Star Wars: The Clone Wars' penultimate episode unleashes a new, self-reliant Ahsoka
TV Reviews Recap
There is a tremendous amount of silence in “Shattered.” Sure, there’s Kiner’s pulsating, ominous score that surges throughout the episode. And sure, there’s plenty of dialogue–mostly about clarity (on what to do and where to go next), regret (Bo-Katan’s weariness of the causalities and commodities of war, including the device that holds Maul), or relationships (her friendship with Rex, her distrust of the Jedi Council, her dislike for Maul). Between those brief moments, though, are silence-filled seriousness. Characters watch men and women pick each other up from the rubble. Soldiers stand guard as Maul’s entrapment is loaded onto the ship. Glances and looks and stares fill this episode, allowing characters to fully take in everything that has occurred. There is a sense that things are almost over, that things will settle, and that things will change. We know all too well they will; the wonder in how Ahsoka will react and respond.
I was actually surprised that Order 66 occurs here; of course, there’s only two more episodes to go, so The Clone Wars has to really work to get right up to the end of Revenge of the Sith and position itself for Star Wars Rebels. Prior to that moment, a sense of dread fills the episode, partly because of that incredible score, but partly because the specific rhythms of the first half “Shattered” resembles that of the opening minutes of a horror film. A certain nervous calm float around our protagonists against the atmosphere of sadness and death around them. There’s a relief that Maul has been caught but an eerie mood hangs over every passing moment. Maul himself, trapped in that strange, cold containment device, stares outward: his blank, darting eyes just seem to be waiting. Long before those voices fill Ahsoka’s head, the audience can surmise those same voices echoing in his. We’re trained to expect Maul to escape (especially the shot from his perspective, watching Ahsoka and Rex talk). Something is going to happen. It comes from an unexpected, yet totally expected, place.
Ahsoka has a single moment re-affirming her companionship with Rex before all hell breaks loose. In a snap, Rex has been put under the thrall of Order 66. He drops his helmet. With all the remaining will he can muster, he demands Ahsoka find out about Fives before succumbing. Ahsoka has no idea what’s happening, but if she can take down Maul, she can hold her own against a batch of clone soldiers. This episode calls back to one of the show’s strongest outing–“Brain Invaders”–and that horror-themed episode also had Ahsoka trapped on a ship avoiding mind controlled clone troopers. Then she was a bit more naive. She saved the day, but she spent a lot time running, hiding, scared. Here, she’s extremely confused, but absolutely resolute and in control. She incredibly withstands an onslaught of clone fire, then frees Maul–literally only so he can be a distraction. She even tells him she doesn’t care if he lives or dies. She makes choices–direct, singular ones–and executes them with stealth, smarts, and skills.
Ahsoka commandeers a few droids for assistance. As she uses them to open doors and access information, Maul rips through the clone soldiers on his own. One horror against another. It provides Ahsoka the time she needs to find info on Fives, and Rex’s grievance about the whole incident involving CT-5555. (Starting with “The Unknown” in season six, there’s a fairly dark story arc in which a defective clone attacks a Jedi. Fives inspects said clone’s mind and finds the chip that responds to Order 66, then grows crazy trying to convince everyone something bad will happen, becomes a fugitive, and is killed before convincing anyone. It’s truly tragic–a proto-Maul if you will–but within a more grounded, loyal character within a 70s-era, paranoid-thriller template.) More quick thinking and quick reactions allows her to stun Rex and inspect his brain as clone soldiers close in on them. Nothing exemplifies Ahsoka’s newfound self-discovery than using on the Force to find that chip in Rex’s brain (Ahsoka has been reluctant to use the Force ever since she was hanging out with the Martez sisters). “I am one with the Force and the Force is with me” is so meaningful now. The soldiers blast their way through the door. Ahsoka fights as long as she can, but before she’s overwhelmed–Rex awakens and lends a hand. His chip removed, he and Ahsoka can’t even exchange pleasantries. Rex can only tell her the true horror: every clone soldier will be ordered to hunt Jedi–right before those blast doors surge with the torches of another batch of incoming troopers. Rex and Ahsoka are trapped–not just here, but in the entire universe that’s falling apart beyond their recognition and understanding.
There’s one more episode left. Truly judging this entire arc ultimately comes down to if they can stick the landing, but so far The Clone Wars final episodes have been escalating levels of excellence in all aspects: score, animation, writing, blocking, voice acting, directing and visuals. I have no idea if, come this Monday, May the Fourth, what will happen. I’m looking forward to it.
Stray observations
- In the last review, a number of commenters disagreed with the issues I had with The Clone Wars’ tendency to re-iterate the saga of Star Wars–that I seemed bored or frustrated with the episode attempting to re-contextualize the parts of Star Wars we already know will happen as ominous, foreboding tension. I read through your comments, and many very valid points were made, but I still stand by how I feel. I think my issue primarily stems from the fact that it all comes from, and weighs on, Maul, who–as I mention in that review–I still feel is ultimately a weak character who just too just outside the Star Wars narrative to count. He’s a villain too, and Sam Witwer is fantastic, but I can’t muster up any real engagement into him and his “tragic” downfall. Someone compared all this to Better Call Saul. I love Better Call Saul. But that show is at its shakiest when it winks heavily to its Breaking Bad future, and its at its best when it focuses on the tension and chaos of its “now” (ie, what happens to Kim, Lalo, and Nacho). If that all worked for you, excellent! We probably will have to agree to disagree there. I gave the episode an A- so whatever issues I had there did little to disrupt how great the episode was overall.
- On that note, Ahsoka is the Kim of The Clone Wars.
- We see Ursa Wren standing next to Bo-Katan for a brief shot. If I remember/summarize the details, Bo-Katan becomes regent as the Republic maintains the peace on Mandalore–but Order 66 occurs and the Republic becomes the Empire. Refusing to bow down the that regime, Bo-Katan was forced to abdicate and Gar Saxon became regent. This will be the point that Star Wars Rebels jumps in, with Sabine reaching out to Ursa, her mother, for assistance in the rebellion, only to find out Ursa kowtows to Saxon and the Empire. There’s more to that story–watch Rebels to find out the rest! (Or read my past reviews *wink*.)
- I think the droids that helped Ahsoka out were from “The Void” story arc, Starting with “Secret Weapons.” There’s nothing redeeming about that arc, so their assistance here must be their redemption.
- I would love to see a mini-web series of how various Jedi across the universe dealt with the immediate execution of Order 66. We broadly know about Kanan’s mentor, and we see the various glimpses of them in Revenge of the Sith, but more detailed, specific stories of the event would be kind of cool to witness.
76 Comments
The Breaking Bad material on Better Call Saul is weak because it doesn’t add anything new to what the audience already knows. I feel that Maul’s arc in this final arc definitely adds to the tragedy of Order 66.Shattered was quieter that the previous installments of this arc, but that really worked in its favor. The Clone Wars has made me care more about the Jedi and the Clones than I ever thought was possible, and it finally paid off big time.
Someone made a very apt comparison last week between Maul and Cassandra.
And now I want a series called “Better Call Maul.”
I do as well Doc.
I would pay $1 to see Maul to do the finger guns like Kim did in the season finale of Saul.
I think you’re extremely wrong about the Breaking Bad material on Better Call Saul. We never knew Mike. That was sort of the allure of rooting for him – he was so enigmatic. He was this cool, calm, collected private security dude, who’d seen some shit and learned some shit, and really had little use for bullshit. Him actually having a backstory, why we only see Kaylie’s mom, and what made him quit the police in Philadelphia are hugely important to fleshing his character out.To say nothing of Johnathan Banks crushing his confession of what happened to his son, to his daughter-in-law – and showing just what his version of a full measure is.Beyond Mike, we get to see the far more “do anything to make them think I’m on their side” of Gustavo. Burning down his own restaurant to protect a double-agent? And in between them, we see why Gus actually completely trusts Mike in BB. Mike softening Gus just a little, because fear is not a powerful motivator. Gus impressing on Mike what loyalty earns – even if Mike hates what he has to do, he’ll do that.It also goes miles and miles and miles to actually explaining why Mike was basically ready to nuke Walt after killing Gus. Gus wasn’t just a boss. Gus didn’t just pay him well. They both had demonstrated—for years, now—the lengths they will go to protect each other. It wasn’t just a song and dance in Salud, when Gus brings Mike to Mexico. He’s the one he trusts, period. Who Mike trusts, Gus will trust. That doesn’t mean Mike is afraid to question Gus in BB, either – loyalty doesn’t mean blindness.And that’s before we even get to Jimmy/Saul. The lawyer who’s a con-man, or the con-man who’s a lawyer. He’s less the “guy who wears loud suits because he’s obnoxious and eccentric,” and more “changed who he is after a bunch of shit happened.”By all means, compare the two, but calling the BCS/BB stuff weak is just too dismissive.
Nah, I stand by everything I said before.It’s not “too dismissive” at all. It’s how I view it, and I stand by it completely. None of what you mentioned is that interesting. Five-O was a backstory that’s been used time and time again, and is really only noteworthy for one powerhouse scene. Other than that, it’s quite bland.
Your main point about Gus and Mike’s relationship is irrelevant. The scenes are mainly focused on connecting dots we didn’t need to see connected—such as building Gus’ lab. They are largely about plot, not about character. And to the extent that they are, I still don’t care. One can simply watch the Gus/Mike relationship in Breaking Bad and get all they need to know. Less is more in this case.I have already states my thoughts on how brilliant Jimmy’s arc is in the show elsewhere, so I’ll just say that it’s irrelevant to my original comment. I criticized Mike’s arc, not Jimmy’s.Don’t use the phrase ‘by all means’.
Dear Lucasfilm:
Please start hiring Kevin Kiner for -all- your musical scores.
Sincerely,
Clone Wars/Rebels fans
I think I needed more from this episode. We do know the final outcome, that Rex, and Maul, and Ahsoka all make it through, but the execution seemed a little dry. I think the only moment that made me think was Ahsoka not mentioning that Anakin might going off the reservation to Yoda. It was pretty pointed that Rex even mentioned it. Was there a chance to avoid all of this? I guarantee that if it is Obi Wan who had that info, he would have narced in a second, even though they were brothers, etc. And Yoda already had his vision quest as shown in the previous final episode of the Clone Wars, so he actually could have done something.
I think it’s to show that Ahsoka shares Anakin’s utter disillusionment with the council, even though she doesn’t let it consume her.
I went the other way and believe that she knew Anakin so well that she did not think he was capable of it, so she needed to know for herself. I am betting part of the last episode will be her seeing the temple video of Anakin killing everyone, and then she will have to accept it. And then we will get the pre-cursor of Luke telling Vader that there is still good in him, the way Ahsoka will feel the same way. The show really painted a different picture of Anakin than the movies do.
Wasn’t Ahsoka shocked to learn that Anakin and Darth Vader were the same person in Rebels? At least that’s how I remember it. So it wouldn’t make much sense for her to learn about his atrocities in this arc.
I think it was less shock than it was her being forced to admit something to herself that she already knew or suspected. When she first confronts Vader it seems to be implied that she knows who he is, and Vader doesn’t really do much to deflect that.
I just rewatched it, so it’s fresh. She knew he was Vader but it seemed like their first encounter since he was turned. Their exchange went something likeAhsoka: I thought I knew who you were under that mask. My master would never be so vileVader: Anakin was weak so I killed himAhsoka: Then I shall avenge his deathVader: Revenge is not the way of the JediAhsoka: I am no Jedi…*opens up can of whip-ass*
I don’t think it necessarily conflicts. She could know that Anakin turned to the dark side and killed a bunch of people without also knowing that he is the dude in the black suit who appears some time later.
The narrative the galaxy accepts is that Anakin died on Mustafar. I think her shock in those later episodes comes from learning he was still alive and what/who he had become. I imagine the shock in the next and final episode will be from learning what he did before he “died.”
Well. Mostly yes. Kind of no. It always seemed to me that she has a suspicion that it’s him from the beginning but is very in denial about it. She is obviously struggling with it after her first in-person encounter with Vader. (Blames herself for not being there for him whens he obviously desperately needed a friend.)
Like Lightice said, she doesn’t learn that he’s Vader until Rebels.I definitely agree that her decision is based on her relationship with, and complete faith in, Anakin, though!
I only watched Rebels once through, so I should go back watch those episodes. But it does speak again to her belief that he would never succumb to that. I am wondering if she is told that Anakin is dead so she does not go looking for him. It will be interesting to see if they connect her with the Rebellion before this all over.
She and Kanan try to sense Vader through Force when he’s singlehandedly annihilating a small rebel fleet (because Vader)…Ahsoka realizes who it is, screams, faints…and is still somewhat in denial when they come face to face.
I dont think you can call Maul’s arc a “downfall”, exactly, so I’m not sure why you are expecting that. He’s a bad dude, he’s not redeemable. In fact you said it best, one horror against another. As Carlos mentioned, more of a Cassandra.
Anywho, this was great. Again. The score… Kiner killed it. Most of the first act’s silence was filled with his great musical callback to the scenes on Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith when Anakin was falling to the dark side.The rest of it had great work from the voice actors, again somewhat restrained but some quiet anguish in there. They conveyed the sense of dread that was present throughout the episode. It actually made me want to watch ep3 again.And aside from the musical callbacks, there was the mentioned “I am one with the force” mantra from Rogue One. The GG droid had Chopper’s voice (from Rebels). The Maul advancing on troopers scene was also reminiscent of the Vader scene at the end of Rogue One.It was nice that Bo-Katan apparently recovered Ahsoka’s sabers.Definitely an A. I have no doubt that Filoni will stick the landing.
I
should probably add… I dont go for nostalgia, like… at all. I
despise the new trilogy, not just because they are objectively bad films
(they are), internally inconsistent, and crap all over the established
lore (not just disneylore, but why throw out all the Extended
Universe??? Ugh don’t get me started).What
the new trilogy did is just mine nostalgia and references for merely
mercantile reasons… throw enough old stuff in there and then sell the
kids the new toys. (Well, that didn’t work out…)Point
is… Filoni (and Favreau) get it. You *can* use nostalgia and
callbacks as FLAVOUR. It *adds* to a great story. It doesnt make a
story. This arc not only has that flavour, but it adds to the
established lore! Like I said, it made me want to watch episode 3 again!
The only thing eps 7-9 made me want to do is delete them from my hard
drive!So yeah… didn’t mean to go off on a rant here! Just didn’t want anyone thinking I liked this ep/arc for the callbacks hehe… Ahsoka’s the best thing since Return of the Jedi, and I cant wait to see what happens in The Mandalorian.
The Siege of Mandalore is pretty firmly the best Star Wars movie since Jedi.
Empire. Best film since Empire.This arc topped the 2003 miniseries.
As a millennial, I unabashedly love Jedi, dammit!
As a Gen X, I love Jedi too. I don’t get the hate. Ewoks were fine and a great allegory for endless war against indi’s (i.e. Afghanistan… prescient, but history repeats.)And it had probably one of the most iconic defining scenes in all of cinema. (Luke vs Vader). Not to mention ground breaking special effects… that space battle, holy moly! It still stands out as maybe the best ever filmed. (Honorable mentions to BSG and B5!)
It’s not the Ewoks that bother me. More that it didn’t properly follow through on everything that Empire set up.
Don’t forget the speeder chase! Or Jabba’s barge!
The scenes with the Emperor in Jedi are better than anything in ESB (besides the Vader/Luke duel). Yeah, I said it. Come at me.
Shoulda gone with Gary Kurtz’s original plan….
What was that? Honestly asking. Clearly Empire was better than Splinter of the Mind’s Eye…
The ending was originally planned to be bittersweet instead of the pure happy ending. Some things that I’ve heard is that Wookies were to be used instead of Ewoks, and Han would have died. The Death Star would not have been used again.I don’t know the exact plan, but Kurtz was displeased with the final product, as am I to an extent.
Star Wars is goofy, cheesy, awesome…and for kids.It doesn’t need to be dark and morally ambiguous or whatever.
Two things!
See…I actually disagree.Darkness is fine, but there’s no more moral ambiguity in a proper Star Wars story than there is in Flash Gordon, Lord of the Rings, or Narnia.There can be morally ambiguous *characters*, but there’s the light side and there’s the dark side.Even darker stuff like Legacy is about Cade *embracing* the Light Side…and a climactic moment involves firmly refuting Roan Fel’s idea that the ends could justify the means.Part of why TLJ rings so false for me is the “Star Wars can be for grown ups!” of it all giving the film an uncanny tonal similarity to Man of Steel.
It doesnt *need* to be morally ambiguous, but some of the best Star Wars stories (all stories) are. Example: Thrawn. He’s not a bad guy, and he’s not a good guy, exactly. I don’t need to tell you about him hehe, but there’s a reason why Zahn’s original pair of books are considered the best of the extended fiction.
Because Thrawn is a Gary Stu of the Elegant Genius variety that every fanboy who read the books secretly believes himself to be? I read the trilogy back when it was published. It was fun, but it forgot that the heart of Star Wars was the trio, and it majorly didn’t stick the landing. The fanboys loved it anyway and that’s fine. People are allowed to like things even if they aren’t very good.
You seem hostile.Also I dont disagree with your points. That doesn’t affect *my* point that Thrawn was an example of an ambiguous character. Mara Jade? Wanna stick to the movie canon… the whole damned trilogy was based on Anakin’s fall and redemption (before Disney rendered that all moot.)“People are allowed to like things even if they aren’t very good.” wtf are you on about? You criticize a fan favourite and then hate on people who do that? Done with you.
…but those are all examples of ambiguous *characters*, all of whom faced the fundamental choice between being selfish and selfless…and whom the story judged based on how they decided.
I think we are losing a bit the point of this thread. I agree with you but I will say that the story does *not* judge, it’s the audience.Kind of the point of storytelling. A good story points you in the direction, and lets you make up your own mind.So, to stretch things… I’ll say Thrawn is actually good, “from a certain point of view.” But he is an enemy, an opponent, an advesary to our regular heroes. He does many selfless things.Not all stories have to be like that, obviously. As you assert, and I agree, there is a very strong place for simple black and white moral stories. All I am saying is, the Star Wars universe is big enough to have many kinds of stories. And I like some of the darker ones.
…but is the Thrawn *story* morally ambiguous, or just Thrawn the character?
Flash!Ah ahh! Savior of the universe!
Unfortunately, people have been trying to make Star Wars ambiguous forever. So much of the old WEG Star Wars RPG tried to expand the universe and ended up giving it a flavor of cyberpunk in space.
Kids can handle it though!
I did go back and rewatch Revenge of the Sith and the season 2 finale of Rebels, which had the return of Maul and Ahsoka v. Vader.This arc makes RotS a much better film. By having more expansive relationships with the clones, and having a tight bond between Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ashoka, the films tragic events plays less melodramatically. There is a much deeper emotional resonance.
When I say downfall – I mean it from his perspective. He was once Palpatine’s apprentice *and* the leader of the Shadow Collective, so even thought he’s villainous, he still lost a lot. It’s like a mob movie in that regard. They usually have a downfall of the mobster but, you know, he’s still out there killing folks.
I suppose that’s true. But I always pictured and watched Maul as kind of a loser. He kept betting on the wrong team, kept just being a failure. Which in my mind has made his Cassandra like status in these last episodes all the more tragic – for *once* Maul is right! And like the boy who cried wolf, nobody will listen.
Some of the decisions in this episode felt a little artificial in order to make Rex, Ahsoka and Maul survive this entire thing.- Rex mentioning Fives to Ahsoka.- Ahsoka narrowingly surviving the initial attack by the troopers. (it strains, though doesn’t quite break, the suspension of disbelief that Ahsoka managed to escape this, but most of the Jedi masters didn’t)
– Ahsoka finding the report on Fives.- Ahsoka deciding to free Maul to create a distraction- Ahsoka managing to somehow unscramble Rex’s mind.I guess the Force (Filoni) moves in mysterious ways.
Be grateful he didn’t have Ezra appear from nowhere and pull them all to safety.
*Groan* I almost forgot he introduced freaking time travel to the Star Wars universe.Well, not exactly, since there was “flow walking” in the pre-Disney EU, but in ‘Rebels’ they actually CHANGED the past for the first time.Don’t get me wrong, I like most of what Filoni has done with the Star Wars franchise, (as I understand he wasn’t directly responsible for ‘Resistance’), but sometimes people need to tell him “No, we can’t do that”
Well, if there was never a body, the past wasn’t *changed*. It just changed how we the audience perceived the event that happened, right?
[’Rebels’ spoilers ahead for anyone scrolling by…]I don’t think Ezra changed the past in “The World Between Worlds.” It’s a closed-loop, 12-Monkeys style of time travel, so there is no timeline in which Ahsoka died in the duel. The timeline in which Ezra saves her is the only one that ever existed. He couldn’t have done the same for Kanan simply because he *didn’t* do the same for Kanan (and it’s implied that was a deception by Sidious, in any case). Obviously future writers could change that, but as far as that episode is concerned, I don’t think anyone can alter the past with the WBW.
To be fair, I went back and watched Revenge of the Sith, and most of the Jedi Masters who died were caught completely off-guard. Ahsoka had the benefit of Rex calling the initial troopers off and then a few moments of warning.
In hindsight, some of the Jedi Master’s deaths in RotS make sense, and others just look ridiculous.
Agreed. I understand why the episode was focused on these three, but they are the three people we know survive. The closest there was to tension was wondering how and when Rex was going to get his chip out.
Ahsoka didn’t unscramble Rex’s mind or anything like that. she just used the Force to locate where the chip was, and R7 did his surgery thing to take it out
Was that what happened?If so, they could have given some indication of how she told the computer where she sensed the chip was, or actually showed the droid removing the chip. (It didn’t have to be graphic and you could hide most of the procedure)
She told R7 to remove the chip, pulled out her lightsabers and started deflecting the blaster fire, and then after a minute Rex sat up with a bandage over his head. I’m not sure how it could have been clearer? As for how… she used the Force. there’s no real logic to it, Star Wars uses it for vaguely magical reasons basically all the time, you just kind of roll with it
So the control chip hid itself by mimicking the brain tissue around it. This isn’t the first time a deep medical scan has missed it because it was designed to do just that. I’m assuming Asoka used the force to touch Rex’s mind, taking the actual brain and the chip enough out of sync that it finally showed up on the scan so the medical droid could see and remove it. The force flows through all living things, even those who aren’t sensitive to it, so using that to separate living tissue from artificial makes sense.
I think Filoni is the closest thing to a truly creative force Star Wars has right now, but Ahsoka is his Poochie. He’s way too in love with the character (and no, he didn’t rastafy her nearly enough).
If Ahsoka is his Poochie then what is Ezra?
‘Poochie 2: Force Lightning Boogaloo’?
Luke’s non-union Mexican equivalent?
Ahsoka being able to overcome the troopers makes perfect sense….she was trained by Anakin Skywalker. Ultimately she embodies everything good about him and through her founding of the rebellion he lays the seed to undo his worst acts as Vader. It’s an elegant narrative closure that makes his redemption possible – personally, through his son, and on a galactic scale through both his natural daughter and his adopted one.
Somehow, nobody’s said it yet.Better Call Maul
With Michael McKean as Savage Opress?
I’m definitely loving it that no matter what Star Wars project is being discussed, somehow someone in the comments manages to feel that their take on the sequels is warranted. Reading the same type of comments over and over whenever I read an article on Star Wars is gonna make these next couple of years so much fun. Also, even money Bo Katan shows up in a future season of the Mandolorian actually played by Katee Sackhoff? Or Sabine or Ursa Wren? That’s gotta happen, right?
My god that was great. It was everything I wanted from something Star Wars. The score, the action, the emotion, it all just hit you right in the chest. It was awesome. I know its become tired to bring up the sequel trilogy but this kind of stuff is what was missing in every one of those movies. Yeah, I get that the structure is different (movie vs tv show) but nothing in those films moved me emotionally like this. This is Star Wars. This is how you tell SW stories
Hi there, that was me who brought up Better Call Saul in last week’s comment section. Honestly, I was probably being pretty disingenuous, so thanks for taking the time to specifically address it with some well-made points. I think it’s a mark of how well-made this arc has been that the only thing I have to argue about is the use of dramatic irony, lmao.That being said, I’ll definitely have to agree to disagree, particularly with this point: “I think my issue primarily stems from the fact that it all comes from,
and weighs on, Maul, who–as I mention in that review–I still feel is
ultimately a weak character who just too just outside the Star Wars narrative to count.” I still think Maul is a pretty essential person in the pre-Empire part of the narrative – as someone else pointed out last week, killing Qui-Gon had a massive impact on Anakin’s future – and I also don’t think I’d agree that the dramatic irony is entirely focused on Maul. He knows more than our protagonists, sure, and he was the catalyst for this whole arc by kicking off the war, but ultimately I think this episode made it clear that he’s mostly incidental to Ahsoka and Rex’s story of survival. I’d argue that most of the irony really rests on the clones – those unnerving scenes last week when they were already acting as a police force, heartbreaking ones when Ahsoka and Rex are reinforcing how close they are as friends and fighters. Imagine we had no idea how this all turned out and could watch this arc with fresh eyes – there would be a whole mystery to engage in for sure, we’d have no idea what the hell Order 66 was, but it would come at the cost of that hopeless, creeping dread we get knowing something awful is about to happen and being powerless to stop it. I think that’s contributed to the almost horror-movie tension the review pointed out, and it’s been one of the many reasons this episode is impossible to look away from. Just my (very overlong and rambling) two cents.
With all due respect to the esteemed Chancellor Palpatine, his plan to install chips in the heads of his clone troopers to ensure compliance strikes me as…risky. Is genetically bred loyalty not the far superior option? It’s no wonder the Dominion continues to thrive long after the Empire has crumbled into dust.
Palpatine would definitely want a physical device in each clone’s brain that would make sure they were loyal to executing Order 66 rather than trust the clone-making scientists to make sure this loyalty was bred into the clones during their development. He wants to be sure that as soon as he gives this order, every clone will immediately carry it out without question, and a device that controls the clones’ brains make sure of this.
I’m a bit disappointed that the narrative didn’t reveal that Rex had already secretly removed his own chip after heeding Five’s warning.I would also have liked to see some sort of showdown between Rex and Cody (who is trying to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi in the timeframe of this episode) but I doubt it will go there.
Dude, does the AV Club not have any copy editors look over content before it publishes? Or can you at least run spell check before you submit? There are missing words and instances of incorrect grammar all over this piece, and it’s sadly been consistent in a lot of your writing.
The strong Blade Runner vibes on the score made this ep utterly distinctive in the star wars canon. Really strong mood and sense of drama and tragedy during it; using the audience’s knowledge of the world against us. A brilliant arc on a show I have more problems with than love for.
I’m not a Maul fan but I have to admit, what TCW has done with the character and Sam Witwer’s performance has been great and ‘Shattered’ was no exception.When Ahsoka freed him to provide a “distraction”, I felt the same, giddy joy whenever Magneto is set loose on a bunch of goons in the X-Men films.
And the finale… holy crow… I am speechless. Post your thing faster Kevin 8)
“’I am one with the Force and the Force is with me’ is so meaningful now.”Having just rewatched Rogue One a few months before seeing this episode, I got chills when Ahsoka said this line.
Maul: “Er … care to give me a fighting chance?”
Ahsoka: “I’m not rooting for you. Now get going.”This exchange made me laugh, but it also shows how different a character Ahsoka is now compared to when she was introduced in TCW season 1 (or movie). She knows that releasing Maul here will result in the deaths of many of the clones, but she also knows that she needs him as a distraction if she is going to get off this ship alive, so she makes the decision and doesn’t dwell on it.