Full Series The Clone Wars: Episode 414: A Friend In Need Discussion Thread

Only got to see the episode now, haven't read the other posts yet.

What a stupid episode.

After 3 minutes I seriously considered switching off the TV, and now I kinda wish I did. Such a wasted opportunity. A gorgeous episode, with amazing elements, but it gets so many things wrong it's not even funny.

- That peace talk meeting was a joke. What kind of peace talk meeting allows some random kid to step up to the podium to accuse the leader of one side of being a murderer?
- I'll never forgive this episode for what it did to the Commando Droids. Remember those guys from Rookies? Remember how menacing they were? How composed? How accurate in their shooting? How tough? Well, forget about that! Now they can't hit the broadside of a barn, they dance around like fools as thugs shoot at their feet and they can be destroyed just by pushing them against a wall or kicking them (that was when I almost switched off).
- And what happened to the Death Watch? I thought they were these proud, traditionalist and sort of fanatic warrior clan, but now they are just a gang of douchebags, aimlessly doing douchebaggins stuff.
- And what happened to Vizsla?! It wasn't until that clown (more on that later) called him by his name that I realized it was actually him. He's a completely different character! Not only he looks different and sounds different (is that Favreau still voicing him?), but his personality has shifted completely. He used to be this tough, composed guy, but now he's just an evil buffoon. And what about his allegiances? Last time we saw him he was allied with Dooku, waiting for the right moment to strike. Now all of a sudden Dooku has given him a huge scar and he wants to kill him?! You can't just throw a shift like that at the audience as if it made sense.
- And what was that clown?! The leader of the village. There's exotic, and then there's ridiculous. If I had been invested in the scene, it would have pulled me right out of it.
- And what about Lux's amazing plan? Ok, so he was able to find out where Dooku was, through the most absurd plot device ever. But isn't he usually flying around with his fleet? What good is it to know that he was in his huge battleship circling system X? Does the Death Watch have some fearsome fleet of warships hidden away in one of those huts?
- And what about Lux's "relationship" with Ahsoka? They haven't got one, and yet the show seems to want us to think they do. They did have the beginning of something that could be developed in Heroes on Both Sides, but in this episode nothing was added at all. Their relationship consists solely of "I'm a boy, you're a girl. Do the math", nothing more.

- Yeah, the action scenes where pretty cool. The visuals were great. And all of that just served to highlight what a waste this whole thing was.

- Oh, I really liked that they used a GX1 Lantillan Short Hauler. It was a Lantillan Short Hauler, right?

 

It's not okay if the guy who (effectively) runs the show puts in stuff he wants to see? Isn't this usually called engagement, passion, interest? Would it actually be better if he just logged on to Wookieepedia before each episode to ensure that every stupid detail from a computer game or comic was correctly represented, as if he was filming a documentary about a war that had already happened? Plo-Koon in the movies is a blank slate, he doesn't have a single line, but he's cool looking and has neat deco on his fighter, so why wouldn't a TV series about the Clone Wars adopt him as a major character, particularly if its show runner took a shine to him?

Let me ask you a question: if you didn't know anything about Filoni and his preferences, if you hadn't watched the commentaries/web-docs/interviews, why would any of this stuff annoy you? Strikes me that it's your own knowledge of Filoni that's the problem.

 

^ I agree

Hell, if I'd be the director, we'd have a secret Monkey Lizard cult. Who cares?

At least Plo Koon gets fleshed out a little, and you can't say they're not doing what people want, because he's popular with many fans.

It's not like they're fleshing out Plo at the expense of other characters. It's more like there are too many episodes about the 'big three'.

Exposure for Plo is good. Now let's give more characters some more exposure.

 

Oh, and Ahsoka quad behading was not badass. It was stupid.

For something to be badass it has to be earned. This was handed to her on a platter.

Yoda beheading Gree and the other trooper in Ep3 was badass. He sensed the imminent danger, didn't let it show, waited for the right moment, then in the blink of an eye jumped and beheaded the unsuspecting attackers. That's badass.

In Ahsoka's case, we have her tied to four mandos, with a few others standing by. Suddenly the Jedi's droid barges in, knocking a mando aside. 2 seconds elapse. He throws smoke around the room. 2 seconds elapse. Then the kid shoves the mando leader. 2 seconds elapse. The droid approaches the Jedi and hands her a couple of lightsabers. 2 seconds elapse. The Jedi ignites the lightsabers and jumps up in the air, twirling. 1 second elapses. The Jedi beheads the 4 mandos, who for almost 10 freaking seconds stood around doing nothing, in their weapon-filled armours, as all this rebellion erupted around them.

No, that's not badass. It's stupid. How can something be badass when it's that contrived?

 

This episode falls into the prequel romance trap again, where the boy and girl fall for each other despite having little to no bonding or reason to form a relationship. The prequels could've could've utilized the obvious loneliness themes. What do these two have?

Ahsoka likes Lux because:
1. He's an attractive teenage male
2. ?????????????
3. ?????????????

Lux likes Ahsoka because:
1. She's an attractive teenage girl
2. ?????????????
3. ?????????????

However, I liked the part where the Space Japanese were turned into Space Teriyaki.

 

Gry!

I thought you'd gone after CT-Numbarz on some wild Bantha chase through the outer rim!

 

They're attracted to each other because Midnight Cowboy has an obsession with Ahsoka and wants her to get loved up to fulfil his sick fantasies. Season 6, I'm calling it: Filoni the Hutt captures Ahsoka trying to rescue a carbonated Lux and she ends up in a slave bikini as Anakin tries to rescue them all.

 

Yeah, sorry, work's been hard this last few weeks. Hopefully things will cool down a bit now.

 

I don't think it mattered. It didn't seem like the negotiations were going anywhere, anyway.

 

It's still completely ludicrous that Padmé "give peace a chance" Amidala would throw away the negotiations so easily. If she's willing to sanction the abduction of a Separatist citizen by a Jedi, she might as well have done something officially in the actual meeting, like offering him asylum or something.

 

IT MUST BE EARNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to make that one of my favorite quotes...maybe...maybe not...

 

It's a bit more justified in this case than it was in the prequels. They are two socially awkward teenagers afterall. We all remember puberty, those of us that have experienced it anyway. They could still expand on it, and they complement each other better than Anakin and Padme did IMO.

Lux never once told Ahsoka about how much he hated snow. How it was cold, and dead, unlike skin which is warm, and pleasant and...

 

The half assed romance between the two isn't what pissed me off this episode. What did was Ahsoka patronizing Lux over the death of Mina, saying she understands. No, she bloody well doesn't. She never knew her mother, she doesn't understand what it is like to lose someone she's known her whole life.

As this has happened to me, with people talking about how they understand what I'm going through after my best friend died, I would say to Ahsoka what I said to them, except I can't say it on these boards.

 

Got to say I'm going to file a lot of the complaints in this thread under T for Trying Too Hard.

Not that I loved the episode. It was a serviceable gap filler between arcs. While it did feel cobbled together the visuals were great and the budding romance worked (especially the rather beautiful parting shot).

As far as DW I think it makes perfect sense for them to quickly devolve into thugs. That's what happens so often in the real world (throughout history) with groups like that.

 

Good point.

I thought about this too when I was actually watching the episode. Most of the dialogue just didn't work or it was wooden.

 

Lots of shows and movies fall into that token romance trap.

With Ahsoka and Lux, this forced romance affects the rest of the characters and the story flow. Lux from before, was against the Republic. Clones killed his father, and he was told the Republic assassinated his mother. So, he should be looking at trying to kill Palpatine, instead of Dooku. Notice how Ahsoka was only against Lux working with Deathwatch, but seem to have no problem with killing Dooku. If Lux had joined some random mercenaries / bounty hunters, I guess Ahsoka would not have had a problem. She probably would have joined them.

So Deathwatch had to be used by the story, because they are already known to be evil by the audience. But now Deathwatch has to be against of Dooku, when they were allied with him the last time we saw them. They even had access to CIS equipment, which made them look more powerful than Satine's forces. Now, with no explanations, Deathwatch is hiding on some planet with no CIS equipment except some beat up droids for target practice. And since they are not hiding on Concordia, we have to assume Satine's pacifist forces (?) beat them and drove them off. And Lux whats to use these people to go after Dooku? To him, they should sound like a bunch of losers. If they lost against a bunch of pacifists, what are they going to do against the might of the Confederacy. Why not give the info to the Republic and let them go after Dooku. Sure Palpatine could have found out about it and warned Dooku, but Lux doesn't know that.

 

Maybe the economy of the Sepertists isn't doing so good, which causes there recant batch of commando droids to turn out crappy, or at least, not as good as the originals.

 

Those two are not socially awkward at all. Lux struts around like a little prince, having the gall to disrupt a peace conference to give his little speech, and Ahsoka will be a smartmouth to practically anyone.

 

To be fair, the Commando Droids in "Rookies" weren't fighting against Jedi, they were fighting against clone troopers and not many of them at that. If it were just clone vs. commando droid, sure, you would have seen some clones hit the ground, but a Jedi is a whole different opponent.

 

In Rookies a Commando Droid would take a direct blaster hit, and was able to shrug it off. Here they are destroyed by being forcefully pushed against a nearby wall, or kicked by a little girl. Are you saying that Ahsoka's kick is actually a lot more powerful than a blaster shot?!

 

Well, actually, yes. Jedi, remember? She can use the Force.

Edit: Think back to the dumb micro-series, where Mace Windu was punching that b2 battle-droid to a pulp during the Battle of Dantooine.

 

Yeah, but Lux still strikes me as the socially awkward type, maybe it's just his tone of voice,or maybe it's his complete inability to look out for himself. But in any case neither he nor Ahsoka seem to get out much, so I think the
"I...I'm in close proximity to a g-g-girl"
reaction can be at least partially excused, for me anyway.

Lux just doesn't seem to be the type of kid that's in with the ladies, but here he's spending a lot of time with a girl who is at least very friendly and protective of him, that could lead to certain feelings. As for Ahsoka she doesn't seem to even be interested in him to the end, for her it's probably more curiosity than anything else.

I'd still take this over the first two thirds of Attack of the Clones. It had better romance AND better action.

 

Thanks for the inspiration, Gry Sarth.
[image=http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l485/clonewarspics/ahsokabadass.jpg]

 

I didn't think of this at first but maybe Lux sees Ahsoka as... a mother figure...