Ryan Shoots First: The Clone Wars (S7 Ep12) “Victory and Death”
I’m still shaking from Friday’s epic episode shattered and here I sit on Sunday night as Disney has been gracious enough to launch the last episode at midnight instead of waiting. So let’s get those finale under way and Happy Star Wars day everyone!
We open with the sad funeral music reminiscent of Qui-Gon’s death and Padmes in the prequels. We see the republic ship in hyperspace and the clones cutting their way into where Rex and Ahsoka are. Ahsoka has an idea how to get out and tells Rex to set his guns to stun. She STILL does not want to kill any clones. Once the door is broken before they can make their move Ahsoka force pushes the door down the hallway as Rex begins stunning troopers. An awesome scene as Ahsoka uses her sabers to deflect blasts and Rex stuns troopers from 3 sides. Ahsoka has R7 find them a shuttle as Maul continues to terrorize his way to the hyperdrive. He destroys the hyperdrive with the force crippling the ship. Rex and Ahsoka hit the bridge but the whole thing is locked down. She gets the droids on the job to try and get the hanger bay doors open. It turns out with the ship crippled the ship is caught in the gravitational pull of a nearby moon. They open to hanger bay doors to see the moon coming on rather quickly. They find the shuttle but the clones are all there waiting for them. Rex is struggling as the ship is crashing and his brothers will all die trying to stop him. Ahsoka gets an idea, she has Rex lead her out and tells the troops Ahsoka is no longer a Jedi so she is not part of the order. The troopers seem to recall Rex explicitly telling them to hunt her down. The troops don’t buy it but they bought enough time as the droids spring their trap the problem is Maul is heading towards the same ship. Maul manages to escape in the only shuttle but Ahsoka uses the force to pull him back. Eventually as Rex is struggling to hold them off she lets the ship go as Maul heads into Hyperspace. Ahsoka again pulls out a kick ass move by throwing her sabers into the ground and using the force to spin them in a circle cutting out the ground and sending them into the area below where more troops are unfortunately waiting. The droids manage to help again but unfortunately all pay the price and are blasted. In the maintenance bay they manage to find one ship that works. Ahsoka is wearing down as the ship enters the atmosphere and begins breaking apart. Rex drops out of the ship and manages to get it fired up in time to look for Ahsoka. He finds her free falling and after some near misses rescues her. As the ship crashes into the moon below. They return to the wreckage and bury all of the fallen troopers honoring them even though they turned on them. Ahsoka leaves her lightsaber behind.
We cut to an Imperial shuttle landing on the planet years later with Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers surveying the crash site that is now covered in snow and ice. As we pan the fallen ship we hear the infamous breathing, Darth Vader is here and he comes upon the clone gravesite. He kneels down and recovers Ahsoka’s saber and ignites it. Seeing Vader in the Clone Wars style is fantastic. He walks off and we see the reflection of Vader in the visor of the fallen Clone helmet as the credits roll.
What a series and what a final 4 episodes. I mentioned this in a previous recap but I really hope they release those final 4 episodes in one seamless presentation cause it will be one of the best Star Wars themed feature length movies easily. Ahsoka to the very end refusing to kill the clones says so much about how she is more of a jedi than maybe any Jedi during the Prequel Yoda and Obi-Wan included. When Rex tells her they all will die in the crash anyway her response is they may die but it won’t be from me. Of course she freed Maul but we’re splitting hairs here. Seeing Stromtroopers and Vader in the Clone Wars aesthetic with that foreboding music really dug deep and to consider not soon after this Vader and Ahsoka clash in Rebels in another amazing episode makes it all the more tragic. I love this series and while it is ending Filoni and his team are not done telling stories and while they may be closing this chapter I eagerly await to see what they have up their sleeves next. I just hope it is at this level of quality as Disney+ spared no expense on making this final season a work of art. An excellent start to Star Wars day as Disney+ also released the Mandalorian docu-series and Rise of Skywalker today as well. I also have some pretty awesome collectibles coming this week I am very excited about so follow me on twitter for more of that. With that I bid you farewell and we bid this fantastic series farewell. Thank you Dave you spanned the old lucasfilm to the new regime and have managed to preserve the soul and heart of something many of us love so dearly. Enjoy your Star Wars day everyone and May The 4th Be With You!