The Time Has Come For ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ To Leave Fans “Shattered” in Episode 11 — Review
For the entirety of the season so far, the only thing fans — us included — could talk about was Order 66. Well, Episode 11, “Shattered” finally brought that to life for the fans in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it delivered on all accounts. It wasn’t as widespread as some might have thought, but it gave answers to how Ahsoka dealt with it and it also further contextualized her role and how she fits in with Revenge of the Sith. [Spoiler alert: Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Clone Wars Episode 11].
The feeling of the end is near
The music that the episode opens up with is very ominous, and with the capture of Maul last week, there’s a reason why. Order 66 is moments away from happening. The title, “Shattered,” is probably the most accurate term for this episode.
Being as there’s only one episode left after this one, there are some closing remarks. The end of something is in the air, and for most of the characters, that feels like the end to this war that has lasted for years. “I wish I was good at something other than war,” Bo-Katan tells Ahsoka. Now, Ahsoka has such an admiration for Bo that you can clearly see from the moment they start fighting together. And Ahsoka has also only known war from her time as Commander in the field. She’s learned from everyone, including Bo-Katan, and that’s seen in her victories and in the way Ahsoka leads.
Later you see this theme continue with Rex and Ahsoka talking about the war coming to an end. Obi-Wan Kenobi is engaged in combat with General Grievous at this point; if he wins, there’s no reason for the war to continue, as far as they know. For Rex, wartime and being a soldier is all he’s known. He shares that there are “mixed feelings about the war” because that’s what clones are bred for. But, of course, peace would be nice.
For Ahsoka, her Jedi training has only been surrounding by war. In the context of her Jedi identity, she never actively served an Order that actually abided by just being peacekeepers. Instead, it’s always been parallel with being a soldier. She literally met Anakin for the first time during the Battle of Christophsis. Her first time out as a Padawan was on a war mission.
The ‘plot to destroy the Jedi’ scene is front and center and grounds the episode in the ‘Revenge of the Sith’ timeline
Ahsoka comes to the conclusion that she’s glad she met Rex, even if it was during a war. Not that she’s glad the war exists, but the silver lining is finding a great friend in Rex and what she learned along the way. Whatever the future holds is forever tainted by the war, so might as well look for that flash of hope instead of dwell on what could have been.
Before all this, though, Ahsoka is debriefed by the Jedi Council, which is the meeting we see in Revenge of the Sith. Mace Windu sends Anakin to tell the Chancellor about Obi-Wan’s current fight against General Grievous. If Palpatine doesn’t relinquish the emergency powers the Senate gave him, then the Jedi are planning to step in and remove him from his position.
This is where the scene “I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi,” is recreated from Episode III. Rex saw the part before this, where Anakin was still at the table, but by the time Ahsoka gets there, Anakin has already left. While Ahsoka is talking to Mace Windu and Yoda, Anakin is learning that Palpatine is the Sith Lord they’ve been looking for, who knows about Anakin’s marriage to Padmé.
Ahsoka is alone more alone than ever
So Ahsoka starts and ends the scene on the ship alone. Alone within the Jedi and also on a ship full of clones that are programmed to kill her. She hasn’t spoken to the Council directly since she’s been back, so there are some underlying hard feelings. Remind you, Mace Windu was very vocal against Ahsoka during her trial, and Yoda didn’t stand up for her either.
She’s pretty professional, though, and reminds them that she did her duty as a citizen of the Republic, not as a Jedi. At least, “not yet,” she tells them. However, Windu doesn’t do himself any favors when he throws this back at her later, saying “I’m sorry, citizen,” but she’s not privy to certain information because of her status. Actually, this is probably the reason that Ahsoka doesn’t share Maul’s vision with them. She doesn’t feel any trust, and she wants to protect her former master and friend from any mistreatment on their end. She knows what baseless claims can do to a Jedi from personal experience. And for Ahsoka, that’s what Maul’s vision is.
She does want to speak to Anakin, though, and mentions it when she responds that she’s “not yet” a Jedi. Was she thinking of rejoining? It’s definitely a possibility, one that fans didn’t even know was in the cards for her, yet again. But fans will never know what she was fully thinking, nor what a talk with Anakin could have done for him. Odds are, if she had brought Maul’s vision about Sidious grooming Anakin up to either the Council or Anakin, things would have changed. Big time.
The moment Anakin turns is just as brutal, if not more, seeing it from Ahsoka’s point of view
After Rex leaves to hear a new debriefing — which ends up being the call for Order 66 — Ahsoka nearly buckles under the weight a Force vision of Anakin’s betrayal.
This scene is probably the most haunting moment in this episode and the whole series. Ahsoka can feel Anakin’s turn, his anguish, as he cuts off Mace Windu’s hand. The audience can hear it happening as well, with the actual Revenge of the Sith scene in the background, with Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson’s voices. Matt Lanter, who plays Anakin in The Clone Wars, is mixed with Christensen’s as they groan, “What have I done?”
The heartbreak doesn’t end there. Rex is now under Order 66’s influence, but you can see he’s fighting the urge to kill Ahsoka because it goes against everything in his being. Because the movies didn’t individualize the clones as the series does, we don’t know how the other clones dealt with this action, especially those that were close with their Jedi generals, like Plo Koon and his Wolfpack.
There’s a musical callout to Anakin’s ‘Dark Deeds’
Another really great, standout moment here is when Ahsoka fights off the Clones. Not only is it epic and full of suspense, but “Anakin’s Dark Deeds” plays heavily over the scene. Can’t explain why it gives you goosebumps or sounds so familiar? It’s the song that plays over Anakin’s final duties on Mustafar when he’s crying and thinking about all the horrible things he just committed.
This episode sheds more light on Order 66, as well. Not only do we see that Rex was able to fight back a bit, which made a single tear slide down his cheek, but he was also able to get out a warning to Ahsoka. “Find him! Fives! Find Him!” he manages to stumble out before he fires. The audience also learns that Order 66 wasn’t just a blind kill order, but instead had a specific plot. It made the clones think that the Jedi committed treason, which marked them for extermination. This was the excuse Palpatine gave the Senate, but it’s interesting to see it start out with the clones.
Droids come in to help save the day
Ahsoka, with nowhere else to turn, unleashes Maul from his Mandalorian prison. This has a bit of humor in it, just because Maul thinks she wants to team up. That’s not the case; Ahsoka needs him as a diversion so she can find answers. Hilariously, Maul asks for his lightsaber, to which Ahsoka replies, “I’m not rooting for you.” And doesn’t give him his saber.
Ahsoka instead teams up with the droids on the ship, R-7, G-G, and Cheep. In a great cameo, Dave Filoni, the executive producer and supervising director, voiced Cheep adding to the list of droids he also plays, which includes Chopper in Star Wars Rebels.
She’s able to find information on Fives, the clone who actually found out about Order 66 and Palpatine’s involvement in it. He was killed in Season 6 for his findings. Rex was truly shaken by it because they were both in the 501st Legion and were close. All of this research causes Ahsoka to grab Rex and extract the chip from his brain.
With one episode left, where do we go from here?
When the droids can’t find the inhibitor chip in Rex’s brain, Ahsoka focuses her energy and Force powers to do so. This offers another callback, this time to Rogue One. Ahsoka chants “I am one with the Force and the Force is with me,” just like Chirrut Îmwe recites in the film. He’s a blind Force wielder and channels the Force through this tactic to defeat his enemies on Scarif.
Ahsoka locates the chip and it’s taken out of Rex’s head just in time to aid Ahsoka in a new onslaught attack. He agonizingly tells her that everyone is affected by this order. It’s widespread; the look on Ahsoka’s face shows just how bad she can guess the situation is for the other Jedi. And as the audience knows, barely any that she knew survives.
And so the audience is left with a cliffhanger. As if we didn’t go through enough pain as it is. The last thing Ahsoka sees is a laser cutting through the door. It has to be Maul, right? He found his lightsaber and is coming through? In a few days, on Star Wars Day, we’ll get the answers and the final episode.
