In this episode of Closing Crawl hosts Matt, Drew, Jared, McCormick, and Jon delve into the nearly two-hour premiere of the 'Ahsoka' series.

We discuss: continuity, character reintroductions from 'Rebels,' the use of maps in Star Wars, production and acting.

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Bo-Katan and Ahsoka lament the Mandalorian Civil war’s casualties. Mandalore needs a new type of leader, in the mold of Bo’s sister Satine. I’m sure everyone who lost loved ones in the conflict are glad that Bo learned a lesson.

Ahsoka has a SpaceTime(™) with the Jedi council. We’re in act 3 of Revenge of the Sith and Ahsoka joins the council meeting in time to say smell you later to Mace, Ki-Adi and Aayla Secura. Yoda fails to guilt trip Ahsoka about the whole ex-Jedi thing. Ahsoka and Rex reckon with the cost of war, and interestingly enough Erich Maria Remarque got a writing credit for this episode.

Ahsoka and a Republic Cruiser’s worth of clones prepare to extradite the imprisoned Maul to Coruscant. Ahsoka has force visions of Anakin merking Mace, just as Rex receives Order 66. Rex fights the control chip, while other members of the 250.5th immediately draw down. Ahsoka escapes to free Maul, and suggests he cause a distraction. Ahsoka then recruits some astromech droids; if they’re half as violent and chaotic as R2 she’s got a real shot at getting out of this.

Ahsoka uses tries to reason with Rex. When that fails she informs him the astromech droids came here to hack elevators and taze clones and they’re all out of elevators. She takes the unconscious Rex to the med bay for some Force assisted trepanning. Rex comes through the procedure in his right mind, but the frogurt is also cursed and the rest of the clones are actively trying to hunt down and kill all Jedi.

Rex and Ahsoka (henceforth Rexsoka)’s cruiser hurtles through hyperspace. They are trapped in the med bay as Order 66-ed clones cut through the doors. Rexsoka set their blasters and fists to stun, incapacitate the clones, and escape to the shuttle bay.

Maul wreaks havoc on the ship’s systems, knocking the cruiser out of hyperspace. Ahsoka directs the droids to find an escape ship since the cruiser is falling into the moon’s gravity well. They locate a shuttle, but a sea of clones blocks their way. Rex, tears in his eyes, tells Ahsoka the clones will kill them. Ahsoka knows this, but she will not kill them in return.

Ahsoka hatches a plan to get to the escape ship: she pretends to be Rex’s prisoner. This gambit allows the droids to get into position and pull the proverbial rug out from underneath the clones. With escape in sight, Maul shows up and ganks their shuttle! The droids then heroically lay down their lives to save Rexsoka.

Rexsoka finds a Y-Wing. Ahsoka flings Rex onto the ship, then the cruiser tilts violently and begins to breaks up in atmosphere. The Y-Wing is thrown from the hangar, sans Ahsoka. She leaps off the cruiser and… sky walks? down the falling pieces of the rapidly disintegrating cruiser. She reaches Rex and they fly away.

The Y-Wing lands next to the wrecked cruiser, we see Rex with shovel in hand. They’ve come to bury the dead. Their friends. His brothers. Ahsoka reflects on the sea of clone helmets, some still painted with her markings. We freeze on Jesse’s helmet, Ahsoka looks down, and one of her lightsabers falls to the ground.

We flash forward and see STORMtroopers milling about. We hear all-to-familiar mechanical breath. Darth Vader approaches, retrieves Ahsoka’s lightsaber, lights it, then surveys the wreckage. Above glides a Convor (the owl-like bird that became a sort of spirit companion to Ahsoka after Mortis). We cut to the visor of an Ahsoka-painted helmet lying in the snow, where Vader’s reflection retreats as we reach THE END.

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An old-school “Lucasfilm Limited” logo, nice and green, introduces our show, followed by a red Clone Wars logo and title card: Part 1 Old Friends Not Forgotten. For the first time in the series, we have no Jedi Fortune Cookie.

Grievous has launched an offensive across the outer rim. On Yerbana, Obi-Wan arrives in the knick of time to slice a missile in half before it kills Cody, and sticking a Marvel superhero landing. Anakin refuses to take cover because “there’s only 1000 droids, tops,” and pulls a full Obi-Wan false surrender to lure out the tactical droid; which he force pulls the length of a football field then slices its head off. Rex’s clones fly in on jetpacks and finish off the droids.

Admiral Yularen tells Anakin and Obi-Wan they have an incoming transmission using the code “Fulcrum.” It’s Ahsoka with a lead on Maul’s location! Ahsoka and Bo-Katan arrive on the ship. Anakin tries to buddy up - but he gets the cold shoulder. Bo-Katan proposes a joint operation to capture Maul.

Anakin surprises Ahsoka with a visit to Rex and the 501st. They salute her, even though she’s no longer a commander. Before Anakin can present her with a special gift alarms blare: Grievous is attacking Coruscant!

This means the boys can’t go to Mandalore with Ahsoka and Bo. Anakin promotes Rex to commander and splits the 501st, assigning half the company to aid in the capture of Maul. Anakin gives Ahsoka her lightsabers, which he took very good care of, and even made some improvements.

Ahsoka, Bo, Rex and the now halved 250 ½ clone squad arrive on Mandalore and meet with resistance. Bo goes after Almec, and Ahsoka goes after Maul. Ahsoka falls into Maul’s trap, which was meant for Kenobi and Anakin. We end once again in a fade out with no fanfare music.

We begin again without a Jedi Fortune Cookie, but the radio announcer...actually, no, the radio announcer is gone too, along with the opening theme. We are really at endgame here. Ahsoka is surrounded by Maul and his loyal Mandalorians, as he informs her he was hoping his plan would lure Obi-wan here. While he soliloquizes, Ahsoka signals Rex and the clones with her location: they free Ahsoka, but Maul escapes.

In the throne room, Ahsoka and Bo-Katan speak to Obi-wan via Spacetime(tm). He informs them that we're now past the opening of Revenge of the Sith, and that Anakin and he rescued the Chancellor and killed Dooku. Back in the tunnels, Ahsoka learns that Maul has captured ARC Trooper Jesse and is searching for her. Prime Minister Almec is killed by Gar Saxon, who is tying up lose ends under Maul's orders.

Maul decides that with Sidious's plans coming to fruition, the time for action has come - he fires up his Mandalorians with a speech about dying gloriously in battle, and then sneaks into the throne room to surprise the heroes. Maul and Ahsoka discuss their differences. Now that Maul knows Ahsoka's full history, and that she has left the Order, he offers her an alliance to defeat Sidious. She agrees to the plan, but only if Maul explains what's up with Anakin. Maul tells her the truth: he's the key to Sidious's plan, and has been groomed to be the new Sith apprentice. Unwilling to accept the truth of this, Ahsoka decides that she must fight Maul instead. And we get the best lightsaber battle of the series!

Maul disarms Ahsoka, and offers her one last chance to join him, but she sticks to her convictions. Then, with an assist from a number of clones, she captures Maul and secures him for transport back to Coruscant.

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