That’s far from the only vivid scene in this episode. Yoda’s fight against a shadowy version of himself is at first a bit difficult to take seriously, but the voice actor seems to be having fun, and the dialogue is biting – “You spend your days in the decadence of war.” Other visions play out like a stress dream, an alternate version of Order 66 including a dark future for Ahsoka and Katooni, the Padawan most tempted to leave the Jedi Order in the youngling-focused arc, making a sinister appearance. Yoda is calm when his ship’s controls go haywire. This arc shows more emotional range than we’ve ever seen from him before, and the writers seem to have no difficulty with him carrying a story. The fact that Yoda has to face evil to find his answers is a bit overdone – although of course it’s also the basis of Star Wars’ philosophy. I like the idea that all evil is really fear, spoken as a revelation. And we knew from the trailers that Yoda would have a boss fight. The fight with the doppleganger just feels like a boss fight, while the strange, constantly moving organic landscape and Yoda himself feel like more. The creativity of the visions and the art direction of the episode more than makes up for a vision quest that sags a bit in the middle, and the Sages combined with a look at an old Jedi order that might have been makes this one of my favorite episodes in the series. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
