The Clone Wars, Season 7: an immaculate farewell

One thing in advance: there are no spoilers in this review. I’m not going to talk about anything that isn’t mentioned in the trailers.

The end of the final season of «The Clone Wars». What was I expecting? Good question. I'm not that sure. After all, the animated series has been with us fans for a whole 12 years – cancellation included. And that's the point.

When Disney bought the rights to «Star Wars» from George Lucas in 2012, the company broke all ties with the rather unpopular prequels. An unfortunate victim: «The Clone Wars», set in the middle of the prequel era and, originally designed for seven seasons. The series was discontinued in 2014. The sixth season, only half finished at this point, was still broadcast. And we were robbed of a worthy ending.

No more. The wait is finally over.

A finale in three acts

For Dave Filoni, creator of «The Clone Wars» as well as George Lucas' quasi-protegé, finding out that 'his' had been cancelled must have been utterly defeating. Nevertheless, he remained true to Disney: on the one hand, he was allowed to produce «Rebels», a new animation series closer to the classic trilogy. He would even work as a producer, scriptwriter and director on «The Mandalorian».

His loyalty has paid off. With the seventh and final season of «The Clone Wars», Filoni can finally finish his creation in a decent way.

«The Clone Wars» structures its finale in three parts, each consisting of four episodes. In the first act, Captain Rex, a clone trooper under the command of Anakin Skywalker, is the centre of attention. The second act follows on directly from the end of «The Wrong Jedi», the twentieth and final episode of season five, where Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's Padawan, leaves the Jedi Order. The Liberation of Mandalore concludes the epic. Or as Dave Filoni calls it:«The last great battle of the Clone Wars.»

Oh yeah, you read right.

When Filoni talks about the end of the Clone Wars, it's clear where we are in time: «The Clone Wars» has finally caught up with «Revenge of the Sith», the third Star Wars episode. This leads to overlaps, especially in the last four episodes, which show Episode III scenes from a series perspective – a brilliant move. Finally, the destruction of the separatist leadership on Mustafar as shown in Episode III marks the official end of the Clone Wars. Illustrating the end of the Clone Wars this way makes sense.

While being sad at the same time.

«The Clone Wars» is extremely dark and heart-wrenching, especially in its last act, as Filoni doesn't shy away from addressing an adult audience. There are no more childish jokes or hollow phrases that only children could find funny. Ruthless. Serious. And brutal. At the latest when a certain dark Sith Lord stands up to dozens of Clone Warriors and leaves behind a massacre akin to Darth Vader in «Rogue One».

This wasn't always the case: «The Clone Wars» was once conceived for the children's channel «Cartoon Network». The first three seasons are correspondingly childish – almost unbearably childish for me. But Filoni and his team matured, along with the series and its viewers. The children's series became a series for young adults. The humour decreased while seriousness rose. Clone Troopers were no longer robotic drilled followers, but individuals – personalities – who had to come to terms with the fact that they had been born for the sole purpose of war.

As seen in the Umbara episodes of season four, where Clone Rex has to justify himself to Jedi General Pong Krell, to whom Clones are cannon fodder at best.

The Umbara episodes didn't only reveal the inner conflict of many Clone Warriors, but also a view of the Jedi and their Order that is anything but infallible. An idea that director Ryan Johnson borrowed for his widely scolded «The Last Jedi». This theme is certainly repeated throughout this last Clone Wars Season.

But I don't want to give too much away.

Ray Park in mo-cap, Kevin Kiner invokes John Williams

The VFX artists at ILM – the company that Star Wars creator George Lucas founded in 1975 to create the effects for «Star Wars» – have taken the series to a new level of intricacy. I would never have thought that a cartoon series could achieve anything similar.

This becomes really evident in the third and final act. Darth Maul and Ahsoka lead one of the most memorable lightsabre duels in Clone Wars history.

The choreography is furious, violent and nerve-racking. It's as absurdly acrobatic as it is clean – just as we once got to know these battles in the prequels.

The secret to how «The Clone Wars» does this lies in one aspect of the production: Filoni brought back Ray Park especially for this duel. The man who played Darth Maul in the first prequel – «The Phantom Menace». Thanks to Motion Capture, it's his movements and stunts that you'll see in this duel.

Epic.

In addition, there are the significantly improved facial animations – I don't even want to think about the really lousy and stiff faces during the first few seasons. Or the light levels and dust particles that give each scene an eerie depth and make everything all the more vivid.

The final season really knocks everything out of the park: for example, there's a scene with a crashing spaceship, which explodes in clouds of smoke and bursts of fire before it's shredded by the planet's atmosphere – with our heroes somewhere inside. It's so detailed and elaborately animated that I forget that I wasn't watching a movie, but a cartoon.

Another flawless aspect: Kevin Kiner, the composer. He didn't only compose all Clone Wars, but also all Rebels music – more Star Wars music than John Williams.

Kiner's development is probably the most exciting. At the beginning of the series, he deliberately avoided John Williams' Star Wars style and motifs; «The Clone Wars» should have its own voice, according to Kiner in an interview. To achieve this, he relied on thunderous percussion and an electronic sound, just like Hans Zimmer. Over the years, however, he found his way back to classical orchestration – and some John Williams motifs.

This isn't a coincidence: just as the plot of the series slowly but surely merges into the movies, so does Kiner's music merge into William's motifs. And when Ahsoka Tano's theme appears for the last time, everything becomes clear: we won't see her again. This is farewell.

Forever.

Conclusion: the ending you always wanted

I'm confused. Empty. The series is over. For good this time, I guess. And that's a good thing. Because I couldn't have wished for a better series finale to «The Clone Wars».

Series creator Dave Filoni and his team of incredibly talented VFX and dubbing artists, as well as the tireless Kevin Kiner, who once took on and successfully mastered the difficult legacy of John Williams, are to be thanked. They all created a last season which is surprisingly gripping and dark, especially in its third act.

But we still have the original question: what did I want from this final season? Now I finally know: I didn't want «The Clone Wars» to end. I wanted «The Clone Wars» to be completed.

My wish has been granted.