Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 7 (Final)

   

Based on: Star Wars by George Lucas

Created by: George Lucas

Writers: Matt Michnovetz, Brent Friedman, Dave Filoni, Charles Murray

Starring: 

Matt Lanter (Anakin), James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka), Dee Bradley Baker (Clones), Matthew Wood (Grievous), Tom Kane (Yoda & narrator), Catherine Taber (Padmé), Terrence C. Carson (Mace Windu), Corey Burton (Count Dooku), Nika Futterman (Asajj Ventress), Phil LaMarr (Bail Organa), Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan), Sam Witwer (Darth Maul)

P.S. Let me just say I felt personally betrayed when I learned (embarrassingly recently) that the prequel movie actors did not voice their own characters, yet they sound identical. I may need to have a word with Disney about this.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars final arc trailer:

This was actually supposed to be a blog for season 5, but as just as casual Star Wars fan, all the individual seasons kind of ran together for me. 

That's not to say they weren't good--on the contrary, I'd give all of them four stars for be great--but that's just it. I'd rate them all the same quality and I'd have basically the same thing to say about all of them. They all had excellent action, excellent story quality, excellent character development, and excellent animation. Not great story progression, but they weren't allowed to because for most of it they had to keep things static to pre-ep III development. 

The only complaint I have is how the later seasons handled Ahsoka's development. She went through some crucial, intense stuff at the end of season 5, and ends up leaving the Jedi Order as a result. Then, after this crucial point in her development, her character is effectively given a hiatus. She doesn't come back for the entirety of season 6. I did some quick Googling and it seems like this is because the season was canceled before it was complete, but that still doesn't quite make sense to me. Out of 13 episodes, is it just happenstance that none of them included an Ahsoka arc? The seasons usually lasted about 20 eps, so that's still more than half. I suppose it's possible that they were working on some heavy material with her, and opted to release none instead of only partial story elements that weren't completed. 

Ahsoka walks away from Anakin--and the Jedi Order

While I'm lingering on season 6, I also want to mention its final arc with Yoda beginning with episode 11, "Voices." I was fortunate to be watching with a seasoned Star Wars-obsessed friend, who informed me that at this point in the canon timeline, force-ghosts didn't exist yet. With that necessary context, I really appreciated this arc for setting up Obi-Wan's eventual "death" in episode IV, and I especially loved that Yoda was the central focus. I don't think there's a better [established] Jedi who's more mentally centered and aware of the force than him, so it would only make sense that Qui-Gon would communicate with him first--or that Yoda would be first to hear his attempts. 

Now that I'm halfway through a normal-length blog, I'll get to the matter at hand: season 7. As I was saying about Ahsoka, I still think her development was handled poorly. I had several questions that my aforementioned friend wasn't able to answer: Where did she go? Why was she not included in season 6? Why has it been so long since any other character has seen her? What happened to her? Why didn't she keep contact with anyone, since her name was cleared? And more importantly, where did she get a second lightsaber and how did she get white ones? In his defense, I think he could answer the lightsaber-focused questions. But to all the others, it was simply "I don't know." And I think that's a lack of canon, not a lack of his knowledge, which doesn't seem acceptable to me. I don't understand why Disney would simply drop Ahsoka back into the show with a random arc, acting like everything is normal. The show does address her departure from the Jedi order, but more between the lines with awkward hesitations and silences in dialogue--not directly, which I think it needed to. And it certainly didn't address the time gap, which it really needed to. 

Then, after dropping this glowing coal into our bare hands, Disney proceeded to have us cook dinner with it. They thrust us into far more meaty story material and the series finale--still without providing needed explanation. To their credit, it didn't impede much. And if we assume (probably accurately) that she simply spent the months on her own, training, meditating, and coming to understand her path better, everything pretty much lines up. 

I thought that season 7's first two arcs were largely inconsequential. The first one introduced the Bad Batch, a group of clones grown with purposeful mutations that aid in battle. The second arc reintroduced Ahsoka, though the story seemed pretty irrelevant. The final arc is what it's all about: the story that coincides with episode III--which I didn't expect--and serves as the series finale. 

In season 7's second arc, Ahsoka helps two rebel sisters (Trace (Brigitte Kali Canales) and Rafa (Elizabeth Rodriguez)) out of a tight spot

First, I'll say that the intros for this arc were chilling. I can still recall the chilling silence in my mind as the title cards flashed; the usual whimsical music palpably absent. The violent red font (instead of whimsical yellow) punctuated the silence. I had an idea of what was coming--I had been spoiled long before watching that the series included Order 66--but I had no idea how, and my friend relished my anxiety. 

All three episodes were fantastic. The first of the arc included a worth showdown between Ahsoka and Maul, each at the culmination of their respective arcs and changed significantly. Enough that they were no longer black-and-white adversaries: Ahsoka had left the Jedi and Maul had (to my understanding) left the Sith. This meant their true goals were also muddied, and it showed in their relative lack of conviction in how far to subdue the other--or if their goals were aligned to any extent. In conjunction with the sharp prowess each possessed both with lightsaber and force, it made for a truly excellent duel. 

One of Anakin and Ahsoka's final moments together, at the beginning of the arc

Ahsoka and Maul duel

My favorite moment was in the arc's second episode, "Shattered." I wasn't sure how Ahsoka would escape being on a ship full of clones when Order 66 occurred. Just before this moment, movie dialogue is overlayed--Palpatine unmasking and murdering Windu, Anakin formally accepting tutelage. My blood ran cold. Then, the moment: Ahsoka is backed into a large room, circled by clones who she has realized--seconds ago--are intent on attacking. All of them open fire at once, and there's a seemingly long, 2-5 second moment when the TV screen is lit up with red/green energy of blaster bolts, and Ahsoka's image is hidden in an utter blur of lightsaber movements and increasing smoke. It was a move so advanced that my friend had to explain it later: she didn't just dodge the energy blasts---she redirected all of them upwards to cut a hole in the metal above her and escape. 

The final moments of the series are slow, deliberate, and quiet. Ahsoka spends time interring each of these close friends who had tried to kill her, who had died in their crash landing. Her prisoner, Maul, escapes. Ahsoka dons a simple gray cloak, almost as a symbol of her mourning. Then, years later, Darth Vader arrives (with his new Sith entourage) and recovers the evidence of her survival. 

I might not have been a fan of how the whole story was executed, but this final arc is great. I love that Ahsoka was given an out from the Jedi order, given the flaws the whole Clone Wars series has shown of it. Instead, this final series allows Ahsoka to forge her own path and develop as her own, still very powerful, character. 

I haven't seen Star Wars: Rebels yet, and it's on my list to tackle. I'm excited to learn where the series takes Ahsoka, even though I'm spoiling myself in the currently-airing Ahsoka Disney+ series! 

The Clone Wars final shots: