– Full Spoiler Review –
12 years later, 7 seasons spread across different networks and streamers, it has all come to this, the series finale of The Clone Wars, “Victory and Death.” The Siege of Mandalore has been one cinematic masterpiece of an episode after another and the finale is no different, offering an epic, though somber end for Rex and Ahsoka’s journeys through the war.
Once again, the cast and crew behind The Clone Wars give it their cinematic all for this finale, and I really want to focus on the music from Kevin Kiner. The opening music, which sounds like a slower, drawn out version of the “Padmé’s Funeral” song from Revenge of the Sith, setting the solemn mood for the episode that carries right into the closing shot of the show. Music has always been an important aspect to Star Wars on screen and Kiner’s work for the Siege of Mandalore have been on a whole different level, reaching a John Williams-like height with his work. On Spotify, you can even listen to his score for these final episodes and alone they are fantastic pieces, carrying a certain mood and leaving, as listening to them in a row charts the course of these last 4 episodes.
Rex and Ahsoka’s prospects for surviving through the gauntlet of Order 66, locked in a ship full of clones hell-bent on murdering them and an ex-Sith Lord loose causing all sorts of havoc, seemed slim to none in “Victory and Death.” Even knowing they’ll make it through, the odds continuously felt against them the entire episode: the toll the continuous fighting is taking on Rex and Ahsoka is visible in even the littlest of moments, with more and more blaster shots getting past her or singing Rex as time goes, the giant, continuous stream of troopers against them, or the ship’s ticking clock as it plummets towards a moon, these two need to thank the Force for letting them get through it all alive. Their escape is far more epic and grandiose than I ever imagined, but it’s appropriately difficult and near impossible, helping highlight how thoroughly Palpatine planned ahead and why so many others failed where Rex and Ahsoka didn’t.
While it’s physical gauntlet to make it out alive, it’s as much a psychological one as well for these two. It hits Rex especially hard now that he’s awake to what happened to him and his brothers, pawns in a much larger game and even more disposable than anyone ever imagined. He talks a big game behind his helmet to Ahsoka, willing and eager to cut through his brothers since they want to do the same to him, but she’s known him too long, taking off his helmet and finding the tears behind it. Ahsoka’s words to Rex, about how they won’t be the ones to kill these men, help him realize that fighting, something he’s done all his life, isn’t always the answer or the way to meet opposing force. They play with elevators to even the odds and only stun the clones, showing the clones mercy even when they wouldn’t, but it’s something they deserve because their intentions have been inhibited by sabotage via a little chip. Fighting this way alongside Ahsoka is likely what helps Rex be happy with and choose to retire to joopa slinging in a remote planet, no real fighting to be done.
Ahsoka’s choices this episode really highlight how far she’s come since the movie premiere for the show, no longer an eager Padawan to join the fight but one eager to avoid it if they can and more willing to let enemies like Maul away if it means saving her friends. Rose’s words from The Last Jedi are a message for all the Saga, about saving those we love rather than fighting those we hate, and Ahsoka’s choice to let Maul go reveals how important and pivotal such a mindset can be, and how much the Jedi lost their way as I’m not totally sure a different Jedi in her shoes would’ve acted the same here. If Ahsoka hadn’t stopped to save Rex, then she never would’ve lived, as together they were integral to saving one another to live and fight another day. Their time together adds deep, emotional depth to their reunion in Rebels‘ “The Lost Commanders,” and I’m not sure rewatching the show won’t cause even more crying now.
After the epic free fall rescue of Ahsoka by Rex in the old Y-wing, surviving the most immediate danger, together they bury the clones who fought against them. The episode, even with its non-stop action, strikes a somber mood throughout, and the final minutes of the show make the feeling inescapable. From the slow pan over the helmets lining the graves, focusing on Jesse’s, to the show ending without any speaking, it’s made abundantly clear their escape is just the start of their trials. To bury the clones is to show them respect, for all that they did throughout the war, giving them a far more fitting life in death than those who continue on to serve in Palpatine’s machinations. It’s a fantastic, haunting image to end the entire The Clone Wars show on, giving the real heroes of the war the burial they deserved. For Rex, he can honor his fallen brothers as he moves on to try to live beyond the war, giving him some sense of peace as he buries his past. As for Ahsoka, who leaves her lightsaber in the ground before them, it’s admitting that even she made the wrong choice again and that she needs to work hard again to deserve the blades, while also it’s a way to bury Anakin considering she believes him dead.
The episode could’ve ended there, but the final few moments are an inspired choice for several different reasons. We flashforward to the near future, the moon now covered in snow and the wreckage of the fallen ship plus Rex and Ahsoka’s gravesite mostly lost to the snow and wind. An Imperial shuttle descends, as stormtroopers and Imperial probe droids scour the site, and a familiar, ominous breathing cuts into the cold silence: Darth Vader has arrived! He stands at about the same spot as Ahsoka did and bends down, uncovering her lightsaber, which he ignites while staring at the scene before him. The real winners of the war are here, all the efforts of the clones dampened by the Empires’ arrival, giving the series a seemingly hopeless ending, much like how the prequel trilogy ended. Revenge of the Sith did conclude with some hope though, with Luke and Leia split up and ready to emerge into the galaxy, and The Clone Wars offers its own bit of hope too: Morai, the owl companion Ahsoka has in Star Wars Rebels, seen floating overhead Vader. Morai is somehow heavily connected with the Daughter from inside Mortis, the very mystical realm explored early in TCW, and has been with Ahsoka most of her life since the Daughter gave her life to save Ahsoka. To show us Morai observing this scene is like a hope on high, distant but near, because no matter how chilling Vader’s presence is or the final shot of him reflected in the broken clone’s helmet shows the futility of the clones’ struggle, offers a counterpoint on how the good side plays an even longer game than even the Sith could’ve imagined.
It’s weird to talk about “Victory and Death” as the series finale of The Clone Wars, while as great as the episode is alone, it’s truly a part of the final whole, with the Siege of Mandalore being the proper ending for the show that began 12 years ago. It’s also weird to talk about the finale because the show has ended twice before, with no hope of its return, so it’s still sinking in that this is even possible we got these episodes. While there might be many other TCW stories left that never made it to screen, so maybe comics and novels could pick up those tales, I’m happy this was the final content they chose to produce. It’s also the true end of an era, as it’s the final George Lucas produced content and it honored his time with the Saga better than ever hoped.
Here are a few other things:
- The best way to find out what Ahsoka does best after the final scene of the show? Read the novel, Ahsoka! On Twitter, _joieful took the final scene of the show and played part of the Ahsoka audiobook over it, showing how well the two matched up!
- Dave Filoni’s finale sketch eagerly reopened the wound of the show ending.
- Sad about all the droids having to die, including R7!
- Loved the parallels between Ahsoka in white at the end of Rebels and the Ahsoka in her hooded appearance here; going on a new journey into the great unknown both times!
- The Clone Wars – Battle Tales comic miniseries, originally meant to be done by April, will find its first issue out on May 20 now! Likewise, the upcoming The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark got its first excerpt over at EW for a May the 4th gift!
The Clone Wars finally ends with “Victory and Death,” a fitting, somber, but epic finale that paints a giant picture of the entire series but also of the personal trials and tribulations of main stars Ahsoka and Rex.
+ Cinematic quality continues in intense, emotional finale
+ Ahsoka saving what she loved
+ Rex learning how not to match force with force
+ Glimpse of the future and all its haunting implications
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
THE CLONE WARS REVIEWS
Season Seven: Ep. 1 “The Bad Batch” | Ep. 2 “A Distant Echo” | Ep. 3 “On the Wings of Keeradaks” | Ep. 4 “Unfinished Business” | Ep. 5 “Gone With a Trace” | Ep. 6 “Deal No Deal” | Ep. 7 “Dangerous Debt” | Ep. 8 “Together Again” | Ep. 9 “Old Friends Not Forgotten” | Ep. 10 “The Phantom Apprentice” | Ep. 11 “Shattered”
Legacy Impressions: Crystal Crisis | The Bad Batch