The most recent episode of Clone Wars kept the dial turned to 11, with even more action, drama, and timeline establishment than the previous installment. Characters really shone throughout this episode, and for a series that takes place in the middle of a timeline with established lore, it was still able to leave some questions to be answered by the remaining two episodes.
Three big characters stuck out during this episode, and while two of them you could probably guess, one was a bit of a surprise. That character was Gar Saxon, leader of Maul’s Mandalorian forces. It was great to see Saxon at his peak in this episode, for he’s a character that really demonstrates his primary qualities in action. We see his ruthlessness in assassinating the prime minister to keep him quiet, his opportunism and resourcefulness in attacking Bo-Katan, and his otherwise badassery in the final battle as he leads one last charge to win back Mandalore. I don’t expect we’ll see Saxon again until SW: Rebels in the timeline, but it was great to see the energy and passion of his younger days give fire to the same qualities we see later in the Imperia Era.
Speaking of which, while any casual Star Wars fan would enjoy this last episode, the characters really begin to shine for people who have seen Rebels. This episode, we really begin to see Maul’s hatred for Palpatine begin to fully take over his mind, at times leading to great determination and resourcefulness and at other times resulting in the babblings of a man driven to madness with rage and obsession. Furthermore, this episode showcases the manipulative side of Darth Maul as he seeks to recruit Ahsoka to his side, playing on her emotions and her own feelings of betrayal much the same as he later does in Rebels with Ezra. While there are people (maybe even people in this website’s administration! Gasp!) who don’t care too much for Maul, Clone Wars does a great job of expanding his character and following through on the promise made way back in 1999 of an interesting, motivated antagonist.
We also see some great characterization of Ahsoka this episode as she struggles with her disillusionment of the Jedi Council and her concern for her old master Anakin. Maul does nothing to help assuage these anxieties as he reveals to her Anakin’s destiny to serve this mysterious Darth Sidious. In a concise discussion with hologram Obi Wan, Ahsoka learns that not only did Anakin kill Count Dooku (which for some reason is considered a bad thing by the Jedi) but that he has also been tasked with spying on the Chancellor (ah, so that’s where we’re at in the timeline, thanks writers!). Obi Wan appeals to Ahsoka to speak with Anakin, and here we learn that in many ways, she was his last attempt at helping his troubled friend before everything went wrong. Again, this show does a great job at supplementing the movie material and really helps flesh out the kind of relationship that Anakin and Obi Wan had.
The episode ends with some surprising intrigue: Ahsoka defeats and captures Maul (after a terrific saber duel) and leaves him to be imprisoned by the Clone-Mandalorian coalition under Bo-Katan. All seems to be victorious, but with Order 66 and the climax of Revenge of the Sith approaching, it will be interesting to see where all of our favorite characters end up as the Clone Wars Era–and series–comes to an end.
Bonus tidbits!
To further embrace the red-headed step-child that is Solo: A Star Wars story into the mainstream timeline, we see Maul speaking with several crimelords telling them to go into hiding, including Solo antagonist Dryden Vos! Presumably, this occurs just before that film’s climax. Also presumably (careful, that makes a Pre out of you and me), the ship that comes to pick up Maul during his confrontation with Ahsoka is being flown by Qi’ra, Emilia Clarke’s character in Solo. It’s nice of them to tie everything together on the fringes of the universe (pun emphatically intended), and we might even see Qi’ra come up if a Darth Maul rescue is indeed in the works.
