Spoiler warning! We are going to be giving you all the spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars series finale, “Victory and Death,” so if you’re not caught up with the show, stop reading, get some tissues, get on Disney+ and enjoy.
The Story So Far…
Friday’s episode “Shattered” is still very fresh in our minds, but here’s a quick summary of where we are at right now. After Captain Rex and Ahsoka successfully capture Maul, they begin their journey back to Coruscant to deliver him to the Jedi Council. Unfortunately, this comes at the time when Chancellor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious issues Order 66. Captain Rex and his Clone Troopers, now under orders to hunt and kill all Jedis, attack Ahsoka.
Meanwhile Maul remains in his holding container, unable to defend himself from the Clone Troopers sent to execute him. Luckily Ahsoka arrives in time to free him, but her intentions aren’t to ally herself with him. Instead, she wants to use him as a diversion while she finds a way off the ship. Recruiting the help of R7, CH-33P, and GeeGee, she gains information on Fives. She uncovers the secret behind the inhibitor chip that all Clones have had implanted in their brain. Using this information, she isolates Rex in the hopes that she can remove his chip.
Once inside the medical bay, Ahsoka and the droids get to work. Using a Force connection to locate the chip, they safely remove it, but not before they are attacked by the Clone Troopers. After fighting them off, Rex comes to and informs Ahsoka how widespread the Order is. The episode ends with the Clone Troopers attempting to gain access to the medical bay.
RELATED: Here’s last week’s recap if you missed it!
Victory and Death
The series finale starts with Captain Rex and Ahsoka weighing their options. In truth, they only have one way of getting out there and that’s through the main door. Ahsoka’s plan, therefore, is to let the Clones continue burning their way through the door so that it comes completely disconnected. With his blasters on stun, Rex prepares for the assault. The second the door is loose, Ahsoka Force pushes the door into the Clones while Rex fires away, stunning his men.
Ahsoka and Captain Rex make quick work of the Troopers and make their way to the hangar bay to so they can secure a shuttle. Rex informs Ahsoka that Maul escaped, but she tells him the truth of it: she let him go.
Meanwhile Maul has made his way to the hyperdrive room where he takes down the squads that are located there. Using the Force, he easily destroys the hyperdrive generators. The now severely damaged ship comes out of hyperspace and starts its slow decent towards a nearby moon. Rex and Ahsoka make their way to the hangar bay, and Ahsoka has R7 find out what’s happened to the ship. Maul, now equipped with a communicator (that he took from the armless trooper), knows that everyone is on their way to the main hangar.
An Idea
Now that they know the hyperdrive generators are gone, Ahsoka and Rex need to get off the ship. R7 opens the main hangar bay doors and they can see the surface of the moon is getting bigger. Locating a viable shuttle to use, they see their exit. But not before a whole platoon of Clone Troopers arrive and block their way.
Ahsoka doesn’t want to fight the Clones, but Rex knows that his brothers are willing to die to execute them. Rex is overcome with emotion, knowing that his brothers are bound by this order and that he will have to fight them. Ahsoka, seeing his pain, comes up with an idea.
Down in the hangar, the Clones wait for Ahsoka and Rex…and possibly Maul. Rex and Ahsoka appear, and it looks like Rex has captured Ahsoka. Rex tries to reason with Jesse, explaining that Ahsoka is no longer a Jedi and therefore should not be subject to the order. Unfortunately, Darth Sidious has made it clear that he wants Ahsoka dead. Jesse brands Rex a traitor and orders his men to fire.
Of course, it is all a ruse, as the three droids have been working off screen to lower the platforms that the Clones are stand on. One by one the platforms drop, taking the Troopers with them. This leaves only a handful of Troopers left to fight. Ahsoka deflects the blaster fire, while Rex stuns the men. Maul appears and makes a run towards the shuttle. GeeGee warns Ahsoka and they make a dash for the shuttle as well.
You Wanted This Chaos
Maul, seeing Ahsoka in pursuit, fights her off, using the Force to push her off the ledge left by the lowered platform. GeeGee shoots out a cord, and Ahsoka grabs on. Jesse and his men start firing from below causing Ahsoka to focus on the blaster fire and not getting back up on the platform.
Once she’s up, she sees that Maul has almost nearly left the hangar. Steadying herself, she uses Force Stasis to hold the shuttle in place. Maul tries to power the shuttle to make his escape, but Ahsoka hangs on. Unfortunately, Rex is unable to hold off all the Troopers firing at him. Ahsoka has to make a choice.
To save her friend, she lets the shuttle go and Maul escapes, going into hyperdrive as soon as he’s cleared the downed ship.
Ahsoka and Rex do their best to fight off the Clones. It seems almost impossible, until Ahsoka uses her lightsabers to cut through the platform below them. They fall into the lower level where they are met by the remaining Troopers. At that moment CH-33P and GeeGee raise the platforms again, lifting the Troopers back up to the upper level. Having had about enough of the droids, the Troopers fire on them.
A Narrow Escape
Down in the lower level, Ahsoka and Rex fight off more Troopers. Rex tries to look for another ship, but they’re all under maintenance. Finally, they see one, and Ahsoka Force Pushes him towards it. Getting into the ship, Rex is unable to help Ahsoka as she fights off the Troopers.
Rex gets the ship ready and not a second before Ahsoka is overwhelmed. Ahsoka runs to the ship, but it’s too late, the ship falls from the hangar along with Ahsoka. In the air, Rex steadies the ships and frantically looks for Ahsoka. He sees her among the debris, and she makes a run towards him. Unable to get a grip on the ship she falls once more through the air, using parts of the bigger ship to give her a jumping platform. Finally, she makes her way to Rex and hangs on. As the large ships crashes down into the moon below, Rex and Ahsoka fly away.
RELATED: Read up on all Star Wars: The Clone Wars Recaps!
The End
Sometime later, Ahsoka and Rex return to the crash site where they bury the men. Rex gathers what supplies he can, while Ahsoka looks on at the helmets of the men she used to serve with, including Jesse. It’s a sad moment, knowing that the Troopers were just pawns in a greater battle between the Jedi and the Sith and that they were never in control. Ahsoka looks down at her lightsaber, knowing that she will be hunted no matter what, and lets it fall. Perhaps it will be a message that she, too, died in the crash.
What seems like years later, a Lambda-class shuttle arrives at the crash site in the middle of winter. As Snowtroopers and Imperial probe droids survey the wreckage, a black cloaked figure makes its way to the crashed ship. There Darth Vader kneels and picks up Ahsoka’s lightsaber. The hilt has been rusted with age and the cold, but it still ignites.
Taking a long look at the lightsaber, Darth Vader eventually walks away, and we see his form reflected off the visor of a Clone Trooper’s Ahsoka-themed helmet.
Overall
Words cannot adequately describe the emotion I felt at the end of this episode. This has been a long journey that started back in 2008. I, personally, was late to this show, having started watching it last year, but I understand why this show is loved by so many.
To talk about this last episode is difficult. We know what happens because of Revenge of the Sith, but to see Maul and Ahsoka’s side and to see the events that happened between Attack of the Clones and RotS makes the events of RotS hit so much harder. And because that movie hits so much harder, the last scene in this episode and certain events in Star Wars Rebels are even more devasting.
Of course, the Clone Wars showed us how powerful friendship and loyalty can be. Ahsoka constantly risked her life for Anakin and Rex and vice versa. Obi-Wan and Anakin’s friendship was something many people would consider a hashtag friendshipgoal. As Rex mentioned in this episode, if it wasn’t for the Clone Wars, he and his brothers would not have existed.
In the end, however, the whole entirely of the Clone Wars was a lesson in futility because no matter what happened, Palpatine was always going to issue Order 66. He was always going to wipe out the Jedi, and no bonds of brotherhood or friendship would have prevented the Clones from obeying that order. Palpatine allowed this entire war to play out for fun, while costing the lives of thousands upon thousands of people and sowing chaos throughout the Galaxy.
So, the last image of the Clone Trooper helmet and Darth Vader walking away is a poignant representation of hopelessness. There was no hope for the Clones, just like there isn’t any hope for Anakin.
But hope is never really gone.
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