When Star Wars: The Clone Wars [TCW] was canceled in 2013 it left behind many story arcs that were written but didn’t see fruition. Over the next 8 years, Lucasfilm Animation under Disney’s leadership shifted its attention to other projects like Star Wars: Rebels and Resistance, only to fail to capture the same quality as TCW’s 5 seasons.
After a strong fan campaign, Disney finally saw the light. At San Diego Comicon 2018, during a 10th-anniversary celebration, it was announced that the 7th and final season of TCW would be produced for the upcoming streaming service now known as Disney Plus.
It must be stated that Disney, despite their recent business practices, should at least be given a nod of approval in their choice to conclude this fan-favorite series. Before this move, Disney put much effort into distancing its new Star Wars brand from even associating with the prequel-era stories and characters, with J.J. Abrams openly stating “you’re not going to be seeing midichlorians in the films”. A blunt and terrible way of burying away and dismissing even the good ideas of the era.
It was only after Disney’s own sequel trilogy wrapped up (and the terrible mess it caused) that Disney-Lucasfilm started to shift its gears and pay further attention to what made the prequels work. However, despite fans hoping for this season to be seen for years, the result is still somewhat mixed.
The New Layout
While most TCW seasons lasted 20 episodes, the 7th and final season would clock in at just 12.
This shorter timeframe presented a further problem when the decision was made to use its finite time to tell the same anthology format – with the whole season consisting of 4 distinct story arcs. When your season is 12 episodes that are just 22 minutes, you have far less time to be branching into random stories that don’t add up to anything essential. This was evident with the arcs presented in this finale season that possess no connected tissue.
The Missing Arcs
After TCW’s cancelation overtime details were gradually released concerning the missing story arcs. Some of these stories would be adapted into other media. One arc that would be adapted into a comic book was the “Son of Dathomir” arc, which would have detailed how maul escaped Darth Sidious’s grasp which was left hanging after their duel in season 5.
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Other stories would be released online in rough animation, such as one where Anakin and Obiwan recover a giant lightsaber crystal – foreboding into the Empire’s eventual use of Kyber crystals to build the Death Star.
The most interesting arc that was dropped followed bounty hunter Cade Bane mentoring and falling out with a young Boba Fett, which was heavily hinted at in the Book of Boba Fett [BoBF] series.
One more arc that would have completely changed the way we viewed the Jedi order followed Ahsoka as she journeyed below the Jedi Temples to its foundation to discover an ancient Sith shrine – the “Shrine in Depths”. It would’ve been revealed that this dark side relic blocked the Jedi’s connection to the dark side, which would have explained why the order wouldn’t have sensed Palpatine after all this time.
A Backdoor Pilot: The Bad Batch
One of the scrapped arcs that was brought back introduced us to the “Bad Batch”, an experimental squad of clone troopers that were genetically modified for special traits and abilities. The characters themselves are very reminiscent of 80s action heroes and that’s essentially it. This does however uncover the clone Echo who was thought to be killed in the Citidel arc back in season 3.
It also gives some fascinating insight into Anakin’s dynamic with Rex as it reveals that Anakin has entrusted Rex with his secret marriage. It also has Obi-Wan lightheartedly telling Aniken to say hi to Padme, revealing that he also knows that Anakin and Padme are in a thing.
This inclusion does put Anakin’s and Obi-Wan’s relationship In a whole new light. It makes it tragic the fact that if Anakin was more open with his relationship with Obi-Wan it is possible that Anakin’s story would have turned out differently had Anakin shared his fears of losing Padme. That one scene aside there was very little to offer in the Bad Batch arc as it served little more than a backdoor pilot for the spinoff series the following year.
The Cringe: Martez Sisters Arc
One of the biggest problems with the multi-episode arc format is there is only a certain amount of story worthy of its length. If a story is large in scale then one can understand if it’s 4 episodes long. But not every arc is not worth that length. Perhaps the worst an example of them was the Martez Sister’s arc.
After leaving the order in the last season, Ahsoka journeys to the Coruscant underworld to find new meaning. When her speeder becomes damaged Ahsoka came across a repair shop run by sisters Raffa and Trace Martez, who are indebted to the Pyke Syndicate. Because of their parents being accidentally killed by a Jedi (implied to be Master Luminara) Ahsoka made an effort to hide her abilities while being constantly on the run by gangsters.
This sister pair singlehandedly hijacked TCW’s final season at gunpoint. They are Rose Tico all over again.
Did the character add anything good to the story in any way? Hell No.
Throughout their entire appearance, they do nothing but bicker and argue with Ahsoka on the morality of dealing with criminals falling into hijinks. There was an episode where they bust out of a jail cell only to be put right back in.
All of this happens while Ahsoka gets sidelined where the real focus is on the sisters and their antics.
The biggest problem was this arc’s plot is driven entirely by the sister’s stupidity, especially Trace. In the second episode amidst an argument between Ahsoka and Raffa about the ethics of transporting spice (space drugs).
Trace literally dumps the spice that they owed the Pikes mid-hyperspace purely out of spite. Imagine if on Earth you owed several kilos of cocaine to a cartel and you deliberately sink your stash just to get back at your mom. There is no logical reason for any of this. and yet they blew so much time stemming from this dumb scene.
This arc’s only purpose at the end of this arc was for Ahsoka to encounter Bo Katan so they can team up to take down Darth Maul. This feels very sporadic because they last time saw each other in season 4 they tried to kill each other (Bo even sexually harassed her), so where did this sudden friendship come from? Considering that these arcs were based on scrapped storylines, it’s likely there was another story arc that would have given more time to explore Ahsoka and Bo’s dynamic. Unfortunately as stated before they wasted a third of the season on these sisters’ hijinks, so this new alliance doesn’t feel earned.
According to Dave Filoni, the purpose of that arc was to have Ahsoka be confronted by essentially two discordant versions of her own personality with Trace being her younger more energetic self while Rafa represents a potential future that’s more cynical and amoral should she stay on this path. The problem is that none of these interactions furthers Ahsoka’s character in any meaningful way, even the revelation that their parents were killed accidentally by a Jedi is dismissed as quickly as it was brought up.
As stated before, This wouldn’t have been as big of a problem if this was just a 2-parter. This was the worst arc because it was the most waisted. it severely damaged the viewing experience of this season as a whole and It took away from other stories that needed more development. Ahsoka’s character growth felt was thrown out just to promote these characters that feel like their just introductions for another series like the Bad Batch was. At least the Bad Batch had the potential for a spinoff, the Martez sisters had none.
Breaking Character – Ahsoka’s Final Arc
There’s no doubt that the finale arc – The Siege of Mandalore – was spectacular. However, all of that goodwill was nearly destroyed by one scene that is blatant character assassination: It turned Ahsoka (who at this stage is still a very collective but wise apprentice) into an ungrateful brat that’s just there to talk down to “the man”.
This final arc goes parallel with the events of Revenge of the Sith. Ahsoka, after reuniting with her old masters, debates whether to use Anakin’s 501st Legion to liberate Mandalore from Maul’s criminal network. When Obi-Wan informs them that Coruscant was under assault and the chancellor disappeared. As a result, Anakin and Obi-Wan’s forces were called to relieve coruscant. The Capital of the Republic is under assault and the chancellor is missing. With their forces occupied, they are unable to relive Mandalore.
This is a perfectly understandable military situation that someone like Ahsoka would understand. Throughout the entire series, especially in the later seasons, Ahsoka has been portrayed as calm, understanding, and pragmatic. She also never talks down to her peers, especially not to someone like Obi-Wan.
Umm… Priorities?
However, Ahsoka instead of lamenting the situation and trying to find a compromise like Anakin did, Ahsoka uncharacteristically chastises Obiwan for not helping Mandalore arguing that the Jedi were once again playing politics. This argument makes no sense, By modern standards, It is either helping A Humanitarian crisis in Mexico or stopping the Russians from entering Washington DC. Some things have greater priority there’s nothing political about saving the Capital city from destruction.
If one’s argument is that “Ahsoka is still young and inexperienced in military matters”, that doesn’t make sense either. Ever since her debut in the first season, she was shown to be a capable military leader and even used an early Thrawn strategy to break a blockade.
Realistically, she should have been promoted to Knight by now. Ahsoka has led and inspired many different characters to the point where half the 501st volunteered to go with her. To see that all that growth eroded just for some half-baked speech about Jedi hubris strikes a core in the worst way possible.
This is the only time where Ahsoka felt out of character, considering that she had 6 seasons to grow and develop into a Jedi wiser than her years. To see her dismiss a real crisis, just for some lecture to Kenobi about political inconvenience Is just wrong on so many levels.
My only guess is that they wanted a scene for Ahsoka to finally express the anguish she had with the Jedi order. There’s no doubt the council’s decision to expel Ahsoka for political expedience was despicable, but it has nothing to do with saving lives on Coruscant. If they wanted a scene with Ahsoka confronting the Jedi on their hypocrisy, this is the wrong scene to do it with.
A Strong Conclusion
The ending to The Clone Wars is a mixed bag, However, the final arc allowed it to end on a high note.
After 8 years of Star Wars animation getting downgraded in both quality and writing It’s comforting that there are still people who give animation time and effort to tell new stories that can only be shown in this format. Still, there are some big concerns about their quality, not just animation but the writing.
The first arcs were evident that Disney was attempting to corporatize The Clone Wars as less of a finale season, but more just a vehicle for other spinoffs. This is sadly evident with a lot of recent Star Wars projects that seem to be greenlit regardless if anyone was asking for it.
The Clone Wars wasn’t meant to be (but certainly was marketed as) a simple kids’ show, It was a series of stories Lucas created to expand his vision of Star Wars. Not all of these ideas were good, but there was still a lot being explored and crucial gaps filled in. It is essential right now that there are new opportunities for stories to be greenlit. With new projects in the works like tales of the Jedi, who knows what would be next. Perhaps a project on the High Republic, or even an adaptation of some of the legacy novels. Anything is possible, but please make them good.
