The Clone Wars season 4 episode 22 review: Revenge

This review contains spoilers.

4.22 Revenge

There’s a moment in this season finale that sends a real unnerving shudder through the body. After bad boy Darth Maul has eviscerated a village, off screen sadly, we find one solitary astromech droid banging its head against a wall; moving to and fro.

It’s such a telling moment, that even a heartless machine is left scarred, horrified and bewildered by the destructive work of the aforementioned, resurrected horned Sith. The underlying unpleasantness of the past few episodes comes to a head.

But before this, Maul must be reborn. His “brother” Savage Opress brings him back to Dathomir where Nightsister Mother Talzin performs some dark side magic – changing his scorpion like bottom half into a more manageable two-legged affair. As a side note, I find it a tad odd, given the powers the witch has, that Maul wasn’t given actual legs rather than the mechanical ones he receives. A missed opportunity there I feel.

Once the star of The Phantom Menace is back on his feet, revenge is on his mind and lures Obi Wan Kenobi to the planet Raydonia, where Maul devastates everything and everyone in his path (including cute little droids). It’s not long before the Jedi finds himself at the mercy of the two brothers but, of course, rather than killing him immediately, the horny villains toy with their prey.

Enter another failed Sith, Asajj Ventress. And then enter a lightsaber smack down the likes we have never witnessed – a witch, a Jedi and two barbarians with skills that better their opponents. It’s a truly eyebrow-raising, gasp-inducing and wow-making battle and will not disappoint.

Indeed, Revenge is an incredibly satisfying end to this four-part arc from Katie Lucas and certainly the best season finale we’ve had from the series. Her understanding of character and how they fit into the Star Wars world is demonstrated wonderfully; just witness Maul’s sadness that the Clone Wars “started without” him. An almost sympathetic moment.

Oddly, as I mentioned last week, the Clones and the Droids, so prevalent throughout The Clone Wars, are absent again allowing for the pure Star Wars notions of light and dark. One wonders if this is a foreshadowing of the next season and, if so, we are in for another brilliant collection of episodes from the Star Wars animated spin-off.

Read our review of last week’s episode, here.

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