Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 5, Episode 16 – “The Lawless” – The Dynamic of Power

     “The Lawless” is where a lot of moments come to a head. Savage Opress’s story ends as does Satine’s. Maul finally faces his old Master and Mandalore is made vulnerable to a Republic invasion through internal strife and Civil War. It is powerful and shows that no one wins in the end, except maybe Sidious as he wants everything and now via Obi-Wan has all the reasons he needs to invade Mandalore and make it part of the Republic and later the Empire. It is a powerful episode and one of my favorites.

     The episode was directed by Brian Kalin O’Connell and written by Chris Collins.

    The story involves Satine being used as bate for revenge to lure Obi-Wan to Mandalore. Once there she is killed by Maul in revenge. After Bo-Katan rescues Obi-Wan and as they fight to escape so that Obi-Wan can bring Republic help Sidious arrives to take on his rivals Maul and Opress.

The Pros: Satine – Satine’s death actually means something as we have got to know her as a character and even to the end she holds onto her nobility and reminds Obi-Wan of what to fight for. She was a great character who will be missed. R.I.P.

Bo-Katan – Bo-Katan is Satine’s sister and the current leader of Death Watch standing against Maul. She protects Obi-Wan and helps him escape and even is willing to call in the Republic as she knows Mandalore will endure through any occupation. She is a true nationalist and believer as she imprisoned her sister and her sister was her enemy up until the end when she realized that even if pacifism is wrong she always loved her sister.

Savage Opress – His development stopped but his death was still meaningful as buried under the Dark Magic the young boy who was turned into a weapon was still there. He was never as full of the Dark Side the way Maul was as for him it was against his will, Maul it is implied that he had more choice even if he was still used by the Witches. R.I.P.

Civil War on Mandalore – Death Watch against the Shadow Collective…and in the end the people lose. Both sides are powerful enough to keep the war going long enough for the Republic to invade. It is a tragic story but the Civil War makes sense, Mandalore has been through nothing but conflict since Death Watch against Satine and Maul just made certain it would last much longer by taking over and the Shadow Collective.

Obi-Wan Kenobi – Kenobi loses the one person he loved and who loved him and through it all endures. His perseverance is strong in this and he never loses sight of Mandalore, for example he questions Bo-Katan when she wants to bring in the Republic as he knows Mandalore will no longer be neutral and that it will be under Republic control. His story truly is tragic and he doesn’t even get to kill Maul.

Darth Maul – Maul is the leader of Mandalore and is confident in this one. His trap goes as planned and he kills Satine to show Obi-Wan how he suffered. We also see that he didn’t have a choice to some degree as well as he was taken as a child to become a Sith. We see in the end he still that child when Sidious tortures him and he begs for mercy and to be brought back. He was still a powerful leader of his own faction though and this episode he was handled well, just like the last arc.

Darth Sidious – Sidious is the one who wins in the end. He wins Mandalore, destroys his rival in the Shadow Collective and Maul and has Maul as a tool even if he’ll never take him as an apprentice again. It is awesome to see him fight too as he wipes the floor with Opress and Maul. In the end he’s the only one who wins as a Republic invasion of Mandalore puts Mandalore under the Empire’s control later.

This was a great ending for a lot of characters. We see where some of the unspoken pain in Obi-Wan’s eyes come from when he talks about the Clone Wars comes from and we also have Opress and Maul’s arc come to a close and with it the dissolution of the 3rd Faction of the Shadow Collective. It is an episode with stakes and quite a few people die, it illustrates from this that in war, more often than not, there really aren’t winners except from those who profit from it’s existence in the first place.

Final Score: 10 / 10