- The “Bad Batch” arc - The first four episodes follow Captain Rex and Anakin as they team up with a group of special clones called “The Bad Batch.” Imagine the Suicide Squad but as clones. They have their own set of special abilities. Rex uses the team to find an old captured squadmate of his and help get a victory on a Separatist stronghold.
- Ahsoka’s post-Jedi Order adventures - This takes place sometime after Ahsoka has left the Jedi Order. She’s still on Coruscant when she meets two kinda annoying sisters: Trace and Raffi. Trace takes on to Ahsoka immediately, but Raffi’s is wary of her. Ahsoka gets pulled into a smuggler deal Raffi is running and shenanigans happen. They end up dealing with the Pyke Syndicate. It all ultimately leads to Ahsoka ending up on Mandalore for the final arc.
- Siege of Mandalore/Order 66 - This final arc pretty much takes place during the events of Revenge of the Sith. We get to see our main characters have one final goodbye before all the major stuff goes down. For the arc itself, we get to see the return of Maul as he tries to lead Mandalore. After what may be one of the best lightsaber fights on the show happens... we get Order 66 involving the show’s favorites. Tears may be shed.
PROS
While the season wasn’t as perfect as it could be, it was a nice way to end the show properly. First off, the animation looks good as ever. Now that they’re right at the end of the war, you start to notice some small differences. Anakin’s looking more like Hayden Christenson from ROTS and Ahsoka looking older. Still, it looks like things haven’t changed much, and that’s a good thing. The voice-acting is still on point with everyone. The standouts for me were Sam Witwer as Maul, Ashley Eckestein as Ahsoka, Matt Launter as Anakin, and Dee Bradley Baker as all the Clones. Baker was the MVP of the show, wasn’t he? He voiced all those clones!
The stories we got is where you might get some contention with fans. I’m fine with what we got, but I can see why fans may feel a little underwhelmed with what we got. They were only 12 episodes, after all. I thought the “Bad Batch” arc revolving around the clones was fun. The episodes that featured Captain Rex and the clones were always pretty cool, and this arc is no exception. While it may not be as cool as the Umbara arc from season 4, it’s a good one. It even has a couple of interesting moments with Anakin.
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| Uh... looking a little dark there, Annie? |
The second arc is… fine. I’ll touch on that below, but it was cool to see what Ahsoka was up after she left the Order. Even though she’s not a Jedi, we see that she’s still got the attributes of one. At least she was pretty good throughout that arc. It was also nice to see life outside of the war itself. It also ties right into the final arc.
Any problems with the season are pretty much forgiven with the Mandalore arc because… Wow. That whole story from beginning to end was epic. We get goodbyes, some good battles, awesome lightsaber action (some of which was choreographed by Ray Park himself), and a sad ending for this war. The final moments where a familiar figure finds Asohka’s lightsaber in some damage is awesome. I also got to credit the music for the Mandalore arc. It felt like it was pulled right out of Blade Runner 2049.
CONS
Yes, I do have some qualms with the final season. One of the biggest issues I unfortunately had was with the length of the arcs. We usually got three to four episodes for an arc, and that’s normally no problem. For this last season, it did feel like they were running a little long in places. The Clone arc didn’t seem that way at times, but I did feel like it repeated some of the same beats. The Mandalore arc didn’t have that problem at all, though. While it had a couple of lulls, they worked to the show’s benefit.
Then, there’s the Smuggler arc aka, “The Dull Adventures of
Ahsoka and Them Two Sisters.” That was actually a chore to get through at
times. It felt like it didn’t need to be even four episodes! Maybe two or three
was what that arc needed. It also didn’t help that the Martez sisters were
kinda annoying. Raffi was less so, but Trace…
.
(Looks into the invisible camera and shakes head)
.
Well, Trace kinda sucked. I think I even like Jar Jar better than her. At least I could get some laughter out of him! I can’t do that for her! She just made so many dumb decisions. At least she could fly that thing she called a ship, though.
One nitpick I do have for the season is this: why only 12 episodes? It didn’t make much sense especially when you consider that the first two arcs were leftovers from the original airing. They still exist out there in pre-rendered form for the most part. I know the Ahsoka arc got changed since it was just one guy she met instead of the sisters. I guess Disney was willing to only do so much, or the creators really only needed 12 episodes. Besides, most of the leftovers they had have made it out there in other media like comics and novels.
……………………………………
Other than some of the pacing and that middle arc, this was a nice sendoff for the show. We finally got to see how everything fit with the movies. I don’t know if this the last Star Wars related thing I’ll talk about this month, but maybe I’ll touch upon something else. For now, it’s time to finally start writing about Earth: Final Conflict... say a little prayer for me. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. Also, watch out for any Borg.
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| I know this is kind of an Anakin foreshadowing... but the Borg reference must be said! |
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