Week 16 - Sphere of Influence, Ziro Arc

Watched Sphere of Influence, I’ll give it an 8/10. It has a lot of cameo stuff, the inspector guy, Greedo, Mos Eisley, Rotta, the Nemoidian guards from episode 3. Oh and it had the conference room from the stsrt of the Phantom Menance and the dice Qui-Gon uses to win Anakin. A lot of little stuff that I guess they didn’t have room for in any other episode. In the intro background stuff we also see the planet surface of Pantora that we would have seen a lot more in Dark Disicple arc.


Btw it’s weird that Greedo speaks basic in this but doesn’t in episode 4, although I guess he knows that Han speaks Huttese, like everyone who frequents Tatooine really.

Sphere of Influence isn't that bad honestly. Like Newan said, there's lot of cameos and references to other Star Wars content, and those help make this episode more enjoyable. The story is also a nice change of pace for a political episode.

However, it's a bit odd they make Greedo speak basic or even include him at all. Him being involved doesn't affect the episode differently than a newly created character would have. Baron Papanoida is cool, but it's strange how skilled in combat he was or that he was apparently close to Jabba.

I'll give this one a 7/10.

Anyways Evil Plans is probably a 4/10, I don’t mind this droid episode as much cause I like seeing Coruscant but yeah the overall plot just seems confusing to me... that’s what happens when you try and make episodes around previous ones.

On another note, the droid spa was odd, especially since every time I watch it I expect them to turn on R2. It's a neat little addition to the Star Wars universe though. Also, did they reprogram a medical droid to be a chef, or were they that lazy with designs?

I also liked seeing the Hutt Council. In theory, that was pretty cool, even though I don't think it's touched much upon after this episode.

They appear in Eminence, but other than receive threats from Maul followed by an alliance, they don’t do anything. It would’ve been kind of cool to touch more on what they actually did, since the Hutts are known for their immense influence.

Hostage Crisis is a cool episode, but there are several inconsistencies much more obvious watching it now versus several years ago. While not ruining the episode for me, my enjoyment was hampered a little by them. I like the concept of bounty hunters being able to execute an attack on the Senate building, but it's odd how poorly protected it was and how long it took for Republic forces to respond to the threat.

Anakin seems a little off to me in this episode, but maybe that's because he's more in-line with his Ep II self. Also, it's kind of painful how obvious it appears Anakin and Padme are in a relationship at times, and that's not just contained to this episode. It was strange how the IG unit didn't press to search the room where Anakin pulled the mind trick, since I didn't figure droids were affected by them.

This episode remains an awesome introduction to Cad Bane (and bounty hunters in general), but the later seasons managed to outdo some of the coolest scenes here I think. It's tough to rate this episode, since I really enjoy the concept, but there's various plot holes or inconsistencies that make it unbelievable at times. I'll go with 7/10.

The Ziro arc is kind of all over the place, but I think Hunt for Ziro is the strongest. It gives us three plot lines to follow: Obi-Wan and Vos, Ziro and Snootles, and Bane. While we don't get much time with all the characters, especially the Jedi, it still works pretty well. This episode showed that Ziro is still fairly competent, and the twist with Snootles always was pretty unexpected for me. I like how her betrayal demonstrated the cunning nature of Jabba though, and it's interesting to think he now has all that information over the rest of the Hutts.

Bane's fight with Obi-Wan and Vos might be my favorite part of this episode, while Mama the Hutt's inclusion was a little peculiar... Bane does well in that fight to level the playing field, and it really displayed how resourceful he is. Honestly this is a pretty fun conclusion to the arc. 8/10 for me.

I’ll go ahead and say Padme facepalm is the best part of Evil Plans.

I really don’t want to know what they did to R2 in there.

3/10

Okay that was fun if not entirely fair. Evil Plans is not unwatchable, no TCW episode except maybe ASDITV. But it is painful in just doing the bare minimum. It's frustrating how the show never figured out how to use R2-D2 and C-3PO. Neither is inherently a bad character, but the show would constantly spend too much time on them. Neither one of them should be the star of an episode IMO, much less an entire arc but we'll get to that later. You need them (especially when they're together) in small doses. They can do plenty to brighten up an episode like they do in "Destroy Malevolence," "Senate Spy," and even "The Citadel." But they should not be the main attraction. This episode is probably the worst example of this. In short, this episode does not need to exist. The contrived reason behind it is very weak. We already saw "Hostage Crisis" and nobody was left wondering how Bane knew the layout of the Senate Building. Enough people have been in there who probably wouldn't hesitate to sell it to the Hutts. The White House layout is public so why not the Senate Building? Even though it passes itself off as a prequel, this episode is just lame filler, well below average. I'm standing by my rating.

Hunt for Ziro is probably the strangest episode but that's to be expected since it has the most focus on Hutts. But all in all, I think it works pretty well, and does a good job following up both "Evil Plans" and "Hostage Crisis" depending on what order you watch these. Quinlan Vos and Bane are clearly the standouts here, as is the fight at the end. All of these do well to elevate the episode. I have to admit I was surprised by how easily the show killed off Ziro. I guess I wouldn't expect them to use him in more episodes, but it was still shocking how everything turned on him so fast. But I liked how they killed him and had it be on Teth. I like how this arc kinda makes things come full circle since the movie, kinda showing the first "act" of the show coming to an end. This is also the first of a few long-running characters that were killed off in these arcs and I appreciate the showing doing that. I'll give this another 7.5/10.

Yeah, Evil Plans really feels like they were scraping the bottom of the barrel for plot ideas. For what it's trying to convey it's too long, the tone's all over the place, that droid spa scene is an idea I don't even think sounds good on paper and the fact that, as Spider rightfully said, 3PO and R2 work best in small, potent doses rather than a full episode only works in brining this one down. That said, I too loved the "Murderer!" droid and the rabbit droids are kinda cute in how polite and enthusiastic they are.

Hm, Hunt for Ziro was always a difficult one. On the one hand you get a great buddy cop plot with Obi-Wan and Quinlan, but on the downside you also get some of the most disgusting and unsettling scenes in the show's history. That said, Ziro's remark about his mother not knowing her husband was dead was surprisingly funny and depressingly true with the last part - "Some people are happier being miserable" Really though I almost find it criminal that the show gives us only a flicker of Vos, despite how much of a great first impression he makes as the hippie/Tarzan type Jedi we all enjoy. Hell, he barely gets any word in, yet he's winds up a highlight. Makes me wish all the more they expanded on why Vos said Bane "Owed him one". Certainly would've made a more entertaining ride than Evil Plans