Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 3 episode 17 review: Ghosts Of Mortis

This review contains spoilers.

3.17 Ghosts Of Mortis

The Mortis mini arc, comprising of three episodes, comes to end with some unexpected events and remarkable imagery. Oddly, though, it kicks off with a sense of déjà vu.

Having just escaped the clutches of the titular planet, Obi Wan, Anakin and his Padawan Ashoka find their ship crash landing back on Mortis. Not unlike how the gang found themselves being returned in the previous installment. But now, filled with a sense of urgency, Anakin seeks to reconcile the recent events by approaching Father, the mystical being with powers far beyond the Jedi and Sith and a connection to The Force that makes Yoda look like Nein Nunb or Chaka Kahn.

Bad news for the Jedi, though, is his son, named Son, is not as benevolent as his daddy. But he isn’t all bad, either. Son, voiced magnificently by Sam Witwer, isn’t interested in being Sith. He wants Anakin to join him in the hope that, together, they can banish both Jedi and Sith from the galaxy; thus restoring ‘balance’ to The Force.

Is he good? Bad? Just what the eff is he? It’s a bit of a conundrum.

A conundrum that poor little Ani can’t handle. Son awaits the bad boy Jedi in a well that harnesses the Dark Side of the Force, a place which bears an uncanny resemblance to the volcanic location of Anakin’s ultimate downfall, Mustafar (witnessed during the tumultuous denouement of Revenge Of The Sith).

Son uses his powers to show Anakin, and us viewers, his future. Cue one of the most haunting and utterly memorable scenes The Clone Wars has mustered up (and there’s been a few in recent weeks, it has to be said). The not-Jedi/Sith asks Skywalker, “What if I could show you the future?” taunting, “Know what you will become.”

What follows is a brief flashforward featuring Anakin’s greatest hits of mistakes (the massacre of the younglings, for example) culminating in a blast from the past (or his future), the Death Star’s obliteration of Alderaan from Episode IV. You will gasp. But hold on, there’s more.

If your geekoid receptors haven’t already blown, then the sight of Darth Vader will positively render your sensory capacitors null and void. It’s a compellingly disturbing, albeit speedy, image and somewhat overshadows the second return of Liam Neeson as Qui Gonn Jin, who pops up for a chat. The actor’s presence once again lends immense weight to proceedings, endowing a dramatic and cinematic glow to the story.

By breaking the “laws of time” (a very curious phrase to hear in Star Wars), Son invokes a reaction from Father, who was previously happy to let him run free. But both men were sure of one fact: that Anakin is the Chosen One who will bring balance to The Force. And here is a question that fans have been debating for some time now, the nature of how the Force is brought into “balance”. I’m not going to debate it here, but one wonders if this notion will be addressed again.

There are more shocks in store as the Jedi find themselves back in their ship moments after leaving their own galaxy two episodes ago. Just what happened? Were the events on Mortis real? A dream? A Force-enduced vision?

Whether or not the events of the last three episodes actually took place is irrelevant. The Force reached out to the Jedi, specifically Anakin, and served a spine-chilling warning. A warning that threatened to rewrite the Star Wars saga in the most interesting, not to mention complex of fashions.

The Mortis Trilogy will live long in the memory as one of the most intriguing and bleak stories ever told in the Star Wars universe. A story that connected all six movies and foretold the future, but was helpless to prevent it.

Read our review of episode 16, Altar Of Mortis, here.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.