Star Wars the Clone Wars "The Citadel" TV Review

Good Times...

Want to watch this episode?  Head over to Starwars.com or follow this link. http://starwars.com/video/view/001229.html.  Episodes are put on the website the Monday after they air on TV, and are taken down two weeks later.

     After the Mortis Trilogy which delved into the deeper aspects of the Star Wars saga, "The Citadel" takes the series back to its roots with a classic, action-oriented prison escape.  Jedi Master Even Piell is taken hostage by the Separatists, placed under close scrutiny of the Citadel, an impenetrable fortress specifically designed to hold Jedi.  It thus falls on Obi-Wan and Anakin to form a crack team of Jedi and Clone Troopers to infiltrate the Citadel and rescue Master Piell.
     "The Citadel" chooses a minimalistic approach to the story, focusing instead on action sequences.  The lack of a deep story line could have harmed this episode, but fortunately classic feeling that it envokes of the Original Trilogy, specifically the Death Star sequence of A New Hope, more than makes up for it.  The adventure begins with several nice touches as Anakin and his master develop a plan for breaking into the Citadel.  Anakin suggests that they carbon-freeze themselves to avoid detection by the droid's scanners, resulting in a nice scene that draws parallels to Han Solo's freezing in The Empire Strikes Back.  It was also fun to see R2-D2 take control of a squad of reprogrammed battle droids to help out with the mission.
     The Citadel itself felt like a classic villain lair from a batman cartoon, full of dangerous booby traps that the Jedi have to navigate around, setting the stage for some awesome action scenes.  That said, the feeling of danger is a bit lacking.  A couple "red-shirt" clones die along the way, but for the most part the team rescues Master Piell with relative ease.  I know that there's plenty of stuff thrown at them before hand, but for a prison that's specifically meant to hold Jedi, I was hoping for a more perilous experience.
     The episode does try to throw in some characterization, but it isn't much.  Ahsoka disobeys Anakin's orders and tags along with the rescue mission.  And that's over with before the episode's even half way through.  The warden of the Citadel does turn out to be a somewhat interesting villain, but he's got nothing on Hondo.  There is an exciting character reveal towards the end of the episode, which I won't spoil here, and while the episode ends soon after, I'm excited to see where they'll go with him for next week.
Conclusion:  "The Citadel" scales back the story and effectively delivers an action packed experience with several fun nods to the Original Trilogy.  The simple plot does show through at times, but it was still a great episode in which to enjoy the simple pleasures of classic Star Wars.
Rating:  8/10 "Great"
Favorite Moment (Spoilers):  It was cool to see the deadly Commando Droids make an appearance in this episode, and my favorite action sequence with them was when a giant magnet disarms the clones and Jedi, forcing them to fend off the attack with only their bare hands and the Force.  Oh, and seeing Skywalker dangle from the magnet by his robotic arm was also a plus.