Dee Bradley Baker is the voice actor behind all the clones in both the television show and the movie.  I’ll never understand why they couldn’t get Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett) but I don’t make TV shows, I just write snarky bits about them.  Needless to say, Mr. Baker gets quite a work out on this show and like any other voice actor he’s generally a very busy guy.

The Republic is still after Grievous but his location is unknown.  Anakin, Obi-wan and the rest of the forces are remaining vigilant but they’re relying heavily on manned outposts to alert them to the cyborg’s reappearance.  We focus on one of the outposts on yet another uneventful evening.  A meteor shower disguises a group of special force droids who take over the outpost leaving the clone troopers scrambling.  A few escape being shot down or eaten by the resident giant ground eels and fight to reclaim the station.  The droids have rigged the all clear signal so Grievous’s attack force can steam past on their way to Camino – the clone’s “home world.”  An attack there would stifle the flow of clones and thus win the war for the Separatists.  The remaining clones including an inspection team with Commander Cody retake the station briefly but reinforcements force them to destroy the station and kill the all clear signal.  One of the clones sacrifices himself, the republic hyperspaces in to drive of Grievous, and the survivors are awarded medals.

Why this is a little different than the previous episodes is not that clones are dropping like flies, it’s that we know their names.  We get to meet them, know what their personalities are like and then they are either shot, blown up or eaten by voracious alien wildlife.  They also swear a little.  I personally found the episode chock full of action and quite fun to watch.  I was honestly a little worried about letting my kids watch it because for the first time ever watching Star Wars related shows or movies, my seven year old asked about why that soldier died.  It was a short conversation, ending basically saying, “Well, they are in a war.”  I should be surprised, the word “war” is in the title after all.  But after all this time I forget that it’s not just science fiction, it’s a story about the gruesome realities of fighting.  We’ve been so focused on Jedi and the Force and the destiny of slaves and farm boys that it’s easy to overlook the mundane aspects of trench warfare and casualties.

While I’d LOVE to see more episodes like this, I know it won’t happen.  Ahsoka hasn’t had any screen time lately and we’re running quite low on our goofy/meaningless quotient.  BUT, were more Clone Wars episodes like “Rookies,” I’d be quite happy.

That’s why this week’s installment is getting four green lightsabers.