TCW S5 #19 - To Catch A Jedi - 02/23/2013

[Chris Wyman]

The Clone Wars Episode Guide: To Catch A Jedi

"Never become desperate enough to trust the untrustworthy."

Synopsis: The fugitive Ahsoka escapes to the criminal depths of Coruscant.

Key Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker, Clone Commander Wolffe, Barriss Offee
Key Locales: Coruscant



Eric and Spencer discuss the penultimate episode of The Clone Wars Season Five, "To Catch a Jedi," with blogger Amy Ratcliffe.

Click here to listen.

Panelists:

Spencer Brinkerhoff III
Eric Geller
Amy Ratcliffe

[DuroDude]

Yep. Barriss did it. Guess that brain worm screwed her up more than we thought. LOL

[Eric_Geller]

My review:

TheForce.Net - Star Wars TV - TFN TCW Review: To Catch a Jedi

[cbspock]

I still think Barris is a red herring.


-Chris

[Darth_Engelhast]

I still think Barris is a red herring.


-Chris

Red herring to what though? They have given no other colored herrings to point to. If it is anyone but her at this point it is just a serious cheap cheat on the part of the writer and Clone Wars team IMHO. If it is not Barris they damned well better have a mind blowing reason that makes more sense somehow.

[DuroDude]

Yeah, I just can't see Barriss being a red herring. To me, Ventress was clearly meant to be the red herring up until this episode. The mysterious attacker was exactly Barriss's body type, and she even had a hood up reminiscent to how Barriss wears her hood. If Barriss is NOT the true culprit, then Clone Wars either massively dropped the ball OR they pulled off a twist rivaling the "No, I am your father" revelation in ESB. What other young female character is there besides Barriss? I do think Barriss didn't act alone. She had outside help from either Tarkin, Palpatine, or both. It's also entirely likely that Dooku reached out to her with an offer to be his new apprentice.

What gets me is how completely unexpected Barriss's turn was. A lot of younger Clone Wars fans are going to be a bit traumatized by the big reveal next week. There just didn't seem to be a lot of foreshadowing concerning her fall. Or was there? Remember that Barriss is only about 16 (maybe 17) years old, and war can have a damning effect on one so young. She faced a traumatic near-death experience on Geonosis when she and Ahsoka were trapped in that tank under all that rubble. Luminara, her own master, seemed rather cold and dispassionate about rescuing Barriss, and were it not for Anakin's resolve, Barriss and Ahsoka would've died a slow, suffocating death in that tank. So Barriss is rescued and then almost immediately gets infected by a Geonosian brain worm. In her brainwashed state, she kills clone troopers and almost takes the life of her friend Ahsoka.


Now let's look at the Expanded Universe just for fun. Barriss spent considerable time on the planet Drongar, assisting a medical unit with her healing abilities. Barriss saw the hell of war there. She saw trauma like perhaps she had never seen before. She saw how many lives were senselessly claimed by the war, and she even lost a dear Zabrak friend of her own. Most interestingly, however, Barriss came across this miracle drug known as bota while on Drongar. This drug, when used by a Force-user, massively increased their connection to the Force. This granted Barriss powers like never before and pushed her to the edge of the dark side. Now, Barriss does resist the bota's lure in the end, but such a brush with dark side can have lingering effects on a young Jedi.


Could all of these experiences have created a perfect storm to push Barriss into darkness? Traumatic near-death experiences, a brain-controlling parasite, witnessing the medical horrors of war firsthand, and a brush with the dark side bolstered by a powerful drug? That's A LOT to expect a teenager (even a teenage Jedi) to handle. Barriss's fall to the dark side illustrates a very tragic lesson. The Jedi Order just expects these young padawans (teenagers) to be able to cope with the horrors of war the way the much more experienced Jedi do. The war's increasing demands for Jedi Generals places ill-prepared padawans in positions they were never meant to be suited for so early on in their Jedi careers. Barriss, like so many others, had to grow up way too fast. And that ends up really destroying her once unimpeachable character in the end.

[Darth_Engelhast]

^
Any foreshadowing at all would have killed any and all mystery. I'm glad they did not give any other clues to her turn other than the ones in this arc.

I am 99% sure it is going to turn out to be Barriss. My wild 1% conclusion is that Leeta is not actually dead and she is a force user that faked her own death and is behind everything.

[Guardian]

Wasnt Barriss in AOTC? Im confused if she is evil how that plays into her still being a hero in AOTC.

DS

[Darth_Engelhast]

Wasnt Barriss in AOTC? Im confused if she is evil how that plays into her still being a hero in AOTC.

DS

Attack of The Clones happened before The Clone Wars.

[Guardian]

Attack of The Clones happened before The Clone Wars.

True I just see her in AOTC as being older than she is in the show.

Was she in ROTS?

DS