Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

[Fyraltari]

The argument that Rey is a Mary Sue is not based on her being able to use telekinetic abilities without training

That may not be the sole argument for that, but I have seen it used and that's what I made fun of. If you don't use it, then good for you.

Remember how Anakin had a blood test for Force sensitivity in The Phantom Menace? Include that in the newborn screening process at hospitals or maybe in standard medical checkups for small children, flag up any children with midichlorian counts that exceed a certain threshold, and send a Jedi recruiter to do a confirmation checkup.

Thing is, they missed Palpatine who was from the same planet than that gungan child so "systematic blood testing" can't be the answer there.

I thought it just listed distance travelled between stops, so they could combine that with the places they knew he had been to narrow down where else he could have gone.

Rewatching the scene that's what Anakin says he'll do, but the computer is already showing Mustafar when he boots it up and reads it from a list rather than maikng any calculation. Maybe that's just poor dialog.


Season 2, Episode 4: Senate Spy

Spoiler: Recap

Show

Anakin just is onleave from the war (wonder if that's the same one as the season 1 finale) and is visiting Padmé, he even brought a space-pizza! They have a very cute scene where they cuddle and talk about food with Anakin even saying that he thinks of their household as "home". However Anakin eventually has to leave as he's been ignoring Obi-Wan's calls for several "clicks" (the hell are those, even?) and reluctant as he is to go "duty must come first, espcially during war times". the Jedi council explains to Anakin that they need him to convince Padmé to spy on someone for them. the man in question is Senator Ross Clovis (who has exactly the accent that this name implies) who is Senator of Scipio but also a representative of the Interstellar Banking Clan who they suspect of being in cahoots with the Separatists. So, the Republic knows the banking Clan has a seat on the separatist Council, no? How has that organization not been outlwaed and their assets in Republic space frozen is beyond me, but apprently they didn't. Anakin isn't really thrilled at the idea of sending his secret wife on a mission to spy on a potential traitor and his mood only worsens when he hears that the reason the Jedi want her, specifically, to do it is that she and Clovis used to be "friends" when they both started their senatorial career until she dumped him. His outburst at hearing that one gets him a raised eyebrow from Kenobi and Yoda asking why he is so surprised to not know details about Padmé. he awkwardly deflects the question and goes to talk to her.

He meets her in the Senate (even gets on her flying saucer with her) and tries to apologize but she's still pissed at him for leaving their romantic evening. And she gets even more upset once it's clear he's there because the Jedi Council sent him. He is clearly doing as little as possible to convince her but once he mentions that Clovis is a suspected Separatist agent she exclaims that Yoda never mentionned that. Wait he asked her to spy on a fellow Senator but never mentionned why he wanted her to? What kind of willy-wonka plots is he used to run?
From this point on the roles are switched as Padmé insists she will spy on Clovis while Ani tries and fails to forbid her from doing so. She even throws his "duty comes first, especially in war-time" bit a thim. I wonder if this is their first argument. The Jedi council give her a more comprehensive briefing (inculding that she may have to rekindle her and Clovis's "friendship" to Ani's visible discomfort) and assign Skywalker to her protection. She invites Clovis to a restaurant and flirts a bit. He is quick to invite her on a business trip he has planned on Cato Nemodia to deal with the Trade Federation. So the Trade Federation, despite creating and mass-producing the CIS's foot soldiers is apparently open for business with the Republic whose Senators are totally persona grata on its base planet, the homeworld of one of the major Separatist people. Suuuuure... Clovis argues that Padmé's good relation with the Trade Federation would help his dealing. Ah yes, of course, why they only invaded her planet, placed a bomb in her ship (killing a childhood friend), sent venomous worms in her bedroom, had her tied to a pillar while beasts came to devour her, and tried to force an old friend of her family to have her executed, they're basically best friends! The hell? Anyway she accepts. Anakin poses as their pilot and basically pranks clovis a couple of times as the Senator gets more and more overt in his intent to get in Padmé's pants (like trying to kiss her when she's clearly reeling back, real classy dude).

On Cato Neimodia they are welcomed by (former ?) Trade Federation Senator Lott Dod who appeared in TPM long enough to call Padmé a lying liar when she accused the Federation of going all East India Company on her world. What a nice friendly reunion. Clovis excuses himself because he has something to discuss with Dod and promise her a tour later. Clovis and Dod meet with Archduke Poggle, of Geonosis. Turns out they are building a brand new droid foundry for Dooku. Dod and Poggle want a bigger share of the profits but Clovis shut them up as they apparently have ceaded their holdings to the IBC (he did say the Federation owed the IBC money). Padmé tries to snoop in but is spotted and Clovis turns off the holographic display of the foundry while Poggle hides (oh, so he's not kosher?) before she can see anything. As Clovis and Amidala leave, Dod tells Poggle he's just come up with a plan to make the Scipian more pliable: poison Padmé and withheld the antidote until he agrees to their terms. Later he does just that, smearing some poison on a glass he offers Padmé.

Clovis is giving Padmé his tour of the place and, once they're back in the room the hologram display is in and says she's dying of thirst so he'll leave to fetch her some water. She turns the computer on by guessing the password (Padmé). Apparently this is Clovis's computer even though this is Dod's place and Clovis didn't bring it with him? She finds the plans and figure what's up so she downloads it and signals Anakin. Clovis comes back and, in order to hide her memory-slate, she flings herself at him. In full view of Ani. Awkward. She throws the slate at Skywalker and he brings it to R2 telling him to leave in five minutes whether he's back or not, as the Jedi must see the evidence. The poison starts taking effect though and Amidala faints. Clovis takes her to her room and pretends to leave to get a medical droid. In truth he goes to Dodd and accuses him of poisinning her. Dodd simply retorts that she's a Republic spy, something Clovis only believes after seeing that his hologram is gone (did she delete it from the computer or is the Galaxy far far away's copyright security absolutely over the top?). They accuse each other of treason and Anakin shows up. Clovis confesses that Dodd poisonned her but he thinks that if Anakin gives him the hologram he can trade it for Padmé's life with Lot Dodd. Anakin decides to cut the middle-man and negotiate with Lot Dod himself. Clovis however is afraid of what Dod might do to him. Anakin basically says that this sounds like a Clovis Problem, not an Anakin problem. Clovis is more worried for Padmé than for himself and agrees to take her to Corsucant. Dodd intercepts them and Clovis just draws a gun at him demanding the antidote, which is given, with the promise that Clovis will pay for this. As the heroes are about to leave Clovis begs Anakin for the hologram. "I wish I could give it to you, but I have a lot of faith in your survival skills." Ding! +5 Dark Side points. Anakin injects Padmé with the antidote and reassures her that their mission is a success and that he's never doubted her. And I have a space-elevator on Corellia to sell to anybody who believes that. Dod and Poggle, for their part want a word with Clovis, pay no attention to the droid firing squad.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Show

I think this was the best episode in the season so far (but we're only 4 episodes in). The whole separatist plot doesn't make much sense but it's only really here to serve the actual plot of Anakin being a jealous husband. This is done pretty well, as we already know Anakin and Padmé are going to stay together they don't even bother to make Clovis a credible rival to Anakin, which only highlights Anakin's childish insecurity. One bit that I only got later on was that since Clovis and Padmé were dating back when she got her start in the Senate, that means that it was during the post TPM timeskip meaning that her defense of "it was before we were together" doesn't mesh with Anakin becasue he was already obsessed with her at the time. As always Anakin is way more involved in the relationship than she is. One thing that I found weird was the the episode refusal to actually say Padmé and Clovis were dating. Like they insist they were "friends" but never say "lovers", "dating", "in love", "boy/girlfriend" or any other romantic term. What's up with that? I really appreciated their moment at the beginning. This, and their other moment at the end, make his action in RotS way more believable than "I'm haunted by the kiss you should never have given me."

Lott Dodd is a better Gunray than Gunray. Maybe it's just because he was barely in TPM, or maybe it's because he's not focused on petty revenge. I'm completely lost on how the CIS works however. It was my understanding that the Trade Federation, the Techno-Union, the ISB and a few other Megacorporations were pooling their resources (and private army) to organize a rebellion against the Republic in order to basically turn the galaxy into an anarcho-capitalist money-making machine while making a half-assed claim of defending the Outer Rims from Core-ist oppression. But this epsiode seems to present these same megacorps as war profiteers who deal with both parties? Even though previous episodes showed Gunray and Tambor in charge of Separatist armies and empowered to negotiate on the CIS's behalf. It's intersting to see that while the Trade Federation is apparently all Nemoidians, the ISB is more diverse with a high-ranking human.

Speaking of, Clovis is an interesting character. He's a bit cliché as a romantic rival working for the ennemy but he seems to be genuinely in love with Padmé (even if he's acting entitled about it). If he isn't shot at the end of the episode so he might develop into a nice rounded character.

It's good to see this serie realize you can make a good episode without an action scene.