With excitement building over the coming release of a seventh season of The Clone Wars in 2019, we’re taking a look back at each episode of the first six seasons – doing so in chronological order. Today, we’re looking at the fifth episode chronologically, the first episode of season one, titled “Ambush.”
SUMMARY:
Jedi Master Yoda heads to the moon Rugosa for a secret meeting with Toydarian King Katuunko, hoping to convince the King to allow the Republic to set up a military base in the system. But before Yoda arrives, Asajj Ventress shows up, as does Count Dooku via hologram. They tell the King that the Republic could never protect Toydaria, since they can’t even protect themselves. As Yoda’s transport nears the moon, they are ambushed by Separatist fighters and their ship is damaged. Yoda and a clone force take an escape pod to the surface while their transport flees the battle. Yoda contacts the King and informs him that he is still coming to their meeting. Ventress proposes testing Yoda’s skills against an army of battle droids, and the Jedi agrees. Ventress sends her army after Yoda, but he and the clones make quick work of the first wave – though the second wave sends them retreating into a cave. There, Yoda gives a pep-talk to his troopers, and he tells them that they’ll know when to act.
Yoda sits in front of the Separatist forces, and Ventress (via comlink) urges them to fire right away. The droids are too late, though, and Yoda proceeds to take out the entire squadron of droids on his own. Ventress sends reinforcements in the form of droidekas, however, and that’s when the clones act, firing a missile into a cliff ledge to send it pummeling onto the droids, destroying them. King Kutuunko doesn’t like that Yoda wasn’t given a fair fight and informs Dooku and Ventress that he’ll be siding with the Republic. Dooku then orders Ventress to kill the King, but her lightsabers are stopped before they can cut off the King’s head by Yoda, using the Force upon his arrival. He sends Ventress fleeing, and the King pledges his allegiance to the Republic and permits them to have a military base in the sector.
REVIEW:
This episode was actually the first one ever aired in the show, though it’s fifth in the chronological order. It’s a rare episode that focuses on Yoda, which is always a good thing. It’s not the best Yoda-centric episode of the show (those come in season six), but it’s nonetheless a good one that shows him in battle, shows his skills as a warrior, and shows his relationship both to the clones and to nature around him.
The prevailing takeaway from this episode is Yoda’s strength as a Jedi Master, as he defeats any droid forces sent his way with relative ease, using both his lightsaber and his skills with the Force to make quick work of the droids. He impresses everyone around with his abilities, making King Katuunko remark that one Jedi isn’t work one hundred battle droids but instead more like one thousand battle droids. In the process of all of this, though, Yoda takes time to encourage and teach the clones with him.
We don’t often get a chance to truly focus on Yoda and his abilities, so when we do it’s very welcome. This episode was all about the Grand Master, and it doesn’t disappoint.
My grade: 8.1/10
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