Season 5 was originally supposed to be the final season of Clone Wars, and was the point at which the show became entirely arc-driven with no standalone storylines. I'm actually split on the long story arcs because of how much they range in quality. If the story arc is good, you get four amazing episodes in rapid succession. If the story arc is weak, you get four bad episodes all in a row, and no season demonstrates this more than the show's fifth.
Onderon Arc: Did they seriously just give Ahsoka a love triangle?! Clone Wars has taken some really big risks for children's media in their depiction of war, yet they end up just falling for the same dull romantic tropes we've seen time and time again with Ahsoka and Lux. But fine, this is a four episode arc, there's a lot more than Ahsoka and Lux in this one. This arc focuses on a rebellion on Onderon, introducing Saw Gerrera who ends up being a very important character in later properties like Rogue One and The Bad Batch (though one I don't find super interesting). Add in more storylines about Anakin turning to the dark side and some interesting themes about rebellion/terrorism and you get an otherwise solid arc, if a bit unmemorable by the end of it. I don't think this one needed to be four episodes, they all ended up blurring together by the end. A War On Two Fronts was easily the weakest episode of the bunch, as it was both set-up and had probably the most annoying love triangle hijinks. Front Runners on the other hand was a pretty fun and action-packed siege with little to no romance whatsoever. The Soft War was pretty standard fare though with a tense storyline about stopping an execution. Tipping Points was easily the strongest episode of the arc, with a surprisingly affecting death scene, a great appearance for Hondo, and more tension between Ahsoka and Anakin. Overall, this arc was fine and had some neat ideas, though it was pretty dull and was held back by Lux once again.
3/5 Stars
Young Jedi Arc: This arc was actually really cool. We got Ahsoka in a pretty big role, Grievous and Hondo as the main villains, and a ton of cool lore about how the Younglings get their lightsabers. Even though the main cast was composed of children, they weren't super annoying and the variety of species (we even got a Wookie Jedi!) was welcome. The Gathering is a neat opening that shows in detail how the Young Jedi get their crystals, and it's jam-packed with interesting lore and stunning visuals. I also really liked Yoda's role in it as well, and the ending where all of the Younglings completely their challenges was pretty sick. This was easily my favorite of the arc. A Test Of Strength was a pretty tense episode about Ahsoka and the younglings getting attacked by Hondo's pirates, and there was some cool lore on how lightsabers are built. Bound For Rescue was the least interesting of the four, a rescue mission plot that the series has done far better than this, but it did have a pretty great subplot about Grievous launching a surprise attack on Obi-Wan. A Necessary Bond was a pretty solid finale to the arc with some fun action scenes with Grievous and an awesome teamup between Ahsoka and Hondo. Overall, I liked this arc, it was pretty cute and had an amazing first episode.
4/5 Stars
D-Squad Arc: This might be the worst arc in the series, and I have a lot to say about it. This is an entire arc about a team of droids that gets stranded on a planet and has to escape, and it goes on for four episodes. I don't think I need to explain why you can't spend four episodes focusing on droids, right? Because most of them can't speak! The only characters that could speak for most of the arc were WAC and Gascon, who's were both so relentlessly annoying and talkative. Even the droids got annoyed with them by the second episode. I wouldn't be that mad if this was just the first episode Secret Weapons. It was a somewhat fun and goofy heist episode about droids, albeit with a slightly annoying set of protagonists. I didn't love it, but I would've been fine if it was a standalone to break up the pace. However, it didn't end there, and things just got worse from there.
A Sunny Day In The Void is an interesting concept, I tend to love TV episodes about nothing (Fly, The Chinese Restaurant, Restless), and a homage to THX 1138 could have been really cool. I'd love to see an existential episode like this about characters like Ahsoka, Rex, or even Yoda! But instead, it's two of the show's most annoying characters goofing off. It didn't have any interesting insights or anything, it's just filler, and I don't use that term lightly. Even episodes that are generally considered to be filler can have some value in character development or well-executed comedy, but this was a waste of time. It's my least favorite episode of the whole show. Missing In Action improves things a bit by introducing an amnesiac trooper, but he just feels like a poor man's Cut. And Point Of No Return is a fine ending with a dramatic finale, though it more just made me glad this arc came to an end. And just imagine what it must have felt like watching this arc week-in and week-out. Even as a kid, I didn't wanna have to put myself through a whole month of this! Outside of a few interesting ideas, this arc is just droids. It's four episodes of nearly nothing but droids. Let's just get to the good stuff now.
1/5 Stars
Shadow Collective Arc: I mostly like to watch the show in airing order so I can view each season as their intended seasons, but this is an exception. It works way better if you wait until here to watch the premiere Revival, even if you don't get that instant resolution of Season 4's ending. Anyway, as for the arc itself, this is in my Top 3 in the series alongside Umbara and Siege Of Mandalore. It brings together Maul and Mandalore in this shocking, heart wrenching, and action-packed story arc that ends with one of the show's best episodes. On the opposite end of the spectrum as D-Squad, pretty much every episode here is good, resulting in one of the show's best stretches of episodes. Revival was a stellar beginning to the arc, with that phenomenal battle on Florrum. I was surprised at how much carnage there was in this one, from Gallia's death to Savage losing an arm to the pirates being attacked. My only gripe is the continuity issues that come with placing it at the start of the season along with how it doesn't quite seem to address Revenge's cliffhanger about Maul seemingly being prepared for a Jedi attack. Regardless, this is a really great episode and the fact that it's one of the weaker entries in the arc goes to show how amazing it is.
The next three episodes in the arc aired right after the D-Squad arc, and what a leap in quality! Eminence made the genius decision of bringing together Maul and the Death Watch, two of the show's best threads. It gave a bit of extra depth to Bo-Katan and Pre Vizsla, featured the bounty hunters one more time, and managed to span a bunch of planets like Mustafar, Nal Hutta, and Tatooine. However, it's also my least favorite of the arc as it was mostly table-setting for the next two episodes. Shades Of Reason was the episode with the big battle on Mandalore so it was generally pretty action-packed, but it was the final few minutes that was the real highlight. The duel between Maul and Vizsla is one of the best fights of the series, and the ending had Maul taking over Mandalore and Bo-Katan fleeing, signaling the start of her being more of an anti-hero/villain rather than a pure antagonist. And then there's The Lawless which is easily one of the best and most packed episodes in the series. I mean where do I even start with this one? The action's really good, we get a fun speeder chase and plenty of cool shootouts, but the high point is the amazing lightsaber fight between Maul and Savage and none other than Emperor Palpatine himself who actually gets a chance to show how powerful he really is. The Lawless is also very emotional, with heart-wrenching deaths for both Savage and Satine. The latter was especially gutting since I really liked Satine. There's character development for Bo-Katan, a tense confrontation between Obi-Wan and Maul, hilarious references to A New Hope, and more plot than you'd think you would be able to fit in an episode like this. It's exciting, intense, relentless, and action-packed as hell. The arc as a whole is great but The Lawless just solidified its place as one of the best in the series.
5/5 Stars
Rogue Jedi Arc: I'm... split on this arc, as while it's incredibly well-told, dramatic, has a lot of interesting commentary on the Jedi Council, and packs a phenomenal ending, I'm also just not a fan of these Fugitive-esque stories since they can be pretty frustrating to watch, and this one was no exception, especially after a second go. Still, as much as I hate to see Ahsoka go through all that strife, I can't deny this is a very good arc. Sabotage is a great first episode, though. I loved the opening with the buzz droids, the Jedi temple bombing was a surprising twist, and it was a lot of fun to see Anakin and Ahsoka as a sort of detective duo as they investigated the bombing. In The Jedi Who Knew Too Much, it was really hard to watch Ahsoka get framed like that, but we also learn a bit more about the bombing mystery and get a thrilling escape scene at the end. To Catch A Jedi brings back Ventress and has a great lightsaber fight near the end, but what I really liked from this episode is that Plo Koon was doubting if Ahsoka was really guilty.
The Wrong Jedi was by far the best episode of this storyline for a myriad of reasons. It's tense, action-packed, and emotional, easily working as a potential series finale if the show hadn't gotten renewed. The action is great, we get some great lightsabers fights with Anakin as he tries to find the culprit, and the reveal of her as Barriss was great. But I think most people's favorite part of this one is how Ahsoka starts to realize just how flawed the Jedi Council is. They all pretty much unanimously try to have her killed only to immediately step back once she's revealed to not be the culprit, and justify themselves by claiming the Force willed this to happen. Yeah, I'd leave the Jedi too. And while Ahsoka's goodbye with Anakin was emotional, it also solidified her as my favorite character of the franchise. So while I may not have loved this storyline like many others, I can't deny that it's well-written and packs an amazing ending.
5/5 Stars
Overall, I still enjoyed Season 5. It suffered a bit from the show's arc-driven structure and the D-Squad held it back a bit, but I enjoyed more arcs than I didn't, and its best storylines were some of the best the show has ever been. It's not as consistent or satisfying as Season 4, but another pretty solid season all things considered.
4/5 Stars
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