Season 4 may have been cooking, but after rewatching Season 5, the previous season feels more like an appetizer by comparison! Now, don’t get me wrong, Season 4 was amazing and I’ll always fight for it. But Season 5 presents unique stories through a very mature perspective, accompanied by characters and dialogue that pierce your heart. Overall, this season carries a unique, indescribable vibe and I am here for every second of it!
The Characters
The first thing I’ve noticed was how we’re introduced to a lot of new characters back to back. From the Onderon rebels to Ahsoka’s youngling class and even to D-Squad, many of these guys are just thrown in with little to no background. We don’t get origin episodes for them or even a flashback, but this does not in any way mean they were terrible plot devices. Instead, the newbies are written in such a way that you can already get a good sense of them without needing more. For example, as we watch the Jedi younglings scour the caves for their khyber crystals, each of them is forced to confront something about themselves before finding their crystals. With an equal amount of screen time in between each child, we quickly get a sense of who’s the scaredy-cat, the techie, the mom, and so on. What makes this even better is how they portray their age through their fear and hopelessness, but then adhere to their Jedi upbringing and persevere. When you reach the ends of arcs such as this, you get so attached that you can’t help but wonder what’ll happen to these characters after Revenge of the Sith.
Speaking of sympathy, though, another thing I love the most about this season is how even the antagonists reveal a surprisingly sympathetic side to them. My favorite example is Darth Maul, because up until this point, we’re used to seeing him as a psychotic rage monster. However, there are a few moments where Maul lets his more caring side slip through. For instance, Maul usually refers to his brother, Savage, as “apprentice” and treats him as such more than family. And even though he’ll sometimes call him “my brother,” it appears to be nothing more than a title. However, in moments like when Obi-Wan chops off Savage’s arm, Maul yells Savage’s name, marking one of the rare moments where he actually uses it. As another example (and my personal favorite one), when Maul’s previous master—Darth Sidious—kills Savage, he looks shocked as he utters “brother!” And to put the cherry on top, Maul comfortingly holds his hand while painfully watching him die. I find character portrayals like this to be truly special because it shows that they’re not the black-and-white villains (or heroes in other cases) that we like to think, but humanizes them a bit more and makes them sympathetic.
The last thing I wanna talk about, and I’m sure many of you knew this was coming, but I loved watching the final part of Ahsoka’s character journey. I genuinely forget how young Ahsoka is in this series, because when I think of how she was not only framed for murder, but basically isolated by everyone including the only family she ever had (except Anakin), that’s gotta be a lot! But in spite of that, Ahsoka has shown an amazing level of cunning, unwavering determination, and bravery in spite of the odds. Even when she’s proven innocent in the end, she’s not willing to listen to the Jedi’s pathetic apologies and questions their way, ultimately deciding she’s better off without them. Along the way, I absolutely loved how Anakin never gave up on her, relentlessly protecting her and lashing out whenever she was mistreated. I guarantee that if he didn’t need Barriss’ confession, he would’ve chopped her into pieces and chopped those pieces into smaller ones. It’s ultimately a bittersweet exploration into his journey to becoming Darth Vader.
The Dialogue
Ironically, while there has been some thought-provoking dialogue, that’s not the first thing that caught my attention. Rather, it’s how emotionally resonating it all was, because I remember my heart getting punctured quite a lot during this rewatch. Whether it was the words themselves or that combined with other elements, there was always something that pierces your heart and soul. For example, in the arc with the droid squad, Colonel Gascon and the droids meet and help a clone with amnesia (Gregor). After regaining his memory, Gregor paved a way to a shuttle for the gang to escape onto. However, when Gregor was pinned down, he encouraged everyone to leave him behind. When Gascon refused, Gregor said, “Don’t worry about me! You made me remember who I am! I’ll find my way home, I promise! Now go!” When remembering all this poor clone has been through, it especially hits hard when the sad, choir-like music plays as he makes his supposed last stand against the oncoming battle droids.
As another example, think about the discussion between Anakin and Ahsoka as she leaves the Jedi order. As she explains her reasoning, you can just hear all the hurt, betrayal, and defeat in her voice as she was completely torn down from the whole ordeal. Meanwhile, Anakin is at first outraged, almost as if she’s being unfair by repaying his loyalty with abandonment. Soon, though, he becomes more distraught as Ahsoka won’t back down, before finally sympathizing with her desire to leave the Jedi. The atmosphere just gets heavier with each word spoken, tugging on your heartstrings as you think about everything the pair has gone through and what will happen by the time of ROTS.
But of course, I can’t just mention moments of thought-provoking dialogue without actually going deeper than that. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I didn’t notice anything that made me stop and think, or at least nothing that stuck out to me. However, that didn’t keep me from discovering any, such as the moment when Colonel Gascon and the droid squad get stranded in The Void. When the R2 and the mechs basically abandon Gascon and WAC, Gascon starts to get all emo until WAC has to snap him out of it by saying, “Giving up is not part of my programming. I’m surprised that it is in yours.” Now, I love droids, but they’re still robots with no true feelings or independence like organic beings do. So imagine how surprising that the goofy, overconfident machine can change a whole perspective with just a short sentence. It honestly inspires me not to give up, and to keep finding solutions to a problem I face. Aside from that, there’s also the finale of this season where Barriss talks about her newfound views on the Jedi Order. I love how, both during her duel with Anakin and her confession in the court, that she believes the Jedi have “so lost [their] way” that they’ve become violence-consumed warmongers “fighting for the dark side, fallen so far from the light [they] once held so dear.” Now, while I definitely don’t condone her bombing a temple to prove a point, I wholeheartedly agree with her statement. I’ve heard a lot of YouTube videos on what the Jedi used to be, and what Luke’s Jedi Order in the Legends books was like, and can’t help but notice the glaring differences here. I mean, the Jedi keep saying they’re peacekeepers and not soldiers, and yet they’re commanding armies in a war almost like a Sith would. Also, and I’m not gonna get into this here, but there can also be parallels made between that statement and the state of things in our world, such as politics or religions. I always love it when there’s a villain or anti-hero that I can not only agree with, but also sympathize and root for.
The Story/Action
Much like Season 3, I love how this season mainly takes a step back from the “open battlefield, clones vs droids” stories and arcs. Sure, they might not be as epic or action-packed as watching the good and bad guys blow each other up, but the approach to these stories is both refreshing and unique. For instance, instructing the Onderon rebels is something we’ve technically seen in Season 2, but unlike that one episode, we actually get to see them slowly progress into a formidable fighting force. Also unlike that episode, and in spite of Ahsoka’s involvement in the end, the Jedi are very much not directly involved in the conflict except for defense and advice. Therefore, we get to see them learn on their own, almost as if watching a war documentary. As another example, consider the arc with the Jedi younglings. Aside from the Legends books, we never truly got a glimpse into the official canon Order, much less anything on screen. So the fact that we actually get to see how a Jedi first gets their khyber crystal, and especially how they build their lightsabers, is always “a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.” Man, if I’m being honest, there is SO MUCH MORE I wanna talk about with these arcs! But there’s other stuff I need to address here, and it absolutely kills me that I can’t include more!
Nevertheless, let’s dive into one of my absolute favorite parts of this season: the action! OH MY GOSH! Words cannot do justice to describe, much less show, how epic some of these fights were! One of the absolutely best examples is when Maul challenged Pre Vizsla to a duel, one that would decide the fate of Mandalore and its people. Watching each stroke of their blades was very satisfying, and it was nice to see Vizsla utilize all his gadgets to keep up with Maul or throw him off balance. The pacing of the fight kept me on the edge of my seat, trying to catch up on every movement right up until Maul granted Viszla a warrior’s death. But NONE OF THAT compares to my favorite lightsaber duel in all of Star Wars: Maul and Savage vs Palpatine!
I realize at this point I’m getting a little emotional but FOR GOOD REASON! For one thing, it’s one of the rare moments we see Sidious fight with not one, but two lightsabers. For another, it’s just amazing and even satisfying to watch Palpatine do many fluid and acrobatic movements to fight the two zabraks. I mean, the guy was spinning around, snapping his arms behind his back, and weaving attacks like it was nothing! Also, with the knowledge of how powerful the Sith Lord is, you can easily tell how Palpatine was barely even trying in that duel. Not that it took much effort to go easy on Savage, but even when Maul was fighting at his absolute best, Palpatine easily parried each stroke and threw him around like a rag doll when he got bored of the fight. Heck, Palpatine could’ve ended the duel before it even started with the Force, but (and I’m pretty sure I speak for all fans of the show) I’m SO GLAD he didn’t!
Conclusion
This was all amazing to rewatch! Easily a 9.5/10 ranking! It was so rewarding to get through the other seasons just to experience some of my favorite arcs, and my favorite fight scenes, all over again. This is why I kept saying in my previous reviews that you should recommend people to this show, and to stay committed right up to these seasons because it’s MORE than worth the wait! Oh, but that’s nothing compared to the next season . . .
