S03E01, S01E05, S03E02 - Domino Squad Arc - Important

We all know this is a great arc, but it’s pretty important too. We see clone training, some good variety in clones, almost all of the unique named clones that’re relevant to the story (Rex, Cody, Fives, Echo, and Hevy), Ninety-Nine and the concept of a ‘Bad Batch’, the introduction of the more competent and threatening commando droids, and an interesting and high-stakes attack on Kamino itself.

The first episode, Clone Cadets, is pretty perfect, though you could maybe do without Cutup being quite such an arsehole. The second, Rookies, is a little weaker but not bad. You could maybe cut the worms. This is yet another Ventress/Grievous episode where they achieve little, so they could be minimised. Arc Troopers is really great and uses Ventress and Grievous far better, with a competent plan.

The only issue here is that there’s clearly quite a big time jump between the first and second episodes - they talk about at least one battle in between. You could cut around the line, but there’s still implied time, so presentation is the question. Similarly, two sets up the opportunity for an attack and three follows up on it, but I’d maybe like to give it an episode’s grace to allow for fleets to mobilise. Smudger intercut between Christophsis and this arc, but the more I think about it, the less I want of Christophsis. One solution then might be limited Christophsis padded by this, which does work as a wrapper - a sort of Smudger-lite - but I don’t know, I think I’d still rather have time jumps betwen episodes than within them. This could be one that’s kept split into three, if the pacing is better that way, and if we can preserve the feeling of their importance. It does come relatively early though, since Grievous and Ventress refer to it being their first meeting. I’m interested in thoughts on this.