Water War

I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE LIGHTSABER WORKS UNDER WATER ???An average episode!

Another forgettable episode in a long line of them. I miss the chunky 24 episode seasons of yore, but this is a show that absolutely does not have enough content to fill an entire season.

This episode features another civil war and doesn't do much with it. The Calamari prince learns the complex reality of being a battle commander but we have had "harsh reality of war" messaging in this show many times before. I appreciate the effort, but you have to delve deeper or be more specific for me to care.

I will praise the ever increasing quality of the animation. Many of the underwater scenes have impressively complex lighting and shadows. The use of color for the underwater worlds is also vibrant and aesthetically pleasing to look at. The sense of scale and spectacle is increasing season to season as well.

Gotta power through these filler-y episodes. I know there is better material to come.

Sure; it is an arbitrary point in one's Star Wars journey to get annoyed by this, but watching this episode, I guess its mediocrity along with the consistency of the concept, it finally got very annoying: what sort of Galactic Republic is this, where so many of the representatives are unlected monarchs? An assortment of Kings, Duchesses, Princes, Queens, and in the end democracy seems to exist only as a facade at the top-tier of this political system. And if Padme was somehow an "elected Queen" at 14 years old (go figure but ok, I accept this), this fishy fellow here is just one more ruler by right of blood.

What annoys me here is not so much that the Republic is barely a republic, it is just a general frustration at the fact that not just SW but many, many science fiction settings insist that a majority of space-faring, extremely advanced technologically civilisations will resort to hereditary monarchy as a system of government. Is this a bit of a weird analysis for a cartoon episode about alien squid people? YES, of course it is, but you know what, it's a necessary conversation to have. This is why Star Trek fans revel at their preference.

Obviously the episode overall doesn't help one who falls into this rabbit hole get out and look past these issues - it is another in a long series of generic 'planet's ruler has to choose between allegiance to the Republic and obviously nefarious separatists' plots (notice how it is always the ruler who has to be swayed. The people have no say in this), peppered with shark-people (they are evil, they are sharks), and underwater lasers.

An obvious step down from the strong second half of season 3, but hey, gave (sea)food for thought.

This was one of the weirdest episodes to start of a season and how the hek does a lightsaber work under water!? Weird and very unusual episode.

This episode and the arc which it begins is not bad but is a relatively disappointing opening for Season 4 after such an incredible second half of Season 3.

The lack of logic of lasers and lightsabers being methods of battle underwater as well as ordinary speech between underwater races is problematic. It is also a pretty run of the mill story making this a weak effort compared to the normally really high standard of the show.

On the other hand it is entertaining and fun. If you ignore the physics of it being underwater this would be a decent story exploring how the war impacts different worlds. The enjoyable aspects make this ok to watch, you just have to not think too deeply about the physics.

My rating: 6.5/10.