We are now more than halfway through the final season of The Clone Wars and while we’re getting lots of Ahsoka, we’re also getting lots of filler.
Who you were does not have to define who you are.
1. Colateral Damage
We get our first extended description of the Martez’s past, and it helps to understand their feelings toward the Jedi. This is the type of thing that happens a lot in war stories, but we’ve not had too much of this in Star Wars. We’ve seen tons of cities/countries/planets destroyed, but we rarely get to deal with the actual fallout. I appreciate the show attempting to bring a sense of responsibility to the Jedi and what they do, though this feels a bit cookie cutter, both in terms of an origin and in terms of literally every character’s reactions to this.
2. Some allusions to past films
There is a moment, mid-break out, when Trace is running through the prison, where she lets out a yelp that is similar to Han’s scream when turning a corner on the Death Star, and that cemented the tonal similarities. Arguments over who is rescuing who, the seemingly never-ending cells, it all felt very A New Hope to me. And then, any city speeder chase will always feel like it is borrowing from Attack of the Clones, for better or worse. This episode, more than any from this batch thus far, feels like it has clear antecedents in other Star Wars media, and that’s a good thing.
3. Ooh, Mandalorians!
Some Mandalorians show up in this episode, and specifically reference the Clone Wars episode “A Friend in Need,” where Ahsoka finds herself on Carlac with Lux Bonteri, and she encounters the Death Watch faction of Mandalorians. Death Watch is especially important in connecting the various bits of Star Wars together, from Rebels to The Mandalorian, even to Solo to a certain degree. It’s going to be very interesting to see how these Mandalorians figure into the final five episodes of this season, as it is finally connecting the show to what many thought this season would be focused on, which is the Fall of Mandalore.
4. Jedi inconsistencies
One of my constant refrains when watching Star Wars is the total inconsistencies in how Jedi powersets are shown. Sometimes, Ahsoka can do incredible things with the Force; other times, very simple tasks seem to stymie her. This is especially weird now that she’s not longer a kid Jedi, learning as she goes along. She was still a padawan, yes, but was an especially talented and resourceful one. It shouldn’t be so difficult for her to pick a lock, or steal a speeder, and yet sometimes these are presented as insurmountable tasks.
I know that it would make the show far less narratively exciting if Ahsoka could solve every problem easily, but there has to be a middle ground between total incompetence and super powered everything.
5. A holding pattern
As much fun as this episode was, aside from getting the Martez’s backstory and showing us Mandalorians, this episode felt like the definition of a placeholder. It begins and ends with the characters in the exact same place, and both of the bits the show ‘accomplished’ here could’ve been easily added in last episode, or in the next one when, presumably, they escape.
Most of my issues with this season have come down to its short running time and its four episode arcs. With such limited time to play with, episodes like this seem especially unnecessary. Again, the episodes look gorgeous, and there’s good stuff in each one, but it doesn’t feel like much is happening, still, 7 episodes in.
