Ricky Church reviews the ninth episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7…
After years of teases and anticipation, the Siege of Mandalore has begun and if ‘Old Friends Not Forgotten’ is any indication, this final arc of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is going to be something special not just for the series, but for the Star Wars franchise as a whole.
Right from the start of the episode, producer Dave Filoni and his team let audiences know this was going to be unlike any previous Clone Wars story save the feature film that launched it all as it opened with a Lucasfilm Productions logo and the traditional Star Wars fanfare rather than the one The Clone Wars has used before launching into its traditional news-style recap. The opening alone is very exciting as it places these events in a very specific timeframe of the Clone Wars and includes some Easter eggs for fans that link to Revenge of the Sith. Speaking of the Clone Wars feature film that began the series, Filoni links the beginning of the episode to the film with a mirrored parallel of Obi-Wan’s stalled surrender from the feature.
One aspect ‘Old Friends Not Forgotten’ did not lack was the emotional impact of the story. Whether it was Ahsoka’s reunion with Anakin or Rex’s heartwarming tribute to Ahsoka, the episode packed quite an emotional punch to its scenes. Ahsoka and Anakin’s time together, though brief, were among the best scenes thanks to the performances from Ashley Eckstein and Matt Lanter. It really reinforced the journey these two have been on through the series and was interesting to see how their roles had almost reversed with Anakin being unfocused due to his happiness at seeing Ahsoka again while Ahsoka was all-business for the most part, even going so far as to give a justified scolding to someone (even if said target may not have completely deserved it). Smaller and more subtle moments hit hard too, such as R2 being the first one to excitedly greet Ahsoka or her and Rex’s pre-battle banter.
Of course, though, the big draw to the Siege of Mandalore is the action. This season has had its share of entertaining set pieces, but they are completely blown out of the water here. From the opening battle to the siege itself, the action was taken up a notch through the ground and aerial battles – and aerial battles that didn’t include spaceships, but Mandalorians flying through the air at each other and Ahsoka jumping from one to the next. The choreography was just great with its fluid movements and variety of combat each character used. Ahsoka has rarely looked better than she did here as she sky hopped from one target to the next and effortlessly wielded her lightsabers as if they had never parted with her. Even Bo-Katan got a couple good moments fighting against Maul’s Mandalorians with all the flips and kicks that she did.
One other element that stood out was the musical score. Kevin Kiner has always done a great job with Star Wars music through this show and especially Rebels, but his score here is nothing short of excellence. Kiner’s use of classic Star Wars rifts such as ‘Sail Barge Assault’ perfectly fit and the cues from some of Rebel‘s music fed the nostalgia for that series while it helped reaffirm who Ahsoka really is at her core. All throughout the episode Kiner imbued the score with a sense of tension and epic nature as the battle raged in the sky and on the ground. It is definitely some of the best work he’s ever done on the series.
As previously said for the other episodes of the season, the gap between Clone Wars‘ initial final season and its revival benefitted the quality of animation since it improved so much in the intervening years. The colours are crisp, the characters smooth and the different locations travelled to very detailed. The facial expressions in particular are quite good as they completely sell the emotion that character feels. If the animation looks this good in Part 1 already, the rest of ‘Siege of Mandalore’ is going to be quite a visual spectacle.
‘Old Friends Not Forgotten’ is not a great start to this arc – it’s an absolutely amazing and terrific one that hits the emotional notes with its character animations, vocal performances and high stakes action. Ahsoka’s time to shine displays the growth her character has undergone since The Clone Wars began in the 2008 feature film and Eckstein delivers one of her best performances yet. Though this episode is getting a perfect score, the only things that will make it even better is stitching this arc all together into one big feature film finale.
Rating: 10/10
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
