Let's Talk About THE CLONE WARS Series Finale - "Victory and Death"

Holy crap! That finale was something else. Today, we’re talking about the series finale for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, “Victory and Death.” This is your warning that spoilers abound ahead. You can watch all episodes of The Clone Wars on Disney+ now.

Darth Maul continues his rampage in this episode, and it just makes him seem so much more epic. He ends up not only fending off the clones without weapons, he goes and uses the Force to destroy the ship’s hyperdrive. This causes the ship to fall out of hyperspace and into the gravitational field of a nearby moon. This creates a real sense of danger beyond the clones trying to kill Ahsoka and Rex.

Well, Ahsoka and Rex have their work cut out for them as they have to avoid the Clones, defeat them without killing them even though the clones are looking for blood when they do run into them, try to find a way off the ship, and then they find out the ship is plummeting to its doom. Honestly, while things suck for Ahsoka in this moment, it is Rex that I feel bad for and just want to give a big hug. These are his brothers and now they’ve turned against him. That can’t be easy.

Eventually, Rex tries pulling one over Jesse and the clones as he tries convincing them that they don’t need to kill Ahsoka since she’s no longer a Jedi. Honestly, not a bad line of reasoning and not a bad plan. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work, but that’s ok as the droids work to help Ahsoka and Rex get to a shuttle that Maul ends up taking. I did greatly enjoy the little struggle between Maul in the shuttle and Ahsoka using the Force to try to reclaim it.

Eventually, Ahsoka and Rex make it out of harm’s way after many close calls and land safely on the moon. Unfortunately, the other clones aren’t so lucky, and we have a very crushing scene where we see the two heroes have buried all the clones. This is really a heavy moment that concludes with Ahsoka leaving one of her lightsabers behind. I’m a little curious why she left only one and not both. However, the episode concludes with Darth Vader on the same moon finding the lightsaber and that is where it leaves off. Really? Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen Rebels yet and this is a way to tie the two series together, but I feel like this is and isn’t a great finale. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an incredible story, but that little bit at the end with Darth Vader raised a question that I imagine we won’t get an answer to, or it’s in Rebels and I will find it eventually.