Absolutely delivers what the fans wanted! This last season was what we fans wanted! Loved the show from first episode and they ended it the best way possible.
After a six-year hiatus, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was brought back from cancellation by Disney for one final season that would tie up all the loose ends of the previous ones and OH MY GOD it was worth it. This is, without a doubt, the best season of the show to date. This season was made up of three four-part arcs that I'm going to review one-by-one here. So let's dive in.
The first story arc almost felt like the show was being reintroduced to us, and it was an excellent reintroduction. Though it wasn't anything that particularly stood out from other Clone-focused arcs on the series, this was still an incredibly compelling run of episodes with a couple of truly incredible reveals, an assortment of newly-introduced characters who really stood out from the crowd (quite literally) and great action scene after great action scene. I do feel that it felt a little insignificant to the series as a whole, other than for us to get reacquainted with all the major players of the show (especially Rex), but it was still an incredibly engaging and entertaining arc that thrust us right back into the show.
The second arc was easily the weakest of the season, though I think I enjoyed it more than most. I found the first and final parts of the arc to be very entertaining, with Ahsoka having to fight without the use of her Jedi abilities. I was also surprised by how likeable the sisters were, as I was very worried just from their character designs and respective ages that they would be poor, annoying characters. However their chemistry with Ahsoka, along with an incredibly tragic backstory that I felt was executed excellently really helped to sell them as real, three-dimensional characters. I will say the middle episodes dragged a little, and I feel like the third episode in the arc could have been cut completely and it would have made no difference to the overall plot, but overall this was still a fun arc that helped to reintroduce Ashoka before the final four episodes began. So let's get into those.
I feel like the final four episodes of this show are the real reason Disney greenlit it for one last season, and the other eight episodes were just tacked on to create a full season of television. I'm going to say something about these last four episodes which is highly controversial yet it is my honest opinion on them: this is the best thing Star Wars has ever put out, period. I truly believe that these four episodes (which should definitely be watched together, as they basically form a two-hour movie) are better than anything else in this franchise, even better than Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - and that's my third favourite film of all time! These episodes were incredibly tense, absolutely bad-ass in every possible way, ominous as hell and also featured some of the heaviest and most powerful emotion this series has ever had to offer. After watching the last episode I sat in stunned silence throughout the entire credits and then long after they had finished rolling, reeling from this event. Something this show has done perfectly is humanise the Clones, so seeing Order 66 actually carried out by troopers we are connected to was so hard to watch, and there were many moments that had me simultaneously on the edge of my seat and holding back tears, two things I don't think I've ever experienced simultaneously in any media apart from maybe Avengers: Endgame.
This arc also brought an end to the Darth Maul storyline in spectacular fashion, providing some of the best battles in Star Wars history, lightsaber or otherwise. Sam Witwer and Ashley Eckstein worked off each other brilliantly, the two best actors in the show facing off was incredible to watch. And the last five minutes... Let's just say the final five minutes had me crying my eyes out (I'm not really a crier either) and absolutely shook me to my core, with the every consecutive shot just adding more tragedy to the situation.
Overall, Star Wars: The Clone Wars ended in glorious fashion with what is easily its best season. Featuring eight episodes of pure, unadulterated entertainment followed by four incredibly tense and emotionally powerful instalments, this show could not have gone out in a more perfect way.
Best Episode: Victory and Death (though really the entire last arc)
Worst Episode: Deal No Deal
Overall Score: 92%
This is absolutely the best season of The Clone Wars!! I'm really glad that they were able to address what fans wanted, and I genuinely felt like each arc had its place in the season. I'm so sad to see this show finally go, but I'm so happy that the ending was so amazing. This is the finale that the show deserves.
It's hard to rate this season. The first 8 episodes weren't great. 5 - 8 were especially lackluster. But the final 4 were fantastic. With the final 3 being perhaps the best that the show has to offer. Going by the final episodes alone, this would be a solid 9. But having to factor in the rest of the season... I think I'm being generous when I give it a 7.
The Clone Wars Seasons Ranked list --> https://trakt.tv/users/justinnumerick/lists/the-clone-wars-seasons-ranked?sort=rank,asc
A mixed final season of the show for me when you look at the entire season together. The first four episodes with the Bad Batch and rescuing Echo I consider to be a good Clone Wars arc. This was my introduction to the Bad Batch characters and they were really cool, and the emotional core of the Echo storyline was nice with a solid ending. But other than this, it was surrounded by another pretty generic war plot. The second arc with Ahsoka and the sisters was below average for me, mostly because it felt distracting and out of place at this point in the show. While getting Ashoka's return was incredibly exciting and I love where her character is at, the sisters never stood out to me and I just didn't care about them. I do like that they had a different perspective on the Jedi and this was in line with the some of the show's best themes, but the story surrounding this plot felt like a waste of time as I waited to get to the good stuff. But those final four episodes.... are some of the best Star Wars I have ever seen. They knocked it out of the park in ways that I didn't expect, and made me feel things about Star Wars and these characters that I have never felt. The way they weaved in events from Revenge of the Sith but held them in the background as we see Ashoka's side of the story was incredible writing. Even the creative decisions like the switch up in title cards and music were prefect. I'll spend some time talking about what I loved from each of those four episodes below.
Episode 9: A great start to the crossover with Revenge of the Sith. Anakin is the most Anakin ever, him and Obi-Wan's dynamic is great. Even better is how much you can tell Anakin cares for Ahsoka, it's so great to see this side of him. Ahsoka's return was emotional with both him and the clones, and the final moments of them together as you know what's about to happen is so, so good. This episode drove home how Anakin and Ahsoka have legit maybe my favorite relationship in all of Star Wars. The animation and direction of the action with Ahsoka was so dynamic and thrilling.
Episode 10: THE BEST FIGHT IN THE CLONE WARS. Ahsoka v Maul was phenomenal on all levels, I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't take my eyes away. Getting this other side of events during the time period of Revenge of the Sith as everything starts to fall apart is great. You really feel an ominous tone with everything and they play into your knowledge of what's about to happen so well. I especially loved Maul's side of the story as he knows something is about to happen but isn't really in the loop, and his desires in the face of all this are interestingly complex.
Episode 11: Again, the sense of impending doom is amazing. What's most heartbreaking here is Ahsoka's undying faith in Anakin, it's incredibly heartbreaking on a level that I never felt in the movies. Ahsoka sensing Anakin's interaction with Palpatine and Mace Windu through the force was, again, heartbreaking and so cool. And the ensuing order 66 is SO much more heartbreaking than in the movies since we've been given all this time with the clones and we care about them. The character work for Rex was phenomenal, and I was so excited when Ahsoka was able to save him from the order. Maul's involvement in order 66 is very entertaining and not what you would expect.
Episode 12: Rex and Ahsoka together are so good, and when he cried I cried. The entire episode was enthralling, thrilling, and inspiring, up until the very end when my heart broke. This episode convinced me that Ahsoka is the main character of the Clone Wars, she is who I will think about the most when I remember this show. The writers just get it and play into the strengths of the show so well in this final episode, keeping the focus on Ahsoka and the clones. They also do some really cool stuff with Ahsoka's force wielding abilities here. Overall, the finale did an amazing job selling the devastation of these events, right up until the final scene that made me the most emotional I've ever been watching Star Wars. Anakin's fall hits on an emotional level I've never felt before. We get so much time with him in this series and we see him at his best as a Jedi, which makes his turn so incredibly heartbreaking and devastating on a whole new level. Even with him not as a primary focus in this season, it hits harder being told from Ahsoka's perspective, and the final scene broke me. He cares about her so much, and in this moment he knew he had destroyed everything he ever loved.
My fandom for Star Wars was reignited by the finale of this series and I've felt obsessed with Anakin and Ahsoka as characters ever since. I couldn't help myself and watched Vader's redemption in Return of the Jedi and bawled my eyes out. The season as a whole can't mach the consistency of Season 5 for me, but the final four episodes are perfect.
7.8/10 -- Good
overall okay season, like the first 4 set up bad batch so well and then the middle was super bad with an unnecessary story but the last 4 with the war on mandalore should have been more epic but the way it ties into Star wars episode 3 is awesome!
I'm very glad that we got this final season and a nice conclusion. I wasn't that excited about the first 4 episodes (but I still liked them), episodes 5-8 are a nice surprise and quite interesting IMO, and episodes 9-12 are just super awesome!
Thanks to Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, Star Wars: The Clone Wars finally gets the conclusion it deserves. I was glad to see the return of Ahsoka; she was missed in the previous season. All of the episodes were rather epic, but what really moved me was the four-episode conclusion, which ties into Revenge of the Sith and does so quite well. RotS was a big deal to me; not only did I see it on the big screen--which I've only done with three Star Wars movies, and the IMAX version I saw of Attack of the Clones was cut--which made it all the more moving, but, that was also around the time I discovered the Expanded Universe, which also had a big impact on me. So, those episodes brought back very fond memories.
Fans of Star Wars knew from the beginning that this show wouldn't have a happy ending; even if you've only seen the original trilogy, you know that Anakin becomes the evil Darth Vader, and that Obi-Wan and Yoda have to go into hiding. Instead of giving us sweet schmaltz, the makers decided to go with the prequels' vibe...and it worked very well here. It's a shame that the same storytelling talent couldn't have been applied to the films; barring a reboot, the movies have been forever stained by the epic fail that was The Last Jedi. Still, I have to give Disney credit in this case; they did it right. Maybe, someday, they'll realize how badly they flubbed with the flicks and give us the Thrawn trilogy on the big screen. One can only hope...
For me, this is a bit of a mixed bag.
The first arc, The Bad Batch is okay. It’s fine. There are things I really, really liked about it, but it goes on a bit long. It’s also upsetting to me that 1/3 of this season was old material; I already watched Bad Batch five years ago in animatic form — along with the also released Crystal Crisis on Utapau arc which was far superior and tragically overlooked here. I did like the arc better this time than before because I know more about the clones now than I used to. So if you’re a huge fan of the clones from Clone Wars, hey, you’ll probably like this arc. For me, it was just fine: 3.25/5
The second arc, which I’ll call Ahsoka in Exile is not great. It offers very little and harkens back to the more stilted days of season 1. It’s still not bad, per se, but I can’t say I enjoyed it. And one whole episode is wasted, as the status quo is the exact same at the beginning as the end, and I feel nothing was accomplished — plotwise, characterwise, or otherwise. It legitimately can be wholly skipped: 1.5/5
It ends with Siege of Mandalore which is happening concurrently with Revenge of the Sith. It’s really quite good. It’s no spoiler that Maul returns, and what’s done with him is fun. That said, I didn’t need it. I’m still left with the same questions about timeline that I had with Maul, I’m still left with the same status quo for Ahsoka, and Rex is already addressed in Rebels and confirmed to have survived all the way to the Battle of Endor — I learned nothing new about any of them. The very, very end is :asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol:amazing:asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol:. But I can’t help but think this arc would have been better served as its own series, or at least its own season. There was a lot more that could have been done with it, and what is done isn’t really enough to sell me on bringing Ahsoka back. It was already a small problem that Anakin never mentions her during Episode III, but that’s mitigated by her leaving the order a decent amount of time prior; now the problem is worse because he speaks to her the very same day! There’s a lot of potential left untapped, and it brings it down significantly for me, but there is still a lot of good here: 3.5/5 — yet still disappointing.
As good as certain elements of the season are, I can’t help but look at the significant lack of questions answered, the lack of character-work done, and the lack of boldness to make full use of its potential... as a waste. There was so much to be done with a Clone Wars season not beholden to network TV. And they barely scratched the surface. It never sold me on :asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol:why:asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol: we needed more with Ahsoka after Season 5 ends her story perfectly (till Rebels), and it wastes too much time through the beginning and middle for me to say it was even really worth my time, despite the end being so well-made. It’s like the best chocolate cake ever, but you have to let it sit for 2 and a half hours, and when you get to eat it, you’re not in the mood for chocolate.
:asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol:8.25/15: 55%:asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol:
Premiere date is Feb 17th!
Review by JCVIP 4BlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-05T03:01:40Z
The early arcs might drag slightly, but oh, the four part finale redeems it all.It has everything essential about these characters. Anakin's desperate longing for human connection and for those he holds most dear to be alright, and the rejection and disillusionment he feels from the weight of this war. Obi-Wan swallowing down his doubts and hopes to be the perfect model Jedi, pushing away and distancing himself from his closest friends in the process. Yoda hopeless and raw, wishing for the old days when Ahsoka was a Jedi and the Jedi weren't soldiers, and unable to shake the dread in his soul.
And, of course, the core trio of this season- Ahsoka, Rex, and Maul- shine. Maul's the last physical antagonist of the show but even in this moment he's overshadowed by Sidious. There's this dread to him as he can sense that everything is about to change, that he is always one step behind his master. He's always playing catch up, always surviving instead of thriving. That is his tragedy- a pawn that's outlived his usefulness trying to become a king. A man who thinks vengeance and power will finally give him satisfaction, but the pursuit of these things have only left him alone and hollow. Like Vader himself, it's that tragedy that makes him so compelling to watch, and Witwer perfectly acts every inch of Maul's bitterness and despair and dissatisfaction. Maul hates who he is, what he knows, and he will never be satisfied. He will never be happy. But he has no choice to be what he is, from the very beginning. He never had a chance.
None of them do. Maul is desperate, even willing to team up with his sworn enemy Kenobi to kill Skywalker. This is his last fight against the inevitability of fate, and it is already doomed. Neither of them arrived- they were called to 'rescue' Palpatine from Grevious. Ahsoka came instead. Sidious is about to seize power. Anakin's already killed Dooku, falling further and further. It's too late for Maul to stop his master and too late for Ahsoka to save hers. And yet they fight anyway. Because Ahsoka believes in Anakin so much, she cannot turn against him. She knows this is not the clones' fault, so she cannot kill them. She's left the Jedi Order and has found her own morals, her own way. Rex, meanwhile has come to realize he moves his brothers above all else, but must fight against them. Each of them have their own pathos that makes this enthralling entertainment.
The fight scenes are gorgeous- Ahsoka and Maul's battle being a standout. The beautiful environments, from the shattered throne room to the icy moon the series ends on, will take your breath away. But more than anything else, the ending justifies it all. Each Star Wars movie, even the darkest, end with at least a hint of triumph, or a light flung into the future. Attack of the Clones almost ends on the formation of the clones, a moment Yoda dreads, but the marriage of Anakin and Padame is a reminder that Luke and Lelia are on the way. Empire Strikes Back and Last Jedi both end with the heroes fractured but not broken, ready for round three. And even Revenge of the Sith assures us Luke and Leia will make things right in the end. Animated contemporaries Rebels and Resistance, too, end in triumph.
Not Clone Wars.
Clone Wars is a tragedy. There is no flash forward to better days, there is no hint of the rebellion, or that Ahsoka and Rex will be fine in the end. The last shot of Ahsoka shows her haunted, and the last shot of the show...is Vader, reflected in the helmet of one of the clones he respected so much, and was respected by in turn.A helmet specially decorated in support of Ahsoka, who both Anakin and the 501st adored, a last reminder of Anakin's and the clones' humanity, completely discarded. The ending doesn't care about the Skywalker Saga, about Anakin being redeemed in the end, or Luke rising up, or Rey carrying on their legacy. And that's what makes it great.
The clones were made for this war- pawns from life to death. All to help facilitate Anakin’s fall. For Anakin and his prophecy the clones and so many people from the Jedi to the average man suffered and died in a brutal, grueling war that only led to a brutal and grueling regime. All actors of a play they were never privy to. The show has the conviction to not cushion that blow.It is about the Clone Wars, not what comes after, and the Clone wars was a tragedy without redemption. Nothing will have made this war matter retroactively. The vast majority of people have no idea that a rebellion is forming or that Luke and Leia were born. All the Jedi and clones and civilians we've grown attached to and seen die certainly don't. The Clone Wars pulls back and shows exactly what the Skywalker Saga, what the Chosen One prophecy, has wrought on the people that saga turned its back on- the nobodies. The ordinary. After one horrendous finale, this one- this show- shows what Star Wars could be, and quite possibly never will be again. And I will always love it for that.