So now that I finally got around to seeing the last of the Clone Wars in all of it's CGI glory and now is the time to blog about it.
I could talk about the series as a whole, but there are way too many awesome parts of it that deserve their own individual write-ups when I see fit.
Instead I wanted to go into what made the show so great and why the final season (especially the last two episodes) really capped the show off in a way that left me feeling very satisfied but also very sad and very empty.
Attachments
The Jedi order forbid Jedi from forming attachments but we viewers are not Jedi, we're citizens. We grew so attached to these characters over time that seeing them continue to get hurt (physically and emotionally) in a war that we all know is just a farce to set up Darth Sidious' rise to power gets very saddening.
For me I started watching The Clone Wars cartoon sometime during Season 3. So 2010-ish. Right when I was transitioning from middle school to high school. In a way I grew up with these characters since I came of age right with this show (and in theory many of the characters).
The biggest strength behind this show is just how it was able to present us with the ever changing perspectives of Jedi who were new to war, as well as the perspectives of the clones who were specifically bred for the war and are fighting for it in spite of how it kills them in droves.
Put another way, it made us care about the characters. Something the prequel trilogy didn't do properly.
In the early going Ahsoka Tano wasn't a very celebrated character. But during the course of the show she changes a lot and so too does our perception of her. In the beginning she was cocky and very confident, as time goes on she grows wiser but also a lot more confused about her role in the galaxy.
We grew to love her more and more as a character. It didn't take long before we genuinely got concerned about if Ahsoka survives Order 66. What's even more amazing is that Star Wars Rebels, a successor series of sorts for The Clone Wars, already confirmed that Ahsoka does live beyond the events of Revenge of the Sith, and even beyond Return of the Jedi where she's pushing 40. In spite of knowing what was to come anyway, we still cared enough about Ahsoka that the last two episodes of The Clone Wars hurt us. Because predetermined conclusion or not, seeing the events of Order 66 unfurl and hurt Ahsoka hurts us too. She's already seen enough clones die because of the war, the last thing she wants is for there to be more even more clone casualties by her hand. And we share the same feelings she does.
Speaking of which in the movies the clones were pretty replaceable, generic and not worth caring about. This show changes that and gives us what they go through and we the audience grow to love them a lot.
During the course of the show we end up seeing a whole 5-man clone squad called "Domino Squad" go from underperforming cadets at the training facility to holding some of the highest ranks in the 501st Legion. We also see them perish during the war one by one, leading to a point where there's only one Domino Squad member, Echo, remaining and he ends up leaving the 501st and joins another group of clones.
Thanks to these five in particular, along with many other clones, we get a sense of just how the clones are individuals in a really messed up situation. Every time a clone dies in battle, even a nameless clone in the background, it's very disheartening. Just the very nature of a character being a clone trooper gives us a feeling that we know what they've been through and we don't want THAT character to suffer. At all. This is again incredible considering that we do know what the clones actually go on to do in Episode III and as the Republic phases into the Empire.
Of course the clone the fans (myself included) cares about the most is Captain Rex. While we don't see him go from a cadet to a clone captain, we do see the war take a toll on him. In the earlier seasons he's a loyal soldier fighting for the Republic. Near the end of the show he's become very disillusioned with the war after losing so many of his clone brothers and becomes even more concerned after clone trooper Fives (also from Domino Squad) reveals to him that there are chips in the clones' brains that appear to have an unspecified purpose.
And again like Ahsoka, we know that Rex survives past Order 66 thanks to Rebels. We also know he never fights for the Empire and instead joins the Rebel Alliance. He even fights with Han Solo and company at the Battle of Endor in Episode VI!
Yet, none of that matters or takes away anything from the last two episodes. Rex cries twice, and internally so do we. Once when he's ordered to carry out Order 66 and kill Ahsoka, the second when he's internalized that his clone brothers are determined to kill Ahsoka and him for protecting Ahsoka. The pain and grief Rex is feeling here is immense. In a war that's taken so much from him, it's trying to take everything he has left at the end.
The combination of the pain Ahsoka feels and the pain Rex feels is what makes the last two episodes a real punch to the gut.
Because in the end none of it mattered. Anakin Skywalker still falls to the darkside and becomes Darth Vader. The Jedi are no more. The Republic is transformed into the Empire. Ahsoka, Rex and pretty much everyone else we cared about (shout outs to Darth Maul too) were merely pawns in an insidious game.
Maybe the fact that we all know what's coming only adds to it.
I keep harping on that because this show was facing an uphill battle, making a story compelling when the end result is well known and more importantly not a happy one for the people involved is tough.
Looking back on it, the earlier seasons went about with a warm and friendly vibe that gave off a bit of hope that peace might actually be obtainable. The events in Episode III seemed lightyears away and maybe the Jedi and the Republic can pull something off. Of course that stops being the case as the show gets darker and darker as it goes on.
The staff behind the show really put effort into making the atmosphere feel completely different, the more upbeat and triumphant tunes from the earlier seasons are long gone (notice how the trumpets are gone in the background songs for this last season) and in their place are haunting tunes that sound peaceful in the moment but nonetheless erie and foreboding. There's a lot of melancholy near silence to really set the atmosphere, something Star Wars hasn't quite mastered since the 2003 Clone Wars cartoon did it.
Fans had almost 12 years to prepare for the fateful words "Initiate Order 66" to be uttered in The Clone Wars and even then we weren't ready. We knew we weren't even gonna have to say goodbye to some of these characters, but we still weren't ready. We didn't want this to end or for that last bit of hope that things might end on a happy note to disappear. Only it did, it shattered into a million pieces like the Venator class star destroyer falling out of the sky and crashing onto the moon.
The way Arc Trooper Jesse, who has a big Republic logo tattoo'd on his face and helmet ends up carrying out Order 66 under allegations of treason against Ahsoka and Rex (something he himself was charged of and nearly executed for during an earlier episode in the show's run) also shows the fall of the republic. Jesse also represents the last of the clone troopers fans care about. By this point Rex, Echo, Fives, Hardcase and Kix all at least have an answer as to whether they survive beyond the final events in the clone wars (some don't, some do). Jesse is the last question mark and serves as a proxy of sorts for the clone troopers fans care about that didn't die earlier or go on to live. Like I said earlier, seeing clones themselves carry out Order 66 in and of itself is heartbreaking, but seeing a clone we've come to know and really like do it only adds to it.
In the last episode there are a ton of notable shots that represent so much.
The shot of Ahsoka looking over the graves she (and Rex) dug for the clone troopers who died after the star destroyer crashed (and even after they tried to kill her) is a pretty powerful one that's probably the second most important shot in the final episode. Note how the background features wreckage of the Venator along with wreckage of vehicles that will be synonymous with the clone wars like AT-TE walker and the Republic Gunship. It's not just a graveyard for the clones, it's a graveyard for the clone wars as a whole.
But obviously the most important image is the last image. The shot of a clone trooper helmet buried in snow showing a reflection of Darth Vader walking away. By this point the clone troopers have phased into stormtroopers and the helmet itself is a relic of a bygone era. Adding to that is how it is one of the custom painted helmets that were a tribute to Ahsoka. The helmet is an old cracked obsolete relic from a war that only contributed one thing to the galaxy, the birth of Darth Vader.
Dave Filoni and the crew did not mess around with the show's ending and damn did my heart feel it. Based on the responses I read on the internet it looks like we all felt it. This was Star Wars to an entire generation of fans (young, old and everything in between) and, well, to see it end like this just left us empty. Satisfied but empty.
In a way this is a fascinating tale of a kids cartoon that ended with the bad guys winning out in the end and all hope is lost. A complete 180 from the Rebels finale which was much more triumphant and was chock full of hope that also left itself open to new adventures.
But this show couldn't have ended any other way. "And they lived happily ever after" was never an option for this show, and at least this show did it the best way it could have.
What Next?
With the end of the Clone Wars (both the show and the actual war within it), the key question is what's next. Canonically the events following this have already been represented with Star Wars Rebels. That show did however set us up for potential future adventures with Ahsoka Tano. Captain Rex's long term future is murkier and more depressing thanks to his advanced aging programing. Also I'm pretty sure that Ahsoka is still alive and kicking somewhere in the Star Wars universe even during the events in the new trilogy since she'd be around 71 years old.
As it stands I think this Empire-era Star Wars timeline will now be occupied by events in The Mandalorian for a while. Then when that show runs its course there will be a new concept at some point. What that entails I don't know though maybe one of those many TV show ideas being tossed around might actually happen.
Honestly I think Disney will slowly but surely start to move further along in the future. The events in between Episodes V and VI especially are ripe for new material and what the (now also cancelled) Star Wars Resistance showed is that there are also plenty of stories to be told in the new sequel trilogy era as well. Actually scratch that, they need that kind of "fill in the blank" stuff desperately.
Final Verdict
I look at how this cartoon singlehandedly managed to make Episode III and the Rebels cartoon much more lively and richer to me. It leaves me wondering just how much the new sequel trilogy would benefit from that. I like the new three movies don't get me wrong, but I think having an additional show to flesh out the characters would go a long way in making the lore and stories of the First Order era of the universe that much more compelling. Dave Filoni and his crew have proven time and time again that they are more than capable of creating compelling storylines and complex characters that only add and enrich the Star Wars lore, even in live action if the hype around The Mandalorian is true. Give them the reigns to do stuff in this area even more and I think things will go splendidly. They've at least earned the benefit of the doubt.
Big thanks to Filoni and his team for all of the awesome entertainment they've provided throughout the years.