Star Wars: Clone Wars, “Victory and Death”, Review!

We have come to the end of the Siege of Mandalore arc and the Clone Wars series.  Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex are transporting Maul to Coruscant.  On the way through hyperspace, Rex receives Order 66, he turns against Ahsoka with the other clone troopers.  She has freed Maul to provide a distraction.  Ahsoka has discovered the inhibitor chip and works to free it from Captain Rex as the other clone troopers close in.  The opening now has a chorus of voices singing somberly.  Clone troopers are working to cut through the medical lab door.  Ahsoka is waiting with Rex free from the chip.  She wants him to set his blasters to stun.  She uses the Force to slam the door back into troopers and Rex’s stun bolts combine with the deflection of Ahsoka’s lightsabers to finish off the rest.  R-7 and the other droids note that the escape pods are destroyed.  Ahsoka leads everyone to find a shuttle in the hangar bay.  

Maul overhears the communications of the clone troopers.  He enters the hyperdrive room and uses the Force against the clone troopers.  Then, Maul crushes the two hyperdrive generators with the Force.  The Venator-Star Destroyer leaps out of hyperspace smoking with explosions.  Rex and Ahsoka enter the control room stunning the human officers.  This is kinda condemns them to die since they have no inhibitor chips and would probably try to save the ship and the crew.  Ahsoka has the droids open the hangar bay and ready a ship.  Maul heads to the hangar bay.  The ship is caught in the gravity of an unknown moon.  The hangar bay door opens with a synthesizer blare.  The best and most safest strategy for the clones is take every ship and watch for their targets outside of the crashing Star Destroyer.  Jedi can’t make planetfall by jumping down.  R-7 opens a door to a shuttle and every remaining clone trooper assembles in the hangar led by Jesse.  He is a loyal clone trooper who served under Captain Rex, made lieutenant, and was introduced in “The Deserter” (2010).  So there is a long history with Jesse and the others.   

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS -- “Victory and Death” -- Disney/Lucasfilm.

Rex says that his brothers are ready to die to kill Ahsoka.  She takes off his helmet and vows not to kill the clone troopers.  This is a bit of a moral quandary, if they don’t find a way to land the Star Destroyer safely, then all of the clone troopers and human officers will die.  Yes, it can’t jump to hyperspace, but there is also an emergency signal to get help for survivors, and Anakin was able to pilot Grievous’ ship for a landing even though it was falling apart.  Ahsoka has a plan that involves the droids.  She is in the custody of Rex at the hangar bay.  Rex tries to explain to Jesse that Ahsoka is not a Jedi which is true. The droids being working at controls.  Jesse decides to hold Rex guilty of treason.  The droids drop several deck levels of troopers down. Ahsoka severs blasters and deflects blasterfire as Rex goes stun crazy.  Then, Maul arrives to see the battle and heads for the shuttle, Ahsoka runs after him.  Maul gives her a Force push to knock her to the fallen deck.  Of course, we know Maul escapes and eventually turns up in Star Wars: Rebels.  

RG-G1 has a cable to save Ahsoka, but Jesse and the other clone troopers revive and start shooting at her.  Maul takes advantage by flying out the shuttle.  Ahsoka emerges and tries to draw back the shuttle with the Force.  She can trap the shuttle with wreckage.  Rex takes hold of her so she is not dragged away by the shuttle’s engines and fires at the clone troopers.  R7 is blasted trying to protect her!  Rex is shot in the shoulder so Ahsoka lets Maul escape and goes into deflecting blasts again. Maul jumps into hyperspace with the shuttle.  Ahsoka sends her lightsabers to cut a hole in the bulkhead dropping them down.  RG-G1 and CH-33P send the troopers up a level and for that the troopers blast them!  It seems dark to take out droids that helped them, but they weren’t in the other series.  The Star Destroyer starts to make atmospheric entry.  They have to find a space worthy ship and Ahsoka finds a Y-Wing that is ready to fly.  She sends Rex over to the Y-Wing and is shot in the shoulder.  The bridge explodes!  The deck starts to slide and Ahsoka uses her lightsabers to dig into the deck.  

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS -- “Victory and Death” -- Disney/Lucasfilm.

The Y-Wing falls from the hangar and goes into a freefall.  For some reason this reminds me of the helicarrier battle in The Avengers (2012).  Rex flies through the wreckage and smoke to try to find Ahsoka.  The music goes into tense strings.  Rex finally sees Ahsoka skydiving and opens the cockpit.  Another movie comes to mind, True Lies (1994), “Jump! Daddy will catch you!”  The air rips her past and then she is jumping on wreckage to reach the Y-Wing.   Last movie, Big Hero 6 (2014) where the heroes have to use broken machinery to escape.  Ahsoka finally reaches the gunner’s cockpit and the Y-Wing pulls away from the crashing Star Destroyer with all hands lost.  The aftermath of the burning Star Destroyer with the Y-Wing facing it.  Rex is returning his tool to the Y-Wing as he sees Ahsoka with the rows of stakes and helmets in tribute to the clone troopers.  

There is the helmet of Jesse.  Spoiler alert, Captain Rex is not the only trooper without the chip, there was Wollfe and Gregor.  Their mission should be to remove the chips of all of the clone troopers, Ahsoka and Rex are resourceful and clever enough to do so, but it looks like only two more.  A galaxy of clone troopers would be more effective than Inquisitors.  It goes back to Blade Runner synthesizer music.  The cloaked Ahsoka drops her lightsaber and looks up.  We see the landing of an Imperial shuttle by snowtroopers.  Probe droids are scanning the wreckage of the snow-covered Star Destroyer.  Stormtroopers hear Darth Vader’s breath as he walks up to the crash site.  He kneels to pick up Ahsoka’s lightsaber and activates it with the blue blade he had given her.  We see the reflection of Ahsoka’s orange pattern on a cracked clone trooper helmet.  His reflection fades away.  The episode pre-supposes a viewer to have watched Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Rebels fills in the story of the characters.  This episode is bleak.  A bittersweet ending to the Clone Wars.  

Four Lightsabers out of Five!  

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