Separatist superweapon number one. Big honking ion gun strapped to a massive space cruiser what could go wrong?

Okay, this is my favorite Arc in the first season. It’s also our introduction to Grievous and his relationship with Obi-Wan.

Newish Faces

Grievous

Okay, so he’s not really new but chronologically this is the first time we see him. Grievous seems to live to kill. He seems to hate the Jedi and loves to collect the lightsabers from those he kills. He reminds me of The Predators. Always taking trophies.

Plo Koon & Commander Wolf

Plo’s also not really new but we don’t get a lot out of him in the movies. He’s a wise and caring master who seems to be amused by Anakin’s antics at least some of them. He’s also another voice of reason that’s put in as Obi-Wan and Anakin are forced to split up. He’s also the one that brought Ahsoka to the Jedi temple.

Behind Plo is Commander Wolf. Wolf is just like every other clone commander but here we see him wearing an officer’s uniform instead of his white armor. I guess they weren’t planning on leaving the ship during a space battle but still it’s unusual to see a clone commander out of their armor.

Recaps

Season 1, Episode 2

The Separatists have been ambushing Republic fleets and destroying them leaving no survivors. Jedi Master Plo Koon and his 104th are sent to find out what’s going on. Surprise, they get ambushed and the 104th gets destroyed as well. Plo and a handful of clones managed to escape the initial destruction and are adrift in escape pods. Of course, he was able to send Anakin his location before all that went down. Anakin and Ahsoka disobey direct orders to go searching for him. They end up saving him but they barely escape.

Season 1, Episode 3

With knowledge of the Malevolence’s existence, the Republic manages to put together a task force to destroy it. Anakin is of course put in charge of this mission which means Ahsoka is tagging along. With Grievous attacking several ships in the area, Anakin is able to figure out his next target. A top-secret medical station that is currently treating several thousand clones. It seems they’re in luck though as this system is full of nebulas and other cosmic roadblocks that would cause Grievous to take the long way around. Anakin sets a course right through a nebula in order to catch up and his risky maneuver pays off when Grievous pops out of hyperspace in front of them. Anakin’s initial plan gets scrapped when he loses almost half of his squad but in the end, they disable the ion cannon leading to Obi-Wan’s fleet chasing the Malevolence off.

Season 1, Episode 4

With the Malevolence crippled the Republic fleet moves to destroy the massive ship before it can escape. What’s this? The plot has called in Padme to extend the run time of this episode. At least her involvement beyond her perfectly timed arrival doesn’t seem forced. With Padme captured the fleet is forced to stop its attack. Anakin comes up with a plan faster than you can say cheese and is off to save his wife in a manner of minutes. Of course, she’s already way ahead of him and doesn’t really need to be rescued. Once they find her they sabotage the ship and it’s all about escaping after that which is also easy.

Basic Character Analysis: Ahsoka Tano

We don’t know a lot about her at this point in the story. Aside from being gung-ho and eager to fight battle droids we don’t see a lot out of her until much later on. This episode gave us some insight into her backstory though. We see that she is found of Master Plo to the point that like Anakin she would willingly go against the council’s orders. In the same episode, we see that they are also linked by the force and she’s actually able to use that connection to find him. I believe this is the reason she was made a Padawan at such a young age. She is unnaturally gifted in the ways of the force, much like her master.

Random Fun Fact: Ion Cannons

Ion Cannons were popular with the Rebels as well. Their Y-wings and cruisers had them equipped and their Hoth base used one to disable Star Destroyers. Though none of them had the scale The Malevolence had.

Favorite Screenshot

Just look at the size of that thing. That is a massive ion wave and with it behind the Twilight we can get a sense of how terrifying it is. Also it’s kind of pretty.

MVP: Plo Koon

He saved the troops he could and got them out in one peace. He also survived Anakin’s plan.

Conclusion

Overall, this arc is a lot of fun and this is still only the tip of the iceberg for this show. This and Ryloth are probably the best arcs in season one in all honesty. Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed my thoughts on this arc. Until next time, Keep It Classy.