Darkness lingers over the entire galaxy in the most recent episode of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” and it’s unclear when the light will return.
The 10th episode of “The Clone Wars” — titled “The Phantom Apprentice” began streaming on Disney Plus Friday morning. The latest episode brings new insight into the ongoings of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” as the episode takes place at the same time as moments in the famous “Star Wars” prequel film.
In the episode, Ahsoka and her team of Republic Army clone troopers seek out Darth Maul on Mandlore after he evades capture. Soon, a fight breaks out between Maul’s Mandalorian soldiers and the Republic Army. Ahsoka meets Maul and the two have their own lightsaber duel in what can only be described as an epic battle akin to other lightsaber confrontations.
More than anything, darkness hovers around the entire episode. Darth Maul plays a massive role in the episode, and there’s few other ways to describe Maul than as pure evil. Maul, more importantly, hints at the future of the “Star Wars” franchise — a future that we all know is coming since we’ve seen the events of “Revenge of the Sith.” He hints that Darth Sidious will take over the universe, and that Anakin Skywalker won’t have a bright future ahead of him, either.
The darkness lingers in the minor moments, too. There’s an exchange between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka where the former talks to the latter about Anakin’s secret mission to spy on Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, a moment that pushes Anakin closer to his eventual fall to the dark side and his decision to become Darth Vader. It’s an interesting to see Ahsoka act similarly as Anakin does in “Revenge of the Sith.” She hates the idea of Anakin spying on the chancellor, who was his mentor. Ahsoka and Anakin sharing the same feelings shows that the Jedi Council at large had a misunderstanding of what they were asking of Anakin when they made the request. The clouded judgement led to the downfall of Anakin and, ultimately, the Jedi.
The episode concludes with another added moment of darkness. Maul is captured by Republic Army soldiers. As he’s tied up, he screams that the soldiers made a mistake and that everyone was going to die. He knows what future lies ahead. He knows the Empire is about to be born.
“The Clone Wars” has succeeded throughout the years for offering light-hearted moments that offer inspiring messages and themes. The show has often taught us to trust those who earn trust, and to support those in their time of need. Many of the lessons we learn from “Clone Wars” are the same lessons we learn in the “Star Wars” franchise. Help others. Promote goodness over evil.
But this episode felt a lot like “Revenge of the Sith” in that it had a darker overtone. The dark side is nearing its victory. We’re getting closer to the moment when the entire Clone War battles end and the empire is forged.
We’ve felt so much lightness and hope throughout this show. But the future looks dark and grim. It’s unclear how “Clone Wars” will end its run. One can only hope it’ll include call for a brighter future, something new, that will rise above the ashes.