Star Wars: The Clone Wars really wants to end the first season on a high note.  With the unshocking news of being picked up for a second season, we’ll end the first with a three part finale.  (Officially there’s a forth episode that was supposed to be #1.19 entitled “Hostage Crisis” but I can’t find out if it’s being shuffled to the end of the season or next.  IMDB still lists it as the most current episode.  Just FYI.)

And they ARE off to a good start.  “Storm Over Ryloth” is an action packed space battle and those rank among my favorite types of episodes.  Having spent more hours than studying on playing X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, I’ve developed an affinity for pitched battles involving myriad capital ships and starfighters.  This episode was written for me, sorry folks.

The main point of this episode was the old maxim, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  Ahsoka is given the task of leading an attack on a Separatist blockade surrounding the Twi’lek world of Ryloth.  (Of note, do you capitalize alien race names?  If they’re from Ryloth, aren’t they Rylothans and they are of the twi’lek race?  Or are they Twi’leks from Ryloth?  We’re not Humans, we are humans from Earth.  Right?)  Anakin’s fleet is there to break the blockade and allow Obi-wan to land a ground assault.  The attack goes wrong when the Federation general calls in reinforcements from the Banking Guild.  The trap sprung, the outgunned clone pilots in their V-19 Torrents and Ahsoka in her Jedi Starfighter press on for a time.  Ahsoka is convinced they can still take out the Federation battleship.  However, her squadron is mowed down and the battle group loses one cruiser as well as taking severe damage to another.

They retreat and Anakin does his best to encourage Ahsoka to move on.  It’s the reality of command that you will lose men and materials.  She loses her cool and Anakin sends her to her room.  Really.  She over reacts to his seemingly callous treatment of the fallen clones and her youth becomes apparent.  He struggles with this, knowing he’s also a bit of a hot-head and is not much older than her, but in the end he feels the best way to get her past her doubts is to throw her back into the deep end.

He tells her she’s in charge of the remaining cruiser and then he takes off to execute a plan of his own, which involves ramming the damaged cruiser into the Federation battleship.  She’s in charge of keeping the remaining troops safe and then picking him up.  With no one else aboard, he takes an escape pod as the remaining droid troops scramble to counter attack.  Ahsoka comes up with a strategy that involves flipping the cruiser on its side and allowing the droids to attack the thick underhull while the Y-Wing bombers and V-19s take out the cruisers.

This was non-stop space fighting and I loved it.  It was a big game of chess in space, albeit a simple one.  Maybe it was a big game of Chutes ‘N’ Ladders.  Either way, it was a great prelude to what will hopefully be a wicked three part series.  Now that the ground invasion has a clear path to Ryloth to help the Twi’leks, we’ll undoubtedly see some serious trench fighting and maybe some special commando raids.  We can’t only hope.

Four and a half green lightsabers. Full five stars had it been just a little longer.