The Clone Wars Strikes Back: "Destroy Malevolence"

The heroes of the prequels reunite to take down a Separatist warship...

If you went back to July 2005, after Revenge of the Sith had been released but before anyone really knew anything about The Clone Wars, and asked them to describe what they thought an episode of this series would be like, their answer would probably be a lot like “Destroy Malevolence.”

The episode has all the hallmarks of the prequel trilogy. Anakin and Obi-Wan are on an adventure, Padme is there and ostensibly needs saving—though she does more than enough to save herself—, and R2-D2 and C-3PO are there, bantering away about all the danger they are in. It feels like the sort of adventure kids in the 80s and 90s dreamed of: Ben Kenobi on a mission with Luke and Leia's parents, accompanied by everyone’s favourite droid odd couple.

It’s great fun, but it could never last.

Besides selling his company, the introduction of Ahsoka Tano is arguably George Lucas’s most impactful Star Wars decision made after the conclusion of his films. Not only has the character proved to have incredible staying power, becoming a focal point of stories told long after Lucas’ departure, but she has also completely changed how audiences viewed Anakin’s downfall.

The truth of Anakin’s youth, as seen in the prequels, never quite matched what was implied in the original trilogy. Where recollections of Anakin implied heroics, the prequels told the story of a boy who was isolated in a system that never fully understood or supported him, struggling alone until he snapped. We saw flashes of greatness from Anakin, but his story was one of torment and tragedy.

Through Ahsoka’s eyes, however, the heroics we’d always heard of were on full display. He could finally be the cunning warrior and good friend Ben Kenobi spoke of in A New Hope, inspiring and wise, as he did his best to pass on the teachings of the Jedi order to his student. Because of Ahsoka, we could finally see the version of Anakin we’d always heard of. She wasn’t blind to his flaws, but she was the first Jedi character to really appreciate his alternative approach.

From a practical standpoint, too, Ahsoka added a layer of suspense that would be missing from the show if we knew everyone’s fate. We knew what happened to Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, the droids, Yoda, etc. But no one knew the fate of Ahsoka. It became a running joke at Star Wars Celebration to have small children ask Dave Filoni during Q&As what would become of Anakin’s padawan. Audiences relished watching the supervising director squirm as he tried to dodge the latest child asking for the ultimate spoiler.

By the end, The Clone Wars was Ahsoka’s show more than it was Anakin, Obi-Wan, or Padme’s. Want proof? Just look at the four-part “Siege of Mandalore” arc that wrapped up the series in 2020. Yes, Anaka and Obi-Wan appear, but as supporting players in an Ahsoka and Captain Rex (and Maul) story. The story of the Clone Wars, the in-universe event, may be Anakin’s story, but The Clone Wars, the TV show, is Ahsoka’s.

Which makes “Destroy Malevolence” stand out, it’s the last gasp of our pre-Ahsoka notions of the prequel era. Yes, she’s in the episode, but she’s not front and centre the way she was in the previous two. Instead, the episode almost acts as a quick refresher for anyone not fully up to speed on the character dynamics from the prequels. (Yes, the movie did some of this too, but not as well as this episode.) We see how Anakin and Obi-Wan’s styles complement each other, thanks to a decade as master and student, despite the lingering resentment. The secretive nature of Anakin and Padme’s relationship is also on display, as is Obi-Wan’s intentional ignorance of it. Even the back and forth with Artoo and Threepio is given a moment in the sun.

The episode even produces a moment that was missing from the prequels! In the Blu-ray special features, Filoni points out how every Star Wars movie ends with a “portrait shot” of the characters, and how early episodes of The Clone Wars continued this trend. “Destroy Malevolence” ends with a portrait featuring Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, R2-D2, and C-3PO, aka the “big three” of the prequels and the iconic droid duo. Shockingly, this group of characters were never together for a final “portrait shot” in any of the films. As the StarWars.com episode guide points out, “the final frame from Episode I did not have C-3PO, while Episode II and III had them scattered across different planets.”

Together again, for the first time.

The portrait at the end of the episode serves as the capstone to the pre-Ahsoka era. As we will continue to discuss throughout this series, Ahsoka changes everything we thought we knew about the saga, especially the prequels. She doesn’t bring the same baggage that we do; her perspective on the Skywalker melodrama is fresh and unvarnished. Sometimes this will reinforce our preconceived notions of the saga; other times, it will challenge it.

Season One, Episode Four, “Destroy Malevolence”

Written by: Steven Melching

Directed by: Brian Kalin O’Connell

Original Airdate: October 17th, 2008

With the Republic on the verge of finally defeating the Separatist warship Malevolence, Padme Amidala unexpectedly arrives on the battlefield. Lured there as a trap by Count Dooku to buy Grievous time to escape, Padme is hauled aboard the Malevolence via tractor beam. Anakin and Obi-Wan stage a daring rescue to get the Senator back, and Anakin sabotages the ship’s hyperdrive, destroying the Malevolence once and for all.

Tunnel of Love

I love a good action sequence set aboard a train. And if it’s got an open-air component to it, like being set on top of a train, then even better. There’s something about the characters needing to combine their pursuit of their goal (often, escaping) with the added challenge of keeping their balance and avoiding external obstacles caused by the speed of the train.

Star Wars has given us a couple of great ones in the last ten years. There was the coaxium heist gone awry in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Boba and the Tuskens raiding the Pykes’ spice train on Tatooine in The Book of Boba Fett. Both are electric sequences, with high-octane action and real danger.

The train scenes in “Destroy Malevolence” don’t quite reach those same heights. The technical limitations of the early Clone Wars episodes are clear, and it’s clear the crew is still figuring things out and laying the groundwork for the truly breathtaking sequences they would bring to the screen in later seasons. (The season four episode “Bounty” features a train action sequence that is on par with its live-action counterparts listed above.)

For what it is, however, the sequence is still a lot of fun. There’s cool action, humour, character beats—everything you could want!