Generally speaking, the first 1/3 of season 3 was really not good. But S03E10 (Padme and Ashoka conducting a covert mission to pursue peace talks) was one of my favorite episodes of the series to date.

After the next one I’ll be out of the jumbled chronology permanently, per that site you linked earlier.

Holy ****, Ventress vs Dooku is easily the coolest place this show has gone yet.

Yassssss. The Nightsisters/Dathomir stuff is so cool.

And it looks like you've gotten there.

I'm very excited to have arrived in this new world where the writers suddenly had a surge of inspiration, at least if I'm to understand that there's a lot more content to come that's around this quality level (fully understanding that there are likely still occasional dips in quality to come). To no surprise, it's now got me closer to binge-watching mode when I turn it on.

The arc on Mortis was great. I didn't care near as much the rescue mission to the Citadel - it's hard to care that much about the attempted rescue of a Jedi I'd never seen before, nor the obscure MacGuffin of coordinates that were valuable to the overall war effort - but I did like the interactions between Anakin and Harkin, and I felt the last episode of the arc was quite good and did help to redeem the overall arc. I'm very much into this stranded Ahsoka arc to end season 3, and after watching an episode before work today I was pissed that I had to leave and go to work rather than delving straight into the season finale. Ahsoka is a great character, and I'm glad to know that there's more on her forthcoming since I'm aware that there's a live-action series about her in the works.

Couple of thoughts that I'm just putting out there without necessarily soliciting reactions, as I imagine that meaningful reactions to either of these may be spoilery:

*I continue to find it odd that Mace Windu is so little-used in general, whether in missions or otherwise. It's not like they were paying Samuel L. Jackson to voice him. Considering what happens between Mace and Anakin in Episode III, it seems like they would do well to build that relationship in order to heighten the impact of what occurs in the final prequel movie.

*They've made it very clear that Palpatine is corrupted from the start of this series. I guess I'm not entirely sure when I'm supposed to believe that he was first corrupted, as he seemed like a sincere enough ally during Phantom Menace, but I guess I've just treated it as though his turn at least began during Episode II (as he amassed increased power and Padme indicated her discomfort). Anyway, what creates kind of an awkward tension is less that he's corrupted, and more that it seems like they more subtly bring across that the Jedi Council is already suspicious of him throughout the series. Seems like they're stuck spinning their wheels in this tenuous relationship for quite a long time without acting, especially given the power Palpatine holds. Granted, I only know that Episode III is the first time they voice their suspicions to Anakin; it's entirely possible (and I'm hoping it's the case) that Windu and Yoda voice their suspicions to each other earlier than that in this series, and begin taking measures to freeze Palpatine out from an info standpoint.

Palpatine is always corrupt/a sith from the beginning, since far before we first see him in Episode I. I didn't read it, but I believe there's a book about the sith who trained him, which may no longer even be cannon, but in Episode III, they somewhat imply, but never confirm, that Palpatine created Anakin.

They suspect a presence in the movies, especially after Dooku outright tells Obi Wan in Attack of the Clones, but I'm not sure they suspect Palps. It's been a while since I've watched the movies though.

There are some potential answers here. There are book spoilers, some of it not even cannon anymore either, but I didn't see any show spoilers.
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/ques...-to-use-the-fo

Darth Plagueis is the book you’re talking about and it’s ****ing fantastic. It’s regarded as one of the best written SW books in general.

While technically not canon, most of it still fits and I would recommend it to anyone. I’ve read it multiple times. Audiobook is also great.

I mean I'm not 100% certain that they suspect Palpatine in Clone Wars, but it sure seems like it. Most recently, the collective group returns from the Citadel with Ahsoka having half the coordinates and Rankin having the other half, with Ahsoka insisting that she would only give her half to the Jedi Council and Rankin insisting that he would go straight to the Chancellor. Yoda ponders for a moment and then says he'll meet with the Chancellor himself, and I believe says something about making a "wise decision." He does not seem oblivious. There's really no reason to bat an eye at just turning the info over to the Chancellor immediately in the absence of suspicion.

There are other moments that also made me feel like they had suspicions, but none are coming to mind right this minute.

But beyond that issue, thanks for the additional information re: Palpatine. That's an open question I'd been wondering about.

You did realize that he's Dark Sidius, Darth Maul's master from Ep I? He orchestrated the whole blockade with the Trade Federation on his home planet that kicked the whole thing off.

For the Jedi’s suspicions, you have to realize just how much Sidious and Plagueis worked to “cloud the force” and prevent the use of foresight. The Jedi definitely know that Sidious exists, they just think he’s some Sith lord pulling strings. Palpatine, at worst, would only be considered an unwilling puppet of such a person. His political path was so perfectly crafted, pretty much everyone LOVES Palpatine.

The problem with the Jedi is, they’ve taken way too much onto their plate, and have already put themselves in an untenable position. They’re supposed to be peacekeepers, but now they’re forced to be generals. The Clone Wars isn’t just a physical conflict. The entire war is designed to thwart the Jedi both internally and externally. They can FEEL this happening, but it’s hard to react when your constantly putting out millions of different fires.

I knew he was Sidious. I guess I didn't remember the interactions between Sidious and Maul in Episode I. As I was watching the prequel trilogy, I think it took until Episode II for me to realize that he was Sidious, so I would not have necessarily connected it well while watching Phantom Menace. I had it in my head even during Phantom Menace that Palpatine would become a villian, but didn't realize he was one and the same with Sidious until the prequel trilogy wore on.

Yeah it’s kinda wild when you realize he was actively meddling with everything all along. Sidious/Palpatine is truly the culmination of the Banite Sith and the end result of the Rule of Two. 1,000 years of cold, cruel refinement to create the perfect dark lord.

At the end of episode 1, at Qui-Gon’s funeral, Palpatine is literally standing next to Yoda and Mace Windu. Two of the most powerful Jedi in all of history, and they still cannot see beyond Palpatine’s veil, even when standing face to face. The power of Sidious is no joke.

I used to read a lot of the EU stuff. Loved the Vong stuff. Even named a cat Jade. Got disgruntled when they not only wiped it out, but went in an entirely different direction with the sequels. They seem to want to keep some of it, but don't tell us which. They do eventually bring in Thrawn, but certainly don't hold to his book history. They would have been far better off doing the Thrawn or Vong stuff as movies than what they did.

The newer cannon novels are mostly filler with few exceptions. At least the ones I've read. An exception actually being Dark Disciple, which was actually supposed to be a long Season 6 Clone Wars arc before it was temporarily cancelled. (Yes, that's a thing we may have to talk about after you finish S5 LKJ. Some of the intended original S6 arcs were put into other mediums as SW transitioned to Disney and was axed from Cartoon Network. But no reason not to enjoy until you get to that point.)

Also think I too quickly skipped over the Mortis arc. That was the biggest home run of the Clone Wars for me. Without looking it up, I can't remember if Katie Lucas was responsible for that. I know she wrote a lot of the Nightsisters stuff and some the darker episodes of the series overall.

This waterworld **** to open season 4 was a real step backward.

Dude, yes. The water wars **** is so bad. I actually stopped watching the show for a month or two in the middle of that arc.

S04E04 featured a heavy dose of Jar Jar Binks with a side of General Grievous.

Strangely, I liked this episode.

I always thought that "I mean, some manure, just...less" was one of the hackiest joke attempts throughout The Office. It's a joke line that a failed comedian would write.

Yah, it's a terrible joke, but it comes at you so fast I think most people probably barely noticed.

The General Krell story arc was quite good, but they sort of never addressed any fallout from it? Like...I'm to believe that the Jedi just took the clones' word for it that it was totally justified for them to stage a mutiny and kill a Jedi? It's very odd to me that there wasn't a single Jedi conversation about Krell in the aftermath. I guess that could still be coming, but the show seems to just be moving on to other things. Especially considering that Palpatine engineered that whole thing, it just seems like it would be part of a longer thread. Like I said, perhaps it is and I just don't know it yet.

You might be expecting too much. Think the latter half of S4 is better. Wondering how you'll feel about one particular thing towards the end of the season.

I don't know man, it feels weird NOT to expect Anakin to have had some thoughts on the subject of him being pulled off the battlefield before finding out that an undue number of his men got slaughtered and the balance of them staged a mutiny that ended in the execution of their general. That's a pretty wild deviation from the norm.

The Krell stuff is the highest-rated stuff of the season per Ratingraph.com, even a bit higher than the Nightsisters/Mortis arcs the prior season even though it wasn't as great as those things. But hopefully I'll agree that the second half is better. After they started the season by straight-up burning off six bad episodes (the waterworld stuff was bad and then there were a couple of horrible C-3PO/R2-D2 episodes), there is a bit of catching up to do.

I'll bite on the "one particular thing" question when I get to the end of the season.

I can't remember the entire plot line specifically at the moment, but the Jedi are far more oblivious than logic would dictate when it suits the needs of the plot. I guess they get away with that by calling it a family friendly show. Don't want to make the kids think too hard.

Out of curiosity, does Rebels at least meet the Clone Wars standard for being adult viewing? The nature of the animation in the thumbnails just makes it look like more of a kiddie show to me despite no other context to necessarily suggest that.

Definitely. Maybe even exceeds once you get past the first season and a half. I'll tell you this, using a wrestling term. I've had basically 4 "pop" moments in SW since Disney bought. In no particular order.

1 - End of Rogue 1
2 - S2 Finale Rebels. (Final arc of Rebels is pretty awesome too, but not in a single moment/scene pop way.)
3 - Finale arc of Clone Wars (S7)
4 - S2 Finale Mandolorian.

BTW, depending on which movies you've seen in the Disney era, you may already be aware of the CW S5 thing I was talking about.