Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.13

Monster

Count Dooku turns to the nightsisters for a replacement for Asajj Ventress. He doesn't know that Ventress is still alive or that the nightsisters are helping her in her quest for revenge, since Dooku left her to die.

Ventress travels to the far side of Dathomir. She selects several men from the same race as Darth Maul. She tests them, killing them one by one until there are just two. They are brothers. She selects the stronger of the two. The nightsisters work their magic on him. They make him bigger and stronger. Ventress tests his loyalty and her control over him by commanding him to kill his brother, which he does.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.12

Nightsisters

Act 1

Darth Sidious order Count Dooku to kill his apprentice, Asajj Ventress, Dooku tries to argue but Sidious insists. Ventress is in the middle of a big battle and fighting with Obi Wan and Anakin Skywalker when Dooku informs her of her fate. He then sends droids to destroy the battleship where she is fighting with the Jedi. Ventress is injured but like the Jedis she manages to escape the battleship before it is destroyed.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.08

Evil Plans

Anakin sends C-3PO and R2-D2 on a mission to get Jogan fruit for Padme's party. The droids are abducted by Cad Bane who is looking for the plans for the Senate building. He is working for Jabba the Hut. Bane extracts the information he needs and then wipes the droids' memories of the encounter. Bane returns to see Jabba who starts planning another mission for the mercenary.

Once again I find myself underwhelmed by this show which has on occasion really excited me.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.07

Assassin

Asoka and Padme team up.

Asoka starts having dreams that someone is out to kill Padme. The someone is someone who is believed to have been killed at the end of season 2: Aurra Sing. Padme is scheduled to go to a conference. Asoka insists on going with her to try and prevent her murder. At first it seems like Asoka is wrong but after the first assassination attempt Padme's security detachment starts taking Asoka's warnings more seriously.

Not bad but not great. Pretty good. I like Asoka considerably more now than I did at the beginning of season 1. It sometimes feels like she is the hero of the show, considering the Anakin is eventually going to turn to the dark side.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.06

The Academy

Asoka Tano is sent to Mandalore. She is there ostensibly to teach at the academy but Duchess Satine and the Jedi Council hope she will be able to accomplish a little more than just teaching. Asoka inspires her student to seek out examples of corruption after she teaches them about it. Her students investigation leads them to a black market exchange. The bad guys hunt them down. Luckily for them Asoka steps in and helps them capture the bad guys and prevent a coup d'etat led by the Prime Minister of Mandalore.

Not the best the show has to offer but not the worst either. Definitely better than some of the earlier epsiodes in this season. I am still hoping the show will pick up again and impress me, even if it only lasts for an episode or two.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.05

Corruption

Senator Padme Amidala pays an official visit to the planet Mandalor and Duchess Satine. Senator Amidala helps Duchess Satine investigate the source of an epidemic that has the hospitals overloaded with sick children.

Not an awful episode but not a very engaging one either. There was a little too much talk of trade negotiations, not enough action, and nothing in the way of character moments.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.04

Sphere of Influence

The daughters of the Pantoran Chairman are kidnapped. Ahsoka teams up with Senator Chuchi to locate and recover the Chairman's missing daughters. The kidnapping is all part of a plot to get the Pantorans to join the side of the separatists.

One of the kidnappers is Greedo, the same Greedo who didn't shoot first, makes his one and only appearance in this show.

Not great but solidly good and a considerable improvement over the previous episode.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.03

Supply Lines

Senators Bail Organa and Jar Jar Binks are sent on a diplomatic mission to Toydaria. They are there to negotiate a deal which will allow the Alliance to use Toydaria as a staging area for a relief mission to Ryloth which is currently under attack by the Separatists.

Jar Jar Binks. Sigh.

Yes, this was not one of my favorite episodes. It wasn't awful. It wasn't a save the cute aliens story but it also didn't really move me. I didn't get emotionally invested in it on any level.

It is worth noting that this episode is the precursor to the pilot episode. That may sound weird but this show tends to jump around in time quite a bit.

Unlike in the movies, where he was played by Jimmy Smits, Bail Organa was voiced by Phil LaMarr. He sounded very much like Samurai Jack, another character that Phil LaMarr plays, and very unlike Jimmy Smits.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.02

ARC Troopers

Kamino is attacked by separatist droids led by General Grievous and Asajj Ventress. They are after the Clone DNA vault. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalked lead the forces that are sent to defend the Clone home world.

Lots of action in this one and lots of cool fight scenes. The Separatist forces look as though they are attacking form the air but the brunt of their attack comes from the sea. Obi-Wan faces off against General Grievous and Anakin takes on Ventress. The best character moments are reserved for the clone troopers. The maintenance clone from last episode, 99, returns and gets to be a hero.

This episode was quite awesome. There was a lot going on all at the same time but it was all beautifully assembled.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.01

Clone Cadets

A team of clone cadets, Domino Squad, go from working very poorly as a unit to excelling and graduating with the rest of their class.

The focus of the episode is a particular test (a simulated attack on a droid stronghold) which they repeat a few times during the episode. At first Domino Squad bickers quite a bit and can't get through it successfully. It isn't until their final attempt that the team members are finally able to get it together and pass the test.

This story could have used more time to breathe. Everything in it happened very quickly. It was difficult for me to differentiate between the clone troopers of Domino Squad. The most distinctive character was the maintenance clone, 99.

Not even close to being my favorite episode. It would have to have better action beats or character moments to get high marks from me.