Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TV Series) Children of the Force (2009) User Reviews

Fail the Force

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 8/10 · 12 May 2020]

This is a very good episode, certainly not a failure in any way, but it could have been even better I think.

Following on from the previous two superb episodes this continues with the excellent, dark storyline and great villain Cad Bane. In fact, the storyline gets even darker as Darth Sidious plans to kidnap young force sensitive children and turn them to the dark side which provides some chilling scenes. So the ingredients are here for a top level classic episode.

However, the failure in this episode is the failure of the Jedi and it is slightly jarring just how much they fail: The Jedi fall for the most obvious tricks by Cad Bane which they even say is going to probably be a trap and allow him to escape. Why send only 2 Jedi and have Bane so poorly secured? Why so foolishly walk into a trap? It really is not that unconvincing or impossible as the Jedi are so arrogant at this point they seem to keep making big mistakes during the Clone Wars and prequel era of the story. But I find it slightly off-putting. That does just detract a little bit for me as well as this episode overall just not quite being as great as the previous episode which I rated 9.5/10.

This is still a very good episode though.

My rating: 8/10.

Children of the Force

[lassegalsgaard · 7/10 · 17 February 2021]

In the last episode, I complained that Cad Bane was doing things that didn't seem in-character. This episode changed that up by having the Jedi do things that didn't seem in-character. Mostly, their seemingly clueless idea of how to keep Bane secured. However, that is the episode's biggest fault as the rest was pretty intriguing. The idea of Darth Sidious stealing children from their homes is very dark and it was used very well. These three episodes have been quite enjoyable, and the arc was exactly as I had remembered it. I think that "Clone Wars" is best when it focuses on the personal stories, while the big war episodes are enjoyable on a different level. This felt more deep and thematic, and it was definitely a good episode despite some shortcomings.