Star Wars: The Clone Wars (sort of) brings the team back together for its final arc
TV Reviews Recap
From the start, “Old Friends Not Forgotten” signals noteable differences from the tone of the show as usual. There’s a dark green, basic LUCASARTS intro title card. On my screener, it looked specifically, intentionally, low-rez. The Star Wars: The Clone Wars logo appears, but instead of the bright yellow text, it’s in blood red. There’s no more nonsensical quote–just a very direct, very specific “Part I.” There’s the visual connection to The Mandalorian here. There’s the news that Rosario Dawson has been picked to be the live-action version of Ahsoka, who will appear in that show next season–allegedly. There’s also the work the episode/series need to do to connect it to Episode III, as well as Star Wars Rebels–as well as the various comics told about this specific point in the Star Wars Universe. The intro suggests that there’s no more playing around. We all know that these final episodes have some work to do: it has to make all remaining threads work to fill in these gaps within this moment in Star Wars (even though, gap-filling is not exactly the franchise’s best idea). But it also needs to assert itself, to end on a stronger and definitive note that the last two arcs arguably failed to do.
And yet, the more things change, the more things same the same, which seems to be the theme of this episode (and even implied by the episode’s title). One of the issues with Clone Wars is that it sort of… “smarms” its way through some of its more questionable narrative points, which it does in the opening. Sure, Anakin is smarmy on purpose here–that’s the nature of his character, utilized here as a distraction–but it also belies belief that these droids–these machines of all shapes and sizes and builds–couldn’t detect the sheer number of clones underneath the bridge (if it were a few clones I could buy it, but there was suddenly a whole battalion underneath them). The Clone Wars most intense moments are when it brings little nonsense into its visceral battles, of soldiers fighting, dying, prevailing, retreating, and otherwise performing sometimes miracles on the field. When it gets “smarmy” within all that, particularly in the narrative but also with its Jedi cracking wise, it really takes the audience out of the grueling intensity of the moment. And still, I don’t think Anakin’s plan was all that clever; it was only convenient that it even worked. There was nothing to suggest the tactical droid ought to emerge upon Anakin’s fake surrender, nor is it clear why, after taking him out, the massive droid army completely fell.
At the very least, there’s a reason to showcase Anakin’s unchecked ego early on. It’s to shut it down immediately when Ahsoka appears on the hologram. Stammering, stuttering, and a bit clumsy, Anakin is almost rendered speechless when he sees her as a transparent image; but when the two actually reunite, the cool, heartwarming camaraderie is palpable, rising above any and all awkwardness of the past. Well, most of it. The uneasiness bubbles tantalizingly slowly to the surface when Ahsoka walks among the formation of soldiers Rex prepared for her, her face markings painted on their helmets. It’s meant as a gesture of good-will, but all Ahsoka can see is her face on instruments of war, times one hundred. The subtext here becomes text when she and Obi-Wan argue over the next course of action, as a siege on Coruscant occurs at the same time for her request to help her and Bo-Katan re-take Mandalore and capture Maul. It’s a clunky argument. Obi-Wan not entertaining any part of Ahsoka’s request at first is pretty cold, but that Ahsoka doesn’t even take a certain amount of understanding to the news is pretty cold on her part as well (especially since she just spent so much time with two sisters on Coruscant who were the victims of war’s collateral damage). Ahsoka claims Obi-Wan is playing politics and favoritism; when Obi-Wan says she isn’t being fair, Ahsoka responds “I’m not trying to be,” and, ya’ll, it just comes off petty, manipulative, and nonsensical. Ashley Eckstein sells it as best she can but the dialogue has nothing here to really work with. Anakin offers a compromise: send Rex and Ahsoka, with a squad, out to Mandalore, while he and Obi-Wan deal with Grievous’s assault on Coruscant (thus explaining where she and Rex were during Episode III). It’s a good compromise, but it’s a little odd it wasn’t considered sooner. At the very least, Anakin re-gifts Ahsoka with dual lightsabers, making all that previous awkwardness moot, re-establishing their base friendship despite everything. It’s a great moment, made even more notable since it’s (as far as I can surmise) the last time she will see him before he becomes Darth Vader.
And so Ahsoka, Bo-Katan, Rex, and a squad of clone soldiers head off to Mandalore, an engage in a massive battle which has the opposite energy and rhythms of the opening battle. The latter began with a losing fight that turned into a winning one; the former begins ostensibly as a winning fight–I can’t be the only one who felt their blood pumping at the epic, incredible sight of Ahsoka destroying enemy ships, saving comrades, and landing on that Mandalorian platform, lightsabers out, explosions behind her–before transforming into a losing one. At the center of those turnabouts are Jedi. Anakin’s confident stroll upon a sky-lit, open air, single-direction bridge, fooling the droids and unleashing his men contrasts strongly to Ahsoka’s reluctant traipse into the darkness-filled, covered, maze-like tunnels, only for her men to be fooled by and freshly unleashed Maul. It doesn’t excuse the opening’s more shaky, narrative choices, but it’s at least clear why that opening exists as it does. “Old Friends Not Forgotten” is off to a strong start, the first episode of this final season that was created from (relative) scratch. Hopefully they can stick the landing as well as Ahsoka did.
Stray observations
- The frequency that Ahsoka contacts Anakin on is also known by Saw Gerrera. I’m not sure what this means or what purpose it has, other than a cool reference.
- Gar Saxon is in this episode, who you may remember from Star Wars Rebels. Rook Kast makes a cameo, who worked with Saxon to free Maul from prison in the comics after the Sith captured him. Filoni and his team are working overtime to make all these loose franchise elements fit together. I don’t think it’s perfect, but it seems to be satisfying most fans!
39 Comments
I gotta say that this was the best CW episode I’ve seen in a while. Probably the best since the end of S5. It has stakes, heart and it doesn’t forget the complicated relationship between Ahsoka and Anakin. Sure, they took some leeway with how certain characters get to places, but it still works. Same goes for the dialogue. Ahsoka was absolutely not fair about why Obi-Wan wanted to go to Coruscant, but it made sense. I mean… Mace Windu and Yoda were there, there’s no reason as to why Obi-Wan or at least Anakin couldn’t have helped Ahsoka more directly. But I’m arguing against things that have already happened years ago… Also, the frequency you mentioned was named ‘Fulcrum’, seemingly a reference to Ahsoka’s codename in Rebels. And Kanan was shown in the intro montage as well, with his master.
Season 6 was book-ended by two outstanding arcs, but you’re right, this might be the best episode since The Wrong Jedi.
I haven’t started the Clone Wars, Rebels or Resistance because they have to fit into and between the movies. When the Clone Wars started, I knew that it had to end with the start of Episode III. Rebels has to somehow fit into the OG trilogy. Resistance has to fit into whatever the sequels were. Because of this, I just couldn’t get into them. I know they are good and that people love them, but for me, I prefer the stories after the movies (Expanded Universe anyone).I’m still glad that Rebels brought back the best Imperial Grand Admiral ever.
“I can’t be the only one who felt their blood pumping at the epic, incredible sight of Ahsoka destroying enemy ships, saving comrades, and landing on that Mandalorian platform, lightsabers out, explosions behind her”oh hell yeah you know my blood gets pumping when I watch a CGI cartoon for children!!
Blood pumping almost as much as when you comment on articles about CGI cartoons for children that you apparently have no interest in!!
kill yourself
What a fantastic start to this arc. This feels like the most urgent, important story ever to be told on the show, and I am here for it. Still can’t believe we’re full on into Revenge of the Sith territory.
“Fulcrum” is the codename Ahsoka uses in Rebels before she’s revealed at the end of season 1. It’s a codename used by a lot of rebel informants in order to confuse the Empire. Guess she got the idea from Saw though.
Also Kanan has a quick cameo during the “newsreel” in the beginning.
The opening scene on the bridge was intended to be a callback to the movie that kicked the series off.
Apparently Saw Gerrara was the original “Fulcrum”. With regards to the frequency that Ahsoka uses, they first reference it as being used by Fulrcum, which Anakin associates with Saw Gerrara.
Between that and the lightsabers, Filoni and co. have apparently decided to ignore the Ahsoka novel entirely.
Look at all the jetpacks. Flying Clone troopers, flying Mandalorians. They seem to be pretty common. Seems strange that Poe and Finn were so surprised by the stormtroopers using them in Rise of Skywalker, doesn’t it? Or maybe they just had them say ‘They fly now?!’ one after another simply because it was funny and who gives a damn if it makes any sense or not.
The problem with prequels is….
Mandos and flying Clone Troopers were around a lot longer than the sequel trilogy.
So were the Jedi, and Han thought they were a myth when he met Obi-Wan nineteen years after ROTS. Mandos are going to be myths by the time Finn and Poe are old enough to care.
They are pretty common, decades before TRoS, before the galaxy-spanning civil war that created the very different world in which Poe and Finn live. All the clones are dead by then, as are the majority of the Mandalorians (and their culture exists in hoarded bits and pieces, nothing like still survives even under Maul). The Imperial stormtroopers were land-bound when Poe was a baby, and gone by the time Finn was born. It’s a dumb, clunky line because it’s badly written, not because they’ve somehow been ignoring flying stormtroopers all this time. It’s dumb, but it is new.
You’re referring to the movies where everyone believes Jedi are just a myth that never really existed?
But somehow they all know about the Sith.
The answer is Jar Jar Abrams doesn’t care about other people’s work, he just enjoys copy, making one or two edits here and there, and paste without reading.
Anakins and Ahsoka’s character does feel a bit off. for Anakin he’s usually the demon fighting on the battlefield (thinks with his lightsaber).while obi wan is the negotiator not the other way around. And when anakin was introduced, it completely broke the epic intense, grueling battle feel clone wars is known for. As for Ahsoka, she seemed rude and out of character in her interactions with Anakin and especially Obi Wan. IDK I sense SJW tempered with her character. Obi Wan seemed the same just unfortunately a lot less friendly since a certain character was changed into being a lot more rude than usual. everything else was great tho, jut wished that the awkward moments wasn’t there.
I can’t be the only one who felt their blood pumping at the epic, incredible sight of Ahsoka destroying enemy ships, saving comrades, and landing on that Mandalorian platform, lightsabers out, explosions behind herYou are not. I giggled through the whole sequence. It was great.
This was an A- at least for me.
This sounds stupid, and it is, but hear me out… The Anakin Skywalker that was in this episode of The Clone Wars, I’ll be upset when he turns to the dark side and betrays everyone. Very, very upset.
I didn’t care really when film Anakin was casually seduced. He was an erratic young adult in the movies, being good or bad didn’t seem to be too different.
But this animated Anakin, who sneaks Ashoka away after an argument to show her Rex’s troops? Who cleans ups her lightsabers and gifts them to her, almost giddy at her being there again? THAT character turning evil can break my heart.
they really did a fantastic job making Anakin a character who’s actually, you know, likable and somewhat interesting while keeping it believable that he’d fall to the dark side. of course having 7 seasons of TV time to do that helps, but the character writing was really just so much stronger than in the movies as well.
All of this. I never really cared about Anakin turning to the dark side in the films and becoming Darth Vader because honestly over three movies, they never really made me care. But the Clone Wars made Anakin Skywalker a person instead of a plot device. Over the course of the show we get to know him, we see the good and the bad, and the fascist tendencies, but we also see exactly where those tendencies came from. Ahsoka is pivotal in this. A character I found contrived and annoying at first, but who became so much more to the point she kind of IS Star Wars for me. But their relationship gave Anakin so much and his face when he sees her, and then when they reunite broke my heart. I wanted them to hug to bad, and when she says good luck and he looks at her I said exactly what you wrote, this Anakin turning evil breaks my heart.For me, that last look to Ahsoka is the last time we see the Anakin Skywalker I came to care about. And it actually hurts. So bravo Filoni and the Clone Wars crew. I am looking forward to seeing Ahsoka, and hopefully Sabine in The Mandalorian.
I would kill to have Filoni and Co do an animated reshoot of RotS.
They would nail it. Imagine how powerful it could be with better execution. Like Space Macbeth.
…can you imagine having Anakin’s force ghost meet Ashoka in the second season of the Mandalorian? I mean, just imagine that. And then imagine it being done by the same guy who gave us the Ahsoka vs Vader fight in Rebels. Talk about a potential tearjerker.
I think Ahsoka is pretty justified in reaching to Obi-Wan the way she does. He didn’t do a thing to help her during the trial which destroyed her faith in the Jedi, not to mention nearly lead to her execution. This is also the reason she’s totally done with the politics and Chancelloring of it all, because the Republic to her is just a symbol of the corruption and fallen reputation of the Jedi.
So… Ahsoka got her lightsabers back, and didn’t use them to kill a single enemy. She kicked and disarmed people, much like the heroes in Rebels, but was reluctant to cause any death directly. I cannot wait until she bonks to Mando’s heads together to knock them out.
Anyone remember the days when Ahsoka decapitated 4 Mandos in a single swing???
If it’s not an actual war crime, pretending to surrender so as to game advantage seems incredibly unethical and short sighted. Next time outnumbered clones just get gunned down in the dirt instead of the prospect of mercy
Obi Wan does this on the Clone Wars Movie. Jedi are supposed to be just and noble, but apparently lying and manipulation is game. Also, Ahsoka lies aplenty on the previous episode.
It’s a great moment, made even more notable since it’s (as far as I can surmise) the last time she will see him before he becomes Darth Vader.On Rebels, Ahsoka mentions that the last time she’d seen Anakin, he was running off to save the Chancellor, so barring some shenanigans from the writers this is certainly the last time she’ll see him without the faceplate in the way.
I kinda enjoyed the reunion but, if I’m not mistaken, Ahsoka has only been gone a couple of “rotations”, right? Because she started on E6 on the day she left the order, and everything with the two Corruscant sisters likely took a week, tops. Can someone actually project a timeline?Oh, and I also loved that free fall scene. She’s a Force to be reckoned with.
Why does Anakin go dark again?
“but it also belies belief that these droids–these machines of all shapes and sizes and builds–couldn’t detect the sheer number of clones underneath the bridge (if it were a few clones I could buy it, but there was suddenly a whole battalion underneath them).”I can’t understand anyone watching all the previous seasons of TCW and not understanding that the droids’ inability to figure out Anakin’s plan – or detect the hidden clones under the bridge – makes perfect sense.The battle droids aren’t smart – they aren’t supposed to be. Their strength is their numbers – they’re cheaper to make than tactical droids, Destroyers, etc. They’re pawns, so the Separatists sends them out first to whittle down their enemies forces mainly through their overwhelming numbers.
“Ahsoka responds ‘I’m not trying to be,’ and, ya’ll, it just comes off petty, manipulative, and nonsensical. Ashley Eckstein sells it as best she can but the dialogue has nothing here to really work with.”LOL at Ahsoka being “petty” here. The Jedi Order, which took her in as a child and was her entire world, literally cast her aside when she was charged with murder and terrorism, despite her claims of being innocent. And when she was found innocent (only because of Anakin’s actions, who was acting on his own directive and not the Jedi Order’s) the Jedi basically said “Hey, sorry we kicked you out when you were charged with murder, we probably should have stood by you and not kicked you out of our group. But hey, you can come back now. All is forgiven, right?”Ahsoka definitely has the high ground when discussing morality and fairness with Obi-Wan here.
“Anakin offers a compromise: send Rex and Ahsoka, with a squad, out to Mandalore, while he and Obi-Wan deal with Grievous’s assault on Coruscant (thus explaining where she and Rex were during Episode III). It’s a good compromise, but it’s a little odd it wasn’t considered sooner.”Dooku is dead, so if the Jedi can capture Grievous the war will be over, since the Separatists won’t have any leaders left. So their desire to focus on capturing Grievous (and end the war they have been stuck in for years) instead of liberating Mandalore from Maul is completely understandable.