The beautiful thing about cartoon shows is that you can watch a ton episodes and fly quickly through seasons. Such is the case with my recent marathon of The Clone Wars. A couple of weeks back I shared my impressions on Season One and I am here once again to go over Season Two. Surprisingly now that I am rewatching the series, I realize that I probably didn’t watch most of S2. Cad BaneThis was a little strange to me seeing that DVR’s were in existence during its run and I definitely had cable TV at the time, but I digress and admit that during this time I had lost interest in Star Wars. My mistake. Season Two of The Clone Wars is amazing and the best of the two so far.

The end of S1 concludes with the introduction of a new character to the canon, Cad Bane. He is a Duros bounty hunter who plays a major part in the show, especially with one of the main themes being the underworld side of the Star Wars universe. Season Two is titled “Rise of the Bounty Hunters”, which is appropriate seeing that it marks the return of fan-favorite character Boba Fett. I also thought it was interesting that they brought in Aurra Sing, who made a brief appearance in The Phantom Menace. She acts as the “guardian” of Boba and has contracted some bounty hunters to help him on his task to take down Mace Windu. Remember when Mace decapitated Boba’s father, Jango Fett, in Attack of the Clones? Yeah Boba holds a grudge! Coincidently we are also introduced to the Mandalorian people through a couple of episodes that reveal to us that even Obi-Wan had/has feelings for someone despite all his teaching of attachment and whatnot. I think it is important to show off this race of people in the current Star Wars universe, especially now that most of the other stories about them are now “Legends”. We learned a lot about them in the Old Republic video games and comics, but now new and old fans alike can get an idea of what their ideals and culture are like. Boba Fett was always a “mysterious” character before the Prequels were created and though some may disagree, I don’t think that his origin story does any disservice to him. In fact, I really like the fact that they bring him into the TV show along with his grudge against Mace Windu.

One of the better episodes of the season is called “The Deserter”. The Clone Wars does a great job at individualizing the Clones and showing us that they aren’t all simple replicants of Jango Fett. Each one has his own personality and feelings, and this episode really explores that. I won’t go too much into it because I don’t want to spoil it but during a battle a Clone watched his entire squad get killed and he was left alone. Boba Fett Clone WarsIt scarred him so bad that he left the war and started a new life on a back-world planet.  Eventually the war comes to the planet and he is discovered by Republic Troops, I’ll leave the rest to the viewer. These are the type of episodes that I appreciate the most and will always remember when looking back on this amazing show. The action doesn’t slow down this season either, not like it does in Season Three but we’ll talk about that next time. In fact, one of the most intense episodes yet takes place during the early half of the season. The war returns to Geonosis as the Republic must destroy a weapons factory. “Landing at Point Rain” is one of the most intense twenty minutes I have ever spent in front of a TV. This show is about war and this episode clearly shows what war is all about. The entire episode is about trying to land on the planet and the battle that ensues is amazing. But it doesn’t stop there! The battle continues into the next episode, taking the battle to the ground and is equally as impressive as the troops make their way to the weapons facility. One of the highlights of this episode is when Anakin and Ahsoka have to take out a huge wall blocking their way. These two episodes lead us to a couple of really “creeptastic” ones in the form of “Legacy of Terror” and “Brain Invaders”. Which again I won’t ruin for you, but they focus on how this show can really strut its stuff when it comes to delivering episodes with different themes. These two are more on the horror side of things and I loved it! There’s one more episode at the end of the season called “R2 Come Home” that reminds me a lot of Home Alone and is quite comical watching R2D2 deal with the bounty hunters while protecting his friends. Oh and then there’s the Zillo Beast. A Kaiju in space? Freaking insane! My other favorites are “Lightsaber Lost” and “Cat and Mouse” which reminds me of an old school submarine war movie.

Season Two of The Clone Wars is hands down amazing and I am actually happy that I missed out on a lot of these episodes the first time around. There is one episode, “Senate Murders”, that will seem out of place, but even more when you watch Season Three. I will address that next time. We also get to see Anakin starting to take steps towards the Dark Side and when the Darth Vader theme plays hauntingly during his “dark” actions, you will get chills. The Clone Wars is a piece of Star Wars continuity that as I’ve said over and over again, is the shining beacon of the Prequel Era. Thank the Maker for Dave Filoni!