Spoilers for The Clone Wars Season 7 Episode 9
This is where the fun begins. But it’s also where things begin to get a bit sad. The Clone Wars is starting to wind down as part one of the four part finale was available to stream on Friday on Disney+. The events in this episode were teased to fans of The Clone Wars in the season five episode, The Lawless. Now that episode aired in early 2013. Now seven years later, the follow-up to those events are being told in Old Friends Not Forgotten. So now the question is, “Was the wait worth it?”
Waiting seven years for this finale was totally worth it! I honestly cannot imagine watching this episode when it was originally going to be released. Now I say that because so much has happened in the Star Wars universe since then. We’ve gotten five cinematic films, two TV series, and a lot of reading material. Obviously, The Clone Wars fit mostly all of that in it’s seventh season. We’ve already seen connections made to Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars Rebels, and various books & comics. Seeing everything tie-in together is just a fan’s dream.
Besides the lore part of it, the story was phenomenal and then some. It consisted of some of the most emotional scenes and riveting action that the series has ever seen. The score was totally on par with everything that we saw. Seeing Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker on-screen together again I was expecting it to be pretty emotional but Ahsoka put up a cold front to her former master. It was pretty obvious that she was still upset about being expelled from the Jedi Order. But then she came around and thanked him for always being there for her when he returned her lightsabers to her, that came a long with a personal touch.
As far as we know, their departure was their final look at each other before the end of the war. Unless they reach each other via hologram, that was their last encounter for a while. Ahsoka Tano mentions in Star Wars Rebels that the last time she had seen him was when he was rushing off to save the chancellor. That is exactly what happened in this episode. The next time she will see him, at least in person, she will be fighting for her life.
While there are three episodes left in the series, the most anticipated parts for fans are yet to come. There is still the Darth Maul and Ahsoka duel that has been heavily teased for the past year. Creatives on the show have said that the original actor for Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace came back to do some motion capture for the duel, a first for the show. There is also the Order 66 scene that has yet to unfold. As we learned in Star Wars Rebels, Captain Rex, now Commander Rex, took out his inhibitor chip before the order was given to turn on their Jedi generals. As we learned in The Clone Wars this inhibitor chip was programmed in all clones in their early stages of development, which they had no knowledge of. This chip made them forcefully follow the order. The emotional journey is definitely still ahead. Old Friends Not Forgotten was just a taste for what’s to come.
The Phantom Apprentice airs Friday, April 24th
Shattered airs Friday, May 1st
Victory and Death (Series Finale) airs Monday, May 4th.