Of the many doorways to my childhood, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is the one that was never fully closed. Starting in 2008, this animated 'kids' show aired every Friday on Cartoon Network after school and was effectively the highlight of my week. Set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the show was made by people who loved Star Wars, but thought the prequels left a lot to be desired. Subsequently, this show was developed with the intent on abiding to the prequels to the most minute details (Anakin meeting Grievous for the first time in Episode III meant the writers had to come up with scenarios where these characters never interacted prior) but also developing and enhancing the main relationships, such as Anakin and Obi-wan's. As such, the show single-handedly boosted the quality of the content of the (until recently) maligned prequel trilogy. Tragedy struck when Disney bought Lucasfilm, leading to the cancellation of the show in favour of 'new' Star Wars content and leaving fans such as myself dissatisfied that we never got that inevitable flow directly into the start of Episode III.
Alas, fan demand lead to the final season's creation under Dave Filoni, a Star Wars filmmaker who understands the world better than any other currently working for Disney. Despite only containing 12 episodes of 22 minutes (there were previously 20/22 a season), the show makes do with some exceptionally storytelling. The show is somewhat unique in that the episodes do not always follow on from each other; instead there are story arcs that usually last between 2-4 episodes back to back. It is therefore easier to review the arcs then the overall season.
Season 7 has three stories, each with four episodes. The first revolves around the 'Bad Batch', a clone trooper team with defect abilities that makes them trigger happy shock troopers who are socially ostracised but revered for their daring escapades. These episodes are standard Clone Wars: fun, lighthearted and with a sustained level of action perhaps more aimed at younger audiences.
The second story revolves around Ahsoka Tano; Anakin's former Padawan who left the Jedi Order after becoming disenchanted in the cause. Ahsoka was left out of season 6 but here she returns, helping out two sisters, Trace and Rafa, in the underbelly of Coruscant. There is a sharp decline in entertainment with this story; the bickering between the three and the action scenes feel repetitive and one episode opens with them in a cell, then they escape, then they finish the episode back in the cell. And if that episode feels like padding, then it makes the whole set of episodes feel like padding. The only noteworthy material in it is the focus on what ordinary people think of the Jedi, and Ahsoka realising her Jedi attributes will always be with her. But this is lesser Star Wars.
The final episodes are a different beast. Gone is the opening titles and voice over, replaced by a Lucasfilm card and 'Part I:...' This is the story that season 7 was built to show: the Siege of Mandalore. Ahsoka reunites with fellow Clone Wars original Captain Rex to take down Darth Maul who has taken over the planet Mandalore. After a touching reunion with Anakin, the stage is set for a monumental finale. At one point Obi-wan informs Ahsoka that Count Dooku is dead and from then on these episodes are filled with dread. The entire TV show has lived in the shadow of Order 66; that grand finale to the war which makes all the combat seem hopelessly futile. For the ardent fans who have seen the show's cousin Rebels, they know that Rex, Ahsoka and Maul all survive. But the tension doesn't come from the 'if' or the 'what', but the 'how' and 'when'. Watching these episodes bizarrely reminded me of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; the sense of dread you get as an audience member knowing something awful is about to happen that the characters do not know about. That a child's animation show can elicit anxious shakes and sleepless nights from me is credit to the writing and directing on display.
The action is phenomenal: the lightsaber clash between Ahsoka and Maul is one of the best in Star Wars history, Maul's corridor mayhem rivals Vader's in Rogue One, and a thrilling sequence as a cruiser is sucked into a moon's gravity all make for gasp inducing set pieces. And yet despite all of this the small episodes still find time for rich character work; Ahsoka ponders her's and the clones existence, having seen only war and not knowing what to do when it is over. War is bad, but without it there would be no Rex, or Fives or Echo. And, like the final few minutes in Game of Thrones, the show ends with a beautiful, dialogue free montage that is bleak, beautiful and utterly heart-breaking. These four episodes are hands down some of the best Star Wars content ever.
To grade the season is impossible: it is not like Thrones where the strength and tension of the generally outstanding final few episodes comes from the previous six or seven episodes building it up. Instead, it is three stories that work well together but the emotional response to the final four episodes can be felt without watching the other arcs. If the Bad Batch is a reasonably good storyline (7/10), then the Trace and Rafa story is a lukewarm padding session (5/10) and the Siege of Mandalore is simply outstanding television (10/10). A fitting farewell to the George Lucas era of Star Wars, and my own childhood.
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