UPDATE: This review was originally posted with the wrong episode title. It has since been corrected.
All right dear readers, we've had a fun ride but we're finally at the season finale. And I can honestly say things on Clone Wars will never be the same after this one. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let's catch up with the plot. Ahsoka has been framed for murder and a terrorist attack on the Jedi. While trying to prove her innocence, she was attacked by someone she thought was Asajj Ventress and caught looking red-handed by Anakin. Now she's imprisoned in the Jedi Temple awaiting trial.
Tarkin calls up the Council and says a Jedi trial isn't good enough, because there's no way Jedi can be fully impartial to another Jedi, so the Senate has ordered that Ahsoka must have a military trial. What a dick. Obi-Wan objects but the Council has no choice but to agree. If they don't, it'll seem like they're going soft on a suspected traitor and public opinion of the Jedi will dip even lower. While I agree with Obi-Wan, I see where the Council is coming from. When people are protesting outside your building, making yourself look worse won't help.
The Council isn't happy about this either. But they do what they have to and give Ahsoka her trial. They don't want to, but there's just not enough evidence to prove her innocence. So they expunge her from the Order and send her on her way. All this just pisses Anakin off to no end, so after bringing in Padme to act as Ahsoka's lawyer he goes to track down Ventress and find the truth. Things are about to get Vader-y up in here
More after the break,
Ahsoka's military trial begins and who's the prosecutor? Tarkin, of course. What a dick. His argument is pretty persuasive to the jury though and they're ready to sentence Ahsoka to death. Padme tries her best, even presenting the logical argument that if Ahsoka was the killer why would she do it where she knew she'd be on camera. But we all know how this is going to go. On a side note, this is the first time we've seen Palpatine since his voice actor Ian Abercrombie passed away. Who'd they get to replace him? Tim Curry. And he sounds really weird. I think it's just because it's the first time I've heard him in the role and I'm still used to Abercrombie, but it really takes me out of the story.
Meanwhile, Anakin has descended back into the depths of Coruscant. He's tracked down Ventress but she gets the drop on him and runs. Anakin's all Vader-ed up though so he catches her and force chokes her, even slamming her into a wall hard enough to crack it, until she gives up the truth. Ventress lays out what happened, that she didn't follow Ahsoka and got knocked out herself. Whoever has her lightsabers is the traitor. Anakin is confused by this, but Ventress tells him Ahsoka contacted Barriss before she was attacked.
New lead in hand, he returns to the Temple and confronts Barriss. She plays coy but Anakin is basically got the full Vader going on now, more on this on a sec, so inevitably Barriss pulls out Ventress' red lightsabers. The season's last cool lightsaber fight breaks out and there's even a cameo from the Younglings from earlier this season. Anakin and Barriss' fight breaks in on their practice session and despite they and their teacher having lightsabers, they don't help him. Nice kids. Anyway, Anakin defeats Barriss using one of the coolest force attacks I've ever seen. He freezes her in mid-air, stopping her attack and then slamming her into a tree. Cool.
We cut back to Ahsoka's trial and the jury is about to deliver the verdict when Anakin busts in with Barriss. She gives her confession, saying that the Jedi have lost sight of their values and become tools of the military serving the Dark Side. You know the sad thing is, she's kind of right. She's taken away and Ahsoka is cleared of charges.
Later, the Council apologizes to Ahsoka and say that this has served as her great trial. They invite her back into the Order with the rank of Jedi Knight. But she turns them down and isn't going to rejoin the Order. Everyone is shocked by this and Anakin runs off to get her reason why. Ahsoka says that she's lost trust in the Council and needs to get away to think things through. He doesn't want to, but he lets her go. Ahsoka walks off into the sunset and we fade to black.
Overall, damn. That was actually really sad. This episode was more affecting than any other episode of this show. And it all came back to character. We see here Anakin pushed further toward Vader. He's always been one to form strong attachments to people and it's because of these attachments that he's made some of his bad decisions. Think of the Tusken slaughter in Episode 2, that was because of his strong attachment to his mother. So of course his attachment to Ahsoka would lead him to do whatever he could to prove her innocence, even torture Ventress for information. Ahsoka's departure is going to have a strong affect on him in the coming season.
And the question that's been hanging over this show since the beginning has finally been answered. Ever since we heard Anakin would be getting an apprentice, one who wasn't in Episode 3, the question has been what's going to happen to Ahsoka? And while we were all guessing about horrible deaths and turns to evil, the writers gave her a quieter exit. Friends have become enemies and the war has made everything too complicated. No one's sure what's going on anymore. If this show's made anything clear, it's that the Clone War is more complex than we thought. What started off as a fairly straightforward war between good guys and bad guys has fractured. Just more chaos for Palpatine to take advantage of.
So yeah, great episode. The mystery plot was wrapped up, maybe a bit obviously but it works. And this will have lasting affects on the characters. We the audience are left without any ground to stand on and we're not sure where things are going from here. Special credit to the music at the end, it's some of the best in the series and just sets and fits the mood perfectly. It's almost up there with John Williams'. And thank you for the quiet fade at the end instead of the usual hard iris in and triumphant music. Small thing but still makes the episode better.
All in all, sad but fulfilling finale to the arc and season. The Galaxy has started down the road to Episode 3 and there's no going back.
Ah but we're not done yet dear readers. Come back next week for a full season wrap-up!
No comments:
Post a Comment