Star Wars the Clone Wars "Ghosts of Mortis" TV Review



Oh yes they did!

Want to watch this episode?  Head over to Starwars.com or follow this link. http://starwars.com/video/view/001226.html.  Episodes are put on the website the Monday after they air on TV, and are taken down two weeks later.

     The "Mortis" trilogy of episodes has done some pretty bold things, but "Ghosts of Mortis" really takes the cake.  In what seems to be a direct violation of the films, the Son captures Anakin and shows him a vision of his future.  I'm not talking about a possible "Oh, maybe this will happen, maybe it won't" future, but a "holy cow are they serious he's totally showing him Darth Vader" type of future.  Obviously the canon of the films requires the Father to erase Anakin's memory of the whole ordeal, but fortunately there's plenty of meat before then in which we get to see how the Chosen One reacts to such a startling revelation.  His brief stint with the Dark Side is temporary just like Ahsoka's, but this time it feels more authentic.  It's also interesting to see his reasons for doing it, and how they compare and contrast with his reasons in Episode III.  While there's evidence that the Son has poisoned him to a certain degree, you can still see the old Anakin come out several times; the Son may have pushed him over the edge, but Anakin is still Anakin.

     Speaking of the Son, he was great in this episode.  "Altar of Mortis" did a great job of building up his character, and this episode made it even better by showing a more vulnerable and compassionate side to him.  There's a great scene in which he pauses for a brief moment while raiding his sister's tomb to reflect upon her death, showing that even though they are on opposite sides of the spectrum they are still brother and sister.

     Not so great, unfortunately, is Ahsoka's character.  You'd think that after her possession in the previous episode that she would open up some more, or at least reflect back on it, but no, she's still plain old Ahsoka, which is a bit of a wasted opportunity.  The only thing this episode does to build upon her character is to reveal that apparently she's just as much a mechanic as Anakin.  Go figure.

     This is where the main problem of this episode comes in.  In the previous episodes we had the characters go off on separate ways frequently, with each piece fitting together into the overall story.  This time around, however, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka seem to do little more than be dragged around from one point to another.  As Obi-Wan remarks, he and Ahsoka wouldn't have been brought to Mortis if they weren't meant to participate.  So why don't they?

Conclusion:  It's pretty clear that this episode was meant to revolve around the Son, the Father, and Skywalker, and in that regard, it does fantastic.  "Ghosts of Mortis" is a bit slow in some parts, but in the end it shapes up to be a great, if not outstanding, conclusion to this remarkable trilogy of episodes.

Rating:  8/10 "Great"

Favorite Moment (Spoilers):  The scene with the Son in the tomb is touching, but the final confrontation between him and his father is even better.  His plea to his dying father is powerful, even if there may be selfish reasons behind it.