Guest Post -James M's review of Star Wars The Clone Wars Season 7 + The Siege of Mandalore

Greetings Star Wars fans, the time has come... to review the seventh and final season of Star Wars The Clone Wars, which aired on Disney Plus and finally brought closure to an epic TV show after a decade long run, wrapping up twelve years worth of crazy cool stories.

Now, I hear you say, "Clone Wars season seven? I thought the show was cancelled after seasons five and six." Yes, production stopped, but the show went on a seemingly indefinite hiatus until Disney and Lucasfilm decided to continue the show and give the fans what they wanted.

So, whats in season seven. Three story arcs, of course. We have The Bad Batch arc, Ahsoka's Walkabout and The Siege of Mandalore, the latter of three happening to be the series finale. Boy they're really good, likable at best. Why don't we get started eh...

The Bad Batch Arc
What is Clone Force 99 aka the Bad Batch? They're a group of mutated clones who basically make up an elite clone squad named in honor of a deformed and mutated clone soldier named 99 who died during the Battle of Kamino in an earlier season of the Clone Wars.

The plot of the arc?
As the Battle for Annaxes goes wrong for the Republic and the Seperatists defeat them, Captain Rex and Anakin team up with the Bad Batch to go on a mission to learn how the enemy is able to come up with successful attacks and counterattacks. During the mission, they learn that Clone Trooper Echo survived the Citadel Arc and is held captive by the enemy.
They rescue Echo and they turn the tide of the battle in favor of the Republic, aftewards, Echo joins the bad batch due to the fact he's different now because of his cybernetics he recieved after seemingly being blown up during the arc he perished in.

Ahsoka's Walkabout
After leaving the Jedi Order, Ahsoka goes to level 1313 where she meets the Martez sisters and does her best to avoid revealing herself as a Jedi after the sisters express their dislike for the Jedi due to their involvement in the Clone Wars.
Ahsoka tags along with the sisters on a spice run and they end up in a troublesome situation with the Pikes but they manage to get out, however, the sisters learn that Ahsoka is a Jedi but they accept her as a good friend nonetheless.
After escaping the Pikes, Ahsoka meets with Bo Katan and a group of Mandalorians looking for help in taking down Darth Maul, who is ruling Mandalore. Side Note: After his defeat in season five, Maul was captured by Sidious but he escaped and returned to Mandalore after failing to defeat Darth Sidious who destroyed the Great Talzin of the night sisters.


The Siege of Mandalore
This is it, series finale, we're in Revenge of the Sith territory now. No turning back.
As the Outer Rim sieges take place, Anakin and Obi Wan reunite with Ahsoka, who's come to them for assistance in taking Mandalore and taking down Maul. However, just as Ahsoka gets her lightsabers back and receives a clone battalion of her own, Anakin and Obi Wan are called away to take part in the Battle of Coruscant to save the Chancellor, paving the way for Revenge of the Sith.
Ahsoka, Bo Katan and their forces attack Mandalore and engage Maul's forces. Ahsoka encounters Maul in the sewers and the former Sith is not pleased to see her.

"I was hoping for Kenobi," Maul says, "Why are you here?"

We learn throughout most of the episode/movie that Maul knows of whats to come and desires to defeat Sidious and save the galaxy, even though he, Maul, is still evil. Eventually, it call comes down to a confrontation between Ahsoka and Maul in the throne room in the Mandalorian Palace (instead of a plaza like in the Ahsoka novel) while a battle rages outside between Ahsoka's troops and Maul's loyalists, which is kinda fitting as the Clone War nears its end and the Republic begins to crumble.
In the end, Ahsoka defeats Maul and he's captured while screaming, "LET ME GO, YOU'RE GOING TO BURN, YOU'RE ALL GOING TO FALL, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

With the battle over and Maul in custody, things are looking up, Ahsoka and her forces begin the journey back to Coruscant while Bo Katan becomes leader of Mandalore. However, things really go south once Darth Sidious contacts the clones aboard the ship...

Sidious: Execute Order 66.
Rex: Yes Lord Sidious.

From there, everything is downhill as the clones turn on Ahsoka, Rex does too for a while before Ahsoka manages to remove the inhibitor chip inside Rex, allowing him to continue being her ally. However, Ahsoka frees Maul to use him as a diversion while she was trying to find a way to save Rex. Maul wrecks havoc and takes down many clones aboard the Star Destroyer, even devestating the engine room and the hyperdrive.

As a result of Maul's rampage, the ship drops out of Hyperspace and heads towards a moon, fated to crash. Ahsoka and Rex fight their way through the ship, trying to get off. During an encounter with Clone Trooper Jessie, who is under the spell of Order 66, Rex is demoted from commander back to the rank of captain while Maul steals a shuttle he (Rex) and Ahsoka were trying to get to.
After fighting through more clones, the two heroes manage to steal a Y-Wing and escape just as the cruiser crashes. Later, Ahsoka buries the clones, who perished in the crash,  while leaving behind her lightsabers, the star destroyer crash and the clone graves all symbolize the end of the Republic, the Jedi Order and the Clone Wars itself.

Some time later, probably a couple months or maybe a year, Darth Vader visits the site and finds one of Ahsoka's lightsabers, covered in snow, before looking up to see an owl flying overhead. Side note: thats a convor, probably Moraii, the Daughter's spirit guide form.
Afterwards, the episodes and the series ends with Vader aka Anakin walking away and his reflection being seen in a fallen Clone Trooper helmet.

Final thoughts
This season was incredible, Dave Filoni did an amazing job rounding off 12 years worth of Clone Wars stories and The Siege of Mandalore arc was phenomenal, very phenomenal. I enjoyed it all and many people sure did as well, we deserved this ending and should have gotten it back in either 2014 or 2015. But ah well, we've waited a long time and it was worth it.
See you all next time, reviewer out.
-JMM