Full Series Discuss/Regrade the Episode: S03E17: Ghosts of Mortis

==Episode 3.17 // Ghosts of Mortis==
Some dark vision of the future happens


"He who seeks to control fate shall never find peace"

The Jedi remain stranded on Mortis, and the Son, aligned with the dark side of the Force, renews his efforts to convert Anakin as the Jedi prepare for a decisive confrontation.Anakin is stunned by images of his dark future. The Son promises him the power to avert this destiny.
The Father recognizes that the Son has broken the rules of time. He wipes Anakin's memory of these future visions, and steals the Mortis Dagger to end the conflict. The Father impales himself, thus preventing the Son from stealing his power. The Son, stunned by this, is run through by Anakin. With all three Force-wielders destroyed, the imbalance in the Force disappears on Mortis. The three Jedi are transplanted back to the galaxy proper, apparently at the moment that they disappeared.

http://starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep317#!/about
Now that you've rewatch the episode lets regrade it. Feel free to discuss as much as you like.

 

6/10, it was my least favourite episode of the Mortis trilogy. Ahsoka turning to the dark side in Altar of Mortis was fine, but then having Anakin turn to the dark side as well was probably the worst idea of the trilogy. It was alright, but I thought it was one of the worst episodes of the entire series.

 

Love this episode

Plus QUI-GON voiced by God

 

Ghosts of Mortis was to me the weakest of the trilogy, but it still brought about many interesting ideas regarding balance to the Force and the Chosen One prophecy itself, as well as closure to the story of the Ones on Mortis.

I find it kinda funny that Ahsoka was made to do all of the grunt work of repairing the shuttle, while Obi-Wan and Anakin only hung around idly. At least the latter has been known for his technical proficiency, so I was a little surprised he didn't help at all. This scene only served to show that Ahsoka had taken many traits after her Master, including his technical expertise. When Anakin confronts the Father outside the tomb where the Daughter is buried (along with the Dagger of Mortis), the Father guides him to a place where Anakin sees Qui-Gon Jinn's Force ghost, undeniably another fanboy moment for me. Here Qui-Gon directs Anakin to the Well of the Dark Side, a mystical chasm resembling a fiery volcano that acts as a conduit of powerful Dark Side energies (obvious Mustafar reference is obvious). Here's where things start to take a turn for the confusing. Anakin believes that he must destroy the Son to bring balance to Mortis, as the Daughter is already dead, but Qui-Gon neither confirms nor denies.

When Obi-Wan later encounters the Father and becomes suspicious of where Anakin goes, the Father merely explains that he follows "the will of the Force", implying that it is destiny that brings Anakin to the Well. However, once there, Anakin is shown a vision of his own morbid future by the Son himself; apparently an action that the Father considers "breaking the laws of time itself" or somesuch. This particular scene was my main beef with the episode, because the Son was so easily able to turn Anakin simply by showing the latter his future and promising that by joining the Son, they could stop the Emperor and bring peace to the galaxy---a scene highly reminiscent of Anakin joining Sidious in RotS), but far more rushed. Clearly, logic is far less prevalent than "the will of the Force" on Mortis, whatever it may be. When Obi-Wan goes down to the Well later, we see Anakin has already fully embraced the Dark Side (he has Sith eyes). Anakin notes that the Jedi are the enemies and strands Obi-Wan as he rides off with the Son to escape Mortis on the shuttle. Thankfully, on Obi-Wan's urging, Ahsoka is able to sabotage the repairs and keep everyone trapped on-planet.

The Son then reclaims the Dagger from the Daughter's tomb, noting that she was the only one he'd ever loved, for once revealing a softer side of the being who was supposed to wholly represent the wrathful qualities of the Dark Side. But why does he want the Dagger, the only instrument to be able to kill the Ones? Kill his Father, perhaps? But that is seemingly contradicted later. Perhaps simply as a means to threaten the Father into giving him his wish to depart the planet, I suppose? Anyways, the major cop-out of the trilogy occurs as the Father abruptly erases Anakin's memories just before the time that the Son revealed his future, bringing him back to normal. The whole Anakin Dark Side sequence thus felt wasted as anything more than an opportunity to show fans that Anakin eventually becomes Vader, but alas, nothing more meaningful comes out of it. But really, there was probably no other logical means to make having Anakin retain memories of his future work, which is why I was against the idea of the Son showing Anakin his future in the first place.

Then we have the final confrontation between the Jedi, the Father, and the Son. After the Son easily swats aside Anakin's futile attacks and disarms all three Jedi of their lightsabers, the Father takes the Dagger and plunges it into his own chest, saying that was the only way he could take the Son's powers away, making him mortal and allowing Anakin to kill the Son will his lightsaber. Thus, the irony of the Son bringing with him the instrument of his own demise. With his dying words the Father then tells Anakin that he has now brought balance to his world (pretty much by killing off all of the Ones), and he must now do the same in the GFFA. Then his body vanishes, a la Obi-Wan and Yoda in the OT, the first onscreen case of someone becoming one with the Force based on the timeline. Despite the closure granted the story of the Ones, I found myself asking more questions regarding the nature of balance and what exactly went on in the ending of the episode, before the three wake up to find that only a moment has passed in real time despite their rather lengthy adventures on Mortis.

But then again, such mysteries do appeal to me as a SW fan, and the trilogy as a whole has spawned many debates on the nature of balance and the particular role the Ones appear to play; are they supposed to be the literal representation of the struggle between Light and Dark, and the Father representing the Will of the Force itself? I don't have the answer, and can really only speculate. But sometimes you don't have to have the answers to everything to be able to enjoy the story.

So despite its myriad flaws I still gave this episode a 9/10, rounded up, mostly because of their willingness to make bold decisions, some of which don't work out, but still brought us what I thought was a very intriguing story about the nature of the Force.

 

I'm pretty much with Circular_Logic on this, in general if not every detail. The episode does have its flaws and is certainly inferior to Overlords, but I love the whole concept so much it still winds up being around a 9.

 

Is this what ROTJ was supposed to be?

 

Can you elaborate on that?

 

If I understand the question correctly, no. At the time Ep. VI came out GL had settled on a "trilogy of trilogies" idea, and the "sequel trilogy" which now happens to be upon us was always supposed to be more esoteric like the Mortis arc as long as he had that idea as far as I know, not Ep. VI.