A Thousand Stars: Episode II, Part 41

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate... Anakin, terrified for Padmé, channels that fear into a rash and heedless attack on Dooku. It does not go well.


It's interesting that Dooku generates the lightning one-handed, in contrast to Palpatine's style. It feels almost casual, less personal. Still brutal though. See how he literally flings Anakin around into the wall.



And then Anakin is rendered as helpless as they left Padmé. His anger has brought him no victory.



Obi-Wan has a little more success with some creative lightsaber usage.


(As for those complaints that Luke should have kept his lightsaber to protect himself from the Emperor, bah. It's not a battle for supremacy; it's a battle for Luke's soul -- and then for Anakin's. But we'll get to that later.)

Still, Dooku gets the upper hand, and he's on the verge of delivering the killing blow when --



Does this image remind you of anything? Yup, the same crossed-blades in front of Palaptine's cackling face. The contrast is significant here. Obi-Wan is truly vulnerable, not glorying in this. The blades are almost out of frame rather than centered. Anakin's block was a desperate last-minute lunge, not a confident inevitable action. His saber is the green one, not the red. Yet the similarities are striking. Anakin intervenes to protect his master.

Next time, a shadow play....