The Clone Wars: Bounty

Andrew Leon and I are watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Every Tuesday, we will be featuring an episode from the series which began in 2008.

Episode: "Bounty"
Series: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Season 4, Episode 20
Original Air Date: March 2, 2012

via Wookieepedia

Exiled once again, Asajj Ventress seeks a new foothold.  She heads to an awfully familiar tavern on Tatooine where she latches onto a band of bounty hunters, led by none other than our old friend,  Boba Fett.  Their current job seems simple enough.  A large chest must be delivered to Otua Blank, the despotic ruler of Quarzite.  The bounty hunters have been hired for extra protection from a band of raiders looking to intercept the merchandise en route.  Naturally, the contents of the chest come as a bit of a surprise.  There's definitely an old west, train robbery feel to this story.

As I started this Clone Wars adventure, I was hoping the series would develop stories beyond the usual Skywalker family, Jedi vs. Sith adventures we get in the movies.  After all, the format of weekly episodes offers the opportunity to probe more deeply into more remote corners of the Galaxy Far, Far Away.  Four seasons in, I can say that several such threads have been developed.  The best of them, as I've written before, are the adventures of the clone troopers themselves.  The Mandalore story line is a strong one, as are the various bounty hunter tales.  The Asajj Ventress thread is pretty good - partly for the fact that she leads us to Dathomir and the Nightsisters but for other reasons, too.

Lost souls are an essential element of the Star Wars saga: Anakin, Luke, Rey, Han Solo, Finn, Jyn, etc.  They all struggle to find their place in the world, in the fight.  We usually see the story from the hero's perspective.  In Asajj, we get the antagonist's point of view.

via Wookieepedia

Krismo Sodi is the leader of the bandits.  He is a Kage, leading his group in opposition to Quarzite's Belugan dictator.  Somewhat surprisingly, this episode marks his only appearance in the series.  He's an intriguing character.  His design was based on concept art from The Phantom Menace for the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He is voiced by Ben Diskin.

via Scoobypedia

Diskin was born August 25, 1982 in Los Angeles County.  He has also done voice work for Codename: Kids Next Door, Naruto Shippuden, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Hey Arnold! and The Seven Deadly Sins.  He won a Young Artist Award in 1991 for Kindergarten Cop as part of that movie's Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture.

Next week: "Brothers."