Rumination Analysis on Clone Wars S7E10: The Phantom Apprentice

[@phantomjoker5]

based nrx maul

[@TheLPRnetwork]

. . . Hmm Eh, okay, fine. I'll concede this epiosde as purple. But only cause you barely pushed me over the edge. But i still consider this Arc mostly a tragic and disappointed production due to all the circumstances around it. Rebels was already out, The Asoka TV is out. The Clone Wars was canceled years ago. And the clones, fucking Rex, barely got to do anything when this in fact should be one of the most life-changing operations in a clone's life. Remember, this isn’t the CIS vs. Republic. This is a whole new war. The Clones vs What the clones were based on. And to this day, many clone still believe they will keep fighting and serving the Republic till the day they die. If only the clones had a choice.

[@TheLPRnetwork]

God. I wish one day someone at Disney realizes the beautiful irony between the Mandolorian Creed and the post Order 66 clones.

[@bluehero-96]

It's kinda cheating to apply the episode's title to Anakin, Maul, and Ahsoka, but I guess that take is valid, even if their mutual presence isn't. Maul acts so out of character and antithetical to his original purpose throughout TCW that he might as well be, and frankly should be, another character, like Savage. And there's no way Ahsoka giving Anakin a simple phone call would stop him from becoming Darth Vader. Not only is she still lightyears away, unable to meaningfully intervene, like Obi-Wan, but Anakin ultimately made the choice of his own volition to turn for his own selfish reasons. Even taking his excuse at face value that he wanted to save Padme, Obi-Wan was correct to later surmise that Anakin wanted to save her for his own benefit, not hers.

[@kittenfan7664]

ahsoka being there, not a call, but being there could have helped anakin in that moment. anakin trusts asoka enough to likely ask for help in that moment. ESPECIALLY if asoka isn't in the order anymore.

[@sebastianoleary2743]

While I mostly agree with your takes on Ahsoka and Maul, I do have some slight disagreements on the specifics. First of all, Maul didn't have much of a character at all in the Phantom Menace. He was just Palpatine's attack dog, and we got very little insight into his mind (you could point to deeper characterization in certain EU stories, but since thus show contradicts the EU so much I think it's best to exclusively consider it in the context of Disney cannon.) Add to that 10+ years of isolation and madness, plus whatever effect Mother Talzin's magic had on him and I'm will to excuse any inconsistency. But the reason I prefer him as Maul as opposed to a new character is because of his relationship to Obi-Wan. He's a ghost from his past that has come back to haunt him, and one with a direct connection to Qui-gon. Obi-Wan may have grown past that part of his life, but Maul hasn't, and it's an important aspect of his character all the up until his end in Rebels. If you tried to tell this story with a new character, you'd have to either show their initial confrontation in the Clone Wars, shortening the time scale, and lessening the impact or invent a new backstory that the audience will have to be told about and will care less about. As for Ahsoka, I agree that she wouldn't have been able to stop Anakin's turn over hologram at this point, but if she'd been with him in person or if she'd talked to him earlier, I do think things could have gone very differently. Anakin got more and more unreachable as time went on, especially over the course of Revenge of the Sith, and I think that one of the reasons (among many) for that was that he'd begun to isolate himself more and more since Ahsoka left the order. What Obi-Wan was trying at this point was too little too late, but it's not like Anakin was a lost cause from the beginning.