RJ Writing Ink

Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 6 Review- Never Ricking Morty

Against my better judgment (I’m trying to adopt a normal sleep schedule), I stayed up to watch the midseason premiere of Rick and Morty. As a result, I watched an episode that I can only describe as meta fourth-wall breaking high on pot. And the ending was enough to make what happened in Lost look sane.

A Literal Engine of Story-Telling

This episode the kind that has to be seen to be vaguely understood, but here’s the rundown. Rick and Morty are trapped on train that serves as a metaphysical manifestation of a storytelling formula. Then they have to fight this Story Lord who wants to use their limitless storytelling potential for marketing. They get by doing something they’d never do in a story (pray to God). Then the ending reveals they’re just toys on a train set created by the Citadel of Ricks. A Story-Train with sentient toys to give people infinite story potential.

Look, I had to think hard about the Snake Story back in December, but here I have to do the opposite. Instead of thinking too hard when I know I won’t understand it, I just went “screw it, let’s just enjoy the thing.” It’s nonsensical and so meta that I knew I could not properly articulate what I was thinking about it.

You know what, though? I didn’t care. This world is messed up right now, so we need a way to keep our spirits up. I can’t think of any show better at doing that than Rick and Morty.

Also, they did a Wendy’s commercial that I legitmately thought was the start of the episode

I Give “Never Ricking Morty” a 3/5

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7, Episode 12

Somber. If I had to describe the final episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it would be somber. We’ve known for fifteen years how the Clone Wars ends, and we’ve known for five years how it ends for Ashoka and Rex. They escape, Maul escapes, and don’t meet again until Rebels. What I wasn’t expecting was how they all get out of Order 66, and it rivals the best the movies have to offer. Or video games, for that matter.

War Drives Men Mad

Picking up where the last episode leaves off, Rex is free from the madness of Order 66, and he and Ashoka have to get off the ship. Something that becomes harder when Maul single-handedly destroys the hyperdrive, takes the only shuttle, and leaves everyone to crash into a nearby moon. Classic Maul. Worse, thanks to Darth Sidious, the other Clones are beyond the point of reasoning. When Rex makes the logical argument that Ashoka’s not a Jedi and not subject to Order 66, the Clones don’t listen. 

Herein lies the true tragedy of the Clone Wars, in my eyes. This show helped to make the Clone Troopers human. Thus, fans feel compelled to care about them. To see them form bonds and friendship’s only to be turned into mindless drones by Sidious is heartbreaking. Thank the Force that Rex and Ashoka have enough compassion to avoid killing them; even if they’ll all die when the ship crashes.

Speaking of which, the final third of the episode is a cinematic masterpiece that would make Genndy Tartakovsky proud. No dialogue as the heroes endure high-flying, Tomb Raider stunts as the ship goes down. When the dust settles, the two are alone in a Galaxy ruled by the Sith. Before they set out on the next stage of their journey, Ashoka pays one final tribute to her former comrades. The sight of the Clones buried in graves marked by their helmets is something you’d see in photos of long-ago wars. It’s a haunting reminder of many people who go to war never come back from it. 

May the Force be With You

There’s probably some parallel universe where the show ended on Cartoon Network years ago. However, this universe gives us the courtesy of knowing that the two live to see the fall of the Empire. Their stories have yet to end, and if rumors are true, we’ll be seeing Ashoka in the next season of The Mandalorian. However, I think this is a perfect end to one chapter of Ashoka and Rex’s lives. Quiet, solemn, and a somber reflection of what they’ve lost. The war’s over, fans; no one wins. Except for Darth Sidious.

May the Fourth be With You.

I Give “Victory and Death” a 4.5/5. War’s Over

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Star Wars: History Abridged Pt. 8- The Dark Wars Pt. 2

Hello, everyone, and happy May the Fourth. Hopefully you’ll have already read my review for the final episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars by now. There’s more, though. For the last week, I’ve been continuing my history abridged series for the Expanded Universe, covering the era of the Old Sith Wars. Today is the grand finale. If you’ve read my last posts, then you know the Galaxy’s in bad shape. The Jedi are on the brink of extinction, the Republic’s at death’s door, and the Sith are making it worse. However, there’s still one person left who can help. So, come with me and learn the story of the Jedi Exile.

If you haven’t played Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, then major spoilers ahead. Just saying.

The Jedi Exile

The woman known to history as the Jedi Exile was born Meetra Surik, and she spent her youth trained as a Jedi Padawan. She was strong in the Force, far stronger than some teachers gave her credit for. In addition, she was to unconciosuly use the Force to create powerful bonds with others, making her a natural leader and compassionate person. When the Mandalorian Wars broke out, she was one of the Jedi who followed Revan and Malak into battle. Next to Malak, she became Revan’s most trusted follower.

At the final battle of Malachor V, Revan entrusted Meetra with the superweapon that would wreck the planet. As a result of, she saw many of the friends she made die in front of her. It broke her, and she became the only Jedi to return to the Council to face judgement. They chose to exile her for what she did. In addition, they also seemed to sever her connection to the Force. she spent the next ten years wandering the Outer Rim. That is, until Revan’s friend Carth found her and brought her back to the Republic.

Hunted by the Sith

In 3,951 BBY, Meetra, aka the Jedi Exile, returned to Republic space. Naturally, this attracted the attention of many factions, including the Sith. Darth Sion and his Sith Assassins infiltrated the Republic ship she was on and came close to capturing her. However, she would be saved by none other than Darth Traya. Her students had turned on her, stripped her of the Force, and threw her out. Now she wanted revenge on them and saw the Jedi Exile as the key to that, and more.

With her new companions, along with several she picked up while on the run, she narrowly escaped the Sith. After returning to the Republic, she then set out on a quest to reunite the remaining Jedi Masters, take down the Sith, learn why she was exiled and why she was starting to regain her connection with the Force.

Journey of the Jedi Exile

With her new companions, Meetra began to travel to multiple worlds touched by the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. While doing so, she ended up helping the locals out with a lot of problems that were keeping them from rebuilding. She also gained a few more companions in the process. Among them were Visas Marr, the lone survivor of Katarr and Nihilus’ apprentice, and Mandalore the Preserver. The latter was trying to rebuild his people after their defeat, and saw aiding the Republic as their best option.

After traveling to multiple planets and fending off Sith assassins and bounty hunters, events would reach a fever pitch on the familiar world of Onderon. It had been fifty years since the events surrounding Freedon Nadd and the Beast Riders. Now the planet was ruled by Oron Kira and Galia’s descendant, Talia. However, a growing force wanted Onderon to secede from the Republic. What no one knew was that these separatists were backed by the Sith.

Ulimately, Onderon became engulfed in a Civil War that the Exile and her companions found themselves caught in. On the moon of Dxun, the group worked with their Mandalorian allies to drive the Sith out of Nadd’s tomb, which they were using to bolster enemy with the Dark Side. Meetra herself led the counterattack that would save Talia and end the conflict in victory. As a bonus, she found the last Jedi Master she was looking for.

Revelations

With all the (still) living Jedi Masters found, Meetra returned to Dantooine to learn the truth about her exile and her regaining the Force. The revelations were pretty big.

As it turned out, the Council never took her connection to the Force. She did that herself at Malchor V. If she hadn’t, the backlash from feeling all her friends die would have killed her. As for how she could use it again, it was through her bonds with others. So the masters wanted to exile her again, for good. However, Kreia intervened.

Kreia had come to believe that the source of much of the Galaxy’s strife was the Force itself and sought to destroy it. And in the Exile, she saw a truth that the Jedi refused to believe: that people did not need to rely on the Force to survive. So, she slew the masters and abandoned the Exile before journeying to Malachor V.

Fall of the Triumvirate

After Kreia left her, Meetra learned what she was planning. The countless deaths at Malachor V had made it a wound in the Force. By expanding it, she could cut the Force off from the entire Galaxy. In other words, killing it. But doing so would probably kill countless beings in the process. So, they had to stop that. First, though, the Sith had to be dealt with.

Firstly, Meetra managed to slay Darth Nihilus when he came out of hiding to consume another planet. After that, the group traveled to what was left of Malachor V, took down the Sith assassins, and convinced Sion to let go of his hate and pass on. After that, she confronted and struck down Kreia/Darth Traya, and then reactivated the superweapon that destroyed Malachor V to destroy the planet, closing the wound in the Force.

The Jedi are Reborn

However, this is where the story of the Jedi Exile ends in Republic Space. with her dying breath, Kriea told Meetra the truth about what happened to Revan, why he became a Sith Lord, and why he had left after the Jedi Civil War. He had discovered that the Mandalorians were pawns for a much greater evil, lurking in depths of space. An evil so great, that Revan sought to prepare the Galaxy for it by any means necessary. It was this evil that he left to confront on his own, and now the Exile would follow in his footsteps.

Meetra didn’t leave the Republic unguarded, though. Many of her companions on this journey were Force-sensitive. She chose to pass on her knowledge and training to them before she left. These students of hers would rebuild the Jedi Order and the Republic in the decades to follow. Thus, the Old Sith Wars came to an end.

May the Fourth Be With You

I didn’t intend on making this post as detailed as it was. However, I found that the only way to give this story any credit was to dedicate a separate post to it. This isn’t the end of the story, though. There are some pretty crazy things left to tell you about the Mandalorian Wars, Revan, and the Exile. So, come back tomorrow for Revenge of the Fifth as I give you the epilogue to the Old Sith Wars.

May the Force be with you.

Click here to learn all there is about Star Wars with Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

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