The Lost Missions brings us some of the most needed material of the entire run.
What They Say:
In these eagerly anticipated episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, some of the deepest mysteries of the conflict between the light and the dark sides of the Force are revealed. An intrepid clone trooper discovers a shocking secret, Anakin Skywalker’s closest relationship is tested to its limits, and what Master Yoda discovers while investigating the disappearance of a Jedi could forever change the balance of power in the galaxy.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I never wanted to get into Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While I’m not against the CG animation, it wasn’t my first choice. I’m also not exactly enthralled with the prequel era stories that came from the movies, though there’s room for so much potential in it. But then I ended up picking up the Blu-ray releases of the series as they came out and were dirt cheap through sales. The first season took time to really find its way, but it started to do some interesting things as it got its groove. This progressed throughout the five seasons that were broadcast on Cartoon Network and we saw a pretty solid and expansive storyline coming into form across it. Storylines that did a good job of humanizing a lot of the characters in a great way while offering some strong challenges to the viewer as it worked in the classic premise of “a certain point of view” for many things. But one of the best things it did was to take the Clones and really explore their lives more in so many facets that you really became invested in them.
So when Lucasfilm was sold to Disney and the series ended, the already in production sixth season got shortened and became The Lost Missions, which ended up on Netflix. Running for thirteen episodes, what we get is probably the best of the five seasons depending on what you’re looking for from the show. For me, outside of the Jar Jar Binks two part storyline, it offers a lot of great material that deals with the final period before the third prequel movie that cements why some of these things happen. But it also gives us a three part finale that focuses on Yoda that explains some pretty important material that covers all six films. The only down side to this season for me was the lack of some of the best characters of the show as Obi-wan Kenobi is used sparingly, Anakin has a bit more time but it still minimal overall and Ahsoka has only one scene. I really grew to like the character after disliking her a lot in the first season and this was just an unfortunate aspect to the season.
With this season, one of the bigger focuses is in tying to what the third prequel movie has to deal with. And that provides for some good things to work with. The opening arc runs for four episodes and pretty much ejects the main cast in a big way. When in the midst of a mission with Anakin, one of the Clones ends up going crazy and kills one of the Jedi that was there, going on about how he has to obey orders. Obviously this is an Order 66 situation, but it predates it from Revenge of the Sith and that throws a lot of things into question. With Clone Trooper Tup being taken back to Kamino with Fives escorting him to figure out what’s going on, we get a pretty good investigative mission going on. Fives is convinced something is wrong with him and that he’s not just crazy because that would mean they’re all capable of going in that direction. And with the Kaminoins having done so much to condition and modify them for their job, that is pretty worrying.
While separated on Kamino, Fives ends up connecting with a medical droid named AZI that he’s able to manipulate a bit in order to help him investigate. There’s a certain kind of paranoia running through Fives at this point, but it’s fairly well justified as you watch the forces aligned against him going into motion. Because of the importance of Order 66, something that Palpatine doesn’t want to execute until he has all the pieces of the puzzle in place, there’s a desperate move on their part to secure Tup – and then Fives – in order to ensure that the mystery is solved in a way that stops the investigation. The Kaminoins come across largely as dupes in this, working under Sidious designs while believing that the chip that contains the order in the Clones is there for a very good reason, we see how Sidious and Dooku work to secure the fallout and contain it. Which, of course, we know they do. But what it does is to give us that rare blip that shows there are events happening that could have raised the alarm more if not for the machinations of the Sith. You really get invested in what Fives is going through – especially after engaging with him for a few seasons now – and seeing him trying to do his duty the best that he can but being thwarted by his own allies – and fellow Clone Troopers – is heartbreaking.
The second arc is a little more complicated but also simple as it unfolds because it works to serve one of the more critical parts of taking control of the Republic. He who owns the banks, owns the war. This story revolves around Padme as she’s brought into to Scipio in order to cement the loans that are going on to fund the war, but she discovers that their best negotiator is actually Clovis, a man we had seen many a season ago that was essentially a betrayer. That puts Padme in a wary position but also later draws in Anakin as he distrusts him completely. Which is pretty justified as we see. Clovis is doing what he can to reveal corruption in the banks which is threatening both sides, but to him and more importantly, the safety of the banks themselves. The Separatists aren’t paying the interest on their loans and the banks are running on empty because of it, which is dangerous. So he works with Padme in order to reveal that, which in turn gets him installed as the new head of the bank by both Republic and Separatist representatives.
There’s a nice moment where you see the way this unfolds and how he thinks he’s achieved his greatest desire only to see it pulled out from under him. With Dooku orchestrating things by pulling the strings, he makes it clear that they won’t be paying the interest and that the Republic should be charged more instead. Yes, yes, it’s all silly economic things. But it’s a masterful move because it forces the situation that in turn has the Republic up in arms about it, causing Chancellor Palpatine to “nationalize” the banks and take control of them. That obviously puts the Separatists in a bad way, but with his larger goal being to take over the Republic and cement his power in so many ways to turn it into his Empire, it’s a beautiful move that goes too quickly and with too much emotion. There are those that are wary of it, but with the zeal and patriotism of the Senators of the Republic, speaking out is far more dangerous.
The less said about the Jar Jar Binks two part storyline the better.
While we get a standalone piece that deals with part of the mystery of the Jedi behind ordering the purchase of the Clone Troopers with Sifo-Diyas, it’s the final three episodes that made this a must see series. Just these final three alone should be mandatory viewing between Episode II and Episode III. While I’ve always liked Yoda and some of his sayings are part of my life’s vocabulary, I’ll admit that his part in the prequels was weak at best most of the time and some of what they’ve done with him in this series equally so. But here, it’s very much redeemed. With so many mysteries going on for so long with how the Sith are moving throughout all of this war, Yoda ends up having a moment where he hears Qui-Gon Jinn talking to him, telling him to go to Dagobah. There’s some issues with that since he’s not exactly himself from it, which has him under protective medical care, but it’s a great little caper he orchestrates with Anakin that gets him to flee Coruscant and go on this adventure – with R2D2 in tow.
The story takes us to two important places where the Force exists, revealing to us that Dagobah is one of those rare places where the Force is pure within the planet. There’s a beautiful moment where through the urgings of this form of Qui-Gon that he goes beneath the tree that we’d seen in Episode V that Luke went into and he sees the events of Episode III that are coming. Qui-Gon makes the case to him across the episode that the dark times are ahead and Yoda is instrumental in being the one that will preserve the knowledge of the Jedi for the day that the battle is won and new Jedi’s must take up the mantle and rebuild things. But in order to do that, he has to train himself in order to retain his personality after he dies, something that Qui-Gon has been able to do. Sith aren’t able to do this, as they seek only control over the physical world, so Qui-Gon sends him to the place where he’ll be challenged. This in turn takes him to the heart of the galaxy and to the Sith homeworld where he faces a number of trials that puts him on the journey to finally being able to train.
Which, apparently, is what he did all those years on Dagobah after the end of Episode III. And it’s what Obi-wan was also doing when he was on Tatooine, as we saw both of them at the end of Episode VI watching the celebrations. How Anakin did it? Well, we’ll ignore that for the moment. But this arc serves to be an important binding piece for both films because it finally answers what Qui-Gon was able to do and why, what Yoda and Obi-wan were up to in exile all these years and why Yoda is doubly important to be the font of information for the next generation that Luke would help to bring about. It also brings us an angle towards what Obi-wan says in Episode IV when he tells Vader that striking him down would make him more powerful. He’d become one with the Force to be sure, but he’d retain his personality – something so few had ever done as a lost art – and he’d be there when balance came back to the Force and would be able to help move it along again. More powerful indeed.
In Summary:
I’ve had issues with this series as a whole early on and throughout with some of the story choices, some of the focuses and the way it could have really gone in some bigger ways. But as the series progressed, I found myself becoming more invested in it as they found their footing and began to develop its characters. One of the best aspects of the show is that it’s not the Anakin show. He is a big player in it, but he can spend the bulk of the season out of it. It can focus on any number of characters and it often does. That so much of it was spent with various Clone Troopers was a surprise, particularly in that it really made them compelling characters that you wanted to see more of. This final abbreviated season is largely excellent as it brings a certain bit of closure to various events and lays the final foundations for Revenge of the Sith. There’s less main character focus and that can be disconcerting based on expectations, but it works out for the best. This season brings us some great arcs with great characters and provides some deep connective tissue for the six films as a whole that causes you to look at them in a more engaging way. And, in the end, it has me even more excited for the new films to come.
It’s very easy to dismiss this as a kids series. Don’t make that mistake.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Netflix
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
