Hello everyone and welcome to another double dose of Clone Wars catchup, this time looking at episodes 7 and 8 of season 4, Darkness on Umbara and The General. Staring with episode 7, I felt that the whole thing took a while to get going if I’m honest. Big drawn out battle scenes only do so much for me personally (others may have loved it), especially in animated shows and I was left waiting for some story progression to happen. When it did we got the most dickish Jedi imaginable reminiscent of an old school army general.

He was deeply annoying but that was rhe point and really made you side with Rex and his squad. Everyone has had that boss who just doesn’t listen and think that their wrong way is in fact right. He was also quite derogatory towards the troopers, making sure to refer to them as clones rather than men. He used Rex’s clone number rather than his name too to further de-humanise him. You could argue that it is a thing that leaders do in wars to make themselves feel less guilty but it didn’t make you warm to him.

What I did like was the subtle change come the end of that first episode: it wasn’t a sudden change or even a substantial one, but his acknowledgement of Rex and his actions helped to send the message that if you don’t lose your temper with someone niggling at you, you might be able to alter their perception, even if it is just a tiny bit or just for a moment.

You needed to hold that way of thinking tight when watching the next episode or else you would become so irritated. Things started off nicely with General Krell was at least sometimes calling Rex by his actual name and was somewhat complimentary. It didn’t take long however for him to revert to old habits. He was just a pig headed, awful man. He was rude to Obi Wan too and he had clearly bought way too heavily into the “price of war” mindset as he was willing to sacrafice lives in head on attacks, never learning from his previous mistakes.

I liked them making a comparison to Anakin as he too suggests dangerous plans but I loved the explanation to why that is different: he leads from the front and fights side by side with his men. Krell shouts orders from the back. It is not hard to see who the better leader really is. There better be another episode where Krell gets what he deserves. He needs some comuppance!

DD Rating: 7.25/10