STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
Season 5, Episodes 17-20 (FINALE ARC)
Many of you
might think that “The Clone Wars” (TCW) is a kids’ show only and that is just a funny throw-away
series for older people like, well then, yourself. But you’re wrong. “TCW” is
the best thing that ever happened to the Star Wars franchise, and I’m talking
in a big way here. Forget the prequels (well, except for Ewan McGregor you can
forget them entirely whatsoever, even so they are not entirely bad, just 90%
but the effects are cool (=10%)), forget the books (if you even read them) and EVEN
forget the original trilogy as all these combined can’t beat “TCW” in its game.
The show may be animated but its story arcs and characters are so much more
than you would imagine, this show has simply been mind-blowing for five years
in a row now with presumably a final sixth to come.
Since this is my first “TCW” review, for the background a little bit:
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| Child show only? Don't think so. |
“TCW”
started back in 2008 with a movie. Yes, a TV show that got started as a TV show
in cinemas. This is definitely a first. It was then almost immediately followed
by a first season consisting of 22 episodes as did seasons 2-4, respectively. Season
5 which just aired its big season finale yesterday only consisted of 20
episodes, another arc centering about separatist senator Rush Clovis (who we
met earlier in the series) being held back or delayed for an unknown reason.
The future of the show is in motion right now as a sixth season has been
advertised but as of now no official statement has been released confirming
this. Well, since it was at least confirmed that they’re working on “additional
episodes” I think it’s pretty safe to say there is one coming and also which
seems pretty obvious at this point, it might just be the show’s final year. So,
to prepare everyone for the show’s end, this season took us even closer to
Episode III as design and characteristics of the Republic changed to its worse
form. The Jedi order is not as strong as it once was and justice is failing
while everyone is being deceived by a darker-growing Palpatine as our famous
Sith Lord chancellor.
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Crime Scenes in a galaxy far far away are more awesome
than ours actually. |
During previous
seasons we have been shown a not-so-dead Darth Maul, his evil witch brother
Savage Opress, the witches of Dathomir, a side-turning Asajj Ventress and
Admiral Tarkin. What may never be forgotten is also the amazing Mortis arc that
explained to us how the force worked, showed us Darth Vader himself in “TCW” and
can be counted as both trilogies’ replacement arc as well as the dark General
Krell arc that was so dark and brutal you might just have seen an R-rated
movie. (“TCW” has also been censored during its broadcast of its Kamino arc for
its pictured brutality, so don’t talk about it as it would be a kids’ show
only.)
Season Five however started off real bad and even so I’m in love with the show, I've got to say:
lame. It got slightly better at its half but it reached its known awesomeness
with the last two arcs, the finale arc being the even better one. So, for the
final act of S05 Dave Filoni and George Lucas took us on a Hitchcock-like
journey with lead character Ahsoka Tano as she is being charged with crimes
against the Jedi order and the Grand Army of the Republic, both leading to one
of the most tragic turns in the show’s entire history.
As for the
review itself, I’m just giving you a short overview of the four episodes
themselves as the show would do (quite literally) and then I will talk about
the arc in one. Enjoy.
EPISODE 17 –
“Sabotage”
An attack
on the temple and the culprit must be found within the Jedi. Ahsoka and Anakin
are sent out to investigate, soon finding a lead.
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| Funeral attendees: Sith Lord, Traitor and Jedi. |
The episode
gave us a robot version of CSI: Miami’s David Caruso which just shows us
again how much fun the team behind “TCW” actually has during making this show.
The story itself set up what was to come and did so real good but not giving
anything away in your first watch. The lead then being Letta, the wife of the
used living bomb.
EPISODE 18 –
“The Jedi Who Knew Too Much”
The Jedi’s
only lead, Letta, is killed off by ways of the force and the Republic is
blaming Ahsoka for it, ultimately leaving her no other choice than to run and
proof her innocence on her own as no one believes her.
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| Welcome to Level 1313. Enjoy your flight. |
E18 sets the
chains into motion as Ahsoka is blamed for murdering the only witness they had
in the investigation of who’s behind all the attacks. In the end she runs which
Anakin can understand pretty well but he’s the only one as that as she is now
enemy of state no.1. Great visuals start to kick in here and at the end we’re
shown the underground of Coruscant for its entity for the first time. It also
is no coincidence that the story is playing around Level 1313 which is as you
may know the ttitle of a soon to be released star Wars video game. Nice tie-in
there.
EPISODE 19 –
“To Catch A Jedi”
Ahsoka on
the run. Joining forces with separatist villain Asajj Ventress, Ahsoka tries
to find evidence that she is being framed while wandering through the lower
levels of Coruscant’s underworld, not aware of the criminal mastermind being
always one step ahead of her the whole time.
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| "'The Fugitive' a movie was I liked." |
Delivering
the most stunning suspense, we get treated to a fantastic re-enactment of a
scene out of the movie “The Fugitive” with Harrison Ford and afterwards see
Ventress being attacked by the mastermind, once again then framing Ahsoka and
leaving her with evidence to be arrested by the incoming clones.
EPISODE 20 –
“The Wrong Jedi”
Ahsoka on
trial. Expelled by the order, she faces a military tribunal and the penalty of
death as Anakin daringly tries to rescue his former Padawan as he hunts down
the mastermind on his own, discovering that an old enemy might just be the best
friend he has.
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Court room designed pretty colorful for a Sith Lord,
don't you think? |
What this
episode achieved is both a real good take on the Republic’s corruption as it is
the main theme of the prequels and second, delivering the answer of Ahsoka’s
ultimate fate. Well, not quite.
ARC REVIEW
(not to be read as an “ARK reactor” as that is Iron Man’s tale or an ARC
trooper for that):
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| Stunning visuals. |
What this
arc mostly does is being a reference to old classics such as “The Fugitive”, “The
Man Who Knew Too Much” and so on. Delivering suspense nearly the whole time,
these episodes are ending speculations about whether Ahsoka dies or lives at
the end of this season. And as advertised, it is an ending that involves tears.
I like how
the show put one message into four episodes and didn’t press it through for
once, it felt so much more real this time around as Ahsoka had not a single chance
to succeed alone and that blind trust may be the worst thing that happened to
the Republic, next to its bureaucracy. Admiral Tarkin more and more becomes the
bad guy we know him as later in the films, Palpatine becomes more and more
Sidious-like even as the chancellor and the Jedi order suddenly fears political
pressure instead of political correctness. Everything Episode III showed us is
now finally becoming a reality in “TCW” which is one of the big changes the
show did with these few episodes. Another one is Anakin now openly showing his
dislike of the Jedi council, even into their own faces. But only Obi-Wan and
Yoda seemed to have noticed that and just slightly, open for interpretation
even.
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| "Behold, Ahsoka, I'm the one framing you." |
Ahsoka on
the run was an interesting turn of events and one that allowed the show to
focus on both the underground world and the Jedi philosophy changing. Brilliant
animation combined with great visuals in design and atmosphere and another fantastic voice acting (introducing Tim Curry as Palpatine's new voice, did a very good job there) make this arc
one of the most rememberable. Early on, we already know that a Jedi is responsible
for framing Ahsoka and with the third episode it becomes quite clear who that
Jedi is: none other than Ahsoka’s former friend Barriss Offee. Which comes to a
surprise as of how good this show has become with age: they even change the
only supporting friend in her age to be a traitor who actually is completely
right about why she became like that. The Jedi order has changed and not for
the better, she sees what the council does not: a corrupt senate seizing
control over them and the Grand Republic failing once and for all. She is right
with everything but no one would listen, so she attacked the temple and had to
frame Ahsoka, possibly to even save her from the Jedi but then why would she want
her to be dead? The court marshal of Ahsoka was also a fine one, sadly we didn’t
see much of it, one of the very few negative points of this finale.
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| "Child molester, ahhh!" |
Dramatically closing the chapter of the temple attack, Ahsoka’s trust is being
destroyed and Anakin’s hate grows even stronger as the bond between them stays
as it always was: strong.
While the
ending itself was another story: Ahsoka decided not to re-join the order (which
is the right decision for the moment) and leaving it in an emotional way for
herself and Anakin who will sure be more open to the dark side now after this
little talk at the end.
This was the moment where you shed tears if you’ve
grown a liking to Ahsoka (and who would not) but since this is a TV series
after all, I think the lead character of the show might be back for its (presumably)
final season but not as a Jedi and after all, Ventress is still out there with
her story not being finished either.
While this review
comes a little bit short in story terms, I just wanted to talk about the story
as a whole, so here are my thoughts again:
This arc
was exceptionally well done and delivered one of the strongest performances in
the show’s history, ending on a sad and realistic note that is worthy of more
than just applause. Character wise this was an emotional ride where the alliances
shifted and the Republic made a turn for the worse, introducing us to the
darker last year of the three-year Clone conflict between Episodes II and III. And
even if you’re not a big fan of “TCW”, you will like this one.
If not, well,
then, you might just be no “Star Wars” fan at all. ;)
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| Goodbye. |
5/5 epic
stars for a tale that is truly exceptional. Earned, indeed, these stars are.
