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Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Jesus Christ, that was one of the best episodes of Clone Wars ever made, not only that but it rivals some of the best moments in the Star Wars galaxy far far away.


From amazing animation, to amazing fight scenes, to unbelievable music and sounds, this episode sucks you in, punches you in the gut, gives you a wedgie and sends you into impatiently waiting for next week.



Now before I go into spoilers, I will also state that this episode, summed up everything in the prequels and gave us all a strong understanding of exactly why the republic and the jedi fell, and it's become clear that it was all at the feet of the Jedi.


I will also state that previously my favorite light sabre fight scene was Skywalker and Vader in ROTH with the duel of the fates sound track. That's been replaced by Ahsoka versus Maul in this episode. It showed two powerful force users at their height fighting a beautiful fast duel.


Anyways onto the spoilers

Spoiler!

We now know that this episode took place after the rescue of the chancellor and the beginning of Anakin's fall to the Dark Side as he has been sent to spy on Palpatine. We are now in the last hours of the republic.


When Ahsoka learns of this, she sees more clearly then the Jedi did that this was a bad idea. But she didn't see far enough, though the pieces were beginning to fall into place.


This was the problem with the Jedi going back to the prequels where the underlying message was that the Jedi had gotten so aroggant in their beliefs that they didn't see what was coming and were stripped of the ability to use the Force to save themselves.


We get to see the future of the galaxy as the Clones become more of an occupying force and the scene of the Clones herding citizens by basically gun point was stunning in its foreshadowing. We also know that the assurance that the occupiers were going to leave is a massive lie.


It was great to see Jessie again as he was one of the named Arc Troopers earlier in the series. We also got to see that Maul had the power of Kylo as he ripped the information that he needed out of his head.


This whole thing came down to Maul basically explaining that everything that was happening was by the design of Darth Sidious, and we got the admission from Kenobi when he announced that the Jedi's one lead Count Dooku was dead.


Maul then in the throne room reached out to Ashoka to try to get her to join him in wrecking Sidious' plan, he also told her that Anakin had been groomed by this Dark Lord as his next apprentice, and that he had seen it in a vision.


This is where Ashoka and the Jedi have failed and couldn't get past their beliefs and training. Basically Maul gave her an opportunity to stop the rise of the Empire, and because she couldn't get past her beliefs that Maul was evil and probably a liar, she slapped it away and doomed the galaxy.



Now I will say that the scene where she stood there contemplating Maul's offer and she came close to taking it except she couldn't get past her belief in Anakin the Jedi was the most beautiful scene in the whole series.


It was also jarring that Maul's plan was to draw Kenobi into this trap so he could kill Skywalker and throw Sidious' plans into chaos.


Like I said this whole episode summed up the entire prequel time line so nicely.


From there we get a two part exceptional light sabre fight between Ashoka and Maul and it was so well done and well choreographed that it took your breath away right up until the girder fight where they had another sequence where they focused on the footwork of the fight.


Anyways, at the end we really got a reveal into Maul as he was captured while falling to his death and he screamed let me die, we're all going to die. You get the sense that Maul hadn't told Ashoka everything, and that he knew that being captured by the Clones meant his and Ashoka's death. There was a hopelessness to Maul when he was captured. He knew right then that all was lost and they couldn't stop the horrors that were going to happen.


So what's happening next. Ashoka has captured Maul and her next obvious move is to head back to Coruscant and the Jedi Council. She also know that she needs to talk to Anakin.



But the clock is now ticking, we are in the final hours of the Republic. She's surrounded by Clones.


I still think that Maul has one more act to this crucial play, we know that he's obsessed with revenge against Sidious for casting him aside and using him as a pawn like he used Dooku.



This does change one thing for me, in Rebel's I always felt that the reveal of Anakin as Vader was a new thing for Ashoka. But now after the Maul reveal, does Ashoka know or does she believe that her master is dead until he touches her mind?



Two episodes left.


Random thoughts


Maul has some amazing powers, bending the blaster shots, ripping Jessie's memories out of them were cool, but almost make him feel over powered.


When Maul started choking Bo I thought we were seeing her death.



I think this is the end of the sieges and the rest of the series will take place as a journey to and arrival on Coruscant.


There is something sadly heroic about Maul. While its based in revenge even he knows that the rise of a master who plays everyone like pawns is a bad idea. In his later years he becomes consumed with his need for vengeance against Sidious and Kenobi.


Is this the end of Gar Saxon til Rebels?


“Justice is merely the construct of the current power base...” What an incredible point and it goes back to the Jedi and Sith philosophies. Both the Jedi and the Sith have the same core beliefs in that they want justice in the galaxy, but the Jedi want peace and Justice, the Sith want Justice and order, and the power to rule, to put aside petty concepts like morality in pursuit of a higher goal. I firmly believe that Sidious and his whole lying with the truth goes to the core argument that what he's doing is best for the galaxy.


That scene again with the exploding glass and Ashoka silently contemplating Maul's offer with the wind moving past her was so stunning. Its too bad that her faith in the infallibility of the Jedi and Anakin has doomed the galaxy.

Agree, this episode was some of the best Star Wars content ever. Maybe the best outside of the original trilogy. Maybe even including the original trilogy.