Just a heads up for the UK people here - the showings of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Sky Movies have overtaken the US showings. Episode 2x15 "Senate Murders" is on Sky Movies Premiere +1 as I write this. It's repeated every day for a week at 10am and 5:30pm. Each new episode is available on demand on Sky Player for Movies subscribers as well.
Yeah that was nice. Ahead of the curve for once! I thought the politicking in this episode was incredibly inane and nigh incomprehensible (a little like Santine in her arc). Why exactly does Padme want the military spending to not run amuck? Er, apparently because she's holding out for a diplomatic solution. With the Separatists? Really? Heh. That's... that's weak, especially given her experience with the Separatist leadeship should have cued her in to this not being viable. There probably are reasonable concerns she could raise about this sort of reckless funding - too much power to the state and/or special interests (like Kaminoans), it's cutting the budget on some needed social projects, whatever. Granted, this is a children's cartoon, but I'd like even the elementary politics they bicker about to make sense within the show's own logic; which here treats peace as a vague notion that principled and smart girls sorta like. Beyond that? Well, the use of lighting and character design was hilariously unsubtle, but then, this is Star Wars. Rather by-the-numbers investigative story with some guy parodying some Hollywood actor whose name I can't place, then credits. For those who complain about the show's action, "Senate Murders" is, like the earlier "Senate Spy" (aka, Notorious plus nonsense) are pretty good indications it should stick to what it knows. Not bad, just, eh.