Full Series Grade Episode 6.08: The Disappeared, Pt. 1

You know what? I'm going to go full 10/10! Jar Jar having a girlfriend, and a lover besides, just made my jaw hit the floor. it was one of those things where I just couldn't stop watching, because I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. But it was just so much fun to watch! The look on Jar Jar's face when he talked about how he and the Queen had been friends for a long time was absolutely priceless. The whole episode is proof positive that in a galaxy far far away there really is somebody for everybody. his interactions with Mace, Mace's interactions with the Bardottans, and the whole temple of doom style climax made this episode definitely worth watching and rewatching again.

 

A surprisingly fun romp with an unlikely team-up of Jar Jar Binks and Mace Windu, the oddly-named The Disappeared, Part I was more entertaining than I expected. It was filled with neat homages to Indiana Jones, and I liked the Eastern aesthetic of Bardotta and its Phuii (?) people. I found it only slightly distracting that the Bardottans had such simple English names from our real world; Julia and Joseph, for example. The Bardottans as a culture seem heavily influenced by Indian (based on their accents), Tibetan, Nepalese, and other Hindu cultures IRL. As jarring (no pun intended) as it was to discover that Jar Jar Binks of all people had a romantic interest, who was the queen of an entire planet no less (!), I was willing to accept it. There's someone for everyone, apparently. In fact, Jar Jar's typically inane brand of humor was quite tolerable in this episode, and Mace Windu playing the straight man to Jar Jar and his silly antics worked quite well, whether it was as simple as a Qui-Gon in TPM reference telling Binks not to touch anything or going out of his way to save Jar Jar from danger with the enigmatic Frangawl Cult.

The episodes' fortune cookie, "Without darkness there cannot be light", seemed odd for an otherwise fairly light-hearted episode, but I guess it was appropriate due to the Bardottans' plight and the idea of an ancient curse brought forth by the strange underground cultists known as the Frangawl, who were making the Dagoyan Masters, and eventually Julia, "disappear". I liked the concept of a Force-sensitive race of people led by Dagoyan Masters distinct from the Jedi, which helped further broaden the galaxy. Indeed, the Bardottans distrust the Jedi in their likely mistaken belief that in the past, the Jedi had forcibly taken any their Force-sensitive infants. The Legends EU had numerous examples of other Force-sensitive peoples separate from the Jedi, and TCW had the Nightsisters before this episode. It seemed rather strange that the Frangawl can apparently steal the Force from others, but I was glad to see TCW tackling a rather strange new concept. The scenes in the Frangawl lair were a nice homage to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and it was actually quite entertaining watching Jar Jar bumble his way into success against the Frangawl (quite the contrast to Bombad Jedi) with Mace kicking ass but generally avoiding casualties.

Mace's final words, "Jar Jar, maybe it's this place, but, you're starting to make sense to me" were quite fitting. Jar Jar surprised me in that he was actually rather funny and tolerable in this episode, and showed more than a hint of bravery when confronted with the fact that his love was in danger, earning the respect of one of the Jedi Order's greatest Masters. *Gasp* Jar Jar and competence? Indeed. What can I say, this episode was better than it had to be, although I can't rate it very highly because I can only stand so much Jar Jar as a protagonist (his voice can still be quite grating, especially in large doses), but it was a good setup for something better. I gave this episode a 7/10.