So I’ve been thinking about this scene right here:
I always found it odd that Rex would mention Hevy in that list despite only knowing him for such a short amount of time. Especially when you think of Hardcase who we know has fought beside him for a long time or Tup who died right before Fives. That is until I remembered what happened in the episode Rookies when Rex goes:
And later in the episode we see this:
And then it shows Rex leaving first because “I’m always first.”
And we all know how that episode ends.
Now move ahead to Plan of Dissent and what do we see?
Rex is in the back. He probably blamed himself for Hevy’s death and felt guilty for being the first one out not even realizing Hevy wasn’t with them. He was the one to give Hevy the job to fix the remote. He never stopped to check if Hevy was behind them until it was to late. He mentions Hevy because he was probably Rex’s biggest regret. He was a shiny who just saw real combat for the first time. Rex probably spent nights lying awake thinking of how Hevy’s death could have been avoided. Of what he could have done different. It’s something he probably never lets himself forget.
I have a very spicy and galaxy-brained take that none of you are prepared for but I’m gonna say it anyway.
To clarify: In Star Wars: the Clone Wars season 1 episodes 11 and 12 “Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General” (2009), Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi meet Hondo Ohnaka for the first time when they, along with Count Dooku, are captured and held for ransom by him. This establishes the dynamic between Anakin, Obi-Wan and Hondo. Later, in season 5 episode 5 “Tipping Points” (2012), the conclusion to the Onderon story arc, since the Jedi and the Republic cannot directly interfere with the Onderon Rebellion, Anakin pays Hondo to deliver heavy weapons to the Onderon rebels so that the rebels will get the reinforcements they need but Republic will have plausible deniability, so overall Hondo has a small but very impactful role in the Onderon arc. The Onderon arc is crucial to the backstory and overall character arc of Saw Gerrera, who eventually becomes a huge pain in the Empire’s ass, but most notably raises and trains Jyn Erso, who then goes on to lead the mission to steal the plans for the first Death Star. In addition, Dooku later sends Grievous to destroy Hondo’s stronghold to get payback which is the beginning of how Hondo eventually loses his crew, which results in him eventually meeting Ezra Bridger, thus getting involved with the Rebellion, and in Star Wars: Rebels season 3 episodes 1 and 2 “Steps Into Shadow Parts 1 and 2″ (2017), Hondo informs the growing Rebellion of some old Republic Y-Wings in the possession of the Empire and helps them steal the Y-Wings before the Empire dismantles them. Those Y-Wings later become a key part of the Rebel Alliance fleet, and are the SAME Y-Wings used during the battle against the first Death Star. In conclusion, if Hondo Ohnaka had not decided to hold two Jedi and a Sith Lord hostage to make a quick million that one time, then the Death Star would never have been destroyed.
George Lucas was a visionary, Dave Filoni is a storyteller.
The united force of both George Lucas’ vision and Dave Filoni’s ability to tell stories is just one of the reasons why Star Wars: The Clone Wars is so good.
The Star Wars universe was big, and whole, rife with socio-political nuance from it’s inception. But the failing of the Movie franchises was being able to clearly represent these things.
Under George Lucas’ direction, specifically in the Prequels. the portrayal of the issues George centered the universe around were delivered in either a very stale or a very overstated way. There was always this disconnection from the human, breaking the suspension of the disbelief for us as viewers.
Take Padme and Anakin’s relationship in AOTC for example. For many it was unrelatable to see how Padme, in her heart, could still happily exist alongside Anakin. Same goes for the political aspect, the delivery was stale and depersonalised and therefore difficult for a viewer to contextualise in a meaningful way and thus the effect George Lucas was trying to create failed and the biggest teachings of the movie are shrouded in bore and cringe.
George Lucas was a visionary though, he always could see Star Wars from this very intricate zoomed out perspective, much like an omniscient being, he could see how things would play out, but he never could quite condense and communicate it effectively. Some say that that’s why ESB was one of the best films, was because George Lucas wasn’t sitting in the directors chair, yet his ideas were still being workshopped.
The same goes for the Clone Wars.
The ability that Dave Filoni has to write and connect with human stories became a superpower in the TCW arsenal. George Lucas stepped fully into his visionary role during this series, guiding the themes and ideas, but largely left the humanity to Dave Filoni. Through the lens of these two directors we were able to get a very nuanced character arc from Ahsoka, quite engaging episodes that explored deeper issues with politics and the contextuallisation of the larger universe for the first time.
The Star Wars universe started to feel large and feel real. But neither man could have achieved this without the other. While Dave Filoni has an excellent understanding of the Star Wars lore, he has stated that during the Mandalorian he guided his process by what would George do, and I don’t think that working alone, George Lucas would have been able to achieve the narrative clarity that Dave Filoni brought to the clone Wars.
I think it’s extremely important to appreciate all that Dave Filoni has done for star wars, as he has absolutely transformed it. But I think it’s also very important to remember, in the wise words of every Fanfiction.net fic disclaimer, “It’s George Lucas’ sandbox, i’m just playing in it.” And Dave made one of the best sandcastles ever.
