Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode 10 recap — Ahsoka takes on Maul in The Phantom Apprentice

Oh wow The penultimate episode of Star Wars: The final season of The Clone Wars was released on Disney Plus on Friday, following the killer launch of the Siege of Mandalore last week. We also get the coolest title so far: The Phantom Apprentice.

We last saw ex-Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) surrounded by evil Mandalorians as their leader, the former Sith apprentice Maul (Sam widower) stepped out of the shadows, apparently disappointed to see her instead of his archenemy Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor).

The episode’s title not only sounds fantastic, it also has several meanings. It alludes to the trilogy opener The Phantom Menace, in which Maul made his debut and apparently hit its end by Obi-Wan. I’ve always thought of Maul’s master Darth Sidious as the eponymous phantom threat, but maybe he called the Sith a couple?

The title could also refer to Ahsoka and Maul, since both are apprentices who have never completed their education. Ahsoka willingly left the Jedi and their master Anakin Skywalker, but Maul was replaced by Count Dooku when Sidious thought he was dead. The main difference is that Anakin clearly misses Ahsoka, while Sidious only don’t scream about anyone but himself.

Now let’s take a trip to the city of SPOILER.

Revenge of the Sith

When Maul wonders why Obi-Wan and Anakin didn’t come, Ahsoka tells him they had a “more urgent engagement” – saving Chancellor Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) from General Grievous, as seen in the opening of Revenge of the Sith. This episode takes place at the same time as this film.

Maul begins to monologize how Sidious will take power and wipe out the Jedi. He has no chance to go into detail before Rex and a few clones arrive. He has to flee and Ahsoka has to wonder who the hell Sidious is.

She contacts Obi-Wan, who is about to be sent to Utapau, a moment that happens about 50 minutes after the Sith’s revenge. He wants Ahsoka to capture Maul so the Jedi Council can learn more about Sidious, but I think Maul is far too powerful to stay trapped for a long time. stupid Jedi!

He also asks Ahsoka to call Anakin because her former master is upset about the Jedi Council, which instructs him to spy on the obviously evil Palpatine. Unfortunately, Rex interrupts to let Ahsoka know that Maul has struck again and she never gets a chance to contact Anakin.

Oops. It’s pretty depressing to think how different things could have been for the galaxy if it had made that call.

Plans within plans

It turns out that Maul is motivated by a power-triggered vision that Sidious will take over the galaxy and cause him to order the lieutenants in his criminal realm of shadow collectives to hide. He wants to overcome chaos and seize the power that is available in the new order.

His visions also showed that Sidious has long cared for Anakin to become his new apprentice – an important part of the plan. He orchestrated the siege of Mandalore to lure Anakin and Obi-Wan there so that he could kill Anakin and “rob Sidious of his valued student.”

He asks Ahsoka to join him so they can stop Sidious, and (gorgeous) she says yes at first. But the mention of Anakin turning to the dark side scares her away from the idea. She cannot believe that the decent man who trained her would sway. So she and Maul do the only thing they can do: they have an absolutely incredible lightsaber duel.

“You’re lucky Anakin didn’t show up,” Ahsoka says. “The way you fight, you wouldn’t have lasted long.”

It’s gossip, but she’s absolutely right. Anakin would have slaughtered Maul has Count Dooku. Ahsoka ultimately saves Maul from a fatal fall and the clones catch him.

“They’ll all burn, we’ll all die!” Maul screams before the clones stun him. Intense but appropriate.

Mando battle

The duel between Ahsoka and Maul is not the only epic moment in the episode. Gar Saxon (bearer of the coolest Mandalorian armor ever and played by Ray Stevenson) throws with Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) in an elevator shaft before escaping. In the end, he and the rest of his mouth-supporting mandos that Maul wanted to give up are defeated by the combined power of the Bo-Katan forces and the clones.

There is constant tension in the last part of the episode because we know that Order 66 is coming and the clones are forced to turn on Ahsoka. How will Bo-Katan and her Mando friends react to this betrayal? They are unlikely to be attacked by the clones, but it is likely that the Republic’s armed forces will refuse to end their occupation of Mandalore once they officially become the Galactic Empire.

We’ll find out next Friday, May 1st, when the penultimate episode of the show is coming to Disney Plus. You won’t have to wait long for the final either; that comes Monday, May 4th.

Easter eggs and observations

• It is clear that Maul knows some of Sidious’s grand plans, but not all of the details. It seems like he is putting things together based on what he knew before his defeat in The Phantom Menace and what he saw in his Force vision.
• Maul pulls information about Ahsoka from the head of the captured clone Jesse, who is using power, a step that Kylo Ren will take put on Rey in The Force Awakens.
• The former Sith refer to Saxon and Rook Kast (Vanessa Marshall) Release of Sidious and Dooku from detention. That happened in 2014 Son of the Dathomir comic series.
• Among Shadow Collective’s lieutenants, Maul hides the solo villain Dryden Vos, the leader of Crimson Dawn. He doesn’t say anything, but it’s great to see him in animation.
• The shot after the window in the throne room broke and Ahsoka glass and embers blew as she considered Maul’s offer made me shiver.
• Ray Park, who played Maul in The Phantom Menace and Solo, did motion capture for the Ahsoka Maul duel, and it shows. His movements are super smooth and a pleasure to see. Ahsoka’s movement was done by Lauren Mary Kim, who did stunts for The Mandalorian and countless other films and shows.

Come back next Friday May 1st to see the penultimate roundup of Season 7 of The Clone Wars before May 4th season finale!