Clone Wars Debriefing: "Ghosts Of Mortis"

[lazypadawan]

Gee, where do I begin? Again, I had to watch this twice before writing anything.

I think the most pithy comment on the Mortis arc I've seen yet is from one guy who said watching it is like watching David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive five times in a row and finding a new theory about it every time.

Jungians are having a field day with the storyline and it's easy to see why. I have no doubt that this event is a turning point in Anakin's life. He's aware of what he is now and what kind of power he is capable of having. He is that much more wise and that much more dangerous. I just hope the writers remember that, although in a 22-minute show, it's not going to come up all of the time. Even though Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were present, and probably do remember something of their time on Mortis (based on the knowing nods at the end), this was really about Anakin and the Force. It's a detour off the freeway of clones, Jedi, Coruscanti politics, and battles to explain the Force, the Chosen One, and what exactly he's supposed to do.

Anakin at last comes face-to-face with his destiny, good and bad, and we discover in the meantime that Anakin's first test was to bring balance to the "world" of Mortis, a place that exists beyond the GFFA's physical reality. The events that play out on Mortis are a synopsis of Anakin's own arc and I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps our Jungian friends are right in saying that Father, Son, and Daughter are not only different aspects of the Force (light, dark, and balanced) but also reflections of Anakin himself. Anakin had to experience all of them and it's interesting to note that most of his time is with Father and with Son.

Qui-Gon appears and coaches Anakin in the final part of journey. Both Qui-Gon and Father know Anakin had to "confront" Son in his own lair, place that just so happens to look like Mustafar and/or Hell. I love the image of Anakin speeding through the darkness of a cave, then descending into a deep tunnel that ends in a fiery volcanic pit. The Descent. There, Son doesn't tempt Anakin with money, power, or fame but by horrifying Anakin with visions of his own future. Son takes advantage of Anakin's greatest weakness; his willingness to do anything to prevent something from happening and to set things "right." The episode's fortune cookie about trying to change the future doesn't bring peace applies not only to Anakin but also to Father. Father thought he'd be able to save the galaxy from his children (and save them from themselves) in Mortis, only to discover that he couldn't.

I thought the vision scene was pretty cool. Anakin sees what we know will happen, even if not all of the images are precise: Obi-Wan's "you were my brother," choking Padmé, murdered youngling, the Emperor, Alderaan's destruction, Vader's mask. Ahsoka's fate isn't seen or implied (darn!) but there is something else there that is conspicuously missing. Come on...think about it...

Padmé isn't pregnant in Anakin's vision. There's no indication of Luke or Leia at all. You see, they weren't just too cheap and too lazy to come up with a new animation model for Padmé. Either Son purposefully withheld that bit of information or he didn't know that was in Anakin's future either. The twins were the Force's ultimate game changer.

Obi-Wan goes after Anakin to rescue him--though he's aware that a Dark!Anakin was dangerous--quite a different story from what happens in ROTS. In ROTS, I guess Obi-Wan was really disappointed Anakin falls for the same trick a second time ;).

To get Anakin back on track, Father removes memories of Anakin's vision and tells him the future's not set in stone (again, note the lack of twins). Too bad Anakin doesn't remember that bit of advice later on. darth_pipes thought it was a bit of deus ex machina, but I thought the scene exposes Anakin's doubts and fears. He fears becoming a monster and that fear has him frozen in his tracks, unable to carry out what he's supposed to do. Father removing those memories symbolizes putting those fears aside and going forward.

The endgame with Father and Son was poignant, a strange combination of love, faith in good, and betrayal. Father sacrifices himself for the good of all, and so that Anakin could fulfill his role and restore balance. It plays out again in Anakin's own life later on, albeit with a few minor changes. Father tells him as Qui-Gon told him earlier, that if Anakin stays on his path, he will bring balance. And he does do that, just not the easy way! In fact, before Father dies and dissolves into the Force (aha!) he warns Anakin to be careful of his heart. Anakin then goes on a low-fat/low-salt diet and starts taking Omega-3 vitamins.

I don't know why anyone is complaining about Ahsoka fixing the ship. Big hairy deal; maybe Anakin was too distracted by bigger and more cosmic things than to even worry about the ship. Besides, Ahsoka looked adorable in those goggles.

The only nitpick I have is when Dark!Anakin goes to the ship and he can't sense that Ahsoka is hiding inside. (She rather cleverly gets away though.)

You kids overuse the word "epic" these days but that certainly applies to the Mortis arc. I haven't been this awed, amazed, and touched since seeing ROTS, but anything having to do with my sexy beast Anakin and the Star Wars mythology is always up my alley. The animation was fantastic, bringing back Pernilla August and Liam Neeson was a brilliant idea, and Sam Witwer was genius. Somebody give this guy an Emmy. I think this is also Matt Lanter's best performance on Clone Wars to date. I cannot wait to hear discussions about this arc on the convention circuit this summer!

Next week: Your friend and mine, Tarkin!

Comments

[knight-ander.livejournal.com]

I thought this arc was excellent, too, especially Matt's performance in this last episode. Sam wasn't too bad, either.

And who would complain about Ahsoka fixing the ship? Granted, I would have thought Anakin would be doing all the work, but he was a bit distracted. It seems Anakin has taught her to be handy with a hydrospanner as well as a lightsaber. :)

And Ahsoka did look adorable with those goggles on! I posted on Ashley Eckstein's FB page that they need to make a shirt of Mechanic!Ahsoka wih the slogan "Real women change their own oil!" or something of that nature.

[frostbit-sky.livejournal.com]

I'd love a shirt like that.

[frostbit-sky.livejournal.com]

I noticed the omission of the twins in the vision.
I think it is because Padmé is not pregnant yet and Son didn't factor in the possibility of Anakin having offspring. Which solidifies that the future is always in motion.

I liked the episode more than anticipated :)

Mechanic!Ahsoka is awesome. Anakin is teaching her useful techniques.

[designersdilemma.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

Son's revealing Anakin's future as a means of tempting him was interesting to me, and one that I wish wasn't dismissed by Father's mind-wipe (though I do think it's cool that both Ani and Threepio suffer amnesia at some point). The whole thing reminded me of that "Jesus" miniseries that was done with Jeremy Sisto years back, where Lucifer's ultimate temptation is to show Christ all the evil and wars that will be carried out in his name. It's further interesting because Qui-Gon and Father are implied to kinda know what Anakin's future is, but urge him to remain on his path, however dark. From their point of view, it's necessary for him to turn for a while in order to redeem himself, and the galaxy. Perhaps Qui-Gon accepts that in order to "balance the Force", Skywalker must be both Jedi and Sith, somewhat.

Anyway. I still think an arc like this is a sign that Lucas and Filoni should branch out and do something new, outside of "Star Wars". They're a great creative team. But it's hard not to like how this is further redefining what we know of the saga.

I do miss all the politicobabble.

[designersdilemma.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I didn't notice the ommision of Padme's baby bump. I did notice the ommision of the SE explosion-ring from the destruction of Alderran...

[krpalmer.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's "peculiar" in retrospect now that I was very concerned about whether Qui-Gon would "come off right" in "Overlords" and whether "Ahsoka turned 'dark'" would "work at all" in "Altar of Mortis," but going into this episode I was more willing to just go along with things as they happened...

Qui-Gon returning again was a real surprise for me, but it was nice to see Anakin interacting with him; after all, they did that back in The Phantom Menace... One thing that struck me at first about the vision of the future was that Anakin saw "what" and not "why," and I can also ponder him basically surrendering his freedom of action to avoid what he saw, only to wind up sort of where he didn't want to be in the first place. As well, I did think back to old speculation that Anakin's fall would be through "trying to do something for the galaxy as a whole" (often linked to trying to free the slaves on Tatooine), although since noticing those speculations I've thought myself that, since it had already been established he returned from the Dark Side through "focusing on one person," joining it through that does seem to avoid the potential criticism that "doing something 'big' is being downplayed."

I suppose I was conscious of previous comments about "aw, they're going to have to forget all this" as the Father removed the troublesome bits of Anakin's memory, but him doing it did seem to work better than a hypothetical "they wake up at the end and can't remember anything" conclusion. Too, it was sort of interesting to wonder what all three of the "anchorites" dying means given their identification with aspects of the Force...

I can still sort of accept how people might have ambiguities with fitting this "arc" into the larger story of the movies, but it's certainly been interesting.

[krpalmer.livejournal.com]

As for me, I didn't notice the "ring" missing myself (although I might have had a thought or two about how "Luke wasn't there"), but I might have been distracted right then by how the destruction now shows the planet shattering into chunks instead of the matte painting being instantly replaced by the explosion. I suppose we all pick up on different things.

[darth-pipes.livejournal.com]

Excellent episode. I was impressed with the whole story arc from the animation to the story to the voice acting. The vision of Anakn's future was awesome. Seeing Alderaan's destruction was awesome and Anakin's attempt not to look at it reminded me of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Having Qui-Gon interact with Anakin was a great thing to see. The confrontation between The Father and The Son was also engaging. Good dimension on the Son that he truly cared about the Daughter although I wonder if they had the original creepy Luke/Leia relationship. ;)

My only disappointment is that I was hoping that Anakin would overcome his dark side spell without the help of The Father. Basically, he rejects the darkness and the thought is it might be behind him for now. Though Anakin joining the Son in a desperate attempt to stop his fall is very much in character. I wonder though if The Father should have erased his memory. If he truly believes that the future is in motion, then what Anakin saw doesn't have to happen. If Ankain knew he would "kill" Padme and the younglings, I think he wouldn't do it. Then again, we see the efforts he takes to avoid this kind of thing and it's never good. ;) The Father did have to clean him out because a combination of a dark side Chosen One and The Son would have reeked havoc on the galaxy.

Anakin not repairing the ship was strange although if you're looking to defend your ship against The Son, you need your most powerful warrior outside.

Next week Tarkin!