The Clone Wars Countdown, Essential Arcs // #8 – The Queen of Geonosis and Her Zombies!

Number eight in my essential Clone Wars arcs feature here at the Dork Side is a long arc that starts with Padme and an alleged traitor in the Galactic Senate, takes our heroes on a trip back to Geonosis, and ends with a classic horror-story-esque zombie tale! Hell yeah, right?? Without further adieu, may I present you with……

#8 // The Queen of Geonosis and Her Zombies

Season 2, episode 4 — Senate Spy
Season 2, episode 5 — Landing at Point Rain
Season 2, episode 6 — Weapons Factory
Season 2, episode 7 — Legacy of Terror
Season 2, episode 8 — Brain Invaders

Why it’s essential watching (without giving it all away….):

So much of what made The Clone Wars awesome – this five episode arc is almost like three small arcs wrapped into one story. We get an Anakin & Padme reunion after quite a bit of time apart and a glimpse at some of the frustrations of a new (and secret) marriage between two young people amidst challenging times. We get a quick subplot with some Senate intrigue, which was cool. We get some great battle sequences on Geonosis that were very reminiscent of Attack of the Clones. And lastly we see GL and the creative team taking chances in the form of what amounts to a Clone Wars horror story. Yeah, for real. And it worked!
Anakin’s issues – yeah, they are front and center in multiple forms – first his attachment and jealousy issues in regards to Padme; second his attachment issues and fear of loss as it relates to Ahsoka; and lastly his darker side as he goes all Dark Knight on Poggle the Lesser in order to extract information that the other Jedi couldn’t get using the more usual methods…..
Ahsoka’s craftiness – we meet Barriss Offee in this arc and while she comes off as confident and with a plan for she and Ahsoka’s side mission, we quickly see that plans don’t always work in war…. Ahsoka’s quick thinking and training from Anakin end up saving the day and the younger Jedi Padawans. She also saves the day from the Brain Invaders when the rest of the crew (including Barriss) is infected with the creepy worms whilst they’re on the supply ship bound for the Ord Cestus medical station.
Geonosis – we return to Geonosis for what should be the final time in The Clone Wars and the landscape and battle scenes are epic. Rewatching these arcs whilst also watching Rebels really shows just how much detail and work was put into each and every episode of The Clone Wars. It also makes me appreciate GL a little more, as it’s obvious he and Lucasfilm were spending a ton of $$$ producing this show. It’s no surprise that Disney quickly canceled TCW when they acquired Lucasfilm, and it’s sad also….
Queen Karina the Great – we meet the hive Queen of Geonosis and learn that she has taken to reanimation…. yeah, she has a slew of zombified Geonosian’s heeding her every command. As crazy as this sounds, it works, and it’s arcs like this that really showed off how the producers and writers of TCW could take chances and have them pay off in spades.
Rad canon connections – Geonosis, obviously… we see that nobody is keen on returning to the site of the first battle of the Clone War, especially Obi-Wan Kenobi. Geonosis reappears in canon multiple times as it was also where the bulk of the work on the first Death Star took place. Saw Gerrera is infected with toxins whilst there as well, during the Star Wars Rebels series and timeline; we finally see the capture of Poggle the Lesser here, who also pops up a couple more times in the new canon, namely the James Luceno novel Catalyst; last but not least Barriss Offee… I’m not going to spoil any upcoming arcs, but suffice it to say Luminara Unduli’s seemingly earnest padawan learner will play a larger part in the series a little later on……