The Clone Wars Season 7, Episode 9 Recap and Review – “Old Friends Not Forgotten”

The Siege of Mandalore has launched thanks to “Old Friends Not Forgotten”, which is easily one of the best episode of The Clone Wars to ever be featured.

Head on down below to check out my full recap and review in video or scripted formats.

Recap

Hey now fans of what is going to be some epic Clone Wars storytelling, Matt Heywood here to recap and review The Clone Wars: Old Friends Not Forgotten, aka, S7E9.

The episode begins with a battle on Yerbana in which Kenobi and Cody are pinned down on a bridge. At least until Anakin shows up and does some very Anakin -like shit talking to his former master before he, R2, and the 501st pull of an impressive trap to take out the droid forces. 

Anakin then gets a call from Yularen telling him someone has reached out on the Fulcrum band, so he and Kenobi head back to the ship.

Here he realizes that it’s Ahsoka reaching out to him, and he’s visibly affected by seeing her. She lays down the reason for contacting him, and they agree to meet to discuss a plan to take down Maul.

Ahsoka and Bo land on the Jedi’s starship and she’s a bit cold towards him at first, but that’s because time is of the essence, so they get right to their  plan to snuff out Maul. 

In typical Kenobi fashion he’s being all Jedi about it, and won’t commit to anything, so Anakin takes Ahsoka to see Rex again, which provided another emotional reunion for this episode. 

While reminiscing, Kenobi returns and they all find out that Coruscant is under attack, so the Jedi can’t help Ahsoka and Bo. Ahsoka throws some shade at Kenobi to anakin’s delight, but he ultimately agrees to let Rex become the commander of an offshoot unit of the 501st to go help Ahsoka and Bo Katan on Mandalore. 

Anakin and Ahsoka then say their final goodbyes, we know that at least, and he leaves her with her old sabers, albeit with some new blue crystals. 

Ahsoka and the Mandalorians, along with Republic forces, reach Mandalore and begin their siege after talking some smack to Prime Minister Almec, who is commanding Gar Saxon and Rook Kast to ready defenses.

The former Jedi pulls off some Skywalker like moves to get herself to the surface in impressive fashion before meeting back up with Rex and company. 

Bo commands Ahsoka to go after Maul who they think is underground while she goes to take out Almec, so Ahsoka heads off with Captain Vaughn to a sewer like system under Mandalore. 

Meanwhile, Bo storms the throne room like a boss and takes down Almec, who informs her that all of this was a trap by Maul to capture a Jedi, but Bo brought the wrong Jedi, so she instantly realizes that she sent Ahsoka into a trap. 

She tries to reach out, but we then see Ahsoka’s forces being taken out by Mauldalorians, and has she is grieving the death of Vaughn, Mr. Horn head himself appears and is rather upset that he’s not looking at Kenobi. 

The End. 

Review

What can I say about the first part of the Siege of Mandalore arc outside of the fact that Sam Witwer was right. Just one episode in and you can see why he has described this four part arc as the best work The Clone Wars team has ever produced. 

From start to finish it was packed with memorable moments and emotionally charged ones at that. I loved the callback to Luke’s trap for Jabba while watching Anakin and R2 plan something similar on Yerbana, and of course the Williams musical themes were brought out in full force for these moments to give them a super charged punch of nostalgia. 

I also found how Anakin reacted to Ahsoka’s return to be masterful. I mean his expressions, ltone, and seeing his actions in this episode towards Ahsoka were both heart warming and heart breaking, making each one a magical lore moment for fans. We see how much he cares for Ahsoka in every move he makes, but we also know that this is probably their last face-to-face meeting before his fall, so when they say that goodbye in the hanger, it’s a doozy of a moment if you think about what’s coming next for the character of Anakin Skywalker. 

I have to mention her reunion with Rex too, so again, this episode was just loaded with moments I think fans have been clamoring for since this season was announced. 

Of course the Mandalore action was fantastic as well, and seeing Saxon and Kast, and eventually Maul in the flesh again also provided for some memorable moments. 

This is hands down the best episode of The Clone Wars this season, if not one of the best in the series, which is crazy to think because you know the final three episodes will only get more impactful and therefore even more meaningful to the Star Wars saga as a whole. 

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