Finally the new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is upon us!!!
Episode 1, "Revival", opens with brothers Savage Opress and Darth Maul still out on the loose wreaking havoc on our favorite galaxy far far away; and they seem to have an evil plan up their sleeves.
Unfortunately for Savage, Maul decides to let him in on some very valuable Sith knowledge, which leaves him sprawled on his back and Maul's saber in his face; they are now no longer brothers, but Master and Apprentice.
The rest of Maul's plan consists of building a pirate army to assist in his evil deeds. And where does one get pirates? Well he steals them from Hondo of course.
Now while Maul and Savage build their pirate army (and plan their attack on Hondo himself), Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Adi Gallia enter the system responding to a distress call and hot on the trail of our two infamous Sith.
When Kenobi and Gallia catch up with Maul and Savage they quickly find themselves outnumbered, and have to resort to contacting Hondo to see if he needs, and is willing to provide, assistance.
An epic ground battle breaks out between the Sith and their hired pirates versus the Jedi, Hondo, and his faithful band of men. In the opening onslaught Jedi Master Adi Gallia falls to Savage Opress and Hondo and his men are forced to retreat into a cavern.
Kenobi tells Hondo that he will lead the Sith away while his men set up a trap for his former crew mates. The ensuing battle between Kenobi and the Sith costs Savage an arm and he and Maul are forced to retreat.
Meanwhile Hondo convinces the traitors to once again work for him and they head off to plunder the Sith's ship.
Upon everyone exiting the cavern the pirates find themselves face to face with the Sith. After a verbal exchange between Maul and Hondo it becomes a race to the Sith starship. While trying to run away, Maul takes a perfectly placed blaster bolt to the leg and has it cleanly blown off.
With the use of the force Maul is able to grab hold of the Jedi starship and bring it crashing down off the cliff it was perched creating the needed distraction for the Sith to reach their ship and to escape.
The episode ends back on Coruscant with several of the Jedi Council talking with Chancellor Palpatine in regards to the Sith. Palpatine advises the Council to leave the Sith be since they aren't posing a threat to the Republic and only want to hang out with pirate scum. We end with a close up of Palpatine sitting at his desk and a smile creeping across his face.
Overall this was a really good episode; it contained plenty of action, and a good balance of humor.
There was however one thing that sticks out from the episode that we weren't too happy about; the death of Jedi Adi Gallia. Yes she does die during the Clone Wars, but this was not supposed to be it. The original story had her death happening on the planet Boz Pity and at the hands of General Grievous.
But other than that a good episode and a great way to start off the new season. We can't wait to see the next episode.
-GJ
