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 eighth episode chronologically, the fourth episode of season one, titled “Destroy Malevolence.”
SUMMARY:
With the Malevolence badly damaged, the Republic closes in on the massive Separatist weapon, with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Plo Koon, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and Admiral Yularen overseeing the Republic’s effort. Count Dooku has arranged for a trap that will help Grievous and the Malevolence escape, however: Padme Amidala arrives at the battle thinking that she was on a diplomatic mission. Instead, she is caught in the battle and is quickly brought onto the Malevolence via tractor beam. She gets in contact with Anakin and the others, and Skywalker quickly orders the Republic ships to stop firing as he and Kenobi head off to sneak aboard the Malevolence in an attempt to rescue Padme. The Separatists, meanwhile, use the delay to work on fixing the hyperdrive, which wasn’t as badly damaged as they feared.
Kenobi and Skywalker manage to sneak onboard the Malevolence thanks to the Separatists being distracted by the repairs, and they soon find Amidala – who has managed to escape from her ship and is loose somewhere on the Malevolence. Anakin rescues Padme, while Obi-Wan tries to recover C-3PO. Soon, though, Kenobi instead heads to make sure the hyperdrive cannot be activated, but Grievous and the droids are monitoring that communication and meet Kenobi at the controls. Surrounded by dozens of droids, Kenobi manages to easily defeat them and escape – leading one of the few remaining droids to remark, “That was impressive!”, much to Grievous’ chagrin. Grievous goes after Kenobi himself, and the two duel briefly on a train before Kenobi escapes. While that’s going on, Anakin and Padme head to the bridge and re-wire the ship’s hyperdrive. As they all escape, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, C-3PO, and R2-D2 meet up at their ship and flee. Grievous pursues them in his fighter, along with other droids, and Padme fires back with the guns while Anakin flies. Grievous orders the droids to jump the Malevolence into hyperspace, but they realize that the hyperdrive has been re-wired to jump right into a moon, which results in the destruction of the Malevolence while Grievous flees in his fighter.
REVIEW:
I’m always partial to episodes that have Obi-Wan and Anakin working together, so this episode certainly fits that mold. When Anakin realizes Padme has been captured and heads off to rescue her, Kenobi immediately follows him – making it clear that Kenobi’s going with Skywalker to rescue the Senator. The two have some of their classic banter, and then they have their own missions on the Malevolence. Kenobi’s part really allows him to shine, taking out a number of droids with ease and then briefly fighting Grievous.
I also like seeing Padme in action, having something to do that’s not just political. Plus, seeing her work with Anakin is great, and having the team of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, and the two iconic droids makes for a great pairing of the prequel trilogy’s heroic figures.
This also wraps up the three-episode Malevolence arc, resulting in the destruction of the ship. It presented a massive threat, but the heroes were nonetheless able to take it out. I’m glad that it took them a couple of episodes to do so, after the first episode of the arc really built up the threat.
I liked this episode, and a lot of that has to do with the characters involved as much as anything.
My grade: 7.9/10
Star Wars Thoughts 