The Clone Wars Season 4 Episode 22 Review

Hello and welcome to our final review for season four of The Clone Wars! Season four has certainly been a wild ride, but did the last episode live up to its predecessors? In the season finale Maul has returned, angrier than ever, and looking for revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi! Below are my thoughts on the finale and a look back on the season.

In the beginning of the episode, Savage has taken Maul back to Dathomir in order to be healed by Mother Talzin. After getting some awesome new legs, not unlike the legs we’ve seen in the Visionaries comic, Maul plans to exact his vengeance on the Jedi. I found it interesting how, even after Talzin healed Maul, he still struggles with the Force. For a character that we know will be reoccurring at least in the next season, I think it’s fantastic that a villain in the show will have his own problems with the Force, and will have to not only fight the Jedi, but rebuild to his former level of strength at the same time. I’m curious to see how Maul evolves throughout next season, and if his path crosses with Sidious, and what that outcome would look like. Will he join the Separatists? Will he form a rivalry with his replacement, Dooku? His mind is on one track, revenge, but judging by his patience at the end of the episode, he’ll take any route necessary if it means getting Kenobi.

Another big topic of the episode was Ventress. Now, having been betrayed by the Separatists, the Sith, and being the only Nightsister left (besides Mother Talzin), Ventress’s new career as a bounty hunter has driven her into an alliance with Kenobi. This sets up a battle between Asajj and her former servant Opress, and Obi-Wan and his master’s killer. To put it simply, it was incredible! We’ve seen a lot of lightsaber duels in The Clone Wars, even some that might’ve been similar to this one. But the fact that it were four people, one of whom could be considered a giant, in a tiny cargo hold of a ship that’s filled with supplies made it even more intense. Plus the banter between Kenobi and Ventress, which I have severely missed over the past few seasons, really added to the episode. As someone who watched season one, I greatly appreciated the nod to their established character relationship, making their alliance a highlight of the episode.

Something I would like to discuss was when Maul could feel Obi-Wan’s rage. And it could’ve been something small that Maul just said to distract Obi-Wan, but what if this was something that could affect Obi-Wan later on? It would certainly be something to shake things up since Obi-Wan throughout all the films really never struggles with any issues similar to Anakin’s. So if Maul struggles with re-mastering his Force abilities and Obi-Wan starts to struggle with his rage against Maul, pitting the two disadvantaged characters against each other is a cool concept.

Revenge was a very good episode. And I think that this is the first finale where we get left on a cliffhanger ending. I loved how Maul was portrayed, and the alliance between Ventress and Kenobi that will continue into the next season. I really think that this episode was the strongest finale we’ve seen yet for The Clone Wars.

I would also like to say that season four of the series was the best it could possibly be, and easily the best season of The Clone Wars yet. It had a bit of a rocky start, nothing too bad, but nothing fantastic. We’ve seen episodes like the Mon Calamari ones before, and the Jar Jar episodes weren’t too bad either, but very predictable. I think when I reached the Krell arc I was amazed with season 4. The writing suddenly skyrocketed, the action intensified, and the stories became suspenseful and totally unpredictable. Since then, we’ve gotten stories about mandalorians, bounty hunters, Nightsisters, and slavers. This was not a boring season by any means, and there was a huge variety of stories packed into twenty two episodes, which are all beautifully animated. I was so impressed with how this season turned out compared to the last one that I can’t wait for season five, and to see what they can improve even more! Great work Clone Wars team!

And that wraps up my final review for the season! I would like to thank you all for reading these over the past months; I can’t wait to come back and start reviewing season five! Anyways, if you have any comments regarding this last episode, or the whole season, feel free to leave a comment below! See you in September and may the Force be with you… always!

–Ryan

 

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