WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7, streaming now on Disney+.
The latest episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "Old Friends Not Forgotten," delivered a treat in the form of an elaborate battle sequence involving Ahsoka. This episode is the start of the Siege of Mandalore, an event that's been teased since the final season of the series was announced. And Ahsoka kicks it off with something rarely seen on Star Wars: a mid-air battle.
As the assault begins, Ahsoka and Rex are in the air, above Mandalore. Rex mentions that he forgot to bring her a jetpack, and her response is that she "doesn't need one," proceeding to launch herself out of the troop carrier and into the open air. She then proceeds to leap from ship to ship, using them almost as vertical stepping stones to proceed to the ground, even dispatching hostile Mandalorian troops on her way down. This caps off with her leaping onto a falling Republic vessel and cutting the pilot loose, freeing him from danger before riding the sinking ship towards her landing point. And if that wasn't enough, she leaps off it just in time and into the fray of battle, fighting off a whole squad of enemies before her own reinforcements arrive.
This sequence shows off Ahsoka making full use of her custom lightsabers, which she received from Anakin earlier in the episode, as the two of them reunited. This is the first time she had made use of them since she had left the Jedi Order and getting them back, along with her reunion with Anakin, Rex and the 501st are given the solemn weight they deserve. But with Anakin called away to deal with the attack on Coruscant, it's up to Ahsoka alone to deal with Mandalore, as well as Maul, the reason for the assault.
Maul's influence on Mandalore is communicated throughout the episode with a not-so-subtle piece of visual design. The Mandalorians fighting on his side don red-and-black armor reminiscent of Maul's signature bright-red skin and black tattoos. This stands in stark contrast to the "good" Mandalorians fighting on Ahsoka's side, who wear bright blue armor with white highlights. It also establishes a parallel between them and Ahsoka's Republic Clones, who adorn their helmets at the beginning of the episode with paint shaped to mimic Ahsoka's bright orange skin tone and white facial markings.
The rest of the action in the episode is pretty impressive as well, with Obi-Wan jumping down and cutting through enemy fire to save one of his soldiers, along with Anakin's cheeky method of defeating an enemy siege. Combined with the events on Mandalore, it really does feel like the events of the show are coming to a climax -- after all, with scenes beginning to head into Revenge of the Sith, the "Clone Wars" themselves are coming to their end. But hopefully, before the epic conclusion, there are a few more moments like this one.
Streaming on Disney+, the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars stars Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex and the clone troopers, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan and Sam Witwer as Maul. A new episode arrives each Friday.