Tuesday, December 9, 2025

The Clone Wars - S3E15 - "Overlords"

Throughout the scene in "Overlords" where Anakin uses the Force to compel the Daughter and the Son to release Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, he uses his left, biological arm to control the Daughter (who represents the light side) and his right, mechanical arm to control the Son (who represents the dark side).



This arrangement has some significance.  At the very least, it foreshadows the association between artificial limbs and the dark side of the Force that Anakin will exhibit as Darth Vader.  In a comment to Luke in Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan mentions this connection:  "He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."

(The different qualities of Anakin's arms also hold significance in a scene in "Crisis at the Heart" [S6E7], which I've written about here.)

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

The Clone Wars - S1E1 - "Ambush"

When Lama Su gives Obi-Wan a tour of the cloning facility in Attack of the Clones, he explains, "Clones can think creatively.  You will find that they are immensely superior to droids."  This ability to "think creatively" is subtly demonstrated by Lieutenant Thire in "Ambush."

Roughly halfway through the episode, as Yoda and his squad of clone troopers retreat from a group of destroyer droids, Yoda deflects the droids' blaster fire into a coral branch that then falls on the droids and crushes them.  Later, when Yoda is holding off an-other group of destroyer droids by himself, Thire uses the same sort of technique:  he fires the clones' one remaining rocket at a cliff so that it explodes and the resulting rubble falls on the droids.  He paid attention to Yoda's strategy (taking advantage of his environment) and was then able to adapt it to his own circumstances.