arc in itself: Obi-Wan remaining to put Maul down for good in an uneasy alliance with Bo-Katan's splinter cell. This would have been prudent as a Jedi contrast to the very alliance the late Pre Vizsla made with Maul. Alas, that prospect was abandoned in favor of a shoehorned reveal about a certain family tree. As if Star Wars hasn't seen that one before.

But the highlight of this episode was embodied in Darth Sidious. The much-mourned Ian Abercrombie gave the finest performance of his tenure on the show; I've been an ardent fan of his since 2008 and prefer much of his efforts to Ian McDiarmid's own. (How's that for blasphemy?) Sidious was appropriately sinister and terrifying. The cornerstone of Sith philosophy is the concept of superiority; as George and Dave explain, Sith have to be pretty much good at everything. It was fitting to see that Sidious is not only smarter than his apprentices (and their apprentices), he's also faster, stronger, and more powerful. Accordingly, the brawl between Sidious and the Zabraks was the best in the show's history.

Savage's death was, in my opinion, infinitely more tragic than Satine's own. She died fighting (ha ha) for her chosen cause; Savage died fighting for someone else's. In an eerie and poignant reframing of TPM, Maul comforts his dying brother (and reveals more depth to his character in the process) and attempts to avenge him. But Maul's galvanized efforts are still fruitless, which adds another layer of tragedy: Unlike Qui-Gon, whose death empowered Obi-Wan to defeat Maul, Savage's death accomplished nothing, and the rematch ended with his brother disarmed, begging and crying and shrieking helplessly into the night.

My God Sidious is awesome.

9/10

 

+ 1 for The Greatest Lightsaber Duel to date.
+ 1 for Bo-Katan awesomeness.
12/10.

 

5/10 isn't harsh, it's average. Median, middle of the road.

 

I'm debating between a 9 and a 10 on this one. It would be my first 10 of the season.

For some people and not others, let's please not beat that dead Bantha once more...

 

Well no, objectively speaking 5/10 is median.

 

The median and average in any given set of data may be different.

 

When the data is between one and ten, five is the median.

 

If you're Asian American don't tell your parents that... speaking from experience, ha.

Anyways, 8/10. 1 point off for the pacing (and the fact that we got 4 episodes of D squad and the space frog and only 3 of the Mandos), and 1 point off because we'll need to wait until next season to find out what happens to Bo-Katan after this. Girl is such a badass, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a huge fan of Katee Sackhoff. Also...

Yeah, I totally agree. A thousand laments for missed storytelling opportunities.

 

Which means you'd be right if there were 10 episodes of TCW and every single poster here had a combination of all 10 numbers used once each.

 

No, we're saying that between 1 and 10 the middle number is 5. Therefore, 5 is not good, not bad.

 

I really was trying to not have the thread devolve into this... You're not using "average" in the mathematical sense. If someone thinks most of the episodes are good, then for them the average episode isn't "not good, not bad," it's good. But that wasn't even the point. Some people think an OK episode is a 5 since that's the halfway point between 1 and 10, others think an OK episode is a 7 because in some schools they teach that an average grade is a C which is in the 70's on a 100-point scale, there's no point in going on about which side is right or wrong for the millionth freaking time, people grade differently.

 

I wondered that myself. I think Maul was just using guesswork. I think he thought that hey, if they're allies, maybe he really cares about her. It was a shot in the dark and he hit his target.

As to how Yoda knew about Obi-Wan's feelings for Satine, I have no idea. Maybe when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan got back, Qui-Gon mentioned to Yoda, "Yahh, our mission was successful... I'm pretty sure my padawan slept with the Duchess though" or something like that. I'm sure we can come up with all kinds of fun explanations.

Anyway, for me this episode is a 9.5 - partly because I don't think a perfect episode exists and partly because they made Satine and Bo-Katan sisters - but teacher taught me that a 9.5 rounds up to a 10, so that's how I voted.

 

Not really, it just sets the standards of the show.

If a show is generally mediocre, like Star Trek Voyager, then a 5/10 is still a mediocre episode, being the standard for that series. However, a show that is generally quality, like Next Generation, can still have an average episode be rated 5/10, and yet provide a much better experience than Voyager, because the quality is higher. Then your 6's and 7s go from there, where a 10/10 Voyager episode might still not be the same as a 10/10 TNG episode.

 

We should re-vote every ep on a 10 point scale with descriptions, 10=perfection, 9 amazing, 8 great, 7 good, 6 better than average, 5 average etc

 

Wow, 21 votes for 10/10 so far? I'm not surprised, but this has got to be the highest rated episode ever!

 

What's even more interesting is there's yet to be a vote below 5/10.

 

8/10

Would have been 10/10 if Satine's and Savage's deaths conjured any feelings of sympathy in me.

 

I gave it a 10/10, this episode was awesome.

 

Very good episode. The involvement of Obi-Wan was great (also nice to see the Twilight and the Rako Hardeen outfit again) and the two major deaths were so well done; Satine's exit was possibly the most dramatic death on the show and Savage's death was pulled off really nicely; both characters will be missed. It was nice to see Korkie and his friends again, Bo-Katan was cool and kicked some butt, there were some really good action sequences and a great lightsaber fight between Darth Sidious and Maul & Savage which ended with a victory for Sidious, who's now got Maul in his grasp. To have Sidious himself in this episode rocked and he did not disappoint. However, the episode was crammed with stuff and that unfortunately made it feel a bit rushed and there were some things left hanging, such as the ongoing war between the Mando factions and Almec still being the prime minister, so I hope there'll be a sequel arc to wrap up the loose ends. Overall, It was a really entertaining and satisfying conclusion of this arc.

9/10

 

A fantastic episode.

+Twilight!
+ animation and realistic aging of the Academy kids
+ Satine's death done well - heartbreaking.
+ Sidious
+ Bo-Katan = awesome
+ Savage's death
+ Even the mercy worked

Best episode of the series to date.

 

As it stands right now, the average rating for this episode is about 9.4, which makes it the highest rated episode in the series on the forums, only a shade higher than Rookies with a similar amount of votes. Odds are though, it will probably go up/down as rates are still coming in.

 

Mmm, 7/10. I still hate the Maul revival plot, but I give this episode props for killing off a number of characters, and the Sidious-Maul duel. Plus, Obi-Wan looks really spiffy in that red Death Watch armor.

 

Nope.