Growing Up Skywalker

We have so much to celebrate this episode! The Asajj + Maul Arc, Part 2 marks the end of Season Four of the Clone Wars…our 50th episode…our one-year anniversary as a podcast…and May the 4th (Be With You).

We’re so excited to have Tim Beisiegel of Funny Science Fiction Podcast and Pop Culture Addicts on the show with us. Tim has been a champion of Growing Up Skywalker from the beginning, and it was a delight to hear him talk about some of his favorite Clone Wars episodes!

If you like lightsabers, this is the arc for you! In our recap of “Brothers” and “Revenge” (The Clone Wars 4.21–22) we talk about Mother Talzin’s band of terrifying children, Sam Witwer’s theory of the void inside all Sith, the symmetry of Anakin and Darth Maul’s journeys, and Obi-Wan’s imposter syndrome.

Join us next week to begin Season Five of The Clone Wars, but watch out — due to chronological timelines, we’re not watching the first episode of the season yet! We’ll be recapping 5.2–3, “A War on Two Fronts” and “Front Runners,” the first half of the Onderon Arc.

Buckle in, kiddos, because we’re headed to Dathomir. In the first half of the Asajj and Maul arc, Asajj renounces her ties to the Sith and pledges herself to the Nightsisters. Cue Dooku losing his dang mind.

We talk about loyalty, betrayal, witchy covens, catharsis, and Asajj’s four life-altering transformations: slave to Jedi, Jedi to Sith, Sith to Nightsister, and Nightsister to outcast. Somehow we also touch on the meaning of life???

Our follow-up discussion to this episode, “You Say ‘Witch’ Like it’s a Bad Thing,” is available exclusively to Patreon subscribers.

And we have exciting news! Next week is not only May the 4th (Be With You), but also the show’s one-year anniversary and our 50th episode. We’re inviting special guest Tim Beisiegel from Funny Science Fiction Podcast onto the show to celebrate!

Join us next week to finish out Season Four of The Clone Wars with the end of the Asajj and Maul arc: “Brothers” and “Revenge” (The Clone Wars 4.21–22).

Did you know that Star Wars has a bounty hunter-themed reality TV show in the middle of Season Four? Who knew! Shenanigans continue in the second half of the Rako Hardeen arc (The Clone Wars 4.17–18) as Dooku whittles down 12 of the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunters to five. It’s a race against time — and Anakin’s impatience — as Obi-Wan tries to thwart Dooku’s plans to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine.

In our recap, we talk about what it takes to be a bounty hunter, Obi-Wan as The Negotiator, Cad Bane’s code of ethics, and the beginning of the end of Anakin’s trust in the Jedi Council. Come for the jokes, stay for the astonishing Zillo Beast cameo!

Next week, we’re recapping the beginning of Season Four’s final arc: Asajj + Maul, Part 1 (The Clone Wars 4.19–20).

The first half of the Rako Hardeen arc (The Clone Wars 4.15–16) is a romp, y’all. Obi-Wan goes undercover as a hardened criminal to sabotage a plot against Chancellor Palpatine as the entire galaxy believes him to be dead. He hooks up with Cad Bane — who can be threatening even when he’s only armed with a toothpick — and tries to outrun Anakin and Ahsoka, on the warpath for vengeance.

We talk about great villains, iconic prison breaks, and how when Anakin tries to avenge his best friend’s murder, he comes perilously close to committing that murder himself.

Next week, we’re diving into the second half of the Rako Hardeen arc (The Clone Wars 4.17–18).

“A Friend in Need” (The Clone Wars 4.14) is the last standalone episode of The Clone Wars series, and boy howdy is it chock-full of discussion topics.

In 22 minutes, we see Ahsoka reunited with her BOYFRIEND Lux Bonteri, watch the Separatist-Republic peace talks disintegrate (again), meet up with Death Watch, see Bo-Katan for the first time, witness R2D2 raise a droid army, and see an entire village subjugated (no word on how their situation pans out, either).

In our recap, we talk about Lux Bonteri’s options after he became a war orphan, the decay of Death Watch into a biker gang, and Ahsoka — who is all grown up and saving everybody. Special shout-out to her phenomenal fur coat.

Next week, we’re diving into the first half of the four-part Rako Hardeen arc (The Clone Wars 4.15–16).

The Zygerrian Arc of the Clone Wars (4.11–13, “Kidnapped,” “Slaves of the Republic,” and “Escape from Kadavo”) begs us to consider: Who are the real slaves under the Republic?

In this three-part arc, we see Anakin, Ahsoka and Kenobi struggle to free the Togrutan people of Kiros from being condemned to a life in chains. There are heists, spies, infiltration plots, fake names, fake imprisonment (plus actual imprisonment), and a seduction (ooh la la). In our discussion, we recap the grand tradition of slavery in Star Wars and discuss what it tells us about power in the galaxy — who has it, and why it profits them.

Next week, we’re hanging out with Ahsoka and her BOYFRIEND (!!!!) in “A Friend in Need” (The Clone Wars 4.14).

Betrayal has a long legacy in Star Wars, and in the final half of the Umbaran arc (The Clone Wars 4.9–10) we come face-to-face with one of the galaxy's greatest traitors.

In our recap of “Plan of Dissent” and “Carnage of Krell,” we put the spotlight on the 501st. Through heartbreak, sacrifice and betrayal, they go against their beliefs, have existential crises, and eventually learn to find their own way. We get an answer to our question from the last episode — What does it mean to be a good soldier? And we talk about how the Clone Wars continues to show us that a single person’s decisions can matter, whether you’re fighting for the light or the dark. Join us in pouring one out for the brave boys of the 501st and 212th.

Next week, things take a turn for the political in the Zygerrian arc: The Clone Wars 4.11–13.

No more fun and games. We’re getting down to business in the first half of the Umbaran Arc (The Clone Wars 4.7–8).

When’s the last time you read the Geneva Convention? Because war crimes abound on Umbara, especially after Anakin is sent home to Coruscant mid-invasion and the 501st is put under General Pong Krell — a Besalisk with a VERY bad attitude. We rabbithole into Civil War-era parallels to the full-frontal assault into Umbaran territory, including the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Chickamauga. We also talk about what it means to be a good soldier, what a general owes their troops, and why the Jedi Code slides in times of war.

Next week, it gets darker. We’re covering the final two episodes of the Umbaran arc: The Clone Wars 4.9–10, “Plan of Dissent” and “Carnage of Krell.”

The R2 and C-3PO arc (The Clone Wars 4.5–6) has the strangest and yet most strangely delightful Clone Wars episodes in a while. We talk about fairytales, magical realism, the Balance, and droid rights/droid supremacy. R2 talks trash to every sovereign leader they meet in the LONGEST episode ever, and in the face of death, 3PO has — for once — a heartfelt moment. This arc is an actual fever dream, and we laughed a LOT.

This was our last moment of levity for a while. Next week, we’re covering the first two episodes of the Umbaran arc: The Clone Wars 4.7–8, “Darkness on Umbara” and “The General.”

“Shadow Warrior” (The Clone Wars Season 4.4) is one giant, beautiful retribution for Star Wars’ treatment of the Gungans thus far. As Jar Jar is forced to impersonate Boss Lyonie to keep his people from going to war against the Naboo, we (finally) get to see the Gungans step into the light. We get fierce Gungan warriors, ancestral Gungan magic, a fantastic callback to Padmé’s switcheroos in the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones — and the power of friendship, which runs through it all. Justice for Jar Jar. Justice for the Gungans. May we all hold ourselves to their standards.

Watching along with us? Next week, we’re getting front seat tickets to R2 and C3PO’s technicolor adventure in The Clone Wars 4.5–6, “Mercy Mission” and “Nomad Droid.”