The Siege of Mandalore: the good, the bad, and the soon to come
By Andrew Xu
In this breakdown of the Siege of Mandalore, I give a rundown on its greatness, its weakness, and what we’ll be seeing down the line in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The antipenultimate episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, “The Phantom Apprentice,” has just dropped, and we’re now halfway through the Siege of Mandalore, the finale to the series.
What a ride this show has been.
We’ve seen Ahsoka grow from a nerf herder to a capable and headstrong leader in her own right. Maul came back from the dead and promptly lead a coup against a pacifist government, and now we’ve arrived at the final hours of the series.
The Good
The Breathtaking Production Value
Most fans of The Clone Wars are already aware the animation of the show improves drastically over time. The Siege of Mandalore in particular feels worthy of a theatrical release, far more than the actual film that launched the series’ initial run. The craziness of explosions and glass shattering throughout a city filled with visual depth, paired with cinematic camera angles and refined lighting truly make this story arc a sight to behold.
Ray Park, the martial artist who portrayed Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, returned via-motion capture in this episode for the duel between Maul and Ahsoka, and it definitely shows.
The result? A flashy, albeit grounded fight that feels both realistic and grand.