“One must let go of the past to hold onto the future.”

We close out season four of The Clone Wars this week, and the first episode up is Massacre. Written by Katie Lucas, it first debuted on 24 February, 2012.

Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman) returns to Dathomir to complete her training as a Nightsister. Count Dooku (Corey Burton), still intent on wiping her out, orders General Grievous (Matthew Wood) to Dathomir to wipe out the entire Nightsister clan.

The episode shows us the power of the Nightsisters, and their ability to resurrect their dead. So part of it ends up being a bit of a zombie story, but unlike the Geonosians the nightsisters, when they return, are powerful and fast. There’s also a bit of effigy force-magic as a doll of Dooku is made and tortured, affecting the evil Count.

But it ends up being all for nought, and Asajj’s entire clan is, apparently, wiped out, leaving her alone on Dathomir, and the Separatist victorious.

It’s a dark episode, but I love how it picks up the Nightsister story thread from earlier, as well as planting the seed for the return of Savage Opress (Clancy Brown) as we race to the conclusion of season four.

“Who we are never changes, who we think we are does.”

Katie Lucas pens the follow-up episode, Bounty, which first aired on 2 March, 2012, and sees Ventress leaving Dathomir, hoping to continue her quest for vengeance, newly reborn with the death of her people.

She signs on with a group of bounty hunters, led by a young Boba Fett (Daniel Logan) to deliver an unknown cargo on the planet of Quarzite. Fett is not quite outfitted like we come to know him, yet, but he is proving to be a force to be reckoned with in the galaxy.

Fett’s team includes Dengar (Simon Pegg) – the character’s first appearance on the series -, and Bossk (Dee Bradley Baker) – you can see them forming a unit nicely, so you can imagine that when The Empire Strikes Back comes along, they may, in fact, still have been working together.

But if it was going to be an easy delivery, they wouldn’t have hired bounty hunters to do it. And when marauders show up to reclaim the cargo, things go sideways pretty quickly (though it is an opportunity to see bad asses be bad ass). The marauders, however, have some pretty strong motivation for reclaiming the package, and neither they nor the bounty hunters have accounted for Ventress in any of their plans.

“A fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.”

Katie Lucas cranks out another episode, the penultimate of the season the return of Savage Opress. First airing on 9 March, 2012, Opress travels to the junk planet of Lotho Minor on a very personal mission… to find his brother. Darth Maul (Sam Witwer).

But Maul has been much changed since his last appearance, and he has gone quite mad. When Opress discovers him, however, one thing becomes very clear. He wants vengeance on the Jedi and Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor), Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) and Yoda (Tom Kane) all sense his return.

In fact, there’s not a lot else that goes on in this episode, it mostly features Savage travelling across the junk planet, and then after being attacked and betrayed, tumbles into Maul’s lair.

Sure, the character should be dead, but if there was a way to bring him back, you knew they were going to. Apparently, if worse comes to worst, you can survive being sliced completely in half by a lightsaber.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

The final episode of the season, Revenge, was penned by Katie Lucas and debuted on 16 March, 2012.

Opress and Maul return to Dathomir where Mother Talzin (Barbara Goodson) restores Maul’s sanity and mechanical legs, replacing his spider torso and legs. Feeling as restored as he can, Maul moves on with his plan of vengeance and intends to draw Kenobi to the remote planet of Raydonia for what may be a final confrontation.

The Jedi Master quickly discovers he is outmatched by both Maul and Opress, but may have an unlikely ally when a bounty is placed on Opress and Ventress comes hunting for him.

The two former enemies work together to fight the brothers, and though they escape Maul’s plans for vengeance, they are still out there, planning their next move,and the Jedi will have to be ready.

The Clone Wars blaze into their fifth season next week as I delve into another set of episodes. Until then, the Force will be with you…

Always.