Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 7, Episode 8. If you need a refresher on where we left off, here’s our review for Season 7, Episode 7.
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Has there even been a Clone Wars story arc that’s seesawed in quality as much as this one? Ahsoka’s return hasn’t exactly been the runaway storytelling success fans were probably hoping for. But the good news, at least, is that this arc does end on a relatively strong note, with a lot of direct setup to the epic finale that is the Siege of Mandalore. Even so, “Together Again” raises the question of why the series needed so much room to get from there to here.
Unsurprisingly, you could easily skip from Episode 6 to Episode 8 without missing a beat. Last week’s circular narrative ensured that Ahsoka and the Martez sisters ended exactly where they began, with only small bits of character development and a Mandalorian cameo to create any sense of plot progression at all. That’s not an issue this week, as all three characters are given much more to do and more room to grow.
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The decision to split them up and send the Martez sisters on their own mission definitely helps. It allows Trace and Rafa an opportunity to stand on their own feet rather than just playing off of Ahsoka. Their ill-advised return to Kessel also adds a welcome dose of slapstick humor to the conflict. Along the way, Rafa is given a little more depth. As her insistence on rescuing Ahsoka proves, she’s not necessarily the polar opposite of her sister she was made out to be in previous episodes. While in some ways I was hoping for a more dramatic ideological standoff between the two before the end, at least there’s a sense that both siblings have been changed by their encounter with Ahsoka. And given the open-ended way their story wraps up here, there’s a definite sense there are more Ahsoka/Trace/Rafa stories to be told somewhere down the road.
Poorly paced though this arc has been, it does ultimately provide a satisfying look at Ahsoka’s uncertain place in the galaxy post-Jedi Order. This episode in particular is great about forcing Ahsoka to confront the Jedi’s checkered legacy and tendency of screwing over the little people in the interest of the greater good. There’s a huge gap to fill in between the Season 5 finale and the era of Star Wars Rebels. And while obviously this final season can only do so much to chronicle that journey, it’s doing its part. It’s important to point out how crucial Ashley Eckstein is to that process. She’s done a great job of finding that uneasy middle ground in her vocal performance. Ahsoka sounds tangibly more weary and jaded than she was in earlier seasons, but she hasn’t developed that sense of confidence and purpose that comes with age.
This episode manages to connect some other major dots in the course of 22 minutes. Not just in terms of setting the stage for the Siege of Mandalore, but also to one of the great unresolved plot threads of the Disney Star Wars era. This episode establishes a really neat link to Solo: A Star Wars Story with the reveal that Maul is the power behind the Pyke Syndicate. Not the most surprising reveal, mind you, but a welcome one nonetheless. Maul’s reference to Crimson Dawn is a fun bit of connective tissue to the Original Trilogy era. And I like to think this is the show’s ways of telling viewers that, yes, we will get some closure to that loose end from Solo. Maybe not right away, and not in the form of the direct Solo sequel Lucasfilm may have been planning back in 2018, but eventually.
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This episode does suffer from its own pacing issues, mainly because it’s left to cover way too much ground in the wake of the sluggish buildup in previous chapters.It would have been nice to see the farewell between Ahsoka and the Martez sisters given more breathing room before Bo-Katan and her crew show up to hijack the spotlight. But even so, “Together Again” provides a strong finish to a story arc that had been anything but strong.
Source: IGN.com Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 7, Episode 8 Review