A War on Two Fronts

"Fear is a malleable weapon."

- Moral

"A War on Two Fronts" is the second episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fifth season. Prior to its airing on Cartoon Network on October 6, 2012, it premiered on September 21 at a special screening for fans by Lucasfilm Ltd., held at the Letterman Digital Arts Center.

Official description
"Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Rex travel to Onderon, a world under Separatist control. There, they will train a group of insurgent rebels&mdash;including Lux Bonteri&mdash;to help take back the capital city of Iziz from the rule of a duplicitous king."

Synopsis
Contacted by the rebels of Onderon, whose ranks include Ahsoka's friend Lux Bonteri, whose mother hails from that world, the Jedi Council considers how to render help to them. Anakin's suggestion is to train the rebels in subversive combat tactics, thus splitting the Separatist forces' strength in a two-front confrontation. This proposal, however, is met with criticism by the Council, who fear that this would spawn the foundations of terrorism, and terror is a weapon the Jedi never wish to employ. Nevertheless, under Anakin's arguments, the Council sees no other way of aiding the Onderonians, and so Anakin, Ahsoka and Rex depart for Onderon, accompanied by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who wishes to keep Anakin's temper firmly on the ground in this endeavour.

Following their dropoff into Onderon's wilderness, the group meets one of the rebel leaders, Steela Gerrera, and are taken to their base, where they also meet Saw Gerrera and Lux. The Jedi soon proceed to train the insurgents in effective combat techniques and teamwork, but in the course of the training it is shown that a rivalry exits between Lux, who fights for the welfare of his homeworld, and Saw, who fancies himself the born leader for his cause and considers Lux a weakling politician unfit for fighting, a confrontation Ahsoka becomes privy of. In addition, she becomes aware that Steela has apparently a close personal interest in Lux.

As it turns out, the Jedi dropoff did not go unnoticed, and the Separatist occupation forces send out three probe droids to investigate. After locating the rebel base, a battle droid detachment is sent out to destroy them. The droids burst into the middle of a shooting drill session, forcing the Jedi and the rebels to fight their first battle together, in which Lux and Saw succeed in taking out an enemy tank together. Following this victory, the Jedi and rebel plan a covert assault on the droids stationed in the capital city. Sneaking their way inside as a group of hunters and foragers, they split up to secure vital supplies. When Anakin professes his pleasure at his suggestion in training the rebels, Obi-Wan answers with cautious enthusiasm, expressing himself with the term "hopeful".

Cast

 * Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
 * Dawn-Lyen Gardner as Steela Gerrera and Female Rebel
 * Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
 * Andrew Kishino as Saw Gerrera and Male Rebel
 * Jason Spisak as Lux Bonteri
 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Matthew Wood as Battle droids and Onderon Rebel Scout
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Clone troopers
 * Tom Kane as narrator and Yoda
 * Terrence Carson as Mace Windu

Continuity
"A War on Two Fronts" was initially reported by Star Wars Insider as the premiere episode, before the episode "Revival" took its place as the first episode of the season.

The presence of Adi Gallia in this episode indicates that it takes place prior to the previously aired episode, "Revival," in which she is killed.