Star Wars: The Clone Wars has reached the final stretch, and they aren’t messing around. Part 1, of the final 4-episode arch, kicked things off with a bang! From the very first frame showing the green “Lucasfilm Limited” title card, to the humming of lightsabers over the final credits, you could feel how special this was. Every scene felt purposeful, every line of dialogue thoughtfully written. There was a certain air of importance that seemed to hang over everything. Nothing driving that home more than the music. For the first time, The Clone Wars was able to use the full John Williams score. It started with the opening fanfare and continued with perfectly cued-up classic Star Wars themes throughout the episode, driving the emotional core. And what an emotional episode it was. Dave Filoni and the gang at Lucasfilm poured so much heart into the final goodbye between Ashoka and Anakin alone, that there couldn’t have been a dry eye in the audience. Nevermind the other 28 minutes of the episode that spared no opportunity to tug at the heartstrings. Overall it’s a near perfect episode of The Clone Wars, and will likely go down as one of it’s best.
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E8 "Together Again"
Although one episode longer than we might have liked, this week’s episode, one of the best of the arch, brings the Martez story to a close - at least for now. Ashoka and the Martez sisters found themselves in an overly familiar location at the beginning of this week’s episode but it quickly improved from there as the Pikes, with their own neck on the line, gave them one last chance to “return” the spice. What followed was some Han Solo-esque hijinx from the Martez sisters and a little Jedi espionage from Ashoka. It all felt very crisp and snappy, despite the somewhat clunky final moments. We can now turn our gave toward Maul and Mandalore as we move into the final quarter of the season.
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E7 "Dangerous Debt"
Coming out of a pretty strong outing last week, our expectation was that this episode was going to bring this arch to a close. Boy were we wrong! Not only does it continue into next week’s episode “Together Again”, but with the appearance of a certain Mando, it looks like it might flow directly into the Mandalorian arch as well. This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it didn’t feel like the show was dragging its feet somewhat. Nothing making that more apparent than how this week’s episode ended. That being said, in and of itself, “Dangerous Debt” brought some exciting action beats as well as a backstory to the Martez sisters (that may leave something to be desired for some).
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E6 "Deal No Deal"
After a lackluster episode last week, The Clone Wars storms back with a much stronger outing. Now that Ahsoka’s new friends have been established, we can finally head out on a larger scale adventure. It even takes us to a Clone Wars era Kessel, to further test Ahsoka’s faith in the Galactic Republic. Clocking in at 26 minutes, the episode is also one of the longest of the season so far and it uses the extra length well. It leans hard into some classic Star Wars adventuring and character work, while still taking a breath to set up a larger plot to this arch, which looks to come to an exciting conclusion next week.
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E5 "Gone With a Trace"
With the engagement on Anaxes now dealt with, The Clone Wars turns its attention to Ahsoka and her recent self exile from the Jedi Order. She’s now on her own and apparently trying to find herself on the lower levels of Coruscant. The episode takes us to the notorious level 1313 (with even some fun easter eggs to the cancelled video game from a few years ago), when her chopper inspired (no not the droid) speeder bike breaks down, she’s introduced to a pair of hard on their luck sisters. In the process she reconnects with the everyday galactic citizen and has a run-in with a cross-wired demolition droid.
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E4 "Unfinished Business"
Julian and Rachel help unpack all the details, and discuss the ups and downs an episode that saw a recovering Echo, freshly removed from the grip of the Techno Union, looking to get back to work. Unfortunately, things are still not going exactly as planned on Anaxes for the Republic. According to Master Windu, they are losing their grip on the planet. Fortunately, Echo has a plan to sabotage the Separatist strategies and take back the planet for good. As per usual, things don’t go exactly as planned, and even though the Bad Batch harbour some distrust for Echo, things work out for the heroes, with a bonus of no longer having to deal with Admiral Trench.
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E3 "On the Wings of Keeradaks"
Anakin and Rex have found and rescued Echo from the clutches of the Techno Union, but they’re now neck deep in droids and it’s time for an escape from Skako Minor! The Bad Batch and the rest of the gang are left to fend for themselves with no backup, hundreds of feet in the air, and completely surrounded. Luckily, they have a plan! Julian and Rachel break down a very action heavy episode, that also happens to be one of the shortest in the series. Unfortunately, It’s not the strongest episode either, but it does make you consider what choosing sides in a war really means, and how its not as black and white as it might seem. Oh and there’s a “Devastator”… that’s not that devastating.
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E2 "A Distant Echo"
Better late than never! A saying that could apply to this week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as this podcast (snare drum*). This week Julian is joined by special guest, Rachel Wilkinson, to help break down the the action Speaking of action, there was plenty of it this week as Anakin joined Rex and the Bad Batch on their mission to rescue Echo. There was also plenty of character moments to go around, not the least of which being a rare scene between Padme and Anakin, that lead into an interaction with Obi-Wan that revealed a lot, in very little screen time.
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SSSW - The Clone Wars S7E1 "The Bad Batch"
The Clone Wars is back for it’s final season! Having bounced around from Disney XD to Netflix (after already being cancelled once!), the series will finally come to rest on Disney+. Was it worth the wait? Time will tell, but this first episode “The Bad Batch” starts off the season on the right foot, even if for a few missteps. Join Julian, as he breaks it all down and discusses in the ins and outs of an episode that joins Rex and Cody, with a team of clones with “desirable mutations”.
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SSSW - The Mandalorian S1E8 "Redemption"
What better way is there to cap off 2019 than to soak up the awesomeness that is the finale to the first season of The Mandalorian? Join Julian, Dan, and Jeremy as they unpack what was a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to the story that began with the surprise reveal of Baby Yoda. A conclusion that also that came with some unexpected twists, asked some interesting questions, and left the door open for more adventures with our favourite Mandalorian next fall. What a way to bring live action Star Wars to the small screen for the first time!
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