Star Wars Month 2 - The Clone Wars Season 7 Arc 3 - The End

It’s Star Wars Month 2

OK, it's a few days late, sorry about that... anyway

And so far I’ve been pretty harsh on both the stories the Clone Wars incorporated into its seventh season, but in truth both of these episodes provide an important piece in the setup for the big finale. The Bad Batch arc had a heavy focus on Rex, his determination and loyalty coupled with his survivor’s guilt this late in the game.

Naturally the other piece is Ahsoka, who needed an arc to transition her from leaving the Jedi order to her place in this arc. It probably should have played out a little slower, across multiple arcs but they have 12 episodes so we’ll take what we can get. It really had to be these two that the focus was put upon, of the main cast of the Clone Wars we know how Anakin and Obi-Wan end up, along with most of the Jedi Order, and we know how most of the clones end up. The big bads like Grievous and Dooku are dealt with in the films, which is why they don’t appear in this season beyond a quick cameo.

As for Darth Siddeous with Ian Abercrombie no longer with us and Tim Curry… I think retired from voice acting, bringing him back beyond a cameo would be unnecessary. Indeed, they just use archived footage of Ian McDiarmid. Not that he would’ve been beyond getting to return since he voiced Palpetine not only for his incredibly forced appearance in Rise of Skywalker but also for season 4 of Rebels.

I think we’re getting off-topic. Basically, each of the main characters of this finale have had an episode to re-establish themselves and now it’s time for the big showdown.

Old Friends Not Forgotten

A few things you note this time, the opening is almost like a movie, using the music from the usual Star Wars crawl, and there’s no jedi wisdom to be found. The droid army has pushed its offensive and the clones are stretched to their limit, no change there then, so the Jedi Council have dispatched Jedi far across the system. There were apparently 10,000 Jedi at their peak, I imagine a few had been killed by this point but still, where are they all?

Anyway, we’re on Yerbana where Commander Cody’s 212 squad are in desperate need for re-enforcements. The siege appears to be continuing on a bridge as the clones are taking major casualties, with Cody himself only avoiding that fate thanks to the intervention of Obi-Wan. The tactical droid commanding these forces is staying out of sight.

Anakin arrives, having already finished his battle with the 501^st and is probably the cockiest we’ve ever seen him on this show, and that’s saying something. Still, he has a plan and Obi-Wan’s out of ideas so lets him try it. Anakin approaches and surrenders… it’s one of those plans that relies on the droids being absolute morons, isn’t it? Yup, classic Anakin. This isn't the first time they've utilised this tactic and it's considered a war crime on Earth.

Of course, he does have his ace in the hole, Rex, the 501^st and R2 are perched under the bridge. The tactical droid comes out and the trap is sprung, Anakin quickly uses the force to deal with the droid, and his squad re-enforce him on jetpacks.

I will never stop pointing out how stupid the line "they fly now" is. With air superiority, they quickly dispatch a good number of droids and even take out a few of their spider tanks. With that, Obi-Wan and Anakin are no longer really needed for the battle which is good as Colonel Yularen calls in, and well, this is interesting. Apparently Fulcrum was a subspace frequency Anakin used to contact Saw Garrera on Onderon. Makes you wonder why the Empire didn’t know that but whatever, Ahsoka’s making contact.

They head back to the Venator to take the call and Anakin is a bit speechless to hear from his apprentice again. Anakin’s at least a little excited as she’s coming aboard and thinks her leaving was just part of destiny’s larger plan. Yeah Anakin, she had no agency in leaving, Anakin, that’s definitely how it works.

Ahsoka and the Mandolorians arrive but whilst Anakin wants to reconnect, it’s clear Ahsoka is all business. Maul is in Sendari on Mandalore but without a complete lockdown of the city, Maul will escape and Bo Katan does not have the numbers for that. She needs the help of the Grand Army of the Republic, they get Maul and she gets Mandalore.

Obi-Wan, as much as he would love to get some payback for Satine, isn’t going to let his emotions cloud his judgement, especially since an invasion of Mandalore would break thousand-year-old treaties with the Mandalorians, remember the Mandalorians and the Jedi fight wars against each other in the old era. He goes to advise the Jedi council, allowing Anakin to finally try and reconnect with his apprentice.

As they head through the ship, several clones salute Ahsoka, none of them really caring that she left the Order. And several members of the 501^st of painted their helmets with Ahsoka’s markings. This not only serves as a way to make them more distinct from the Mandalorians in the coming battle but for the extra dramatic irony when Order 66 comes along, and yes, that’s gonna be happening very soon.

Anakin also gifts her a box but just as we get to that alarms are blaring, general Grievous is attacking the Coruscant and they’ve lost contact with Shaak Ti, who was defending the Chancellor. Revenge of the Sith is about to begin. Ahsoka is pretty pissed that this is taking priority over Mandalore but I can’t help but side with Obi-Wan, the death of Chancellor isn’t just about him, but it could have ripple effects across all of the Republic and would ensure a Separatist victory, bear in mind they don’t know that the Chancellor is a Sith Lord who’s playing both sides.

Still, Anakin acts as a mediator, offering to divide the 501^st, create a new division and promote Rex to command it, a compromise which Obi-Wan accepts, advising Ahsoka to capture rather than kill given his tendency to not stay dead. Anakin finally gets to give his gift, a new pair of lightsabers.

And so the siege begins. And we confirm that one of Bo Katan’s compatriots is Ursa Wren, Sabine’s mother from rebels. As for the leader of the Mandalorian troops, well, there's Prime Minister Almanac but he’s more a puppet for Maul, so leading the troops is Gar Saxon, who you might remember ruled Mandalore under the Empire. Some things never change.

The clones start using their jetpacks as the gunships become easy targets for the Mandalorian’s rockets. The freefall in is really well done, kudos to the animators for a really nice looking action scene to start off the siege. I mean, Clone Wars is best known for great looking action but still. Maul’s forces are pushed back and advised to escape underground.

Of course, Mandalorians’ spirits are strong and the clones' numbers limited having only half a clone division to work with so they have to find and secure Maul quickly. They get a communication from a clone Captain. They’d engaged Saxon and it didn’t go great, he escaped into a series of tunnels under the city.

Bo Katan and the Mandalorian forces engage Almanac and his forces at the Palace. He remarks that Maul wanted them to bring the Jedi to the Mandalore but they brought the wrong one… Now isn’t that interesting. Bo tries to contact Ahsoka but being so deep underground she doesn’t get through.

The Mandalorians ambush the clone squad, don’t worry Rex was not among them but they all die and Ahsoka is surrounded by Maul and his Mandalorian compatriots. He says he was hoping for Kenobi.

This episode was given a bit of breathing space, and that time is well utilised in easily the best episode so far and it’s only part one of four.

Rating 8.5/10

Phantom Apprentice

First change we see from previous episodes; we just get the title cards and get straight into the action. I wonder if they planned to make a compilation movie of these 4 episodes. It’s something I’d like to see, maybe they could add a couple of scenes to make it seem a little special.

Anyway, Ahsoka activates her com-link, and Rex and a group of clones head to find her. Maul says he was expecting Kenobi to come himself, and perhaps bring Anakin with him... more on this later. Maul senses that things are about to change. He tells her that Darth Siddeous will be in charge in a short period of time. At this point the Clones intervene and Maul and some Mandalorians make a run for it. The tunnels are a maze and they’re quickly lost.

Back at the Palace Bo Katan has set up a communication with Obi-Wan. Ahsoka asks about Darth Siddeous and Obi-wan reveals what he knows, he’s the Sith Lord who orchestrated the Clone Wars, playing both sides. Though Dooku’s death means they can’t further interrogate him. And yes, the actually used the word dead, take that Shang Chi.

Capturing Maul may be their last hope of finding out more about Siddeous, Ahsoka asks for re-enforcements but Obi-Wan is being sent to Utapau to hunt General Grievous and Anakin… he tells Ahsoka of his mission to spy on the Chancellor in private and she rightfully points out how that could piss him off. He wants Ahsoka to talk with Anakin, acknowledging that the Council is not always right.

Before that can happen though, Rex comes in with word of an attack. A group of clones were ambushed with the majority them massacred. One of the survivors, Sterling, tells Ahsoka that Maul captured ARC Trooper Jesse, sensing that he was older and would know all about her. Maul sends Saxon to deal with the Prime Minister as Maul interrogates Jesse about Ahsoka in a pretty similar manner that Kylo Ren does.

Bo Katan, Ahsoka and Rex are in the Prime Minister’s cell hoping to get some information. Maul actually has no intention of escaping and we see that he’s been experiencing a feeling of dread for weeks now. As was implied earlier, it wasn’t just Kenobi he wanted, but Skywalker, before any more can happen, Saxon kills him. There’s a brief chase with him and Bo Katan and its quite exciting if brief, Saxon escapes.

Maul tells the syndicate leaders to go into hiding, including the Crimson Dawn leader Dryden Vos making a quick cameo. It’s time for them to seize what power they can. Back on the surface, we see that enforcing the lockdown on the city isn’t exactly something the people are comfortable with, even Bo Katan herself says she won’t stand for it much longer.

They enter the throne room to find Maul waiting for them, Maul redirects some blasts with the force. It feels like this skill should’ve been utilised more often in the Clone Wars, I know wasn’t really established until the Force Awakens which postdates the Clone Wars but now you know it can be done you can’t help but ask why it wasn’t done before.

Anyway, he returns Jesse to them as a ‘show of good faith’ but Jesse admits he told Maul everything. The city is then rocked by a series of explosions as his Mandalorian followers make their attack. Bo Katan heads to deal with that whilst Rex takes Jesse away for medical attention leaving just Ahsoka and Maul.

Maul remarks that the two are quite alike, both outcasts from an order they once served. And then he makes his offer, the Jedi and the Republic are going to fall, they can’t stop Siddeous alone, but if the two work together, maybe they could. Ahsoka genuinely considers this offer. But there’s one question Ahsoka needs the answer to one question, what he wants with Anakin.

And Maul tells her that he’s the key to everything, killing him could destroy Siddeous’ power base and tells her that Anakin has long been groomed for the role, in fact this whole war on Mandalore was entirely orchestrated so that he could kill Anakin. And the tragedy is that he’s absolutely right, but Ahsoka does not believe him.

This is the first and only real lightsaber fight this season and it has something that no other season has, motion-capture. They even got Ray Park to the mo-cap for Maul, he was the guy who played Maul in the Phantom Menace, now since then some stories have emerged and he’s become a problematic figure but credit where it’s due, the choreography for this fight some of the best the show has ever had. Though Maul seems decidedly weaker, maybe that’s a by-product of everything he’s lost since The Lawless but Ahsoka is keeping pace with him now, and she even remarks that Anakin would’ve beaten him easily.

The fight heads outside as clone and Mandalorian re-enforcements allow the clones to gain ground against the Red Deathwatch Mandolorians. Saxon calls Maul for support but he offers nothing. He’s on the construction beams that forms the dome around the capital. Where part two of his duel takes place. Ahsoka is disarmed. But as Rex arrests Saxon, he takes notice. Ahsoka uses her agility to trick Maul off the beams where he’s disarmed, the clones ensnare him and then stun him unconscious as the episode ends.

There’s a difference in the pacing of this story compared to the others, it’s noticeably faster. But it doesn’t avoid character moments, the dynamic between Maul and Ahsoka is interesting and further compounds the tragedy that is to come. Bo Katan is honestly at her most complex in this story too.

Rating 9/10

Shattered

The conflict is winding down on Mandalore with the arrest of Gar Saxon and his Mandalorian co-conspirators. Ahsoka is brought down with Maul in custody and it seems Bo Katan managed to recover her lightsabers. She laments seeing what has happened that she wishes she was good at something other than war.

Ahsoka’s attempts to inspire are interrupted as the Jedi Council have been contacted. Ahsoka asks for Anakin and Rex believed him to be there but he’s gone by the time we get there, as we catch up with Revenge of the Sith and the Jedi discussing overthrowing the Chancellor. Some of it is archive footage, some is dubbed with the Clone Wars actors, basically any time new dialogue was added, the use the Clone Wars actor. No Samuel L Jackson for you, series.

Ahsoka informs the Council of Maul’s capture but Anakin at that point had been sent to inform the Chancellor of Obi-Wan having engaged General Grievous. This is pretty near the end, not much longer before everything falls. Ahsoka gets a chance to tell the council about Maul’s prophecy but chooses not to. Though given that Yoda was on Kashyyyk at this point, hard to say he would have been any quicker to deliver any message than Ahsoka.

Maul is placed in a special cell Mandalorians developed to hold Jedi. Ahsoka and Bo Katan shake hands as they depart but whilst Ahsoka is leaving, it’s gonna take longer all of the Grand Army to leave and it will be too late. Ahsoka is taken to one of the Venators and Maul is left to meditate. Still, even though they haven’t fully evacuated Mandalore, the Venator is packed with clone troops, which will be important for later.

Ahsoka and Rex head to the bridge and Ahsoka laments that she has known nothing but war, even though her role is a peacekeeper. Rex sympathises and says that clones often have mixed feelings about the war. Sure his people are dying left and right but without the war, they wouldn’t even exist. And this conversation is another of those moments that’s gonna force the irony further as new orders just came in.

Ahsoka and Maul both sense what comes next, Chancellor Palpetine being revealed as Darth Siddeus and they got Samuel L Jackson’s archive footage for this scene, which means they had to pay him, yet they paid Terrance C Carson to dub lines from the council meeting just so they could add a few lines of original dialogue there. They also had Matt Lanter do voice work for Anakin whilst also using archive dialogue from Hayden Christiansen. The show clearly saved its budget for this finale.

Anyway, Anakin choosing to let Siddeous kill Mace Windu is the beginning of the end, as those new orders: Execute Order 66. And with that the clones all have their guns aimed at Ahsoka. Rex has a little bit more agency than most and clues Ahsoka in to finding out about Fives, the clone that got too close to discovering the truth.

Ahsoka is thankfully able to hold her own, escaping into the tunnels above the ceiling. Rex instructs one of the clones to execute Maul. And then commands the clones to sweep the ship for Ahsoka. The Clones are about to execute Maul but he’s saved by Ahsoka, who lets him out. He manages to work out that Siddeous turned the Jedi army against them, but if you were expecting a team-up, Ahsoka has other plans, instead intending to use him as a diversion, not even providing him a lightsaber.

Rex orders the escape pods destroyed and hangar security increased to prevent their escape. Meanwhile Ahsoka meets up with droids, including her old R7 unit. The files on Fives show his death because of a malfunctioning inhibitor chip and a grievance report from Rex, luckily Ahsoka knows Anakin’s passcode and manages to access it, Rex theorising that the inhibitor chips have a purpose.

Maul meanwhile gets a nice little hallway scene where he massacres clone troops, it’s reminiscent of the Vader scene from Rogue One. What’s important is he now has a clone trooper com-link in his possession. Ahsoka and the droids enact a plan, separating Rex from the rest of his brothers and knocking him out. They manage to seal the doors, leaving them a clear route to the medical bay but the clones are already beginning to break through.

They take him through the scanner but it’s unable to find the inhibitor chip, Ahsoka, chanting the “I am one with the force” mantra from Rogue One is able to help find the inhibitor chip, allowing them to put him under to remove it. The clones have managed to get the door open for a moment, forcing Ahsoka to fight whilst one of the droids reseals the door. Thankfully the surgery is pretty quick and Rex, now back to himself is able to help her out. Still, every other clone trooper on his ship is compromised and they’re quickly making their way back through the door.

This episode took a few moments to reflect before resuming a non-stop action set-piece. Ahsoka and Rex’s relationship built over seasons is put to the ultimate test here in the backdrop of the tragedy that is Revenge of the Sith. It’s really good

Rating 9/10

Victory and Death

This episode is pretty much action start to finish, which is why it’s the shortest episode of the bunch. Not a problem, just an observation.

Rex and Ahsoka fight their way out with Ahsoka telling Rex to set his blasters to stun. R7 manages to secure them a safe route, and in that time Maul is mentioned and Ahsoka reveals that she set him free as a diversion.

Maul is in the hyperdrive and is using the force to tear it to shreds, forcing the Venator out of hyperspace. And right into the gravitational pull of the moon. With their engines this badly damaged, this ship is going to crash. Maul gets wind from the com-link of Ahsoka’s plan but the troops themselves were waiting for them there.

And so we have the kinda/sorta morality play from Ahsoka, she’s not willing to kill or hurt any of the clones to facilitate her escape. Yet she released Maul, knowing that he would and he would go onto to kill dozens if not hundreds, not to mention he’s the most direct cause of this crash which will kill all of them. You really don’t have the moral high ground here Ahsoka, whatever you might think. Not that ploughing through this many clone troops without some strategy is a viable option anyhow, and it does give us a nice humanising moment with Rex.

Ahsoka has an idea, she has Rex bring her over as a prisoner and tries to justify not just killing her that she isn’t actually a Jedi anymore. Wanna know what’s worse though, Jesse is commanding the forces against them. It’s all a stalling tactic whilst the droids lower the shuttle lifts so the clones fall through. Maul here seizes his opportunity, racing Ahsoka to the ship, and force-pushing her down one of the lift shafts she just lowered, luckily one of the droids shoots a grapple so she doesn’t fall all the way down, unfortunately the clone troopers were not killed, just knocked out and quickly gain a second wind, firing on her.

They notice the droids are keeping them out of the lift controls and begin firing on them. Ahsoka makes it back up, and attempts to use the force to stop Maul getting away but with more troops arriving and R7 taking a blast, Ahsoka has to let Maul go so she can come to Rex’s aid. Maul lives to run his syndicate.

Ahsoka sends them down, and the droids send the recovered clone troops back up, in their last act before clone troopers shoot them to death. Ahsoka deals with the troops as they find one active fighter they can pilot. Ahsoka’s taking more hits than most could take. The ship enters the moon’s ‘atmosphere’ and Rex is forced to launch, Ahsoka attempts to jump but misses, beginning a freefall. It’s another beautifully animated scene. Ahsoka makes it into the cockpit ad they escape as the Venator crashes on the moon’s surface, killing Jesse and every clone still alive on that ship.

Rex and Ahsoka create a grave marker for the clones and Ahsoka leaves her lightsabres behind, she had already lost one in the crash and leave the other with the graves. Presumably some time later and we see the planet does indeed have an atmosphere as it’s now coated in in ice and snow. The empire is excavating the site. Anakin, now Darth Vader approaches the wreckage and finds Ahsoka’s lightsabre.

It’s a chilling scene and not just because of the weather.

This 4-parter is not only the strongest arc this season, but it’s a contender for the strongest arc in all of clone wars. There’s an undercurrent of tragedy to all of it, how Bo Katan’s people lost themselves to Maul in part because of Deathwatch and how she’ll lose it again to the Empire because of her own decisions. Ahsoka’s was noticeably cooler toward Anakin in the introduction, which is more about her fears of heading back to the Jedi, but it’s a double-edged sword, especially given that it would end up being their last conversation.

The fact that Maul knew what Anakin would do and Ahsoka fought him believing he’s a liar is tragic and Ahsoka having to fight Rex and clone troops that only recently painted her symbol on their heads, lead by the guy they saved from Maul in a previous episode. And yet, in spite of everything, it’s not entirely a lost cause. Ahsoka and Rex surviving this and Darth Vader believing them both to be dead at this point offers them a clear advantage. We’ve seen in the previous story that Ahsoka can hold her own without lightsabers.

The only niggle I really have is Ahsoka’s rather backwards morality play.

Rating 9/10

The Bad Batch will have to wait for a while, I have a few other shows to do, but maybe I’ll get to it eventually.