Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 "Shadow Warrior" Review

Four episodes in already, and we have our first stand-alone episode of the season! "Shadow Warrior" gives us lots of the Gungans, who appeared just a couple of episodes ago in "Gungan Attack", but didn't do much...

There is a crisis growing on Naboo. With the threat of the Gungans possibly rising up against the Naboo people. I like the way the Clone Wars crew take the time to slot a N-1 starfighter, which appears hardly anytime, into the background of this shot. I also really like the battle gear Padme Amidala wears. I felt it was one of the only good things to come out of The Phantom Menace, and so I'm delighted we are given the chance to see it in animated form. I just wish we got to see a bit more of in the episode. Hopefully it will appear in a future episode though...

We were introduced to a new villain in this episode. His name is "Rish Loo", and he is advisor to Boss Lyonie. However, he is secretly conspiring with the Separatists. While I liked the idea of a Gungan Separatist, this guy just doesn't really do it for me. The way he was portrayed, the voice he was given, just doesn't really add up in my opinion. I also don't like the movement he does in this picture, this guy can't do force-powers, so why do they make it look like he can? Rather stupid, if you ask me. I can't believe he failed to kill Lyonie when he stabbed him. I was like "what the heck?" when he didn't kill him. He was right in front of him, and could have gone anywhere into the body, but somehow failed to kill him. I liked the way he was killed by Count Dooku, no less than he deserved to be honest...

I really liked the action scenes in this episode. This one was brief, but I still really enjoyed it. Mainly due to the appearance of the Commando Droids, but sadly they didn't do much, just did a little bit of fighting before Padme and Anakin destroyed them. I would have liked to see them do a little more, but at least they will appear again later in the season. This photo really does show how good Padme's battle gear looks in animated form, very true to the movie look. Mesa likee!

Back in "Gungan Attack", when we first saw Boss Lyonie, I thought to myself "Why does he look a lot like Jar-Jar?". Thenm, when we first got news of the episode, we discovered Jar-Jar was going to replace Lyonie as a Gungan Boss when Lyonie got injured. Makes sense. Especially as to the reason they didn't include fan-favourite Boss Nass. His spitting/shaking of his head type thing would have looked really cool on this show. I did find it quite amusing how Anakin and Padme only see the resemblance between Lyonie and Jar-Jar after Jar-Jar puts Lyonie's crown on.

I really liked the dialogue in this episode. For the most part, the last three episodes had very weak dialogue to be honest, but this really took it up several notches. The pictured above was my favourite dialogue moment, when Jar-Jar started messing around General Grievous, frustrating him. When Jar-Jar accidentaly spoke in his voice and not Lyonie's, he eventually realized he had been tricked. I'm surprised it took Grievous that long to figure it out, considering several times Jar-Jar spoke in his own voice before that... But anyway, the dialogue was really good.

I especially loved the scene right near the very end. Gungans led by General Tarpals attacking General Grievous. Grievous defeats a few Gungans, but gets cocky, and Tarpals manages to knock one lightsaber of Grievous's away, but Grievous manages to slay Tarpals regardless. I really loved Tarpals death scene, the way he was being portrayed as being so brave there. And he is lierally the only Gungan unfazed by his opponent. When Grievous finally stabs Tarpals, and Grievous asks "How does it feel to die?". Tarpals ignores the mocking in his voice and says undoubtedly the best line of the episode, and in my opinion, the best one-liner I have ever heard "Not die... sacrifice!" and with the final effort of his life, he manages to electrocute Grievous by forcing his spear into him, and the remaining Gungans follow Tarpals lead and defeat Grievous. It was one of the best, if not the best, worked death scenes in the show.

Once I watched the episode, I was thinking about something. A couple of things actually, but I'll only mention one. People have been stating how could the Gungans defeat Grievous. Well, let's also ask "How can so few Rebels and Ewoks defeat the mighty Empire in the last movie?", it's simple, they may look weak, but to quote Asajj Ventress "But looks aren't everything!" amd besides, Jar-Jar may be a daft dimbo at times, but who says the rest of his species are. Though if it wasn't for Tarpals, they may not have captured Grievous. Pity that Tarpals death was to be in vain...

While all the Gungan business was going on, Anakin had followed Rish Loo to Dooku's position. I know some people are complaing about another Anakin vs Dooku duel, but I felt this one was rather enjoyable. Besides, they needed to have at least one duel against Dooku with Anakin  in his new outfit, right? Anyway, it was pretty good, and the lighting on the Magnaguards here was terrific in my opinion. Even though they are not actually meant to be yellow, they are always purple. Anyway, it was pretty boring at this stage to see Anakin tortured in similar circumstances two episodes in a row, electrocuted by eels and this time, electro-staffs. I'm sure any Anakin haters would have enjoyed this though. I liked it kind of myself, though more the lighting of electricity shocking Anakin. I found it quite interesting how Dooku took a leaf out of Grievous's book, by leaving the dirty work to his Magnaguards. But not counting on Anakin's excellent will power, even while being electrocuted he managed to force-push all the Magnaguards off him. It eventually was left to Dooku to defeat Anakin with the force...

There was a massive moment of controversy right at the end of the episode. In the third movie, after the Clone Wars, it is the first time Anakin and Grievous lay eyes on each other. However, here, Grievous sees Anakin and laughs (I'm not saying he laughs at Anakin's state, but probably that he is escaping again). But, anyway, massive moment of controversy right here, and it just lucky Anakin is unconcious, otherwise there would have been a lot of complaints from older fans...

My rating: It was a great and very enjoyable episode. The actions scenes were terrific, the dialogue was much better, and Tarpals was portayed exactly how I wanted him to be! In my opinion, the best episode of season 4 so far. It wasn't perfect, and it had some moments that didn't impress or even frustrated me, such as Grievous seeing Anakin at the very end. But it was a very solid episode, and hopefully season 4 will continue to get better. Rating: 9/10.

Next-time: A small species is explored! My favourite clone character, Commander Wolffe returns! Along with my favourite legion, the Wolfpack! And a droid-adventure for R2-D2 and C-3PO? Next-time on the episode, "Mercy Mission".