So, a bit of a rundown of my day.
-Could not sleep for beans last night, so mostly read some of Wil Wheaton's early TNG reviews, which I loved. At least, they gave me a few laughs and took my mind off the fact I could not sleep, if only for a bit.
-Am halfway through the new CLONE WARS episode, "The Lawless" and...oh Lord. I am not what you call the biggest fan of CW!Obi-Wan (it sometimes feels, IMHO, like they took some of movie!Obi-Wan's more insufferable traits and dialed them up to eleven), but what Maul did to him... *Sighs* Suffice to say, let's say that Maul wants revenge on Obi-Wan (for defeating him, I guess. That and the fact that he's now half-cyborgized probably doesn't do much to make his feelings towards Obi-Wan any more favorable) so... *Sighs* He kills Satine.
Yep.
I did have a bit of problems with it and how it was executed (then again, I guess it was just sort of...well, a bit of cynicism on my part), but the voice-acting and the music definitely did its job, at least. Whoever composed the score for that scene should definitely be given a standing ovation, at least. As well as Satine's voice actress. And Sam Witwer and James Arnold Taylor. And I guess it did succeed in making me feel sorry for Obi-Wan, considering that...well, honestly, he loved her. And Maul knew it, and so he decided to basically kill Satine to get at Obi-Wan. I guess it doesn't help that I've grown to love Satine as well. I mean, she's kind, strong, brave in her way, determined, willing to stick to her principles...she's not the Action Girl type, but that doesn't make her any weaker for it. If nothing else, one doesn't have to wield a weapon to be strong, and I think Satine is a prime example of it. That and I will confess I didn't see it coming. Maul could have killed off some random Red Shirt to make his point, but I think the reason he chose Satine was just to make the point clearer to Obi-Wan. If nothing else, if there's one small victory Maul has over Obi-Wan, it's the fact that he's made him feel Maul's pain.
It's a good concept in theory. I think the only problem with it is...well, save for Ahsoka, CLONE WARS hasn't really been focused that much on female characters this season -- which is all the more confusing considering that earlier seasons focused very much on female characters and such. Perhaps they were trying to take a different route, but a part of me can't help but feel disappointed. It doesn't help really that...well, in all honesty, killing off a female character is (one of) the easiest way(s) to induce sympathy. It's kind of manipulative, at least in a way. There are cases when it's not, but most cases, it can be poorly executed.
Granted, I'm only halfway through, and I doubt I can judge a half of an episode as much as one can a movie trailer (at least I doubt one can judge the quality of a movie by the trailer alone), but let's say it was something that bugged me a bit. That and...Satine had a lot of potential. And to just show up in the recent arc just to be killed off...that was admittedly disappointing. And there were times when I felt like she didn't have much to do in the arc. That and I guess it may be a bit of me being protective of her -- I think she deserved a better fate than that. I know full well that the Clone Wars in general don't have a happy ending, but I doubt it really makes it easier.
That and...well, I'm going to quote Russell T. Davies again, if one doesn't mind. I know I've been quoting him a lot, but I think this quote is very apropos all things considered, and probably one of many reasons Satine's death doesn't sit well with me:
"That's the point actually. Both in fiction and in life. When someone dies you lose all that potential. You grieve over everything they could have been. Everything you hoped for them. Everything they might have achieved with their lives, everyone they could have loved. Every job they could have had. Every joy they could have had. It’s gone."
Because honestly? I wanted to see more of Satine. I wanted to see more of what she could do. Perhaps it doesn't help that Season Five is my most exposure to her (I am quite terrible at catching up, TBH), but still...I think she had a hell of a lot more to do. Perhaps that was the intention? Still, I don't know. The way it was done seemed to be more for shock value than anything else. If one wants to raise the stakes...yes, raising the stakes is a valuable thing. But there's a part of me that wonders if it could have been executed better.
I might write up a full review when I've watched the episode in its entirety, but TL; DR, Satine's death wasn't terrible. I just wish it was done a little better. Then again, I might just be being picky on this one. It just...well, it bugged me a bit. Maybe I'll get a bigger picture of it later -- I couldn't really finish watching the episode because...well, it was a bit too depressing, really.