“War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere.” –Revenge of the Sith
I think that’s the most important thought to keep with you as you watch the Umbaran Arc of episodes, and this fourth installment is no exception. After three episodes of being completely mistreated by General Pong Krell, Captain Rex and his men finally uncover his plot to leave the Jedi order after completely decimating the Umbara campaign.
With Umbara left in the hands of the Seperatists because of Krell’s maneuvering, he assumed he’d be awarded with a place at Dooku’s side. And for those complaining that the Jedi would never leave any important command in the hands of someone so obviously teetering on the brink, remember that the dark side has clouded their visions, my friends.
Through the entire series I was wondering how close to the dark side Krell was skating, and all of the questions of logic I had about why he was so angry about the clones succeeding in their missions were answered completely. This episode delivered on every level of answering questions and, in classic Star Wars fashion, going back and revising my opinion of what I’d seen before. This episode held surprise after surprise for me (though the last few minutes were pretty predictable (but that doesn’t matter)). From Jesse and Fives being almost executed, to Krell’s betrayal, forcing the clones to kill themselves, it was all incredibly intense.
In fact, in a lot of places it had a lot of slow-burning tension like you’d see in a Hitchcock film. Even Krell’s speech about the Clones being inferior hearkened back to Brandon’s speech in Hitchcock’s Rope. (Do yourself a favor and see Rope.) Brandon Shaw isn’t the only film villain that Krell channels, he also has lines and mannerisms straight from Palpatine himself. It was downright scary at times.
And the realization that the clones were killing each other was downright haunting.
The culmination of the story in the last three episodes was fantastic, to be sure, but there was so much going on technically and I want to highlight it. Firstly, this episode, in a lot of ways, felt like a noir film. From narrow bands of light across character’s faces to smoke in the foreground, it had a lot of sensibilities from old black and white movies that knew how to paint with light. But there was also so much from a classic Star Wars perspective that just can’t be ignored. Everything with Krell and his lightsabers in the dark reminded me so much of the fight between Anakin and Dooku in Attack of the Clones that I was just giddy.
I really don’t need to tell you how incredible and dynamic the action in this episode was. Any time you get to see a Jedi and a pack of clones going at it full force is a grand time. And is it any wonder that the clones of the 501st so happily march on the Jedi temple with Master Skywalker? The Jedi had already betrayed them once, why not this time?
This might be my favorite episode of Season 4 so far. It had all the right elements, cast new light on prior episodes, and just kicked a lot of ass.
And I’ll be completely honest, it wasn’t as much Paths of Glory as I thought it would be which is partially the reason for a lot of the surprises in the episode, but overall, I think it was definitely an inspiration for the arc. I hope you check it out.
At the end of the day, though, it’s a good time to be a Star Wars fan.