Hello and welcome back to another exciting review of The Clone Wars here on the Star Wars Report! This time, the toughest bounty hunters in the galaxy team up to fight for survival and for the chance to work for the evil Count Dooku in “The Box”!
The box was an interesting episode in that I think we’ve kind of gotten used to the ruthless methods of the bounty hunters by now. In the first few scenes we see Cad Bane shoot an Ithorian for having a cool hat. In “The Box”, we often saw them betray their fellow bounty hunters often, by kicking the other contestants off of ledges and into poison or ray shields. What this episode was about was made clear: these bounty hunters are constantly trying to get the upper hand, and while they might help one another sometimes, it’s mostly their greed in finding some use for them later on. So, when Cad Bane helps Hardeen at the very end of the episode, when he obviously didn’t need to, I think that proves how much Cad Bane, I wouldn’t say trusts, but respects Hardeen. I think this will certainly play into this arc later.
However, speaking of trust, I’d like to briefly touch on the importance of the Jedi keeping Anakin in the dark of the operation. I wasn’t looking out too much for this until a friend of mine pointed it out, but this must create a severe gap between Anakin and the Jedi Order, or at least increase the one that was already there. It ties into Palpatine turning Anakin against the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith. It’s the growing distrust that Anakin has of the Jedi, and I think what Yoda says to Anakin even confirms it in Anakin’s mind. He’s too unpredictable to trust. This could be the point where Anakin realizes that he’s out of the loop, which could start him on that path to betraying the Jedi Order.
I think what makes “The Box” so good is the fact that Obi-Wan is in these very cool action scenes, always under the eye of Eval and Dooku, so there’s no way he can mess up without being discovered, or even killed. Towards the end, where Obi-Wan is forced to take the weapon of choice of the real Rako Hardeen, and has to shoot it with the same accuracy as the actual bounty hunter, that honestly was pretty darn scary, knowing that one missed target would reveal him as a spy. It was a very well done scene to show how much Obi-Wan has blended with this character over the past few episodes, and to show us how much he’s ready for his real job, to kidnap the chancellor.
There were two things that I’m wondering about Dooku right now. Firstly, does he suspect that the Jedi are in some way behind Rako Hardeen’s appearance? His reaction when he found out that Hardeen had killed Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was a bit mysterious. And secondly, why did he choose Cad Bane to lead the mission when he obviously saw Hardeen doing most of the quick thinking and leading the bounty hunters to the each upcoming challenge, every time? Perhaps it ties into my previous question, does he suspect something of Hardeen? And is putting Cad Bane as the leader part of a plan to uncover the true identity of the sniper of Concord Dawn? So many questions, one episode left!
All in all this was a great episode, but at the same time, didn’t exactly match up with the pace or style of the other episodes in the arc; it almost felt like a one episode arc within an arc, if that makes sense. I also found it a little convenient for basically all the reoccurring characters to be the ones to survive. Other than that though I loved this episode! What did you think of “The Box”? Let us know by leaving a comment below! Thanks for reading and may the Force be with you… always!
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Hello and welcome back to another review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars here on the Star Wars Report! This week all plans are put into play, and the fate of Rako Hardeen is sealed when the Jedi try to stop an attempt to kidnap the Chancellor from the inside in “Crisis on Naboo”! This is the last episode of this arc, which now leaves us looking forward to the last arc of the season, the return of Darth Maul… but first, here are my thoughts on the episode.
This episode revolves entirely around the bounty hunter’s operation. It’s what has been built towards for three episodes. The characters of Cad Bane and Hardeen have built a sense of trust between one another, at least on a professional level, and the rest of
the victors from “The Box” have finally been chosen to help complete the task. I liked that we did not even know how the operation was planned, we only knew the responsibilities of Obi-Wan, who was witnessing the plan for the first time as well. It kind of created this hectic feeling as the chaos ensued when Obi-Wan was trying to keep Mace and the other Jedi informed on what was going on. That’s what separated this action scene from others is that we didn’t necessarily feel right in the action with the Jedi, or the bounty hunters, but both of them as Hardeen tries to maintain his cover while also helping the Jedi. What I’ve liked about this arc all along is the new perspectives we’ve gotten to see that rarely get an opportunity to be showcased in the series.
The other large concept of the episode was Dooku’s and Palpatine’s involvement. Probably Obi-Wan’s one mistake out of his entire undercover mission was his excellent performance in “The Box”. Had he not solved all the puzzles on his own, and maybe stuck to the 
shadows more, he might’ve been able to not bring as much attention to himself. Right from the end of the last episode Dooku saw right through him, or at least suspected that Hardeen isn’t who he says he is. I think this also plays into the theme of the episode of “the whole truth”, and it seems that everyone is deceiving everyone else in some way, including the Jedi. You could argue that the whole plot of the bounty hunters was a ruse to eliminate the republic security force so Dooku could take the Chancellor himself, if the Jedi believed that the true threat was over. I find it intriguing that most of these plots could actually be more attempts to bring Anakin to the dark side, and you can totally tell by how Palpatine reacts during ambush that he is testing Anakin, so that when Anakin finally defeats Dooku, Palpatine knows that he’s finally ready to become his apprentice. I wonder if Dooku knows this, certainly if he has knowledge of Palpatine planning these attacks, he must have some idea that he’s just a training tool for Skywalker. Maybe even the Sith are deceiving each other?
All in all this was a pretty solid episode that successfully wrapped up the plot against the Chancellor. There were things I wished they 
had spent more time on, like Cad Bane and Rako Hardeen/Obi-Wan, all we really got to tie up their partnership was Cad Bane yelling threats as he was taken away, it’s not a huge deal, but they spent so much time setting up these characters that I would’ve liked something a little longer. I liked this arc a lot, but I’m ready for the final arc of the season now. I need to see Maul! Anyways, what did you think of this episode? Leave a comment below, we always enjoy hearing what you have to say about the episode! Thanks for reading and may the Force be with you… always!
–Ryan
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