now tell me why
Summers fade and roses die
Golden hills now veiled in gray
Summer leaves have blown away
Now what remains, the wind and rain

Episode II begins with a spaceship as all Star Wars films do. But really AotC begins with death, and gets darker from there. This is not a happy film, even though it ends with marriage, there is darkness all around us.

The Jedi are powerless to see what is coming, all except Yoda, who clearly can do nothing to prevent the "balancing of the Force." Nor, I think does he wants to prevent these destinies from being fulfilled. 800 years of Jedi Mastery will breed that.

Things move much more quickly in AotC than they did in Episode I. We quickly see that Anakin is not a nice guy. He’s charismatic, he’s headstrong, he’s powerful with the Force, but he’s troubled. Even before his mother dies in his arms, we see the Skywalker fire, the anger Luke unleashed on Vader in RotJ, the "It’s not Fair" attitude we saw Luke deal with in ANH & ESB. But Anakin is untempered by growing up on the farm, he has none of the gruff love Luke certainly recieved from Lars and Beru (Blue Milk!) or by the closeness of friendship that Luke shared with Han and Leia and before them Biggs and Fixer and Camie. Anakin we quickly learn is alone (except for Obi Wan).

Anakin´s relationship with Obi-Wan is troubled by jealousy and resentment from the beginning. It doesn’t help matters that Anakin has a secret advisor in the form of Chancellor Palapatine, who whispers into his ear, "You will become the most powerful Jedi ever." Anakin wants it all and he want’s it now.

So where are we going? Where is Anakin going? We all know where and this is the beginning of that steep slope. And while Anakin is no Darth Vader yet... just you wait three years. I don’t want to spoil this film for anyone, it is the best SW film since ESB. While the Dark Side is still only growing and is not at the hight of it´s ascendance, its growth in AotC is compelling and fascinating to watch.

Many questions remain, how does Mace Windu die? How does Yoda get to Dagobah? Are the Storm Troopers clones? Why can’t the Jedi see Palapatine for what he is, or if Yoda can, as is implied why doesn’t he do anything about it?

Lucas has said Episode III will be dark... I want it to be as black as night.


The answer came, the wind and rain
Now what remains, the wind and rain
And little change, the wind and rain
Same old friends the wind and rain (we'll see summer by and by)