Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Clone Watch - Episode 27
23 Plays19 days ago
Clone Watch hits the end of Season 5.
A Jedi Temple bombing. Trust shattered. Betsy has thoughts.
This is the arc that changes everything.
00:00 Introduction
04:56 Sabotage
38:02 The Jedi Who Knew Too Much
1:05:10 To Catch a Jedi
1:28:49 The Wrong Jedi
To follow along with your viewing, you can find the Clone Wars chronological viewing list at:
https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder
Support the show by buying a t-shirt!
https://store.casualnerdity.com
Socials
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casualnerdity
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualnerdity
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@casualnerdity
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/casualnerdity.com
Twitter/X: https://x.com/CasualNerdity
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@casualnerdity
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Casual Nerdity Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Casual Nerdity is a podcast celebrating and discussing the pop culture that we love. Movies, TVs, comics, books, games, you name it. Ari missed to talk about the good, what worked, and yeah, sometimes what didn't.
00:00:21
Speaker
All with an eye towards building up, not tearing down. Thanks for joining us.
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome back to Casual Nerdity and another installment of Clone Watch. Woo! Yay! And that is where we officially reach the end of Clone Wars Season 5 and things are about to get real.
00:00:45
Speaker
So, some rounds of introductions as
Meet the Hosts: Daryl, Nick, Lauren, and Betsy
00:00:49
Speaker
always. I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. I'm Lauren. And I'm here to be annoying and ruin everything. Betsy's back,
00:00:58
Speaker
we We like when Betsy is here. Yeah, you're going to be hearing a lot of my voice this episode. Like a This a green episode. Like a lot, a lot. It's such a green episode. We're replanting all of the trees this time. Apparently.
00:01:12
Speaker
I mean, she is vegan. Oh, well, there we go. This is true. Yeah, there are multiple times where I filled out like over a page in our notes document about like the, you know, the first five minutes of an episode.
00:01:24
Speaker
So stop the fuck in. it's So it's an episode that you were disappointed Exactly, but so much worse. It's worse. Don't look at the final page count. It's so much worse.
00:01:37
Speaker
There are 26 pages to this notes document.
Clone Watch: Introducing Star Wars to New Viewers
00:01:40
Speaker
Yes, I know. And it's all my fault. Well, if this is your first time with us, Clone Watch is what happens when you drop someone new into the deep end of Star Wars and hit record on their reactions.
00:01:54
Speaker
So our RPG group is pretty Star Wars heavy, but Lauren joined us with only a passing familiarity, mostly the original trilogy. And so Nick decided to run a little experiment, not unlike the MADs on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Oh, of course. screen the so that but that was yeah that That was kind of the inspiration. So screen the saga in chronological order, starting with the prequels.
00:02:21
Speaker
And Because Lauren is more into animation than live action, we didn't stop there. We moved into the Clone Wars series as the core of the journey. So each episode of Clone Watch follows Lauren's first-time reactions, thoughts, and evolving take on the characters, themes, and increasingly complicated moral universe of Star Wars.
00:02:44
Speaker
So it's kind of part recap, part commentary, and part, wait, this is for kids, energy. Of course, of course. and tracking what it's like to experience the galaxy far, far away for the first time in a very specific order.
00:02:59
Speaker
An order that Daryl doesn't like. you want to what that order is? Well, it's chronological, but at this point, it's academic. Mm-hmm. At this point, it's academic.
Emotional and Controversial Arc in Clone Wars
00:03:11
Speaker
Now, this episode, we're diving into the four-part arc that changes everything.
00:03:18
Speaker
We're talking Sabotage, Season 5, Episode 17, The Jedi Who Knew Too Much, Season 5, Episode 18, To Catch a Jedi, Season 5, Episode 19, and The Wrong Jedi, Season 5, Episode 20. Now, what starts as a mystery inside the Jedi Temple quickly spirals into one of the most emotional, controversial, and downright infuriating storylines in the entire series.
00:03:46
Speaker
And there will be tensions. There will be betrayal. There will be courtroom drama. And yes, there will be Betsy's thoughts, which let's just say are not going to be subtle.
00:03:56
Speaker
Or concise. Or without profanity. Oh boy. This doesn't just... What, Nick? Dank Farrick? Yes. Yes. Dank Farrick.
00:04:09
Speaker
And Karabast. Let Star Wars say fuck.
00:04:14
Speaker
This arc doesn't just close out a season, it detonates it. And by the time we reach the wrong Jedi, the fallout is massive. The questions are uncomfortable, and the emotional damage is very, very real. So real!
00:04:30
Speaker
Buckle up, because we're ending Season 5 the only way the Clone Wars know how, with heartbreak, outrage, and absolutely zero chill. I've never had chill about Clone Wars or the Star Wars in a day in my life.
00:04:43
Speaker
And... If you want closer, you're going to have wait for it.
Investigating the Jedi Temple Bombing
00:04:49
Speaker
Wait for it. Stay on target. So first up, Sabotage, Season 5, Episode 17. The official description, as per Disney+, plus is Anakin and Ahsoka investigated bombing at the Jedi Temple.
00:05:06
Speaker
Yep. And we open with Anakin and Ahsoka in the midst of a space dogfight. A spogfight, if you will. And hey, yeah I've seen this one before. It's a classic.
00:05:17
Speaker
This is where the fun begins.
00:05:21
Speaker
That's right. The Republic is attacking Cato Neimoidia. Say, Lord Nerd Nick, is this is the first is this the first chronological appearance of the Eta-2 Interceptor? You know, the Revenge of the Sith-style Jedi Starfighters?
00:05:37
Speaker
This is the exact jack that As well as also a re reintroduction to the Z-95 clone starfighters that eventually would become um the well-known X-Wing fighters.
00:05:53
Speaker
The best fighter that I've ever seen. Z-95 is the precursor. Yeah.
00:05:59
Speaker
And T-65s are better than T-70s. I said it. i will die on this hill. But it is also not our first... not our first appearance of Kate and the Mordia during the Clone Wars in the more recent recent canon books Brotherhood a novel had Anakin and Obi-Wan have an encounter on Kate and the Mordia in the start the Clone Wars you mean that Kate and the Mordia?
00:06:28
Speaker
it doesn't doesn't count and that same book is the current canon's first chronological appearance of Asajj Ventress Mm-hmm.
00:06:40
Speaker
It's the first time that Obi-Wan encountered Ventress.
00:06:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I guess it is. I never thought of that. force out Foreshadowing is literary device? Foreshadowing is a literary device. There it is. But anyway, so they're under Starfighters and Ahsoka succeeds on her piloting check, but Annie, not so much.
00:07:05
Speaker
Look out! Incoming missiles!
00:07:09
Speaker
No problem. Uh, slight problem. Ahsoka, I've got buzz droids.
00:07:20
Speaker
How bad did you get hit? I'm all clear. What? You always have it easy, Snips. Good job, R2. Someday, these droids will learn to keep messing the wall and Jedi.
00:07:35
Speaker
He said the line. did. said the thing. Hey, that's the name of the show. But also, like, for real, is it just mirrors this whole opening scene? Just like our two recurring bits incarnate, you know, something, something, foreshadowing rhymes, et cetera. And like, you know, just to keep it going, Anakin experiences a small malfunction and tips the spider swing to show off a belly covered in buzz droids.
00:07:59
Speaker
We're really just playing the greatest hits here. This whole opening is like fan service bingo, just one after another after another. Like Filoni is trying to hit a record for how many times you can get people to point at the screen. I'll allow Leo DiCaprio in under five minutes. Like I'm going to level with you.
00:08:13
Speaker
i fucking loved every second of it. Like this is the last arc of, hold on, I lost my spot. This is the last arc, the fourth to last episode of the entire series to ever air on TV.
Anakin and Ahsoka: Mentor-Mentee Dynamics
00:08:24
Speaker
And like the last anyone see of the Clone Wars entirely for the next year. if there was ever time to start pulling out all the references, it's here and now.
00:08:33
Speaker
But that's just what makes them, you know, acceptable in the face of people complaining about too much fan service. Or at least in my opinion. But you know what I really love is how they're used in context. Like these specific callbacks used here.
00:08:45
Speaker
Callbacks, callforwardses, I don't know, timeline shit, whatever. just hit like so perfectly because of how contradictory their tone of use feels. Like in the context of the episode itself, seeing all these references, it's like fun and silly and, you know, very quickly establishes Anakin and Ahsoka's relationship.
00:09:04
Speaker
Like we see all this easy camaraderie, the way they work in tandem to cover each other so seamlessly, like the mutual and trust and respect they have for each other. Like, we see how both of them have grown and how the relationship has grown, how the relationship as master and Padawan has really lost a lot of its original hierarchical elements, like, almost entirely. Because at this point, Anakin isn't really a Soapist instructor anymore, at least not, like, in a primarily didactic role.
00:09:28
Speaker
He's more of a mentor. Like, he's there to kind of guide her, but not direct her. To support her in making her own choices and take a step back and let her succeed on her own while remaining just close enough to catch her if she falls. And when she does fall, the lessons that she learns on her own.
00:09:42
Speaker
It just means so much to me to be able to see how far they've come together since, you know, we first saw them back in the movie however many years earlier. I don't know. That's too much math for me. But then, like, there's another piece to it all, too, because, you know, as much as the scene brings me joy, it also fills me with, like, so much dread and foreboding.
00:09:59
Speaker
Like, I've got to do my best to avoid spoilers here, but if you know, then you know where these callbacks slash forwards is are from and like, where we're going to see them next and who we're going to see in these roles.
00:10:11
Speaker
But you also know like what happens after these original scenes, where the story goes next, like what happens to our players. And by that same token, how that knowledge foreshadows where this arc too is going.
00:10:23
Speaker
Like the dramatic irony is so real and twice as heavy because of how it works in service of just two completely different storylines at the same time. Yeah, it's, you know, two foreshadowings for the price of one. Oh, flating is a literary device there it is yeah by the way, like all of this, and we're not even five minutes into the episode.
00:10:40
Speaker
So yeah, I love everything about this and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. But again, to catch on to what you're saying, yes, there is plenty of, as ah Star Wars fan watching these episodes and knowing this that this was like the final arc of the series,
00:11:02
Speaker
these foreshadowings for our call forwards had a heavy, heavy impact on those who grew up in this era who had watched the prequels and was watching the series at the same time.
00:11:23
Speaker
They had a heavier weight than anyone watching. Because, like, It was almost a ticking clock. Again, it's like poetry, so they rhyme.
00:11:37
Speaker
Good job, Daryl. Yes. Yeah, I also want to appreciate the presence of Ahsoka's droid here, R7, who I'm sure will be a plot-critical character moving forwards.
00:11:49
Speaker
Oh, of course. Oh, heard a fighter. Did I hear a fighter? I don't know what happened to the ship. It just disappears. She she told R7 to take control and hopped on Anakin's fighter.
00:12:05
Speaker
R7 took care of it. They're both fine. Yep, everything's okay. R7 will return in Star Wars Starfighter? I guess.
00:12:18
Speaker
I mean, it's definitely not going to be a repeat of what happened to R4P17 or anything. Don't worry about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yes, also notable, as we leave this scene, this battle never really gets concluded. It doesn't really play into the narrative going forwards either. ah It certainly does help establish the relationship between the characters at this point in the show.
00:12:38
Speaker
But the battle itself is pretty thoroughly glossed over. it It's just a thing that happens at the start of the episode.
00:12:47
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. It pretty much, there's... It's there to give us an action set piece that will then allow Yoda to call them back to Coruscant because the Jedi Temple has been bombed.
00:13:01
Speaker
And I'm going to jump in before Nick can. This isn't the first time that the Jedi Temple has been the target of a bombing. It's not even the first time during the Clone Wars. We know. know.
00:13:14
Speaker
A bombing of the temple is what brought Depa Billaba into contact with young Caleb Doom, who would become her Padawan and, after the Clone Wars, adopt the name Kanan Jarrus.
00:13:27
Speaker
But I digress. I have that trade paperback. Yes. I have the individual issues. Ooh, look at you. fancy aren Aren't I fancy?
Political Complexities: Jedi and the Republic
00:13:39
Speaker
Oh, yeah. How do you feel that they were theyre they all retconned by the bad bats? You'll be quiet about that. And and young cat like that big young Caleb sounding surprisingly middle-aged. Also that.
00:13:56
Speaker
But the council says that even a Jedi could be a suspect. And they charge Anakin and Ahsoka with investigating the bombing. Ahsoka's all like, I can't believe a Jedi would attack a place this sacred. Meanwhile, Anakin staring at the ground, not making eye contact with anyone, closing his eyes specifically when Ahsoka says the word Jedi.
00:14:17
Speaker
Yeah, totally. my either That would be so crazy if something like that happened, which it won't. I i mean, wouldn't didn't pass tense. Foreshadowing is a literary device.
00:14:28
Speaker
I have one more thing to add in and this is something I recognized during my rewatch with Lauren. Keanu Moody the it says, Anakin says, the specific line that some Jedi are political idealists.
00:14:52
Speaker
A line said by Kyari Mundi in episode two to describe Count Dooku.
00:15:01
Speaker
Interesting. i hadn't I have never noticed that either. Yeah, food for thought. It's very notable. and as i kind of a I'm sorry, go ahead, Nick. But we all know how how the the words of Kyari Mundi are very wise and very, very accurate.
00:15:18
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. What about the droid attack on the Wookiees? There, I said it. Are you happy, guys? No, the Sith have been extinct for a millennium. Oh yeah, that one too. And Dooku is just a political idealist.
00:15:32
Speaker
Not sure what we're calling idealism these days, but sure, go off. I mean, have you looked at the world? Yeah, just it's the specific word idealism. That's what's getting me.
00:15:44
Speaker
What's ideal about any of that? I just found that Anakin using that same line is a... I'll do the foreshadowing thing again. it Foreshadowing is a literary device.
00:15:57
Speaker
There go. That's it But, you know, it it is interesting that you make that connection, Nick, because my next note is that as Anakin and Ahsoka inspect the site of the bombing, he reminds her that Count Dooku and General Krell started off as Jedi before...
00:16:14
Speaker
going off the reservation there. Oh, look, same brain cell. the Yeah, but the dynamic duo even get a special investigator to help with the case.
00:16:25
Speaker
Yes, they do. Only analysis and investigation will prove which is true or not. are you? I am Russo ISC, crime scene analyzer for the Jedi.
00:16:37
Speaker
I will be working with you and your Padawan on this case. I was assigned by Master Windu. Okay, Russo. You and Ahsoka should begin the interviews.
00:16:48
Speaker
I would rather interview the witnesses alone.
00:16:54
Speaker
Why? Many of the wounded have heard rumors. A Jedi was behind this explosion. There will be will toward you.
Ahsoka's Arrest and the Consequences
00:17:10
Speaker
Yep, that's right. It's Russo ISC. And yes, he does have the glasses, although he's sadly lacking in one-liners. He doesn't have that many.
00:17:21
Speaker
Yeah, but I... how How have I not noticed this reference before? I don't know, because it's right there. Because you know that I love dunking on Caruso on CSI Miami. I'll also admit, I didn't even recognize the reference.
00:17:41
Speaker
Oh, but for for what it's worth... But I will say that I do love the character design doing that little, like, the little, like, visor thing. Again, I just love little bits like that that add so much to a droid's design.
00:17:57
Speaker
Well, I... to For what it's worth, when I was watching and I saw your note about this, Betsy, and I'm like, how did I not...
00:18:08
Speaker
ever noticed this before. I went into the other room and I was telling Stephanie about it and I was like, so there's a bit that I haven't noticed and there's this this investigator droid that's helping them with the bombing and um his name is Russo ISC and he's got these little fiddly bit glasses that he keeps popping up and down and she's like, oh, so so CSI Miami.
00:18:34
Speaker
Yep. it' was like I'm like, you're you're not even seeing it. I'll let How did I miss this? How did... I don't know how I missed it. I'll admit because I was a big fan. I'll admit, like, yeah, like I'm not even a big fan. I honest understand the meme, but i I know that you've seen and ripped on on that multiple times. So... Yeah. it u And of course, being a live-action TV show, I have no idea what y'all are talking about. No, but you've seen the memes.
00:19:10
Speaker
hi Not really. I'll give you some context in a little bit. Okay. But yes, at this point, despite the fact that Russo wants to interview the the witnesses without the Jedi, Ahsoka insists that she be involved regardless. And it doesn't it doesn't seem like this really becomes an issue, really.
00:19:32
Speaker
Whenever, ah as as they're interviewing them. Yeah. Now, Ahsoka and carusso i mean ah Russo the hangar maintenance crew, and one of them says that he thinks it was another member of the crew because he'd been working in the section of the hangar where the blast occurred. Now, okay, if they really wanted this reference, the the whole CSI Miami Easter egg to be accurate, Russo and Ahsoka couldn't be in the same scenes together, and it would require people to give them the same information separately.
00:20:05
Speaker
Also the color grading would be more orange. Yes. Now let this isn't in the notes, but since you don't understand the reference, Lauren, let me give you some context and I will make it as brief as possible.
00:20:17
Speaker
Okay. So, um, and let, let me, let me try to get something set up here so that it will, there we go. Okay.
00:20:29
Speaker
So, um CSI Miami, spinoff of CSI. And the star was David Caruso, who... He was so super melodramatic that the the cold open of every episode would occur when they'd get called out to the crime scene and they'd start to say something. And, you know, his character was always... Always had sunglasses with him.
00:20:59
Speaker
And... The cold open would end when he would make a pithy one-liner and either put on or take the sunglasses off, followed by... yes, yes, that sound effect. it Into the opening credits.
00:21:18
Speaker
Now, where I say, for the bit to really be accurate, one of the co-stars on CSI Miami was the wonderful actress Emily Proctor. Love Emily Proctor.
00:21:30
Speaker
ah She was an incredible character on the West Wing. She and Caruso did not get along.
00:21:39
Speaker
To the point that they stopped putting them in the same scene together. But hurt her character was like the number two on the CSI team.
00:21:52
Speaker
you know She was like second in command. At times, it was almost like she and Caruso's character who he was the head of the crime lab. It's almost like they were peers and equals rather than he was, he was over her.
00:22:09
Speaker
And so they stopped writing scenes with the two of them together. So every episode, inevitably there would be scenes where both of them needed to have certain information to be able to work on their portions of the investigation.
00:22:28
Speaker
So there were scenes where they each got the same expository dialogue separately. Amazing. And it got to the point that viewers, they finally realized that viewers had noticed. So one of the last episodes that I watched ah in an opening scene Both of the characters were in the scene together, but whenever there was a wide shot of the entire team in whatever location they were in, one of them always had their back to the camera and it was obviously a body double.
00:23:09
Speaker
And they were only they would interact with each other in medium close-ups so that they were obviously not there at the same time. Beautiful. big po the The ultimate moment of not that, but of the meme is there was an episode where they had an SUV in the crime lab.
00:23:34
Speaker
And as they're checking it out, they see that there's a bomb on it and the bomb is ticking down. Right. So Caruso they They look at the bomb and they're like, oh, there's there's not enough time to call the bomb squad. Now, remember, they're in the crime lab, which is in the police headquarters, where one would brazil of miami where one would presume that the bomb squad is also headquartered.
00:24:07
Speaker
Like, probably just up a floor or two. Yeah. There's not enough time to call the bomb squad. But there is enough time for him to drive the SUV from you know downtown Miami out to the Everglades.
00:24:25
Speaker
and Where he he drives it out there. There's a close-up of him as he stops the SUV And he has his sunglasses on. I always called them the sunglasses of drama.
00:24:41
Speaker
yeah He has the sunglasses of drama on. He stops the SUV. He takes them off. He gets out and he slow walks away from it as the bomb explodes. And the entire reason he took his sunglasses off...
00:24:57
Speaker
as he got out of the SUV was so he could dramatically put them back on as it explodes and say, burn, baby, burn. Beautiful.
00:25:08
Speaker
Beautiful. And that is the moment that I said, I am done with this show. Getting back to the episode.
00:25:19
Speaker
Yes, that's your context, though. the The crew member under suspicion is Jakar Bomani, stated to have been working in the area where the explosion occurred all day beforehand.
00:25:32
Speaker
As far as I know, there's no CSI Miami connection with the name there, although that would have been funny. Yes. Yes. and Family members of the maintenance crew that were injured in the blast are protesting outside the de the Jedi Temple.
00:25:48
Speaker
protesters have hollow signs! Man, it sure would be cool if we knew what they said, but who's going to waste their time squinting at their laptop screen with their brightness turned all the way up frantically trying to pause at an angle where you can see the Aramash letters well enough to sit there and try to translate them, but mostly backwards because the signs are facing the opposite direction the majority of the time when they're actually legible.
00:26:06
Speaker
Alex Damon. So the triangle one says the Jedi are corrupt and the circle one says stop cloning violence. And you know what? I really got to hand it to them on that second one because that is some hella clever use of word choice like major props to whichever fictional organizer came up with that slogan. 10 out of 10. Definitely. but that a Space Soros was really working hard.
00:26:27
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, you you act like Alex Damon probably didn't do that too. Oh, he absolutely did. But I did it on my own too. But you know, in hindsight, it really would have been interesting to see things like this slowly growing throughout the Clone Wars series, showing that you-know-who was already starting to turn public sentiment against the Jedi.
00:26:50
Speaker
Agreed! It's at this point that Jakar's wife, Leta, is among the crowd and sees Anakin showing a picture of him to a fellow Jedi. She then pushes forwards, concerned, and says that she's looking for him.
00:27:04
Speaker
She doesn't believe that he would cause such destruction when asked by Anakin. Now this Jedi that he's showing the picture to is Jedi Master Syndra. Well, like one of the master duelists of the Jedi War at the time. And this is also the first time we see the Jedi Temple Guards for the first time on screen.
00:27:24
Speaker
They get the cool yellow lightsabers. And the masks. And the masks.
00:27:29
Speaker
And so Ahsoka and Russo do a whole Tony Stark-style holographic recreation and analysis of the explosion and crime scene. Okay, you can't tell me that's not also like something they would do on CSI Miami and probably, and actually i think did do in that stupid crime lab.
00:27:45
Speaker
this I don't know about CSI Miami, but probably on Bones, because the first couple episodes of Bones, the Angelatron had that whole holographic interface thing. Oh, that's true.
00:27:56
Speaker
Don't get me started, like, on the weird, like, there was an entire weird in the early 2000s, like, they took the idea like, zoom in and enhance, and it's like, every every single lab has, has like, 3D technology, like,
00:28:12
Speaker
No, they don't. not apple no they don't they're lucky They're lucky if they have a budget for, you know, printer paper. i was like, but no, none none of them have this.
00:28:24
Speaker
But yeah, it's very, this whole holographic recreation is very cool looking, but am I alone in thinking that this level of interactivity in the hologram kind of breaks the whole analog technology vibe of the galaxy far, far away?
00:28:43
Speaker
no you're right. does But also like, but couldn't we do this with Quinlan Vos? Yeah. If anyone should have detective vision, it's Quinlan. Yeah, but that means having to have Quimlin Vos.
00:28:55
Speaker
But he was off doing shit. I mean, I understand why we cake i don't say why you can't have Cal Kestis. He's off Word of Master of DePaul. Well, and he's not created yet.
00:29:09
Speaker
He's like a child. he's He's like a child right now. Yes, he is baby child. He is tiny baby. mean, he's still tiny baby when we get to the games, but... He's not tiny baby.
00:29:21
Speaker
He is tiny, but you can them.
00:29:26
Speaker
But and there's there's also the residue of the nanodroids that Russo finds on the fighter that exploded, which is also kind of like, we're we we have never really had nanotech before in Star Wars. That's more of a a Star Trek and now MCU thing. And we never will again.
00:29:47
Speaker
Is it dumb if I make a nanomachines joke here, or is that too played out? so I already did. it earlier this morning. Nanomachines, son. Nanomachines, son.
00:30:00
Speaker
Nanomachines, Ahsoka.
00:30:05
Speaker
They explode in response to physical trauma. yeah Fortunately, not emotional trauma, so we'll be fine this episode. ah Too real.
00:30:16
Speaker
um But yes, Russo begins analyzing hundreds of hours of footage at once for any indication of where Jakar disappeared to. Meanwhile, the council informs Anakin that the police may get involved as civilians were harmed and thus this is not just a Jedi matter.
00:30:35
Speaker
<unk> And... Yeah, yeah and like it like you were just saying, when he's updating the council, Anakin receives word that they have found Jakar.
00:30:46
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But when Anakin and Ahsoka arrive, they find the only remaining piece of Jakar, a hand. This is because... Where is he?
00:30:59
Speaker
Well, part of him is here. I don't think now is a good time to joke. This is all that remains of Jakar.
00:31:11
Speaker
His hand? The rest of him exploded. Because he was so close to the bomb? Because he was the bomb.
00:31:28
Speaker
I knew they'd cut through with one-liner for us. there Yeah, it was necessary. computer is that Someone set up, set Shakaar up the bomb. Now,
00:31:38
Speaker
the The other thing, too, in that line, i don't know if it any of you heard heard it, too, but when he says that Jakar exploded, it sounds like the line in Galaxy Quest when they use the the matter transference device to to beam the the pig creature up. He's it exploded.
00:32:05
Speaker
I didn't make that connection before, but now that you've said it, I can't unhear it. yeah yes oh You're welcome. Man, I need to see that movie again at some point. i haven't seen that in a while.
00:32:19
Speaker
I watched it just last year when um I took it to the Movie Defenders for my episode of Movie Defenders. Mm-hmm. Oh, I remember that. watch it again and then listen to our episode of Movie Defenders. There we go.
00:32:32
Speaker
Plug someone else's podcast while we're at it. Hey, we like the movie Defenders. You're welcome guys. I'm play again at the end of the show.
00:32:43
Speaker
But so with that, they go to visit Leta and Jakar's apartment. But on the way, they pass a peters a speeder truck with some Mandoa lettering on it. But who would sit there and translate? Yeah, says snack.
00:32:55
Speaker
And I know that means it's basically like a GFFA tasty cake truck or whatever. However, i was watching this episode specifically at 3 a.m. with a low grade fever and came up with an alternate explanation. I decided to translate into coherent human speech just to share with you guys.
00:33:11
Speaker
To sum it up, looks like someone has a message for hot Coruscant singles in their area. Someone please get me this lonely trucker's name, backstory, and Kenner action figure like yesterday. ah Beautiful.
00:33:24
Speaker
So yes, ultimately, they they do search the apartment quite a bit. Anakin finds some anti-clone propaganda, some sort of holographic image.
00:33:37
Speaker
And meanwhile, the they ultimately find nanodroids within their food. Soylent Green is nanodroids! Mm-hmm. Just then, Leta returns home, and our Jedi heroes have some questions for her.
00:33:53
Speaker
They scatter for the nanodroids, and the results are negative. They start to take her in for questioning, but she tries to escape. Mm-hmm. On the Tasty Cake truck!
00:34:04
Speaker
Aw, look, the lonely trucker did find a Coruscant single in their area. Somewhere there's a fanfic of the epic romance between a lonely long-haul space trucker who's ready to give up on love and the recently widowed political activist slash murderer on the run who stowed away in the back of the truck.
00:34:19
Speaker
You can run from the law, but you can't run from true love. Slow burn, hurt comfort, 35K, no betas, we die like Levis' husband. Mm-mm.
00:34:30
Speaker
and Like, okay, so I know she's guilty and I know the, you know, nobody said he was dead thing is supposed to be like this gotcha moment when they catch her. Like, you know, in the classic procedural crime drama or whatever. But just one more thing.
00:34:44
Speaker
oh there's one more thing, sir. Exactly. Ahsoka, like, literally told her verbatim they believe someone made Jakar the bomb. As in, you know, the thing that explodes.
00:34:55
Speaker
Right after Leto overheard Anakin himself talking about nanodroids and food, all as part of the investigation of a bombing that killed a bunch of people. Like, what? Is he she supposed to think that he got exploded but then just, like, got better somehow? Yeah.
00:35:08
Speaker
Also, side note, because this is like an important soapbox of mine. Running doesn't prove guilt. Yes, even when it's from the cops. Running only proves that someone did what all people are biologically hardwired to do from birth and engaged in one of the four panic responses to a high stress situation.
00:35:25
Speaker
Like I know we're riffing on CSI here, but the cops aren't supposed to lie on crime dramas. They only do that in real life.
00:35:32
Speaker
You know, while it's not a crime drama per se, Betsy, Let me introduce you to the opening of the promo for the fourth episode of Euphoria season three, if I may. I had a photo of you in Mexico, would you say wasn't you?
00:35:47
Speaker
I'd have to see the photo then. I don't have it. so it's a hypothetical. And they showed the picture. So can lie to me, but I can't lie to you. Correct. That seems fucked up.
00:36:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's it. That's what happens. ah Yeah, I just figured that you would you would appreciate that, you know, love Zendaya's delivery at the end of that.
00:36:15
Speaker
and And then we go into this scene. Master, I'm relieved we solved this case, but... What if it had been a Jedi? Yes.
00:36:25
Speaker
I don't know how I would have felt if a Jedi was really behind this. There are going to be Jedi who disappoint us, Ahsoka. But as long as we know they're a good Jedi who fight for what's right, it makes it all worthwhile.
00:36:41
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not having emotions about Anakin's dialogue here. Nope, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm so fine about it that I'm not going to word vomit any thoughts or feelings about it and extend my notes on the first episode to three pages instead just the current two of the quarter I have.
00:36:55
Speaker
By the way, this whole notes document is 26 pages. Yes, it certainly is. see as With Leta captured, the date does seem to be saved. However, Mace Windu notes that war is becoming less popular, which feels perhaps oddly meta for what was the last story arc at the time.
00:37:14
Speaker
just like oh that... That wasn't due to popularity, but we'll yeah we'll talk about that at the end. We'll talk about it at the I know it's not really because this because Star Wars was becoming less popular, but it's just like but that's ah now that line in this episode just ah feels correlated for some reason. It's kind it's kind of the Alanis Morissette version of ironic. Yep.
00:37:41
Speaker
Don't you think? Yeah. It's just a little too ironic? Yeah, I really do think. Sometimes I think, but I try not to. Yeah, it hurts. So you don't think it's like rain on a wedding day, etc.?
00:37:53
Speaker
No. No. Which apparently is lucky in some cultures. Beautiful.
00:38:01
Speaker
And that takes us into the next episode, The Jedi Who Knew Too Much, Season 5, Episode 18. Ahsoka finds herself running out of allies and alternatives.
00:38:13
Speaker
And we open on a funeral for the Jedi who were killed in the bombing. And points to Filoni et al. for continuity on the funeral scene, because it looks just like it did during Obi's funeral, like, you know, during the Hardeen arc, which is another series of episodes I am so emotionally fine and super normal about. Don't worry about it.
00:38:32
Speaker
Meanwhile, Alfie is here at Ahsoka's side, mourning the loss of a friend. It's been a while since we last saw her.
00:38:41
Speaker
It has. It has. Yeah. And lead has been turned over to the Republic to quote Tarkin. An attack against the Jedi is an attack against the Republic.
00:38:53
Speaker
That sure doesn't have weird or horrifying implications about the two being interchangeable and so connected that they can't really be seen as distinct from each other and therefore are dependent on each other. And you know Jedi is under the Republic's purview, even though it's kind of supposed to be a separate entity.
00:39:08
Speaker
But what do I know? oh ah well What do we know? only If only there was a series that came out that during the height of the Jedi's power to explain playing this unique...
00:39:22
Speaker
any situation where the Jedi would be considered suspect of the of the Senate and perhaps that could have been interesting. a like time Sorry, I to stop.
00:39:35
Speaker
Lucasfilm, if you're listening, give us a High Republic animated series when Maul's Shadowlord is done, or sooner, you cowards. Or like... ah Live action or animated All right. Get animated so that they can go nuts with the visuals. That is true. As much as I would want to see those fancy costumes in live action.
00:39:56
Speaker
Yes. Again. You mean Jacinto without his shirt again. Yes. Well, that too. But mostly how cool the robes look.
00:40:08
Speaker
yeah yeah Those robes are cool. Those robes are sick. Yeah. Yes. But Anakin says this to Ahsoka. Remember, revenge is not the Jedi way. And that is that is a multi-layered reference right here.
00:40:21
Speaker
So first, to the whole Anakin of it all. Just enough said said. Because the women and the children...
00:40:32
Speaker
They were animals and I slaughtered them like animals. But also to the original title of Return of the Jedi being Revenge of the Jedi.
00:40:43
Speaker
But at the same time, Paramount was making what was then titled Star Trek too The Vengeance of Khan, that would have hit theaters a year earlier. And so to avoid similarities in titles from ostensibly competing sci-fi franchises, Lucas changed the title to Return of the Jedi, saying that, well, revenge wasn't really something a Jedi would seek.
00:41:10
Speaker
And then the other movie, of course, ended up being retitled The Wrath of Khan anyway. So they they wouldn't have been similar titles anyway, but, you know you know, Given Filoni's relationship to Lucas, you almost have to think that that revenge is not the Jedi way line is an intentional callback to that whole thing.
00:41:30
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:41:33
Speaker
Again, it's like poetry. It's sort of, they rhyme. Exactly. And so Tarkin says that the Chancellor wants to remove the Jedi from as many military functions as possible. And we see a little bit of the cross purposes that the Order finds itself at.
00:41:48
Speaker
While Tarkin correctly notes that the Jedi say that they're peacekeepers and not soldiers, Ahsoka bristles at the idea of the Jedi being taken out of military matters. So the child soldier has maybe learned her lessons a little too well?
00:42:06
Speaker
Foreshadowing is a literary device. hey hey But regardless, Anakin is over here once again sucking up to and sucking off Tarkin. He's not gonna fuck you, dude. Just move on.
00:42:19
Speaker
But on the bright side, at least Annie shifts Bear Ahsoka, even if, you know, he probably only tells Ahsoka to go after Bear so he and Tarkin can be alone in the turbo lift.
00:42:29
Speaker
Company? Sure. Every time I think about this, I feel conflicted. It's hard not to let feelings turn into attachment and pain. Ahsoka, have you ever wondered if it was right to ignore your emotions?
00:42:45
Speaker
My master would say our struggle as Jedi is to move past them. You make it sound so easy? No. It isn't easy, but it's possible. Like when we were stuck inside the battle tank on Geonosis, it was hard not to be afraid.
00:43:00
Speaker
Still, you and I got past it. And I guess we'll get past this. You've always been capable of seeing things clearly. I guess I fooled you like I have everyone else.
00:43:13
Speaker
And this started so many different... This is the literal starting of so many fanfixings. Oh, please. The fanfics were already there. They were there long before this episode happened.
00:43:27
Speaker
yeah I know, I was there. They were there from the brain worm, Sark. Exactly. I was there, Gandalf. I was there, however many years ago that was at this point. So, how many of those did you write, Betsy? You will never know, because the current pseudonym I use on AO3 is not the one that I used in the past.
00:43:47
Speaker
So you're saying we can find you find your AO3? Good luck with that. And the question is, which one? ah Because there's one that I would actually be much more okay with people finding. There's another one that will never see the light of day.
00:44:05
Speaker
Don't worry about it. That's the same thing with my fanfixing.net account. Hopefully no one will find that. I don't know if mine even still exists anymore. Anyway, sorry. Back to what we were talking about with Star Wars. to WalloBetsyText. Yes.
00:44:22
Speaker
This is not even the first Shakespeare reference I'm going to make this episode, but my kingdom for someone to put just one fucking therapist in space for these idiots. Oh my God.
00:44:33
Speaker
Like, Ahsoka starts off so strong just acknowledging that it sucks to deal with uncomfortable emotions, and it can be hard not to let them fester and consume you. Because yeah, it does, and yeah, it is. Which is why talking about and processing those emotions is so important.
00:44:48
Speaker
Like, in a kinder universe, Varys would've accepted Ahsoka's opening to talk about their mutual emotional struggles, and they could've worked through the hard shit together and gone on to live happily ever after. But no, instead she meets Ahsoka's bid for emotional intiy emotional intimacy and support with a pointed question that she doesn't actually want an answer to because her intent is only to plant doubt in Ahsoka, not actually question the Order's dogma.
00:45:11
Speaker
Like, don't get me wrong, it's a good fucking question. It just also, like, preempts any actual meaningful conversation by changing the subject, and it kind of immediately puts Ahsoka on the defensive, particularly with her phrasing of the question, like...
00:45:25
Speaker
I have to believe her your her word choice there was very intentional. Varys doesn't ask if dealing with emotions the Jedi way, TMCR, is right. She asks if Ahsoka personally thinks it's right to ignore her own individual emotions.
00:45:40
Speaker
Like, she poses that to question, but there's still, like, an undercurrent of accusation that dams Ahsoka no matter which way she answers. Because, like, if Ahsoka says yes, then she openly admits to questioning or outright disagreeing with the things they've both been taught from the Cree and, you know, in the process admits her descent to fundamental Jedi teachings. But if Ahsoka says no, then she has to morally justify. Varys already knows she disagrees with, but isn't in a place where she can actually, like, you know, start processing how she feels.
00:46:06
Speaker
But Ahsoka does her best to deflect without actually committing to an answer, but you know of course she has to do it in the most heartbreaking way possible by directly quoting Anakin fucking Skywalker about how to handle emotions the Jedi way.
00:46:19
Speaker
Okay, i know I said one therapist earlier, but fuck that. This is a Skywalker situation. We're gonna need, like, an army of mental health professionals. Like, I cannot put into words how much it hurts to be that I know Ahsoka is verbatim quoting Anakin here. Because Anakin is the first one to throw, like, the rules and proper methods and whatever the fuck he's supposed to do directly out the window. Even with Ahsoka's training... Except when it comes to the Jedi Code, despite it being the thing he disagrees with above all else. Because like his master before him, Anakin lives in eternal fear of not being good enough and being found out for who and what he actually is, so he vehemently preaches the thing he cannot practice because it's the only way he can come up with to shield himself from scrutiny as Ahsoka's master, and in turn shield Ahsoka from himself.
00:47:03
Speaker
Because that's the other thing. It's not just about self-preservation or ego or whatever else on his part. It's also like this deep-seated fear he's internalized that his moral failings as a Jedi will infect Ahsoka she'll become tainted by the darker parts of him.
00:47:16
Speaker
Hmm, why does that sound so familiar? Again, it's like poetry. It's sort of, they rhyme. Also someone who's been listening to this whole series might remember when I went off about cycles of abuse while talking about Ventress. Well what do you know it works the same way with emotional neglect.
00:47:31
Speaker
Truly an all time favor for the disaster lineage. Like Anakin is doing to Ahsoka exactly what Obi-Wan did to him. and what Qui-Gon did to Obi-Wan and so on. Like there is a long history here of children learning to understand their emotions from adults who never actually learned how to do that themselves because the adults they learned from had no idea either. it's just like this endless chain of people parroting all the approved platitudes at the next generation because that's the only thing they know how to do. So no one ever learns anything and everyone is a dysregulated mess all the fucking time.
00:48:00
Speaker
And then Ahsoka breaks whatever's left in my heart with her casual. Looks like I fooled everyone into thinking I'm emotionally mature and well-adjusted. Because, yes, she has, but also, fuck if that's not, like, a last-ditch cry for help right there.
00:48:13
Speaker
Did you hear her, Barriss? She is trying to tell you she's struggling and needs support, and that she knows you're struggling and wants to support you, too. And why am I yelling at teenagers? Where in the fuck is the adult in this situation? Because I know Luminara's around here somewhere.
00:48:25
Speaker
Yes, she's also the only adult I would consider in this situation. and like I know I sit here yelling just talk to each other every goddamn episode, but I only do it because it keeps not happening. And I deal with the pain of dramatic irony by yelling at the characters as I rotate them in my brain at warp speed. You know, like a sane person.
00:48:42
Speaker
Totally sane. Perfectly sane. Very much so. very very Just ask my therapist. Or my psychiatrist. Or, you know, the entire pharmacy worth of medications that I keep on me at all times. Oh, i i just I just talk talked to ah different versions of myself that I imagine are real, and sometimes it looks like a frog. Oh, I do that too.
00:49:02
Speaker
one of the One of your alternates looks like a frog? Cool. Nick, does one of your alternates look like a squirrel? No, that's his sleep paralysis demon. Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
00:49:14
Speaker
So Letta requests to speak to Ahsoka. Tarka is just like, I need to interrupt your important strategy meeting for a super normal request. The grown adult suspect in the temple bombing says she won't talk to anyone except a 16-year-old girl.
00:49:29
Speaker
I see nothing wrong with this and think it's a totally fine and normal thing for someone to do. I request that this literal child come to the prison to speak with a suspected murderer completely alone without any of the adults responsible for her care. Not even the one I can kind of tolerate.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, this is fine. But we do get to see the the Republic military installation. And we get to meet everyone's favorite clone commander, Commander Fox. commander Oh, I have things to say later. Of the Coruscant Guard.
00:50:01
Speaker
So Ahsoka goes. She goes through security, has to turn in her Kamlik and lightsabers, and is let in to talk to Letta.
00:50:13
Speaker
What do you want, Leta? was told if I ever needed help, you were the Jedi to contact.
00:50:23
Speaker
Give us a minute, please.
00:50:29
Speaker
You don't have much time, Leta. So I suggest you get whatever you have to say off your chest.
00:50:36
Speaker
The idea of feeding Jakar the nanodroids was not mine. Why are you saying this now? Why didn't you reveal this before? Because my life is in danger. The person behind this will be able to get to me unless you know the truth.
00:50:51
Speaker
What's the truth? A Jedi. A Jedi showed me how to create the bomb and how to put the nanodroids in. Why would a Jedi do this? There are some citizens of the Republic, like myself, who believe the Jedi Order is not what it used to be.
00:51:07
Speaker
The Jedi have become warmongers. They've become military weapons. And they're killing when they should be keeping the peace. One of these Jedi agreed with us. One of you wanted to make a statement and was willing to attack your own order to do it.
00:51:24
Speaker
Who? If you protect me, I will tell you. Because it is obvious to me that I have been set up. Letta, you have to tell me who is behind this.
00:51:37
Speaker
It's... Letta! Letta! Letta! And so Letta floats up in the air and is choked. Like a forced choke.
00:51:48
Speaker
And Commander Fox arrests Ahsoka for her murder. Yeah, you know how I talk about the clones being my sons? That does not include Fox. Yeah, I think you mentioned it. Yeah, that does not include Fox.
00:52:00
Speaker
Mm-mm, mm-mm. I know he was just doing his job because we all know good soldiers follow orders and literally none of that excuses or justifies his behavior at any point. oh we'll get there. You just wait.
00:52:12
Speaker
I'm where I'm like beyond c incredibly biased here. Like, you know, putting my own upset about ah him arresting my daughter and also things that haven't happened yet chronologically, but will happen soon. But like, there are some larger implications here that I just cannot look past.
00:52:25
Speaker
Like, yeah Let's just talk about the Coruscant Guard, because the Coruscant Guard were the only group of clones in the G.A.R. outside of, you know, like the little spec ops type groups that didn't have a Jedi General associated with them and were instead directly overseen by DHS. I mean, Homeworld Security Council, not the Department of Homeland Security. I don't know what I'm talking about. Slip of the tongue. No real world implications to think about here.
00:52:49
Speaker
They also had pretty much a blank check to arrest whoever for whatever reason and to commandeer whatever resources they needed at any time, courtesy of Palpatine himself. Oh, speaking of Papa Palpatine, guess who he had replaced the Senate Guard?
00:53:03
Speaker
Yeah, that included having the Coruscant Guard escort senators and diplomats anytime they went off-world, but only for protection and definitely not to be Palpatine's eyes and ears in case anyone was getting any ideas.
00:53:15
Speaker
They were also the only military force that focused specifically on domestic policing and law enforcement. Like, sure, of course, I already had fe police, but these ones get to carry bigger guns and send random citizens to GFFA superbacks with no explanation and can do whatever they want to whoever they want without fear of the horrible punishment of, like, you know, paid administrative leave.
00:53:37
Speaker
And, you know, everything about how they operate, to me, is just so indicative of Palpatine's steady power creep as he consolidates more and more power into his hands alone with firepower literally in-house to back him up.
00:53:49
Speaker
Even if, you know, only for the Hollow Hoarders. Like, you can draw this direct line from the creation of the Coruscant Guard to the very inception of the Empire Stormtroopers. And no, seriously, I mean it, the Coruscant Guard were the first ones to ever be referred to as Stormtroopers because the public started calling them that before the storm Stormtrooper program, like, even existed on paper.
00:54:08
Speaker
Yeah, so why am I yelling about a group of people with military hardware who were who answered to a single authority and could act with the punity of any laws or sentient rights violations? Well, i'm sure there's a way most people listening to this could figure that out.
00:54:20
Speaker
You know, they could just probably go outside or just look and hear what's going out there, and that'd probably give you a good idea. Again, it's like poetry, so if they rhyme. Unfortunately. Unfortunately.
00:54:33
Speaker
I'm fine. Yep. I'm fine. Yep. We're fine. Here. How are you? Exactly. so a hollow recording with no sound certainly looks like Ahsoka was force choking Letta.
00:54:49
Speaker
More aggressively doing jazz hands at her. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. These aren't spirit fingers. These are spirit fingers.
00:54:59
Speaker
I want you to know I am, in fact, doing spirit fingers right now. Yeah. I am committing to the bit. But Tarkin walks into cell and grabs Ahsoka by the face and I'm just sitting here like, Will of Tarkin, you get your fucking hands off the underage girl immediately. Is this the first time he's done that technically because he does the same maneuver to Leia? Exactly. There's a history there. You see why I'm upset. Why do we keep letting him near underage girls?
00:55:29
Speaker
I mean, Leia was 19, but still. That's still like a baby as far as I'm concerned. There's a Tarkin who is ancient.
00:55:38
Speaker
I mean, you know, TK-421 kind of liked him. Yeah, TK-421 consented. This is true. This is true. So Anakin tries to see Ahsoka, but Fox won't let him.
00:55:52
Speaker
Tarkin's orders. It's a military matter, so under his jurisdiction. But then a mysterious key card is left outside Ahsoka's cell, and she immediately concludes that Anakin did it, which, you know fair.
00:56:11
Speaker
That's totally fair. That is on brand. ane can Yes, it's totally on brand for Anakin. I learned if I'm watching you match this. And so she uses the force to lift the card, unlock her cell, and as she's escaping, she wonders, okay, boy, oh boy, I wonder what sort of chaos Anakin has planned.
00:56:33
Speaker
So out of her cell, she finds clone troopers lying on the floor, along with her lightsabers and comm link. And then she's discovered by Fox.
00:56:46
Speaker
Oh yeah, I was talking about why Fox will never be one of my sons earlier. Look who started firing kill shots at the literal child without even bothering to ask questions. And we know those were kill shots because stun blasts in the Clone Wars look like circles. And those were not fucking circles.
00:57:01
Speaker
Like, I cannot emphasize this enough. Ahsoka Tano is 16 years old when all of this happens. She is a child. I mean, I guess this is kind of like a dead-dead situation because since when have law enforcement or the military ever cared about straight-up murdering kids? But we're just going to say the quiet part out loud on a cartoon for kids because Fox very much does say the quiet part out loud right after in order shoot to kill.
00:57:22
Speaker
You know, like a normal person.
00:57:26
Speaker
And now there are three dead clones on the floor. And it looks to me like they were decapitated, shown in as much slash little detail as we can on, again, a kids show.
00:57:39
Speaker
And Anakin and Rex show up. And Anakin calls out to Ahsoka and says that he believes her when she says she's being set up. But smart girl that she is, she says that no one else will.
00:57:55
Speaker
and To give some benefit to your son, and Betty, Rex does say she wouldn't do this.
00:58:07
Speaker
Yep. You know, just don't mind me. I'm just over here having feelings about Rex having to give the order to hunt down Ahsoka, but like struggling to even get the words out because he's emotional about it. And then I'm having more emotions about Kevin Kiner coming in with the dramatic rendition of Ahsoka's theme.
00:58:22
Speaker
And then also more feelings about Anakin desperately begging them for desperately begging for them to take Ahsoka alive. It's fine. Don't worry, Fox is on this. Right. Yes. Like he will be on something else in the future.
00:58:35
Speaker
Yes. No, I'm not still angry and bitter and upset about that. Ahsoka, what are you doing? Sorry, i i I triggered it before you were done talking, so let me start that again. Ahsoka,
00:58:48
Speaker
what are you doing? You didn't even try to come and help me. They wouldn't let me in to talk to you. You could have if you tried. How would that look, Ahsoka? Forcing my way in would have made you look even more guilty.
00:59:02
Speaker
I'm not guilty! Then we have to prove you're innocent. The only way we can do that is by going back. I don't know who to trust. Listen, I would never let anyone hurt you, Azora.
00:59:14
Speaker
Never. But you need to come back make your case to the council. No, I'm not going to take the fall for something I didn't do. I am ordering you to put down your lightsaber and come with me, now!
00:59:28
Speaker
You can trust me.
00:59:33
Speaker
I do trust you, but you know as well as I do that no one else will believe me.
00:59:43
Speaker
Anakin, you have to trust me now. Ahsoka, I do trust you. I know you do. Wish me luck.
00:59:53
Speaker
No, wait. I have to actually interject here. it's like I'm surprised that you didn't call it out. This is a direct... complete one-to-one recreation to the iconic scene from The Fugitive, the movie The Fugitive, with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.
01:00:16
Speaker
Yeah, it was, wasn't it? It is, like, one-to-one. Storm drain, individual confronting the other, lightning, rain.
01:00:26
Speaker
It's been so long since I've seen that movie. like I'm just surprised that you didn't call god that. In fact, I anticipated you to call that, so that that surprised me. this one is It is a direct one-to-one lighting and everything.
01:00:42
Speaker
Even even the the fact that the character who is in the fugitive, the character is accused of a crime that did not commit, and they are fleeing fleeing from the law in order to escape to explain to those who have not seen the fugitive but there but there's a major difference in that when harrison ford's richard kimball says that tommy lee jones is like yeah or so you know when harrison ford says i didn't kill my wife tommy lee jones response i don't care
01:01:18
Speaker
this is true it it is a though an homage not a direct recreation and but it does end with that's both of those secrets and with the quote-unquote fugitive character leaping to their apparent doom
01:01:38
Speaker
from it from a drain pipe yep uh sorry to interrupt you uh you you may you may have the floor Oh, are we done talking about references? Because I know I usually do them, but right now I don't care because of everything that just happened. Like, ah nobody look at me. Nobody touch me. I am not okay right now.
01:01:56
Speaker
Just fuck. Where do I even start with this? Okay, Anakin, I'll start there. So once again, my heart is breaking into a million tiny pieces, listening to him to be li he to beg for Ahsoka to come back to him, to trust him, to not leave him like so many others have. Like, Anakin truly loves and cares about Ahsoka and sees her as family. So her choosing to flee despite his pleas to return feel like rejection and abandonment. Like, she doesn't trust him enough to see her through the other side of this.
01:02:24
Speaker
Like, what's more, it makes him feel powerless. Like... That's one of the worst things for him. He can't stop her from running away any more than he could stop the counselor or the G.I.R. from declaring her guilty and censing her however the fuck they like.
01:02:36
Speaker
I mean, fuck, you couldn't even get Fox to let him inside the prison to see Ahsoka, so how the hell is he gonna protect her from the people who've already made up their minds about her guilt? He can't. And he knows he can't. But he also refuses to let himself acknowledge that reality because that means acknowledging his total loss of control.
01:02:52
Speaker
Like, Anakin is standing in a sewer, staring down his two greatest fears, and they stare right back at him through Ahsoka. And I'm not okay about it. Ahsoka feels like, you know, much the same about betrayal and abandonment that he does. Like, ugh, I can't.
01:03:08
Speaker
Like the Jedi, the clones, the Republic, all the communities and institutions she grew up trusting and believing truly cared about her best interests just abandoned her to rot in a cell without even trying to listen to her side of the story.
01:03:20
Speaker
She knew she'd been made a scapegoat, but she had no chance of justice prevailing because those in power didn't care about finding the actual bomber. They just needed someone to blame. And yet here comes Anakin, the first person to buck the rules at any given opportunity, begging her to turn herself in and trust the very system that betrayed her.
01:03:38
Speaker
Like, honestly, I think that's a big part of what makes up Ahsoka's mind. The one person she knows she can trust and that she knows cares about her is begging her to throw herself upon the mercy of someone like Tarkin and doesn't even acknowledge how that's one of the most hypocritical things to ever come out of his mouth.
01:03:53
Speaker
There's just so much pain in her voice when she refuses because she truly does want to go with him. But no matter how much she might trust Anakin himself, she knows she can't count on him to protect her from what he doesn't even see as a danger in the first place.
01:04:06
Speaker
Like, I think at this moment, she's finally getting a good look at one of Anakin's biggest blind spots, the people he's loyal to. Anakin is willing to overlook a lot when it comes to the people he likes and all the hell being visited upon Ahsoka is coming from Tarkin, a man he professionally respects, and from Palpatine, who is, you know, well, Palpatine.
01:04:26
Speaker
Anakin trusts the system just in this specific case because he believes its arbiters will act in his and therefore Ahsoka's favor. Ahsoka, though, isn't so blind because if any of that were true, neither of them would be standing in a sewer pleading with the other to trust them. And when Ahsoka's pleas- or when Anakin's pleas turned into command, she knows she won't get through to him.
01:04:45
Speaker
Just like Tarkin and Fox, Anakin has already made up his mind about what's going on and how things should go. And he refuses to hear what Ahsoka has to say, not even when she calls him by his first name.
01:04:59
Speaker
I'm good. I'm fine. Okay. I'm done. Yeah. All right. And that ends that episode and takes us into to catch a Jedi season five, episode 19, the fugitive Ahsoka escapes to Coruscant.
01:05:17
Speaker
So Tarkin spells out the Republic's belief that belief to the Jedi council, Ahsoka mind tricked Fox into letting her into the prison, killed Letta, and, And is now charged with killing five guards in her escape. Now, let's back up here a second.
01:05:35
Speaker
As I recall, the first guards that we saw were shown to be moving and still alive. And there were three guards in the body. So all are three dead guards in the hall. So we now know that they're they're ramping up the charges against her.
01:05:52
Speaker
Or two of them were killed with friendly fire while they were trying to murder a child. There's also that possibility. i mean that's Either way. They were you they were using shots, including that one. they No, they were not, because those were not circles I checked.
01:06:09
Speaker
Yep. what about this What about the stun rocket launcher? no Nope, those were kill shots. what What about the stun... the stun, you know, nuke. I don't know. So, Fox was firing deadly bolts, but throughout most the- And he told everyone else to as well. But throughout most of the chase sequence, it was the circular stun shots. Only because Anakin told them not to shoot to kill.
01:06:35
Speaker
Yes. yeah but that's That's where the discrepancy is happening here. that Both types of shots were fired during the totality of the chase sequence. Including the stun rocket launcher.
01:06:47
Speaker
Either way, a we know that Ahsoka didn't kill any of them at all. B, we specifically, we clearly saw three dead guards. And I think the dialogue even called it out.
01:07:04
Speaker
Yes, three. And now she's being charged with killing five. They're rounding up. So it's like the Kessel Run. Yes.
01:07:16
Speaker
So the council thinks, even thinks that Ahsoka might be guilty, but Anakin disagrees. And so Anakin and Plo Koon are tasked with finding her.
01:07:27
Speaker
And there is some conflict about whether or not Anakin should participate in the search, but they ultimately trust him with this.
01:07:36
Speaker
Skywalker, was there no way to stop your Padua before she escaped? No, Master Mundi. The Council believes that Ahsoka may be guilty of the crime.
01:07:48
Speaker
Still believe they are wrong, do you? I believe she didn't kill the clone troopers or the woman who used the nano droids to blow up the temple. That's why she's running. To prove her innocence.
01:08:00
Speaker
Now she's in the lower depths. With her skills, she will be hard to find. Two teams we will send. Master Skywalker and Master Plo Kuu. With clones, you will go.
01:08:12
Speaker
I think it would be best if Skywalker stayed here. Having you involved may actually make things worse. Master Windu, with all due respect, she is my Padawan.
01:08:26
Speaker
The reason for you not to go. I think we're being foolish if we take Anakin off this mission. Who knows her better? He's emotionally tied to her. Probably too emotional to do what needs to be done. I'd rather capture Ahsoka and find out the truth than let her run because of a lie.
01:08:42
Speaker
You must prove to us that you will stay focused. Can you? I've already alerted security on the lower levels to be on the lookout for Ahsoka.
01:08:53
Speaker
Go swiftly then, Skywalker, and bring back this lost child before it is too late. Yes, Master. It's a long clip but I need the whole thing so I can talk about all the parts I want to talk about because there's a fucking lot to unpack here.
01:09:10
Speaker
Like for starters, Yoda just bluntly states that the council thinks Ahsoka is guilty. Sorry, I mean MAY be guilty. With the word MAY doing a lot of heavy lifting. Again, not enough to obfuscate the truth of the matter.
01:09:22
Speaker
The council has already made up its mind about Ahsoka too. The only two willing to stand up for Ahsoka at all are Obi-Wan and Plo, but they are just two voices among the many that make up the council as a whole like governing body.
01:09:35
Speaker
And they're also the two least likely to get much say regardless because of their personal ties to Ahsoka. like I think this scene right here perfectly illustrates why Ahsoka chose to run. Why she says it was the only choice she had. Even if people in the highest positions of power are on her side, they don't have the ability to sway the actual structure that determined her guilt before her escape even happened.
01:09:58
Speaker
Like, then segue into Yoda deciding to choose the violence disguised as pragmatism, or maybe even some level of kindness, and assign Plo and Anakin to capture Ahsoka and bring her back. Because, you know, who better to bring a criminal to justice than her older mother and her dad?
01:10:13
Speaker
Like, all we're missing is her grandmaster slash uncle, but since he's off-world, we have to settle for a quick word from his hologram form. But, you know, it's just the way this whole thing is set up, no one is coming back in one piece, or at least their relationships won't.
01:10:28
Speaker
Yoda calls it a test, but i don't know how worthwhile such a test would even be since Anakin and Ahsoka and Obi-Wan and Plo were set up to fail from the start because a Jedi choosing ideals over personal attachments I think means little when the right answer pushes everyone involved even closer to the dark.
01:10:45
Speaker
And then just the last, like, most important thing I really need to talk about are Anakin's reactions. like I don't think we've ever seen Anakin this calm and measured and regulated before the council. Like, ever.
01:10:57
Speaker
it's For one of the few times in his life, Anakin seems to be like considering his words and his reactions and trying to choose his behavior carefully so Mace will allow him to go after Ahsoka. Anakin is literally out here trying to negotiate, which I didn't think he even knew what that word meant. And when the approval of Mace fucking window of all people, you know, Anakin's most favorite person in the whole world,
01:11:18
Speaker
All because Ahsoka is that important to him. No, I'm not over here getting emotional about my defense. don't know what you're talking about. It's okay. I'm fine. I'm going to say that lot. He knows about aggressive negotiations. He taught Padme that during their... During when they were dating.
01:11:38
Speaker
that That one very long week. That like three days that they were dating? Yeah. With the sand? don't like sand. Of course, rough, irritating.
01:11:50
Speaker
oh but dar During the start start of the major galactic conference, he said, like, you call this negotiations? No, I call this aggressive negotiations. No, we we know. We know.
01:12:03
Speaker
<unk>re We're just talking about how quick their courtship went. and yeah once Once he genocided the Tuskens, that's when you know she was all in. Yeah, not with a bondage dress.
01:12:16
Speaker
But also they had to wait until they were married because George Lucas didn't want premarital sex. Oh, of course, of course. No, seriously, that's it. Mm-hmm. Yes. Next, we see Ahsoka in the depths.
01:12:29
Speaker
She contacts Barris to see if she can figure out anything that's going on before destroying her communicator and getting a new cloak to disguise herself. And can I just say an aside here?
01:12:42
Speaker
kit Can we go back to cloaks and capes being fashionable? We should. Yeah, we should. Please? It's like, i was here incidentd enough can we can we we take fedoras for for from the neckbeards?
01:13:00
Speaker
Good luck with that. Well, then again, they never really had fedoras. They had trilbies that they called fedoras, but that's a whole other thing. True, true. And trench coats. Now, quizz really so coincidentally enough, though, a few years ago, Ashley Eckstein's own Her Universe slash Our Universe, around the time Solo came out, offered a Lando cape.
01:13:27
Speaker
I know, I saw it. o And... It went on clearance and I was going to buy it and they were out of my size. They always fucking are. Every time I look at the website, the stuff I want isn't available in my size.
01:13:40
Speaker
I know, right? But, you know, I want a cape. Can't you make us capes?
01:13:48
Speaker
I mean, i can make you capes, but not a licensed cape. But... Also, the stuff that I usually want has, like, specific print fabric.
01:13:59
Speaker
yeah yeah I don't have a screen printer. Anyway. With pockets? That'd be cool. if Yeah, that doesn't help me get the fabric. Nick can buy you the fabric.
01:14:12
Speaker
Wear if it's not available for retail. Not the print fabric that you're talking i'm just talking about fabric in general. to make yeah yeah I want the print stuff because that's what's important about it. That's why I want to buy it in the first place.
01:14:25
Speaker
but It's pretty. I love Vicky. Ahsoka is spotted by security on a train, but she gets away and winds up in a falling elevator.
01:14:36
Speaker
Yeah, thanks to Coruscant Security Force who just start firing blasters at a turbolift, they don't even bother to check for other passengers. Because why not kill two kids with one blaster bolt?
01:14:47
Speaker
No, seriously, there's a tiny twilight child in there that they nearly send plummeting to their death tower of hairstyles. And she goes full Anakin trying to get out, starting to cut a hole in the roof and everything, because that's Anakin's go-to.
01:15:00
Speaker
And, I mean, we we see it again later in Revenge of the Sith. Again, it's like poetry, so they rhyme. But as she's starting to cut the hole in the roof, the Twilight Kid just, you know presses the emergency stop.
01:15:18
Speaker
It's like, oh, yeah. There's a button there. I don't have to use my Jedi training, which also my Jedi training did not teach me to use. That was a Jedi training. That was Skywalker training, and you know it.
01:15:33
Speaker
to To be fair, though, this may be the only instance that I can ever recall in now hundreds upon hundreds of hours of Star Wars media where there was actually anything you know, like, true safety related. I mean, handrails don't exist. Osho doesn't exist. Yeah. And this is in lower level Coruscant, so that's even weirder.
01:16:00
Speaker
Yeah, they don't have shit down there.
01:16:05
Speaker
But a shadowy figure follows Ahsoka and then subdues her. And what do you know? It's Ventress. You think you're just gonna hand me over?
01:16:16
Speaker
And then what? Get pat on the shoulder? You're a separatist war criminal and a Sith. They'll have us both in prison before you said your name. I don't have to hand you over to the Jedi.
01:16:26
Speaker
I can hand you over to the bondsman and still get paid. I'm gonna get my money whether you're dead or alive. Good luck. Despite what you hear, I'm still a Jedi.
01:16:38
Speaker
I'm afraid the other Jedi no longer see it that way. I hate to admit it, but you're right. That's why I'm going to need your help. In what star system do you think I would ever help you?
01:16:54
Speaker
A traitorous Jedi tried to blow up the Jedi Temple and has framed me for that and other killings. So the Jedi aren't that holy after all. I know Dooku tried to have you killed.
01:17:07
Speaker
I know betrayed you. What if this is his new apprentice? fallen from my path just as you've fallen from yours. have a lot more common than you think.
01:17:18
Speaker
What can you offer me that's better than money? If you help me, I'll speak to the Council and the Senate on your behalf. I'll get you a full pardon for your crimes.
01:17:30
Speaker
You have my attention. But I'm going to go where the tide flows. If the tide is flowing against you, don't think I'll forget about the bounty on your head.
01:17:42
Speaker
Fair enough. suggest we find somewhere else to discuss this. Okay, so strap the fuck in because I got shit to say about this.
01:17:54
Speaker
Oh, wow, you do. I sure fucking do. so First and foremost. Put that but <unk>d strap in, hands and hands and feet inside the cart at all.
01:18:06
Speaker
If you need to, pause us, take a break. Yeah, this would be where you would want to take it for now. It's it's time. now You're going probably need more later. It just gets worse. oh oh my god where did my thing go there it is wait no i missed it again sorry i keep scrolling oh there it is thank you daryl or lauren or whoever that was okay so first and foremost the choice to have ventures show up as the unlikely slash reluctant ally is just perfect beyond words like i mentioned it earlier but this is where me yelling about i'm
01:18:44
Speaker
like however many episodes ago about French's characterization, everything we learn about her backstory comes home to roost big fucking way because we see her past intersect with Ahsoka's present.
Ahsoka and Ventress: Parallels and Struggles
01:18:54
Speaker
But, you know, back to the current scene, we've seen Ahsoka and Ventress go back and forth before. Hairless Harpy, anyone? That was one of my favorites.
01:19:01
Speaker
But to me, this scene reads as them, like, trying and failing to fall back into past rhythms in an attempt to maintain some amount of normalcy that just no longer exists. And for a minute, it kind of works, and then Ventress just casually addresses the banth in the room and calls out that no matter how Ahsoka sees herself, the Jedi as an institution no longer see her as one of them.
01:19:22
Speaker
And Ahsoka just like immediately acquiesces. She doesn't disagree with Ventress try to convince her that she's wrong, that she's still part of the order itself. She just drops all pretenses and no agrees with the level of casualness that suggests she doesn't have the energy to push back anymore.
01:19:36
Speaker
And speaking of Ahsoka, because my beautiful daughter got the majority of the disaster lineage's emotional intelligence, she immediately draws the connections between Ventress' experiences and her own.
01:19:48
Speaker
I found Ahsoka's phrasing of that connection really interesting, though, too, that both of them have fallen from their paths. Like there's a level of blame and internalized failure in that language. Like if they'd made different choices, they wouldn't have fallen in the first place. But at the same time, I think it might also be like an attempt to maintain some sense of agency.
01:20:06
Speaker
Because the thing is that like, I don't think either of them fell from anything. i think they were pushed by the ones in power. For Ahsoka, that's the GAR r and the council and whoever set her up. While for Ventress, that's Dooku, Talzin and Palpatine, even if you know she's not 100% aware of that last one.
01:20:23
Speaker
But like that lack of agency or control is a harder truth to sit with that nothing either of them did would have meaningfully changed the outcome because they can't control the actions of others despite still taking the blame and facing the fallout.
01:20:36
Speaker
and Like, what's more, if we zoom out and kind of look at everything in a meta sense, both Ventress and Ahsoka are pawns of the same scheme, led by the same ouse asshole. Palpatine ordered Dooku to axe Ventress because she outlived her usefulness to him.
01:20:49
Speaker
He had everything he needed with Dooku and Grievous and, you know, his soon-to-be apprentice, so an extra assassin was just dead weight and a liability. She was a pawn sacrifice for the good of the king, if I keep up this chess metaphor.
01:21:02
Speaker
But Ahsoka, on the other hand, it's kind of the opposite because Palpatine like only just now put her into play, but everything that's happened is in service of him getting his hands on Anakin, and Ahsoka has just now found herself at the center of his latest gambit to push Anakin closer to the edge.
01:21:18
Speaker
Like just one more in a series of pieces captured and discarded on the way to victory. Was that still chess related enough to still be part of the metaphor? I barely know how to play chess and all of my knowledge comes from like watching the Queen's Gambit one time and then that one Sarah Zed video about everyone cheating at chess.
01:21:33
Speaker
Whatever. Oh, one more thing before I end this curl wall of text. Ahsoka says, despite what you may have heard, I'm still a Jedi. Everyone just go ahead and like put a pin in that and keep that pin there for the next however long it takes to get to a certain episode of a certain other animated series. We'll get there when we get there.
01:21:52
Speaker
Yep. Yep. i And I'm looking forward to getting to to that certain other animated series because I've been listening to the podcast with some of the cast of that series watching. And they recently got to those episodes and good, good stuff.
01:22:17
Speaker
Just the like little bits I listened to in your car that one time, i was already having emotions. Yep. yeah,
01:22:24
Speaker
so Ahsoka contacts Barriss and Barriss lets Ahsoka know about a munitions factory that Leta had gone to just three levels up by coincidence.
01:22:38
Speaker
and so But before they can go, Ahsoka and Ventress are surrounded by clone troopers. And at Ahsoka's behest, Ventress doesn't kill a single trooper. Hell, she doesn't even maim anyone. And just because Ahsoka asked her not to.
01:22:56
Speaker
that right there, that's character development, baby. oh and speaking of character development, presented without comment. I have to admit, never saw us doing anything together.
01:23:09
Speaker
Ever. These are strange times.
01:23:15
Speaker
I have a lore tidbit to bring into this one. They're currently aren't on Coruscant level 1312, which, pour one out for the lost video game, Star Wars 1313, which never manifested.
01:23:33
Speaker
And also, this is the first appearance of Commander Wolf.
01:23:39
Speaker
I love him. ah Gee, I wonder who named him. Or, you know, the entire, like, 104th. And he he serves under Plo Koon, and I wonder why he's so important and connected to Plo Koon. It's a mystery. It's it's underneath my my cowboy hat.
01:24:03
Speaker
And also involved in your fursona?
01:24:09
Speaker
Oh, We all know that's his fursona. Tell me it's not. You're not wrong. If the Lord were a story, which he very well might be, his persona would be a wolf.
01:24:21
Speaker
So Ahsoka and Ventress do take out the those troopers and they part ways. But Asajj is taken out by someone, one another mysterious figure who steals her lightsabers and helmet and then attacks Ahsoka.
01:24:39
Speaker
You can't have nothing in the Coruscant Undercity. Nope. Can't have shit. Nope, nothing. And Ahsoka sees that the factory has nanodroid explosives and then is stunned by Wolf.
01:24:54
Speaker
And, you know, I'm over here just screaming, crying, throwing up, etc. about the complete and utter betrayal. Like, I can't say a whole lot yet, even though there's a lot I want to dig into, but I will get into it in the next however many minutes it takes us to get to that part of the last episode of the Darks. So for now.
01:25:11
Speaker
Couple things that are also kind of about betrayals. Ventress lost her lightsabers, which means she also lost her last tangible connection to Dooku because he gave her those lightsabers, which were modeled off of his own.
01:25:25
Speaker
I'm not going to you know talk about the Kamari of it all because as far as I know, that isn't canon anymore. But when this air, just know that there was some history with a capital H there. Back me up on this, Nick.
01:25:39
Speaker
This is true for the Star Wars Bounty Hunter video game that introduced that helped explain like the Jango Fett cloning incident. Kamari Voss was Dooku's previous apprentice who fell to the dark side, joined an evil cult, and those were originally her lightsabers that she used.
01:26:03
Speaker
And she was a little obsessed with Dooku. That was a whole other thing. Yes.
01:26:10
Speaker
But moving on, Ahsoka pleads directly to Wolf, who at least has the decency to only use Stunner. But after he does, like, he immediately turns to look at a newly arrived Plo Koon. And to me, that's him looking for reassurance that he did the right thing, because I don't think it felt any more right to him than it has to Rex, despite them both being ordered to act anyway.
01:26:31
Speaker
I think he's also like looking for reassurance that Flo hasn't lost any respect or regard for him because Wolf knows what Ahsoka means to his general. Like in a way it makes it so much worse because since Flo kind of takes the Bruce Wayne approach to adopting children from a certain point of view, Ahsoka is Wolf's sister.
01:26:48
Speaker
My headcanon is that the Wolf hat gave her a friendship band brace of her own as an honorary member of Flo's Bros. And the only reason she doesn't wear it is because she treats it like actual jewelry and just like keeps in a jewelry box somewhere. Because by the way, they do have friendship bracelets in Flo's Bros.
01:27:01
Speaker
And I love it. But then when they find the nanodroids, Ahsoka's Anakin's only response is, I can't believe it. And I am just emotions about how sorrowfully he says it. Like, he's been on Ahsoka's side this whole time, but finding her in the warehouse with the nanodroid seems to have finally shaken his faith.
01:27:21
Speaker
Or maybe it was already shaken the moment he watched Ahsoka turn away from him and follow Ventress instead. And that's why he doesn't vehemently defend her anymore, much less stop to consider alternative explanations for how and why she ended up surrounded by explosive nanodroids.
01:27:34
Speaker
You know, after, like, falling through a roof. But Plo and Anakin calm the council and the subtle acting choices of this thing are just so
Ahsoka's Trial and Expulsion
01:27:43
Speaker
good. Like you can hear all the pauses and the hesitation and what I think is just this underlying level of grief as Plo states just the facts of his report.
01:27:53
Speaker
Anakin seems like he's kind of gathered himself a little bit and it's back to defending Ahsoka, but his efforts sound just a lot weaker than before. Like he is starting to lose faith in her in some ways. I don't think it has anything to do with his faith in Ahsoka's innocence because I don't think he ever really doubted that, but rather I think it's like a loss of faith in their relationship and the bond they shared.
01:28:12
Speaker
Like I'm deliberately using past tense there because I think Anakin genuinely feels like he's losing Ahsoka if he hasn't already lost her. She left him and chose to turn away from him again and again, like, just several times over the past few days, and the context behind her actions doesn't change what Anakin fears will happen, that Ahsoka is going to abandon him and he's going to lose her forever.
01:28:37
Speaker
Yep, it's, it is all, all coming to a head. It sure is. Mm-hmm.
01:28:47
Speaker
And that takes us into the final episode, The Wrong Jedi, Season 5, Episode 20. On trial for murder, Ahsoka is expelled from the Jedi Order.
01:29:01
Speaker
So the Senate wants Ahsoka expelled from the Order so that she can be placed under a Republic military tribunal.
01:29:13
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yoda's all like, a fair trial she shall have. And Tarkin says, I hear you, but like, what if no? Also, I'm glad I didn't try to establish a drinking game around like my stuff that I say, because if I told everyone to take a shot every time I bring up that Ahsoka is 16 fucking years old, even Nick might be passed out in a puddle of Vaderade.
01:29:33
Speaker
Because yeah, the plan is to kick a 16 year old out of her home and then send her into the loving arms of a military tribunal for the crime of treason. Gee, I sure hope this ends for treason isn't too bad.
01:29:45
Speaker
you know, on an unrelated note, do you think instead of, like, the electric tear, Palby will just, like, force landing her to death in order to cut down on yeah GAR expenditures? effectively Who says he's interested in cutting down on expenditures?
01:29:57
Speaker
Ah, but it looks good for the Senate. And he needs them for now. He's not the Senate. He does. But, you know, anyway, let me just get back on my disaster lineage bullshit for a bit.
01:30:12
Speaker
Surely we cannot do what Tarkin suggests. We need to stand together with Ahsoka. And yet there's evidence that she is indeed the mastermind behind the attack on the temple. She was found in possession of nano droid explosives.
01:30:27
Speaker
This alone is enough to convict her. I understand your sentiment, Obi-Wan. But if the Council does as you suggest, it could be seen as an act of opposition to the Senate.
01:30:39
Speaker
I am afraid we have little choice.
01:30:44
Speaker
To the Chamber of Judgment, summon Skywalker and his Padawan. And in our decision, may the Force guide us.
01:30:54
Speaker
Yeah, Obi-Wan is once again the only council member I respect because he is the only one out of the entire fucking council who stands up for Ahsoka when she needs it Like, Mundy and Tin have already written her off completely, Mace is more concerned about playing politics and making nice with the Senate, and Yoda offers nothing more than, like, empty platitudes, which I suppose is apt since he has nothing to offer here.
01:31:15
Speaker
Everyone else in the room, including Plo, who just lost a lot of fucking respect for me, stays completely silent. Like, in some ways, that even feels worse because it's like they don't even speak because they have nothing to say. Like, they already know what they believe and what the outcome will be, so why even bother discussing it further?
01:31:31
Speaker
I also think Obi-Wan's expressions here just say it all. Like when he looks when he speaks, he looks very calm and measured, but the more the other council members chime in, the more distraught he looks.
01:31:42
Speaker
Like everyone else in that room made up their minds as soon as Ahsoka was arrested because like she doesn't matter to them, at least not as a person. The Order is really taking a page from Palpatine's playbook and making Ahsoka a soca pawn of their own.
01:31:55
Speaker
Like, she has to be a sacrifice to appease the Senate and offering to an exacting higher power to stave off their anger and distrust. And the inevitable fallout and how this will affect the rest of the tens of the tea rest of the Temple and team specifically is just collateral damage.
01:32:08
Speaker
And the worst part is they don't even have the decency to throw her into a volcano or something. They're just going to hand her over to Tarkin. I mean, not going to lie and, you know, repeat it like that man bear question. I would absolutely pick the volcano over Tarkin every single time.
01:32:22
Speaker
But no, just like the defeat in Obi-Wan's expression kills me. He sees what's happening, but knows there is like nothing he can do to prevent it, least not on his own. And right now he's the only one still willing to stand with Ahsoka. He's about to be forced to send his Grand Padawan slash Honorary Second Padawan to her doom. And the words he's always been able to rely on to get him out of any situation, negotiator that he is have no power here. Not anymore.
01:32:49
Speaker
like Once again, he has failed to protect someone he cares about as a person because he condemned them with his actions as a Jedi. And I mean, apparently even just being found in possession of the nanodroid explosives, and by in possession of we mean she happened to be standing in the same building that they were in, is going to be enough to convict her.
01:33:16
Speaker
I was going to comment about this, but, you know, I've already made enough, like, real-world political things. You know what I'm going to say anyway. Yep. Bring on the zip, guys!
01:33:28
Speaker
You're not helping.
01:33:31
Speaker
I'm sorry, Snips. I just don't know what to do. It's okay. I don't either.
01:33:43
Speaker
Padawan Tonga, serious charges have been levied against you. How plead you? Not guilty, Master. I would never take the lives of innocents.
01:33:54
Speaker
The values of the Jedi are sacred to me. There is evidence to the contrary. You were alone with Leta Turment when she died. Can you explain this? Someone used the Force against her.
01:34:06
Speaker
Which brings us to Ventress. Can you explain your association with her? We had a mutual understanding. I thought she was helping me. Did she help you acquire the nanodroid weaponry found when you were apprehended?
01:34:18
Speaker
The same devices used in the bombing of the temple? No! I was set up and deceived, as you are being deceived now! The question is, Padawantano, who is deceiving us?
01:34:30
Speaker
Ventress, you, or someone else? I am not deceiving you. I would assume Ventress is, but I can't be sure. My sense is clouded.
01:34:41
Speaker
Clouded by the dark side. These things are, Padawantano, dangerously clouded. But not just surrounding you, surrounding many things in these times.
01:34:52
Speaker
You've already made your decision, haven't you? This meeting is just a formality!
01:34:59
Speaker
Reached a decision we have, though not in total agreement, are we? It is the Council's opinion that Padawan Ahsoka Tano has committed sedition against the Republic, and thus she will be expelled from the Jedi Order.
01:35:16
Speaker
You can't do this! Your padawan status will be stripped from you, and you shall forfeit all rank and privileges within the Grand Army of the Republic. You will be turned over to the Republic courts to await your trial, and whatever punishment they will set for you.
01:35:32
Speaker
Henceforth, you are barred from the Jedi Order.
01:35:41
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to come into that clip just a little later, But editing it, I caught something that I didn't, and how long has it been since Anakin called Ahsoka Snips?
01:35:56
Speaker
I mean, he called Snips in the first episode that we looked at today, when he said, you always have it easy, Snips, when he was here hit by the buzz droids, and she avoided all of them.
01:36:08
Speaker
So the last time that things were like easy and calm and you know steady between them. It's about that long ago. Well, and I was thinking more along the lines of, you other than this arc, than you as you pointed out, so that's that's a fair catch because I missed it.
01:36:27
Speaker
It's been long enough that that's that's her nickname when she was, not that she isn't still a kid, but a kid.
01:36:40
Speaker
to him. And when he was dismissive of her, Snips was... Well, it started off dismissive, and then it became a term of endearment.
01:36:52
Speaker
And then, as she became more competent and more more of her own person, he dropped it, and she was Ahsoka.
01:37:03
Speaker
ah And now, in this arc entirely, if even if we go back to the top one, he's reverting back to she's someone one that he's responsible for. Well, he always has. it's It's almost like some sort of like couplet in some sort of ah sort of structure sort that repeats.
01:37:33
Speaker
Again, it's like poetry. sort that They rhyme. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, you know, but i mean you know he's He's still seeing her. this is It's emphasizing in this arc that he still sees her as a kid, that she's a kid that was made his responsibility. was a responsibility that he didn't want, but now she is important to him, damn it. And he feels like he failed her or she failed him or everyone failed everybody.
01:38:04
Speaker
Yeah, but I think what Lauren said is also important because I think it's really telling that that is the last time we ever hear him call her snips up until like this moment in the chamber chamber of judgment. Because like, as you said, where it was a term of endearment, it was like that was the last time that, again, like things were kind of like easy between them before all of this shit started happening.
01:38:27
Speaker
And as much as he still cared about her, it was too serious for them to use their nicknames for each other.
Anakin's Emotional Turmoil
01:38:32
Speaker
Like, I think that was the most that they've ever called each other by their first names consistently. Like, in this whole series. There was no Snips, no Sky Guy. I don't think she even really called him Master all that much either.
01:38:46
Speaker
Like, all of these, like, titles and nicknames and pretenses were dropped because it was just the two of them, like, almost completely exposed.
01:38:55
Speaker
yeah i don't know. That's how I feel about it. Yep. But anyway, can we like talk about how Anakin's voice breaks when he says, I don't know what to do? Because, oh my God, the level of emotion in that one line, because you can like, you can hear how scared he is. Because yeah, the hero with no fear is terrified.
01:39:17
Speaker
There's no droids to hack away it, no Sith to battle, nowhere to like sneak into, nothing to fix. Which, by the way, asked me about my feelings on Anakin as a mechanic wanting to fix everything and hating how not everything can be made to be fixed, especially not people.
01:39:31
Speaker
Like there's no dramatic last ditch act that can somehow win the day against all odds. There's just the terrifying reality that he can do nothing more than sit and watch from the sidelines. You know, kind of contrast that with Ahsoka's almost tomeless, like grim resignation. She knows this hearing is basically just a formality, like a logistical box check off so they can shuffle her onto the main event and send her ever closer to the gallows Tarkin has spent this whole arc constructing.
01:39:57
Speaker
Like, you know he has a handmade diorama in his office somewhere and probably like some dolls he uses to act out the scene. It's probably on the same shelf as a beach ball that he used to fall the gray and black sharpies in the G.A.R. to color to look like, you know, a certain thing we'll see later.
01:40:10
Speaker
and a sketchbook of new military uniform designs. Oh, and also probably a holodisc of some kind of porn parody of the war involving various men in uniform, but I'm too tired to come up with a clever title. Sorry, tangent. I just, you know, have a lot of feelings about Target and none of them are even remotely positive.
01:40:26
Speaker
But like, really, there's only so much I can say about Ahsoka. She stepped onto the platform because like, she's out of words herself. She doesn't sound angry, she's not scared, she's not even hopeful that things will somehow turn out for the better like they always have before she's just... tired.
01:40:44
Speaker
The only words she speaks are to reassure Anakin, like to tell him it's okay because she can't do anything about her own situation, but at least maybe she can offer some amount of understanding to one of the few people who still stand beside her.
01:40:56
Speaker
And then a reversal of basically every other situation where he's present, Obi-Wan is silent. The negotiator himself is also out of words, because he's already said everything he could and nothing came of it.
01:41:08
Speaker
What especially gets me is how he looks away when Anakin calls out the trial for the farce that it is, because he agrees. Like, there is no justice to be had here, and he knows it's because no one is actually interested in justice. Just finding a quick and easy way to resolve an issue, or at least the appearance of a resolution anyway.
01:41:25
Speaker
Image has superseded integrity here, and no one seems to care. Because that's what this whole thing has been about since day one. Image. The Jedi are having a PR problem with literal explosive consequences, and they need to claw their way back into the good graces of, if not the public, then at least like the sympathetic members of the Senate.
01:41:42
Speaker
However, instead of actually you know trying to improve relations with you know like outreach or just talking to people, they take what is essentially the easy way out and try to make the immediate conflict disappear faster.
01:41:54
Speaker
Why bother addressing any grievances or concerns when you can just offload all that onto a convenient scapegoat? But I guess that's where the Jedi wisdom of focusing on the present at work comes in because nobody except Obi-Wan seems remotely concerned about what comes after all of this?
01:42:12
Speaker
And Padme is going to represent Ahsoka in the Senate because we haven't seen Padme for quite a few episodes. And so we needed to get her in by the season finale.
01:42:27
Speaker
And we did. And there's some interesting stuff I noticed just in like the staging of the scene and the blocking and all that, if you can call it that when it's, you know, animated or whatever. But anyway, like Anakin and Padme both like walk into Ahsoka's cell, but only Padme actually like goes over and sits with her.
01:42:45
Speaker
Anakin approaches her at first, but then Ahsoka looks him in the eye tells him, point like, you know I wasn't working with Ventress. And then he fully turns around with his back to Ahsoka and paces back to the other side of the cell instead of actually offering any comfort or reassurance. I think that's because Anakin is still angry.
01:43:01
Speaker
By which I mean he's afraid, but he doesn't want to sit with that, so he messes actual feelings with anger, you know, as he's want to do. like The mention of Ventress, I think, just reminds him of how Ahsoka turned her back on him to walk away with Ventress instead, and he's still not over it.
01:43:15
Speaker
None of this is about him, but he still took Ahsoka's actions personally and saw her desperation as betrayal instead. We all know that one of Anakin's greatest fears, probably his greatest fear of all, is losing the people he loves. But I think he always saw that loss as like someone dying and him being unable to save them. So a loved one deliberately choosing to walk away from him was unthinkable. And to see that play out any capacity, I think, scares him more than death ever could.
01:43:44
Speaker
And then we have another clip that you requested, Betsy. Yes, the last one requested. Until we hear from Anakin, let's work on your defense. Forgive me if I'm not optimistic.
01:43:55
Speaker
I thought I was part of that order. But everyone except Anakin has abandoned me. I'm not holding out much hope the Senate will treat me any better. Yeah, sorry for adding this one at the 11th hour. But also I'm not sorry because I need to yell about things again.
01:44:12
Speaker
And yell about them I will. Anakin leaves with a promise that he'll find Ventress and the truth, but in doing so, he leaves Ahsoka behind and her face visibly falls when he walks away. You know, unlike Anakin, Ahsoka refuses to read abandonment into Anakin's actions and instead emphasizes that he's the only one in the Order at this point, maybe, you know, the Republic. It's a hold that even believes her anymore.
01:44:35
Speaker
Which, side note, see Obi-Wan, this is what happens when you don't communicate with the people in your life. They think you don't care. I sure hope he learns from this and works on his communication skills in the future.
01:44:49
Speaker
Arrested development narrative voice. He didn't. But back on track. Filoni decides to keep breaking my heart into just smaller and smaller pieces because I don't know how to deal with Ahsoka lamenting that the community she belonged to has cast her out without even hearing her defense.
01:45:03
Speaker
And no, less than a minute of testimony does not count as an actual defense. Like what really gets me is how like toneless her voice sounds. Like the full weight of the betrayal has just started to sink in. And while you can still hear how dejected she feels, there also seems to be like kind of this numbness to it because that's kind of just how it is now.
01:45:22
Speaker
Like I don't think she accepts their abandonment per se. I think it's more resignation, like the understanding that they made up their minds and she can't undo what's already been done. And, you know, if the very order she considered to more or less be her family won't stand by her, then what hope does she have that the Senate will be any better?
01:45:40
Speaker
Not much. Mm-hmm. And so Anakin tracks down Ventress. Mm-hmm. And I'm just dying at, you know, a hooded Anakin looming above her. And Ventress just knows it's him, like, without even turning around. Because, I mean, who else but a Skywalker would bring that level of drama? None. None.
01:46:01
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Tell me what happened!
01:46:06
Speaker
When I heard your little rat was on the run, I thought she might bring a large bounty. Bounty? I was going to catch your pet and turn her over to the authorities.
01:46:17
Speaker
Collect whatever bounty was due. What stopped you?
01:46:25
Speaker
At first, I admit, I was just interested in the money and a little bit of revenge. But then I realized your fallen padawan and I a lot in common.
01:46:37
Speaker
How dare you compare yourself to Ahsoka? It's true! My master abandoned me, and that's exactly what you did to her.
01:46:51
Speaker
You and your precious Jedi Order.
01:46:58
Speaker
I'm definitely not getting emotional over the way Ventress' voice breaks when she talks about Dooku abandoning her. Nope, I don't know what you're talking about. Because she's fucking right!
01:47:08
Speaker
I mean, you know, Anakin wasn't out there trying to take Ahsoka out with his own lightsaber, but he still did go out of his way to track her down and arrest her despite her innocence. Plus, Tarkin has the whole, like, murder angle covered anyway.
01:47:20
Speaker
As we'll see. Anakin can mask his fear with anger all he wants, but that doesn't change what's underneath because not only is he still terrified the prospect of Ahsoka leaving, but also he has to like reckon with the idea that he helped push her away. He personally. Like Anakin may be the only one that stood by her in any capacity, but he's far from blameless. And the thought that Ahsoka might blame him, that it might possibly be his fault that she leaves him. likely scares him the most out of any of this.
01:47:47
Speaker
And the worst part is that he probably isn't even fully cognizant of which of his actions pushed her away. Because would you look at that, we're back to cycles of abuse and neglect. Like, Anakin definitely can't see his own behavior for what it is, not any more than like the rest of the disaster lineage ever could.
01:48:03
Speaker
But Ventress can, because without even knowing the full extent of the damage that Like, she sees a reflection of her own experiences and what Ahsoka is going through now. I feel like this says a lot, too, that one former Sith has a lot more emotional intelligence than in whole lineage of Jedi.
01:48:21
Speaker
Yep. And a purely superficial note on my part, the Senate Tribunal Room is a really cool-looking location. yeah it is rather It is rather cool. It also has a whole lot of cues that will be interesting to examine later on in the timeline.
01:48:40
Speaker
It sure does. Mm-hmm. Foreshadowing is a literary device. Ayyyy. But anyway, you know, Tarkin is just out here trying to murder literal children like the super normal and well-adjusted person he is. Oh, hey, cycles of abuse. What are you doing back so soon?
01:48:58
Speaker
No, seriously, like this dude has some seriously fucked up family traditions. Think like one of those troubled teen wilderness camp things, but on steroids. Oh, yeah. Nick, back me up.
01:49:09
Speaker
You're the Lord, guys. Check out the Tarkin novel.
01:49:14
Speaker
Nick's kind not going to back you up, so I will. Check out the Tarkin novel. all It's just all sorts of messed up. It's just... Check out anything Tarkin's in. It's all kinds of messed up. And also, he's weirdly jacked for some reason in in the comics. It's true.
01:49:31
Speaker
I don't know why. a Who knows? Who knows? So... Ventress tells Anakin that whoever attacked her must have been a Jedi, and whoever has her lightsabers is the culprit.
01:49:46
Speaker
So Anakin feels like he's reached a dead end because Ahsoka hadn't spoken to anybody else, so who could it be? But Ventress tells him about Barriss being the one to tell Ahsoka about the warehouse.
01:49:59
Speaker
So back in the Senate Tribunal Chamber, though, Padme argues that Ahsoka would be pretty dumb To kill Letta in a way that would point directly to her.
01:50:12
Speaker
and She's not wrong. No, she is not. And then Anakin questions Barriss. You know, he's back at the temple. And he does so. ebo The way that he did it. i mean we're we're seeing hints of, you Anakin...
01:50:30
Speaker
Yet to be. To borrow some Dickens here. You call those hints? When he walks in the room. Barriss is meditating. And her lightsaber is.
01:50:43
Speaker
On a stand. On a table. And he you force pulls it to his hand. And he's brandishing her lightsaber. When he starts questioning her. And he backs her into a corner.
01:50:57
Speaker
At which point. She blocks with Ventress's lightsabers. You know, i wonder what his plan was if she hadn't had other lightsabers to block with. Just curious.
01:51:08
Speaker
Right? right Wait, does she count as one of the children? She's just a sunflower. Right, right, sunflower, of course. It's starting a pattern. It's starting a pattern.
01:51:25
Speaker
Just a little bit of one. Just li a little bit. But then, like, you know, smash cut to Palpatine. And yes, smash cut, not screen wipe, because that's how real shit is. He's doing his, like, proper senatorial version of shooting, chewing the scenery and laying it on as thick as he can manage.
01:51:40
Speaker
Like, he's... Well, also, this is... We do have to acknowledge that this is... This is now a Tim Curry voicing Palpatine. Yes, it is. Gotta love a Tim Curry appearance.
01:51:52
Speaker
But it's that... That... it Tim Curry and... In the mystery story arc, must be a red herring. No, communism is a red herring.
01:52:03
Speaker
You're welcome, Stephanie. I thought it was the separatists were red herring.
01:52:08
Speaker
No, it was red herring. To reference a pup named Scooby-Doo. yeah Anyone? anyone um and Of course. Yes, yes.
01:52:18
Speaker
Yeah, but no, like he is laying it on so thick, like he's going full Mark Antony here. Ahsoka says someone else is guilty of these crimes and Ahsoka is an honorable Jedi.
01:52:30
Speaker
And I specifically mean the Mark Antony from Julius Caesar and not the one from Antony and Cleopatra, because I can't see Palpatine as the kind of guy who would walk around and in a t-shirt with a real men get peg plastered on the front. Meanwhile, Antony would.
01:52:43
Speaker
I mean, I'm going to once again reference the TK-421 story from a certain point of view. That's Tarkin, not Palpatine. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
01:52:55
Speaker
I don't know what I... And Tarkin wears it under the uniform. Yeah, yeah, true. True. So, Anakin arrives with Barriss.
01:53:06
Speaker
And a confession! So, were we are in full, you know, Perry Mason mode here. Mm-hmm. ah But... This happens just as Palpatine is about to read Ahsoka's verdict.
01:53:20
Speaker
Yeah, Ferris, honey, i I hear what you're saying, but blowing up civilians is not praxis. You don't blame the people at the bottom for the actions of those in power.
01:53:32
Speaker
Go attend some trainings on action planning and positive allyship and come back when you've learned something, please.
01:53:39
Speaker
But also, I didn't actually type this out. this is going to be off the cuff, so apologies for worse word vomit than normal. But as someone who is totally like in favor of Barisoka, this ending is devastating because why are they trying to sink my ship?
01:53:55
Speaker
Like just the betrayal of someone you consider to be your best friend who you've been through so much with, who, you know, may or may not be your girlfriend. I don't know. They can't prove it's not happening.
01:54:06
Speaker
There's nothing that says they aren't. Like is the one that set you up and was ready to let you die to take the fall because that's what Tarkin wanted. He was trying to like enact the death penalty on Ahsoka for treason. And Varys was just going to let that happen.
01:54:21
Speaker
Like, how do you sit with that knowing that this person that you thought you could trust and, you know, you thought was helping you all along was actually the one that was setting you up to die? i i just, I have feelings about it.
01:54:35
Speaker
A lot of feelings. Well, I mean, isn't, isn't that generally the culprit in like a lot of contemporary slasher movies?
01:54:46
Speaker
You say that like it makes it hurt any less. Fair point. You that like AO3 isn't full of fix-it-fix for this very reason.
01:54:55
Speaker
And of course, Beresofi will return in Avengers Doomsday. Mm-hmm.
01:55:13
Speaker
The council is all, oopsie, our bad, come on back. But Ahsoka refuses to return to the order. Maze Windu, please, oopsie daisy.
01:55:27
Speaker
i don't know, can you really call that like an oopsie? Do they really even say that they did anything wrong? Didn't sound like it to me. no, the force works in mysterious ways. This is actually her trial. Well, let's hear their bullshit.
01:55:39
Speaker
Well, I don't have their bullshit in it. I just have the very end here. I wanted the whole clip. Why are you doing this? The council didn't trust me.
01:55:52
Speaker
So how can I trust myself? What about me? I believed in you. I stood by you. I know you believe in me, Anakin, and I'm grateful for that.
01:56:04
Speaker
But this isn't about you. I can't stay here any longer. Not now. The Jedi Order is your life. You can't just throw it away like this.
01:56:16
Speaker
Ahsoka, you are making mistake. Maybe. But I have to sort this out on my own. Without the Council. And without you.
01:56:30
Speaker
I understand. More than you realize, I understand wanting to walk away from the Order.
01:56:40
Speaker
I know.
01:56:47
Speaker
I'm not crying. I'm not crying at all. you it's just that so Someone's just chopping a bunch of onions nearby. And I just want to say how much it pained me to edit out some stretches of that clip, especially at the end with the beautiful Kevin Kiner score. But we would get it with copyright.
01:57:11
Speaker
I was still kind of hoping it was to play out anyway. Because it's so good. Yeah, I i mean, I wanted to, but he that algorithms are going to algorithm.
01:57:22
Speaker
It's true. Does Kevin Kiner know what he's responsible for? i know he does, but still. he he's Honestly, like this season overall has is easily his best work on The Clone Wars.
01:57:37
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And it only gets worse and more heartbreaking from here. oh yeah it's yeah. I think you have some more to say. oh I was just talking about Kevin Kiner's score, but yes, I do have more to say about everything about this.
01:57:51
Speaker
ah Where was I? Oh, yes. So Anakin tries, like, so hard to appeal to Ahsoka directly and, like, not insincerely because it really is him as an individual asking her to come back.
01:58:03
Speaker
Not to the Order, but to him. Ahsoka's guarded body language and like skeptical expression through the Council's whole non-apology makes her answer pretty clear from the get-go. Still just like, I can't get over how hopeful Anakin looks when he reaches out his hand to her and tries to give her back her silica beads, and then like the moment the full weight of the fallout hits him when she closes his fist instead...
01:58:25
Speaker
And, you know, tangent really quick about that. Like I know him kind of making a fist just what happens when a person closes their hand around something because that's how anatomy works. But like, I can't not read into it that how he went like from a hand extended out in connection and like reconciliation to a fist close against the loss in front of him and ready to meet it with violence. like It's so small, but I see as like this tiny piece of foreshadowing of what's to come with Anakin's relationships with everyone else.
01:58:56
Speaker
But, you know, I'm definitely not feeling feelings about Ahsoka leaving Anakin with an apology and the statement that she's not coming back before walking away. Or that after closing his grip around the silka bead, she like physically pulls back from him before she speaks, already kind of breaking that bond they shared for so long.
01:59:14
Speaker
And then Anakin is also the only one in the room that she actually speaks to at all because at least he tried. Everyone else gets judgmental looks in stony silence, like even Obi-Wan, who does try to go after her before Plo pulls him back because I think he's aware that, you know, no matter what Obi-Wan might want to say now, it's too little too late.
01:59:36
Speaker
They all abandoned her, so Ahsoka has given up on them. Anakin chases after her because he's not ready to let go yet. And that really comes out in his final plea or kind of his final accusation, since that's more how the words come out. Like, he verbatim asks Ahsoka, what about me? As if any of this was ever about him or that the parts that were changed or that, you know, any of this was, or the parts that were changed, what ultimately happened. Like, I don't think Anakin really grasps what Ahsoka is feeling here.
02:00:06
Speaker
He can't believe she would want to leave him as if, you know, what she wants has anything to do with this either. Because ultimately, i don't think she wants to leave everything she's ever known for some own unknown future, who knows where about,
02:00:21
Speaker
what she can't about what she can't stay somewhere like about what but she can't stay somewhere she doesn't feel safe or wanted like the council made it abundantly clear that any relationship they have to her is conditional and they'll only accept her as long as she kind of molds herself into what they want to see or at least puts on a proper performance and she can't do that anymore Like, I don't think anyone could. No amount of apologies, which the council never actually give, by the way, they just made excuses about it being the will of the force or some such bullshit.
02:00:53
Speaker
Like, none of that can erase any youth of the betrayal and rejection she experienced and no olive branch they could ever extend would ever be enough to bridge the gap between what she once believed of them and what the truth she now knows.
02:01:06
Speaker
Also, you know, I'm definitely not a pile of emotions about her last words to Anakin being that she knows, has probably known for a while, yet still accepted him and looked up to him and loved him like family. Nope, I'm fine. It's fine. I'm not crying. You're crying.
02:01:21
Speaker
And As Ahsoka walks off into the sunset, we reach the end of season five. And for that matter, we reached the end of the Clone Wars for a while anyway.
02:01:34
Speaker
Disney bought Lucasfilm and they didn't want to show on rival Cartoon Network. And they also just wanted to clear the decks for new original programming like Rebels.
02:01:46
Speaker
And it was going to be a while before Clone Wars would return. In an unexpected place and an unexpected way. So Clone Wars will return in Avengers Doomsday.
02:02:00
Speaker
Yes, Clone Wars will return in Avengers Doomsday.
02:02:11
Speaker
So, Lauren, you you've had a few punctuations here and there, but you've been holding off your thoughts for the end here. Yeah. And honestly, this is probably the most important part, because technically, this is for a long period of time where, as someone had watched it when it was coming out, this was the end of the Clone Wars, so...
02:02:40
Speaker
And since this is your first watch, let's see you how you give us your thoughts on the end of the journey. ah Journey.
02:02:51
Speaker
At least this part of the journey. So, thinking about this storyline as the original ending to the series, it does feel appropriate to have Ahsoka leave.
Ahsoka's Departure from the Jedi Order
02:03:03
Speaker
There's often this myth of occupation, the idea that growing up, you know what you want to be, work towards it, achieve it, and then that defines the rest of your life.
02:03:14
Speaker
However, for many people, this isn't the case. The truth is, the world is a lot bigger than a single occupation, a single role. And what people know and attempt early in life may not be what they ultimately achieved.
02:03:29
Speaker
Sometimes people try to achieve their dream job early on, only to learn that they don't actually like doing it. The Jedi Order here represents this concept thoroughly, with an extra layer of religious binding.
02:03:43
Speaker
Anakin is unwilling to give up his dream job, even when it's causing him problems in his personal life, as he's too attached to it. Ahsoka, meanwhile, is willing to leave when she realizes the occupation doesn't serve her anymore.
02:03:58
Speaker
She's willing to accept that a different role in the world having now seen much more about what the Jedi are and what else exists in this huge galaxy, just as someone may grow up to learn that their own dreams were founded upon ideas that were just ultimately not serving them.
02:04:16
Speaker
if this were the final left if it If this were the final note that we left Ahsoka on, i think this would have been pretty good. Admittedly, I've complained before that we hadn't gotten very many real Ahsoka episodes, one thats ones that truly focus on her own narratives and thoughts.
02:04:35
Speaker
This would still be true if this was the true end of Ahsoka. It would have been a great ending to a character that had otherwise felt underutilized. That said, i do know that there is more to her story, and I'm very much looking forward to what they do with her.
02:04:53
Speaker
lowell No longer being a part of the Jedi, I feel like this opens some very interesting narrative possibilities to explore the lives of former Jedi individuals, which isn't really something we've seen much of, especially when considering this is the life that Anakin intentionally avoided, even to the detriment of his romantic interests.
02:05:16
Speaker
That's some interesting insights there. yeah yeah end the if yes the Going back to what we sort of stated, it is very much part of this journey is, yes, a rewatch and hearing everyone's discussion about it, but also hearing your unique takes on this saga. and yeah Again, like that's why I felt like definitely getting your opinion. Because for a while, that this was where we thought the story ended. and It was left up in the air for a good bit of time.
02:05:54
Speaker
And the the other element there, too, is i think we kind of mentioned way back um excuse me as we began our Clone Watch journey, I believe that we mentioned that when they introduced Ahsoka, there was the whole question among the audience of, excuse me, we know she's not in Revenge of the Sith.
02:06:24
Speaker
So what happens? Surely things don't end well for her. And by that, everyone assumed that at some point she was going to be killed.
02:06:34
Speaker
a Her leaving was like at least a... it answered but also gave raise to questions well and it also the fact that she was on trial for her life and execution was on the table the stakes were genuinely real oh yeah yeah yeah that's why she didn't have any plot armor it was again people knew that this was the final arc and
02:07:09
Speaker
No one knew where the where the, it wasn't all played out in four episodes so it's as a movie. It was week by week. So it was literally, where did the, where did the, where did the die land?
02:07:25
Speaker
And so we we, that, that ending for her here, it was like you said, it it was a beautiful ending. Mm-hmm. I really like what you said too about like, you know, single occupations and like feeling like you have this idea of what you're going to be and then that not working out. I definitely think that was true for the Sopa. It fits with the concepts of destiny. Huh? It also fits with the concepts of destiny and fate that are heavily implied with the Force. And even how the Jedi tried to sort of spin it it's like, well, this was your test. Yeah. Yeah.
02:08:04
Speaker
it could be i feel like another aspect to it that i was thinking about is that it's not only her like seeing that the occupation or whatever doesn't serve her or like that you know the dreams they were founded upon don't serve her either but also that like her dreams don't align with the reality of what the galaxy is yeah like i think that's an interesting tension there and how like discovering the limitations of like the people that, you know, are essentially the adults in your life and everything that they've told you and not seeing that play out the way that they promised.
02:08:42
Speaker
And then having to figure out what to do next all on your own, despite not having really much in the way of tools to do it. which i guess on the flip side of that, I guess Anakin really did give Ahsoka a lot of tools. It's just for figuring out which ones to keep and how to use them.
02:08:55
Speaker
Yeah. Again, that there's a lot, especially, i think that, your Your interpretation, your closing sort of monologue there will have a lot to reflect on when we eventually catch back up with the character of Ahsoka.
02:09:15
Speaker
Is there a lot to be to be to be to be said about what you said and where this all goes? Oh, yeah. And E.K. Johnson also has you covered for a little bit of that, too, in the future. oh If you want to read the novel, which I have in a hard copy. Oh, it's a good novel. Good novel.
02:09:30
Speaker
About the day it came out. And I have the audio book, too, if you would prefer. ah Or if you want to watch Dave Filoni recondack.
02:09:46
Speaker
um Betsy, I also liked what you were saying about Anakin asking, well, what about me? In that it's almost like, and and we know more or less that yeah at least at the time that this aired, this was budding right up against Revenge of the Sith.
02:10:07
Speaker
who And so we we had this sense that Anakin knows that it already kind of, he doesn't really know that the winds are are changing for him, but he's already kind of reaching some of those points of the the end of his rope, as it were. He's teetering on that edge to
02:10:39
Speaker
Maybe not even so much that he's like teetering on the edge, but he's already over. He's just been barely hanging on, and he's slowly but surely losing his grip. And part of that is you know every person that leaves him or that he feels betrays him loosens it more. Well, and and also, if Ahsoka is still here, she she's a balance for me. you know there's There's much said about when Batman was created and then they introduced Robin.
02:11:10
Speaker
Robin is kind of the balance to Batman. And it's something that they've expanded on over the decades that Batman needs Robin to be the light to his dark to balance things out and to keep him from going too far. So if i draw that analogy... Nightwing Batman was supposed to be or you know could have been if it weren't for you know everything.
02:11:33
Speaker
Right. And so...
02:11:37
Speaker
Ahsoka is Anakin's Robin. And if she's not around, what's going to happen to me? She's the one that kind of keeps me grounded on the day-to-day of doing our job.
02:11:52
Speaker
And if she's not here for me to to kind of reflect off of and to reflect off of me, what happens? Yeah, and it's like as time goes on, Anakin just loses more and more of his anchors too because he loses Ahsoka. He kind of feels like he's already lost, but you know even further loses Obi-Wan.
02:12:13
Speaker
ah Things get like a little more unsteady with Padme. i mean, Rex is there, but then also stuff happens that I can't talk about yet because that's in the future and we'll get there when we get there, but you know that's another anchor that is kind of there for reasons. Don't worry about it.
02:12:30
Speaker
ah again Oh, and then also like the Palpatine of it all too. Yeah, and so then this this, if I'm drawing on the Batman an analogy analogy, this is a Batman who unknowingly has the Joker whispering in his ear every single day.
02:12:48
Speaker
And he's losing his Robin, he's losing his Alfred, he's losing, you know, his Lucius Fox or whatever, he's losing everyone. Yep. You can put in whatever romantic interest that you want.
02:13:00
Speaker
Probably Selina losing that too. But you know, i keep i keep thinking back to that one line that Obi-Wan says, where he goes, you made a promise to be a Jedi, and that's not a promise that's easily broken.
02:13:14
Speaker
And at the time, i don't think that there was substantial context for anyone breaking that promise, that oath. But now we see that there is somebody who did so. We see that Ahsoka managed to do so. And it creates precedence for the idea of Anakin could have quit.
02:13:38
Speaker
it It might have been difficult. It's definitely something that he didn't necessarily want to do. But he could have also seen, much like Ahsoka saw here, that the Jedi life wasn't right for him. That it was hurting him more than it was helping.
02:13:54
Speaker
Oh yeah, the best part is he almost did on multiple occasions, and then he didn't. He chose not to. In that way, Ahsoka is actually braver than Anakin. Mm-hmm. And also Obi-Wan. There is Yeah, Obi-Wan has also, you know, it's actually very ironic that he's the one that says that considering choices that he's made. Mm-hmm. Whether or not those choices are still canon depending, but, you know.
02:14:15
Speaker
Well, luckily he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. He doesn't have a Mandalorian girlfriend to go to anymore. Oh, no. Ripped. or a Jedi girlfriend or another Jedi girlfriend or a child soldier girlfriend or, you know, any of the various like mouthy blonde women that he's fallen in love with.
02:14:36
Speaker
You know, him and you Skywalker are kind of like on the same page when it comes to everyone. They love dying. If you think about it. We're all blondes now that I think about it. i know hey You know, it's funny. Anakin's also a blonde.
02:14:50
Speaker
Nice. Oh yeah. They all die. In a manner of speaking. From a certain point of view. Mostly in his arms. Or if you look at Anakin, you could arguably say it's by his own hand.
02:15:02
Speaker
True. Yeah, yeah, that happened. And Lauren, I don't know if if Betsy and Nick did. I heard what you did there. And I appreciate it. yeah I heard it too. Oh no, I did. i just also had feelings that got in the way.
02:15:18
Speaker
Yeah. But yes, uh... But yes, were we're entering into new territory after this. Oh yeah. Definitely looking forward to seeing what the scenario is with these so-called lost episodes.
02:15:39
Speaker
Yep, we will be getting into those next and we're kind of in the homestretch. We really are. phone war ah Basically,
02:15:51
Speaker
did there the The Lost Episodes, then Season 7.
02:15:58
Speaker
We'll also do the... There will part of the Lost Episodes because I have stuff to yell about, but you guys could talk about, you know, a certain other thing that happens. And then there will also be... We'll finish off the Jendid Tarkovsky Volume 2 of the original anime Clone Wars. And then also we'll do...
02:16:19
Speaker
I forget, is this would be your first full Watts of episode three. It will be. And Nick, I still vote.
02:16:31
Speaker
that um revenge we watch Revenge of the Sith before the final Clone Wars arc. That's what I'm thinking too. for it For context. Because it requires that context. yeah Just give me enough notice so I can go back and reread some chunks of Matt Stover's novelization because I have feelings that are specifically related to that.
02:16:52
Speaker
Also just in general. They were a team! They were the team! Two complimentary halves of a single warrior. I'll never be okay about this.
02:17:04
Speaker
Also, the Stover novel is so cool in general. it The way it depicts the lightsaber fights are so cool. And it's emotionally devastating. As well, but it's both of that. It's like, wow, this is emotionally devastating. This it feels to be Anakin Skywalker forever.
02:17:21
Speaker
it's also like, wow, this is really cool. They would never fight. They're a team. The team.
02:17:33
Speaker
I'm not crying. You're crying. but yeah that It's all just the audience. Someone put a bunch of onions in the internet right now. that That's on deck coming up here in a few weeks. We also have a certain movie that we'll be talking about.
02:17:50
Speaker
Oh, yes, we will. And ah The Devil Wears Prada 2. We're heading into ah a busy summer where we're going to be tossing a few movies in there, too.
02:18:03
Speaker
Like the Devil Wears Prada, too.
02:18:07
Speaker
No, where i I'm probably not going to see that until it hits cable. so i I want to see it, but I'm not in a huge rush to run out to a theater to see it.
02:18:20
Speaker
plus Plus, I'm broke. oh no Yeah, that's the big thing.
02:18:28
Speaker
But in the meantime, thank you once for joining us once again for Casual Nerdity. And if you're enjoying the show, there are a few easy ways to support us. Leaving a hopefully good review on your podcast platform of choice. helps more listeners find us. And if you're watching on YouTube or rather listening on YouTube, because there's not a video component to this, don't forget to like, and subscribe because those algorithms need their fuel.
02:18:57
Speaker
Oh yeah. ring the bell thing that's it And there's also a new thing called hype. I don't know how it works. I don't know what that is, but it sounds great. Me either.
02:19:08
Speaker
It's really, it's only on the mobile app. I don't know. It's new. But you can also support the show directly by grabbing a t-shirt from our merch store at store.casualnerdity.com. And it occurred to me that as we were talking, I should probably add one that says disaster lineage to the merch store. of course.
02:19:30
Speaker
You should make one that's a reference to my giant walls of green text in our show notes. So I can wear it with shame or pride, depending. And of course. It's for me, just me. Mm-hmm.
02:19:43
Speaker
Come hang out with us on social media. We're Casual Nerdity, all one word, on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Twitter, X, whatever they're calling it today. you And CasualNerdity.com on Blue Sky.
02:19:58
Speaker
And until next time, trust the Clone Wars to emotionally damage you responsibly. Trust me, it's only just begun. Yeah. So long. Bye. Bye.
02:20:12
Speaker
This has been Casual Nerdity. We hope you've enjoyed your time with us and look forward to having you back.