The end is here. The Clone War, and The Clone Wars, is over, and there is nothing left to do but marvel at how Dave Filoni and co. have absolutely stuck the landing for the series, across three platforms and seven seasons. There’s a lot to say, so let’s dig in. As has been the case lately, there are some spoilers for Star Wars: Rebels found towards the end.
Shattered
1. “Citizen”
Ahsoka proves time and time again, especially in these two episodes, how she is the best. But more than that, she also shows how she isn’t really beholden to anything but what she believes is the right thing to do. We’ll get to that more in the discussion of next episode, but here we see that she does not think of herself as a Jedi. She says that her actions are due to her status as a ‘citizen,’ which is her both being honest and humble.
But then two things happen that are really interesting: first, she tells Yoda that she is not a Jedi…yet. Not to get all High Fidelity here, but doesn’t that imply that, perhaps, Ahsoka was going to return to the Order? That’s the first we’ve heard of this, and is an interesting thought exercise. What would’ve happened if she returned?
Of course, almost instantly, we are shown why she shouldn’t return, and that’s Mace Windu using her own word, citizen, against her, and kicking her out of the meeting. Windu is the biggest missed opportunity in all of Star Wars, and while he was built up a bit in The Clone Wars, he’s still a problematic character. One of the most dangerous Force users alive was just captured for you, could you at least be a little thankful?
2. Could Ahsoka have saved the Jedi?
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this episode is that Ahsoka chooses not to tell the Jedi Council about what Maul said about Anakin and Darth Sidious. The timeframe here is super condensed, but if the Council knew, just hours earlier, that Anakin was, perhaps, being groomed for the Dark Side, could they have stopped Sidious and/or Order 66? I tend to think not, but that guilt is likely part of what will lead Ahsoka into exile for so long. We have all had similar thoughts about wanting to save people from bad situations, though most of us haven’t (played a small part in having) plunged the galaxy into a twenty year spiral of fascism, either.
3. Proto-carbonite
When Maul is captured on Mandalore, he is placed in this containment unit that looks a lot like what Han Solo is placed in at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, though he is not frozen, but rather held by some energy bonds that stop Force users. We get a few scenes of this contraption, and it seems like something that would’ve been very useful at other points in the series, though it is stated that this is the last one in existence. Leave it to The Clone Wars to introduce a really dope new thing 55 minutes before its all over.
4. Spare the citizen, spoil the Empire
Despite no longer being a Jedi, Ahsoka is not spared from Order 66. In the next episode, we get a little more context on this, but it seems like Palpatine wanted everyone who had any connection to the Force severed, so that he would have no threats to his power from other Force users, including Maul. Speaking of Maul, it is a shame that we never got to see Maul face down Sidious. Maul’s story is that of impotence more than anything else. We see him about to get what he wants so many times, just to see it all fall apart.
5. Rogue One Connection
When Ahsoka is trying to remove the chip from Rex’s brain, she is chanting “I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me,” echoing the chant of Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One. This continues these last few episodes doing all it can to connect this story to the rest of the Star Wars universe, and it does so really nicely. Ahsoka embraces the Force as she rejects being a Jedi, and so someone with Force sensitivity/abilities outside of the Jedi Order aligns well with her.
Continued belowVictory and Death
6. Mauls’ finest hour
In “Victory and Death,” we see Maul’s Force wielding on full display, not only merc’ing dozens of Clone Troopers, but also in ripping out the hyderdrive of a Star Destroyer using only the Force. He was released by Ahsoka in “Shattered” to create a diversion, and he does far, far more than that. Maul’s story has been filled in so much in the post-Phantom Menace era, but he’s never really been shown as this powerful before.
7. A fantastic device
With the hyperdrive ripped out, the Star Destroyer carrying Ahsoka, Rex, Maul, and thousands others is about to crash onto a planet, killing them all. This gives the episode added drama, although, let’s be real, it didn’t really need it, and gives a great sense of just what the situation must have felt like for Rex and Ahsoka. This episode was so tense, despite there being precious little at stake because, spoiler alert, we see all the major characters again in Rebels. But the episode built up the tension so effectively, I was breathless on the edge of my couch the entire time.
8. Godspeed, Little Droids
The best Star Wars media knows how to make droids instantly lovable and important. The trio of droids that assisted Ahsoka in her quest all met truly gruesome endings, which made me love them even more. This episode could’ve easily had one or more of them survive, or all crash off-screen, leaving their fate unknown but presumed. But no, the show went all the way there, showing just how cruel the world has become, just minutes after the Jedi are eliminated. The galaxy goes from flawed to lost almost instantly, and this small action shows it cruelly and effectively.
9. Rex
Rex is a character introduced in the initial Clone Wars film, and could be argued is one of the most important characters in the entire franchise, most certainly in the animated arena. His heroism is without reproach, and his ability to see the big picture makes him one of the wisest in all of Star Wars. In “Victory and Death,” he pleads with Ahsoka to kill the troopers firing at them, literally his brothers, and she refuses, which points to her heroism as well, but also to his pragmatism. They are, together, the best pairing in all of canon, don’t @ me.
10. Ahsoka
Ahsoka went from the obnoxious ‘Snips’ to one of the top 5 Star Wars characters of all time over the course of this series, and this episode highlights all the reasons why that is true. She’s not above walking away when things go awry, she’s not afraid to fight for what is right, she’s not going to do harm when harm isn’t necessary, and she isn’t going to give up, ever. Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker are the two characters that really embrace life as the most important aspect of being a Jedi. Ahsoka wants to save everyone, and Luke wants to strike no one down. This is why they are able to do so much good, because good is the goal.
11. Anakin Vader
The Clone Wars was, in a roundabout way, a project to give Anakin Skywalker some gravitas and action that wasn’t bogged down by George Lucas’s less than skilled hand as a writer and director in his later years. The series, which begins with Anakin eschewing his Padawan role and ends with him embracing his role as Darth Vader, gives far more to the character than anything else in Star Wars. When I now watch Revenge of the Sith, I mourn this Anakin, whereas I used to simply get frustrated at how we never got to see good Anakin.
The Anakin of The Clone Wars still goes from good to evil entirely too quickly, but we get to see why Obi-Wan, Padme, Ahsoka, Rex, and others loved him, and why they thought he could be the chosen one. Some stunt driving and decent lightsaber skills are one thing, but this Anakin was everything the prophecy said he could be. To see him end his journey by picking up Ahsoka’s discarded lightsaber is a perfect image to end on: he has failed in every one of his tasks. He didn’t balance the Force, he didn’t save his wife, he couldn’t fulfill his prophecy, and he couldn’t train his Padawan.
We know this isn’t the end of Anakin Skywalker’s story, but it is a fitting place to close the book for now.
Thank you Dave Filoni and team, thank you Disney, and thank you for reading. The Force will be with us, always.
