I recently got into TCW after a decade of procrastination. Despite my initial distate of the show's painted-wooden-puppet style animation (I would've honestly preferred computer animated 2D images similar to Tartakovsky's Clone Wars series), I decided to look past the aesthetics and give it a shot. After all, I was really intent on exploring the dynamic between Anakin and Obi-Wan between AOTC and ROTS.

I was pleasantly surprised. I've heard a lot of people say that season one was TCW's weakest link, but this show pulled in me right from the Battle of Christophsis/Ryloth. I found the second season to be the weakest, which I felt was bogged down by filler episodes like the Ziro the Hutt arc and Lightsaber Lost.

I think the show really starts picking up halfway through season 3, with Peace Negotiations and Nightsisters (and we got a refreshing visual upgrade!). A notable mention is the Mortis arc. I was ensnared by the metaphysical mystery that surrounded Mortis, and I'll need to rewatch so I can talk about all the metaphors in greater detail. All I can say is that the people involved in the show really thought this through.

Which brings me to my main point: Jedi Spy/Deception has got to be one of the strongest arcs thus far. Apart from the prequels, this is where we start to see how deep the Council's distrust for Anakin ran, and it plants the seeds of disillusionment that eventually leads to his turn to the Dark side.

As much as I like Obi-Wan (in spite of his flaws and rather questionable teaching methods), I've always felt a strong connection with Anakin. The PT gets so much flak for the cringy dialogue, but the way he struggled with his inner turmoil was portrayed so well by Hayden Christensen. And I saw that anguish reflected in the scene when Anakin confronts Obi-Wan after he finds out he had been deceived all along. His delivery of the line, "What other lies have I been told by the Council?" makes my chest heave. Kudos to Matt Lanter's voice acting skills.

But what I liked the most about this arc was that we got to see a side of Obi-Wan that we've never seen before. He was undercover for four episodes (Rako Hardeen is my new favorite bounty hunter), and he played it incredibly well. And one thing stays true: Obi-Wan is truly one of the most resilent Jedis to have ever existed. He played the role so well that I even looked up who voice acted Hardeen and it turned out to be James Arnold Taylor himself! The TCW cast is phenomenal.

I'm so invested in this arc that I hope we haven't seen the last of Hardeen, or that we get more bounty-hunter centric episodes in the next seasons.

There's so much more I want to add, but I think it all boils down to how complex and layered Anakin and Obi-Wan are, and that there's so much more to their relationship than what we've seen from the PT.

I'd say more, but this ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. But what else could we expect when Star Wars never ceases to amaze?

Let me know your thoughts.