2.01 – Holocron Heist – Clone Wars Review

Posted by Samuel Walters

“A lesson learned is a lesson earned.”

Season Two of Clone Wars begins with “Holocron Heist,” an episode featuring plenty of action and intrigue, and offering a dash of character work on the side. For the most part the episode is entertaining and plenty of fun to watch. Visually, it’s mesmerizing. The level of animation is certainly very impressive. But there are a couple of issues in terms of plausibility that undermine what would otherwise be a true classic.

The episode opens with the Jedi woefully outnumbered on the planet Felucia. The battle sequences are intense and well-choreographed. They successfully thrust the audience right back into the mix with sequences in space and on land. But there’s a larger purpose for these scenes: Ahsoka Tano. She’s a little bit older, a little more headstrong, and takes Anakin’s aggressive and reckless advice a bit too literally, putting herself and her troops in danger. Of course, she and her troops are rescued in time, but it’s an important lesson for the young Padawan, as well as a significant evolution in her character – both of which are important developments for the Clone Wars series as a whole.

After Ahsoka is re-assigned to library security as punishment for her actions on Felucia, the episode switches gears to its central mystery: Cad Bane’s plot to steal a Jedi Holocron, at the request of Darth Sidious. Bane’s character is certainly colorful and fascinating to watch. The quasi-film-noir elements of his scenes lend a wonderfully suspenseful mood to the proceedings. And even his quirky Analyzer Droid sidekick is fun to watch.

But the episode has some issues in the execution of Bane’s plot – namely that it requires the Jedi to be … well … too easily infiltrated. Basically, with a few plot device gadgets, Bane is able to sneak into the Jedi Temple and avoid ever being discovered by any Jedi, despite the fact that Yoda sensed, before hand, that there would be intruders. Part of the problem is the implied ineptitude of the Jedi in general, and Anakin and Obi-Wan in particular. But here’s another problem. The whole of the Jedi Temple is placed on alert and yet the whole place seems to be empty. Were Anakin and Obi-Wan the only Jedi in the Temple? And if Holocrons were so important, why wouldn’t Jedi be stationed there?

Ultimately, these aren’t critical flaws, and we do get to see Ahsoka be able to redeem herself by capturing Bane’s shape-shifting accomplice. But the mistakes do keep the episode from being something exceptional.

Overall Grade: B-

On the whole, “Holocron Heist” is an entertaining, but flawed, return for the Clone Wars series. I liked the direction they’re going with Ahsoka’s character and with the darker, more sinister Cad Bane. And the upgraded animation is beautiful. Hopefully the episodes themselves will be constructed with the same care and attention to detail as the characters.

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Topics: Animation, Sci-Fi, TV Reviews
Filed under: Clone Wars