Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 Review

May 12, 2020 at 4:20am
By Jason Stettner

I wanted to start this review with a small note that it’s truly remarkable that I’m able to write this. This was a series I watched years back when it was live, and when I was much younger. It was always left just open ended, and that hurt to see.

I would have never anticipated we’d get this kind of closure, or even that I’d be writing reviews on this sort of thing. I normally don’t add this bit to serious write-ups, but this overall series holds a special place in my heart.

This is it, the end of The Clone Wars and the series ties itself right into the moments happening in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. There are even some audio clips lifted from that, and it was insane to see that happen.

This season is a split one however, with three portions to it. First off there’s one that revolves around The Bad Batch, and finding out what really happened to a certain trooper. These episodes really were an interesting way to get things started, at the same time I didn’t necessarily see the point in what these provided to the overall narrative arc of the season. It seemed like extra world building for the future as opposed to what’s to come in this show. That doesn’t mean important events don’t happen, just that it focuses on that group a bit too much I suppose in that it doesn’t end up mattering.

The second set of episodes is again split into four parts. This area was honestly just pointless, and dragged out. I get that we needed this to understand how Ahsoka (Ashley Eckstein) grows as a character. At the same time, there was a prison episode where literally nothing happens. I passionately hated this arc as it could have been summed up far quicker to get the same point across and perhaps to get a deeper meaning across to us.

Finally we reach the last four episodes that come across as a movie really. It opens with the classic LucasFilm intro, followed by the theme and a crawl. I was actually tearing up a bit seeing that as it just landed such an emotionally surprisingly impact. I had no idea that was going to be included, and I seriously appreciated it. This series deserved to have that. I knew things were getting serious, and that this really was the end to such a special overall story. They really did knock it out of the park with these four episodes. It was a beautiful way to tie up various story lines, add context to Darth Maul and perfectly send Ahsoka off into the character she’s meant to be.

It’s almost a tragic set of episodes since this is the darkest part of Episode III. You only get light touches on that part, since it’s happening in the background but you just know what’s going on. The somber music at times, the shift in what’s happening in the foreground. On top of that we get the insanely epic Siege of Mandalore, an event that’s always been awaiting a proper showcase. These episodes did deliver, and while I had anticipated a more intense finale episode, it was very striking. It’s not something that that will soon be forgotten, as the arc of Anakin Skywalker in the prequels is ended almost perfectly.

The visual quality of this season was phenomenal. If you go back to the earlier seasons you’d be absolutely shocked by the improvement of the aesthetics. From the looks of the characters, to the backdrops that are present. It’s a huge increase in scale, and conflict. This feels like a proper inclusion to this important part of the saga. I know it certainly concludes the prequels, the films that I grew up alongside.

That matters, and I’m happy that for the most part they delivered on something I never thought would happen. The voice work here is excellent as expected, feels just like it’s an extension of the movies. Again, I loved that they included voice clips from the third movie as that made it feel that much more special. Mix that with some gorgeous music usage and it helps carry the series towards its conclusion.

It also featured what I’d consider to be some of the best lightsaber battles within the entire universe of Star Wars. The work here from Ahsoka and Darth Maul was just stunning to see. It looked so tense, and yet was perfectly natural in working alongside their dueling styles. The motion capture behind those were most certainly appreciated, it’s an added layer of depth that deserves to be appreciated.

The Conclusion

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 is a great sense of closure for the series, while having some weaker starting arcs. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy watching this, I still have to take a step back and take those episodes for what they were. It felt like some of them were just padding things out, or building something outside of the series.

I really wish they would have tightened things up to create a stronger collection of episodes. The Ahsoka arc was super boring, but it did feed into one incredible conclusion. They really nailed that last group of episodes and I loved them. They were epic, featured some intense moments and surprised me. It was all just extra haunting knowing that the ending was coming and getting a feeling for when in the timeline certain moments were taking place.

They play around with those moments well, and I think this is a perfect companion piece to the prequels. It takes the concepts presented in those movies to new levels. It also develops one of the most intriguing, and complete stories in all of the universe. The tale of Ahsoka, going from naïve to learning the Force and eventually moving past the traditional conventions of the Jedi. Those final moments were dark, eerie and paint a picture of what comes later on.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing

Rating Overall: 7.2