This episode is probably going to piss a lot of people off and excite a lot of others. I thought this was a good episode and had some great bits in it, but I’m certainly not angry and I’m not as excited as a lot of people probably are.
“Mandalore Plot” begins with Obi-Wan Kenobi sent to Mandalore to investigate claims that the Duchess Satine (whom he has some form of past with) is taking the council of neutral systems, which represents 1,500 neutral planets, in league with the Separatists. This frustrates her immensely, though she seems grateful to see her old friend, the Jedi Master. Obi-wan is concerned about a terrorist group called the Death Watch, but Satine insists they’re a bunch of hoodlums. Unfortunately, as they discuss this, one of those hooligans blows up a bomb in a public place, killing many civilians.
This leads them to the autonomous moon of Concordia and in the domain of Governer Pre Vizsla (voiced by Jon Favreau). Soon, Obi-wan is taken by a pair of Death Watch commandos and Satine needs to come to his rescue. Turns out Vizsla is in charge of the Death Watch and wants to kill some Jedi.
Seeing a dozen Mandalorian’s in action against a Jedi was very, very cool to see. But there are things in this episode that make it clear that a lot of preconceived notions that people had of characters in the movies (and their extensions in the expanded universe) are completely false. I thought that Jango Fett and Boba Fett were part of a proud Mandalorian tradition, but it turns out that they’re just a pair of dirty thugs and no one knows why they’d have Mandalorian armour or where they got it. My impression of Mandalore reading the Legacy of the Force series of Star Wars books was very different as well.
I can see why hardcore EU fans (and some of the writers *cough*Karen Travis*cough*) might have a problem with this, but at the end of the day, this is George Lucas’ sandbox and when you play in it in the Expanded Universe, you have to expect that things can still change while he’s working on stuff. I, for one, think that this Clone Wars cartoon series and the movies are the highest priority of what’s what in the Star Wars canon, and I could really care less about the rest of it, even though I may enjoy quite a bit of it.
A lot of people won’t feel this way.
Aside from the shockwaves this will have on the Expanded Universe, this episode was a solid action entry into the series. Watching Obi-wan get captured by a pair of Death Watch commandos was incredibly fun to watch and the animation during the lightsaber duel between Obi-wan and Vizsla was a cut above. I want to see more of the canon version of the Mandalorians. They were much cooler than I thought they would be.
I liked this episode, but felt the ending lacked a little bit, but the preview for the next episode made me think that this might be the weakest entry in the Mandalore Plot arc.
So, until next week, make mine Star Wars.