This is not a top-five list—from a certain point of view.
This isn’t a grand declarative statement that this is better than that. The goal isn’t to spur a debate about the relative merits of a series over another or about fan service vs original ideas.
What this is is a Celebration. A Celebration of the last twelve months of Star Wars. And an excuse to look back on and relive some favourite moments in the galaxy far, far away from 2022.
Honourable Mention: Zen - Grogu and the Dust Bunnies
This collaboration between Lucasfilm and Studio Ghibli may not have been what fans of the famous anime studio and Star Wars were hoping for when the partnership was first teased. Rather than a feature-length production, or even an episode of Star Wars: Visions, what we got was a three-minute hand-drawn short featuring Baby Yoda chasing some dots around the screen, released on the third anniversary of the premiere of The Mandalorian.
But instead of judging what might have been (or what still could be) and looking at this on its own merits, what we find is a beautiful, little celebration of the child that has enchanted the world since 2019. I found the whole thing mesmerizing. With its peaceful music and hand-drawn animation, it felt perfect for Grogu. It may not be the flashiest or most impactful release of the year, but it’s a calming presence that deserves a mention in this look back.
5. Lego Star Wars: Summer Vacation
I’ve already written at length about how much I enjoyed this special. The jokes are on point, the characters feel true to their live-action counterparts, and the themes feel appropriate for what is, weirdly, some of the only post-sequel trilogy we’ve gotten. But there’s one feature that I skipped over when I wrote my love letter to the Lego Star Wars specials earlier this year that sets this one apart from the rest: the music. I’m not just talking about Michael Kramer’s score, which is excellent as usual, but the two “in-universe” songs were also stellar.
Weird Al’s “Scarif Beach Party” got all the hype leading into the special, and understandably so: it’s Weird freakin’ Al writing a new Star Wars song for the first time since 1999 (minus the songs he wrote for the canceled Detours series, which we’ll likely never see). It’s a fun bop. But the real hit of the special, for me at least, was “Gamorrean Girls” as sung by James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Once I got over my initial disappointment that it was not a Star Wars parody of “California Girls”, this song became an absolute earworm. I challenge anyone to watch this special and not come away humming “Gamorrean girls and Gamorrean guys” to themselves over and over (and over) again.
This made me realize where these Lego/Star Wars collaborations need to go next, now that their trilogy of holiday specials is complete: Lego Star Wars: The Musical.
In the words of Sheev Palpatine, “Do it.”
4. Tales of the Jedi, “Justice” & “Choices”
(Yes, I know this is two episodes, but it’s hard to discuss one without the other. Also, my list, my rules. Anywho…)
2022 was many things in Star Wars, not the least of which was the 20th Anniversary of Attack of the Clones, and what better way to celebrate the film’s release two decades ago than by (finally) delving into the backstory of one of the film’s least explored characters. Throughout his appearances in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and The Clone Wars, Dooku was always the foil for our heroes—never in the spotlight himself.
All that changed this year with the release of the mini-season of Clone Wars-style shorts, Tales of the Jedi, 50% of which starred Dooku. In these episodes, we got to see how Dooku became disillusioned with the Republic and the Jedi for good reasons but made all the wrong choices when it came to fixing it.
The best stories can make you understand a villain, maybe even empathize with them, without agreeing with them or their methods. Over the first two episodes, we see examples of the Republic’s corruption, and the Jedi’s defense of those failing systems, through Dooku’s eyes. The first episode, “Justice” is fairly straightforward in its depiction of this. The Jedi are brought in to end a rebellion against a corrupt senator, the Jedi ultimately choose to side with the rebels, and Dooku nearly kills the corrupt senator in a fit of rage, only to be stopped by his apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn. It’s great, but the second episode is more subtle
“Choices” has a similar setup. The Jedi are called in to deal with a situation involving a powerful ruler being attacked, only to find out that the attackers were motivated by the corruption of the powerful figure. Ultimately the Jedi expose the plot, although this time the rebels wind up behind bars. The significant difference, though, is that Dooku’s partner for this adventure is not Qui-Gon, but Mace Windu.
If you had to pick two Jedi to represent the various ends of the spectrum of how Jedi saw their place in the galaxy during the twilight of the Republic, it would probably be Mace and Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon is the champion of the living Force, and Mace is the champion of the Jedi Code. Where Qui-Gon spent the previous episode looking for ways the bridge the gap between their specific mission and the overall mission to ensure balance in the Force, Mace spends this episode pushing Dooku to follow the code to the letter even at the expense of doing a proper investigation.
The highlight of the episode comes at the very end. Once the mission is done and the “bad guys” have been arrested, Dooku and Mace are back on Coruscant when Dooku learns that Mace has been promoted to the Jedi Council. Dooku confronts Mace about whether or not he knew this was a possibility while they were on their mission, and if his reluctance to properly investigate had to do with him proving his commitment to the code so he could win the promotion. Mace denies the allegations, claiming the two events were unrelated.
Whether Mace is lying or not is, ultimately, immaterial. The position of the Jedi Council is clear: they would rather have a rule follower than someone who is committed to their higher ideals of justice and balance. I don’t believe Mace is a “bad guy” or somehow more the villain of Revenge of the Sith than Palpatine (as some, believe it or not, have claimed). But he does represent the flaws of the Jedi during the prequels. He had the chosen one standing in front of him and refused to train because he was too old. Dooku sees Mace’s actions and promotion in “Choices” as problem with the Jedi Council, just as he saw the problem protecting the corrupt Senator in “Justice”. Can you blame him for wanting out?
3. The Book of Boba Fett, “The Tribes of Tatooine”
It’s wild to think this was the first episode of Star Wars TV released in 2022. It was also one of the best (no pressure The Bad Batch season two premiere). While The Book of Boba Fett is something of as a mixed bag on the whole, we shouldn’t overlook just how good this episode is.
Like most Book of Boba episodes, it’s split between the past (showing how Boba got his mojo back after escaping the Sarlaac) and the present (Boba cleaning up the streets of Mos Espa). The scenes that take place in the present are solid, with great entrances by both Black Krrsantan (notable for being one of a the few characters to make the jump from the page to the screen) and the Twins (the first live-action Hutts since Jabba’s cameo in The Phantom Menace). Where those plotlines ultimately went (especially the Twins) maybe wasn’t the best, but as entrances go they were pretty great.
It’s the flashback storyline, however, that really shines in this episode.
Book of Boba continues the trend started in The Mandalorian of showing a different, more nuanced take on the Tusken Raiders. In the films, the Tuskens are portrayed as savages, with Cliegg Lars calling them “beasts” and Anakin describing them as, “animals” who deserve to be slaughtered. In Mando and Boba, however, we get an up-close look at Tusken cultures and Tusken communities. From the Haka-inspired dance around the campfire, to the process by which Boba gets his new weapon and robes, to Boba’s vision brought on by the lizard that hops up his nose. Where the films showed the Tuskens as negative indigenous stereotypes, The Book of Boba Fett made great strides in pulling from actual indigenous cultures to round out the Tuskens as real, nuanced characters with a rich culture.
But it went beyond homages and nods. Thematically this episode tackles issues with real-world parallels to the struggles of indigenous peoples on our own planet. “The Tribes of Tatooine” sees Boba’s new Tusken community under constant threat from the Pykes, who use the Tuskens’ land for shipping spice without paying for it and shooting at the Tuskens as they speed by on their train. Boba decides it’s time to lay down the law.
The sequence where Boba and the Tuskens stop the train is stellar. It’s hands down the best action sequence in the series, even rivaling the train-robbery sequence from Solo: A Star Wars Story (which had a significantly higher budget). The action in The Book of Boba often left something to be desired, making the speed and frenetic energy of the train sequence all the more thrilling.
Once the train is stopped, Boba confronts the Pyke leader. “These people lay ancestral claim to the Dune Sea,” Boba tells him. “And if you are to pass a toll is to be paid to them.”
Western cultures have largely failed to reckon with the history of colonization and the genocide of indigenous peoples across the Americas, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Not to mention the continued marginalization of indigenous people today. The same year that The Book of Boba Fett premiered, in Canada the horrors of the Residential Schools were brought to the forefront as the unmarked graves of thousands of children were discovered at various sites across the country. This began a long, and still ongoing, difficult conversation about our country’s dark history. So to hear Star Wars characters talking about land rights and paying tolls to those who have suffered because of the actions of outsiders made the story feel all the more relevant.
Star Wars is at its best when it has something to say. The Original Trilogy was a commentary on the Vietnam War. The prequels told the story of how democracies fall and become dictatorships. The Last Jedi began to explore the relationship between money and endless wars. With its treatment of the Tuskens, and this scene in particular, “The Tribes of Tatooine” earns its place alongside those other stories. And the fact that it was an indigenous actor, Temuera Morrison, saying the lines about reclaiming the land from settlers who are using it for profit and harming the people who were already there, gave the whole scene an extra kick.
2. Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Part VI”
I don’t think there’s been a more anticipated Star Wars release in the last few years than Obi-Wan Kenobi, the six-episode event that aired on Disney+ from May to June of 2022. The hype was driven, in large part, by nostalgia overload. A combination of fans of the prequel films being old enough to make their nostalgia for those films known, alongside some classic original trilogy nostalgia made this series a perfect storm for everyone to look forward to.
For me, the series didn’t just live up to expectations, it blew right by them. And all of this was catalyzed in the final episode, “Part VI”.
For five weeks leading up to the finale, we’d seen Obi-Wan struggle with his place in the galaxy now that the Jedi were in hiding and his former apprentice was leading the charge in hunting them down. When we first meet him in the series, we see the toll the years have taken on him as he blames himself for what happened to Anakin. He’s clinging to hope that training Luke Skywalker might allow him to atone for his sins to an unhealthy degree. So much so that Uncle Owen won’t even let him near the child.
It’s only when he meets Anakin’s other child, a 10-year-old Princess Leia, that his world begins to open up. He recognizes in Leia the best traits of both her parents and sees how she’s growing into the sort of hero the galaxy needs. Through his interactions with Leia and the other members of what will one day become the rebel alliance, Obi-Wan begins to have his hope for the future restored. However, a shadow still looms over it all: Darth Vader.
The series was billed by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy as, “the rematch of the century”: a previously unseen showdown between Anakin and Obi-Wan, taking place between their first duel on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith and their final confrontation on the Death Star in A New Hope. While the duel itself may not have been as technically impressive as the one in Revenge of the Sith, it was a masterclass in visual storytelling as Obi-Wan’s entire journey through the series is represented within the fight.
The duel begins with Vader gaining the upper hand and almost literally crushing Obi-Wan in a pit with a barrage of boulders. Obi-Wan struggles to hold on, as audio flashbacks of his failures with Anakin haunt him. A more perfect representation of the Jedi Master’s mental state at the start of the series, there is not.
Obi-Wan then remembers the hope he feels for the future when he thinks of Luke and Leia and is inspired to do one of the simplest, but most impactful acts a Jedi can do with the Force: lifting rocks. He repels Vader’s attack and emerges from the pit, ready to play his role in the fight for the future.
This act of survival through hope stuns Vader and Obi-Wan swiftly turns the tide of the duel. Soon he has his former student on the ropes, landing a blow that cracks open Vader’s mask revealing what remains of Anakin’s humanity beneath. What follows are Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen’s best performances in Star Wars.
“I’m sorry, Anakin,” Obi-Wan says. “For all of it.”
“I’m not your failure, Obi-Wan,” replies Anakin/Vader. “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker, I did.”
Anakin/Vader’s moment of clarity, where he accepts responsibility for his choices is critical for both characters. For Anakin/Vader it amounts to something of growth. He no longer blames Obi-Wan, or anyone else for that matter, for the things that happen to him, accepting that it was his own decisions that led him down this path. It also lets Obi-Wan off the hook, allowing him to move forward without blaming himself for everything that happened.
It’s Anakin’s final act of kindness towards his old master. He sees in this moment all the pain Obi-Wan experienced since his fall, how his master has blamed himself for what happened, and chooses to free him of this burden. He lifts this weight of blame off Obi-Wan’s shoulders and places squarely where it belongs, on his own.
With this weight lifted, Obi-Wan is finally ready to truly accept the mission Yoda gave at the end of Revenge of the Sith. He will train Luke when they are both ready.
He comes away from this whole experience knowing that he can’t force things, and that sometimes you just have to let things be for a while so that they can take shape naturally. It’s what he tells Uncle Owen at the end of the episode. And it’s this realization, to trust in the living and cosmic Force, that gives Obi-Wan something else he’s been searching for since The Phantom Menace: a new connection with his old master, Qui-Gon Jinn, whose appearance marked the end of the series.
And that’s just the A-plot of the episode! The B-plot is also very powerful in its own way, following the Inquisitor Reva as she seeks revenge against Anakin Skywalker for the deaths of her friends (whom he killed during Order 66) by hunting down his son. Ultimately, Reva chooses to end the cycle of violence and lets Luke live.
“Have I become him?” she asks Obi-Wan after he returns to Tatooine.
“No, you’ve chosen not to,” says Obi-Wan. “Who you become now, is up to you.”
Reva’s choice not to kill Luke in an act of vengeance mirrors the choice Luke will one day make with Vader. Luke showing Vader mercy aboard the second Death Star is what pushes Vader to sacrifice himself to stop the Emperor. It’s only by choosing non-violence that can we truly end the cycles of violence and pain that can come to define us. Reva makes a choice in this episode that Vader isn’t ready for yet, and in doing so ensures that one person who could get through to him so he can make that choice one day survives.
I could continue to go on at length about this episode, whether it’s Obi-Wan’s reunion with Leia on Alderaan where he describes the gifts Anakin and Padme gave her, or Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru risking it all to save Luke, or Obi-Wan’s conversation with Roken about the importance of heroes in the fight to come. But I think it’s time to move on to the final entry on this list, which, incidentally, is about one of those heroes Obi-Wan said the galaxy would need.
1. Andor, “One Way Out”
Turns out the revolution will be streamed on Disney+ [insert Disney+-snap-noise here].
As a story about the early days of the Rebel Alliance, Andor always had the potential to be one of the more hard-hitting Star Wars shows. But I don’t think even those of us who expected great things from the series were expecting it to go quite as far as it did.
The series was polarizing amongst some fans given its slower pace than most other Star Wars series. Andor’s use of multi-episode story arcs meant that you could have one or two episodes in a row where there wasn’t a whole lot of action, leading up to an episode that was almost non-stop action.
I loved this structure, it was well suited to a story like Andor, which exists in the grey areas of the Star Wars galaxy that the films allude to but rarely have time to really explore. I found the weeks of build-up, featuring episodes that were almost entirely built around the dialogue and exploring the character dynamics, followed by the chaotic yet cathartic action sequences extremely fulfilling.
I said earlier that I think Star Wars is at its best when it has something to say and Andor certainly fits that bill.
The three-episode prison-escape arc that “One Way Out” concludes has a whole lot to say, whether it’s a commentary on the way society treats prisoners, how the tools that keep the few in power are often illusions that can be torn down by the many, the moral compromises that are made in the name of a revolution, and what it takes for someone to finally stand up and fight back.
It’s that last one we’re going to focus on first.
Throughout the two “talk-y” episodes that precede “One Way Out”, we follow Cassian as he experiences life inside an Imperial prison where the inmates are used for free labour. We see that from the beginning he is plotting his way out, which puts him at odds with his floor manager, Kino Loy. Kino thinks Cassian should follow his lead and keep his head down, surviving until he’s worked off his sentence. Cassian, meanwhile, tries to get Kino to realize that his best hope for a better life is to escape the prison.
It’s only when the devastating truth behind the prison is revealed, that prisoners are never actually released just transferred to another prison, that Kino finally comes around to Cassian’s ideas. It’s here that “One Way Out” begins.
With Kino on board, Cassian and the other prisoners put an escape plan they’ve been working on into action. They quickly overpower the relatively small number of guards and shut off the electrified floors that are used to keep the prisoners in their place. Soon the prisoners are in charge of the prison and the guards are the ones in hiding.
What’s interesting is that Cassian is not the face of this revolution. He’s not the one whose voice inspires the masses. That role falls to Kino Loy, with Andy Serkis giving a spectacular performance.
“How long we hang on, how far we get, how many of us make it out, all of that is up to us,” Kino says over the prison’s PA system. “Wherever you are right now, get up. Stop the work. Get out of your cells. Take charge and start climbing. They don’t have enough guards and they know it. If we wait until they figure that out, it will be too late. We will never have a better chance than this. And I would rather die trying to take them down, than giving them what they want.”
Kino’s speech leads to a full-on prison break. All the inmates, inspired by his words, race for the exit. One way out.
This is not to say Cassian is passive throughout this whole sequence. He may not be the one inspiring the masses, but he’s the one inspiring the one who inspires the masses. When Kino’s conviction wavers as he is nearly overcome by fear, it’s Cassian who gives him the kick in the ass he needs to charge forward. Something that is all the more impressive when we learn a short time later that Kino can’t swim, meaning escape from a prison in the middle of an ocean is a death sentence.
But Kino Loy isn’t the only character who gives a great speech in this episode. Throughout the series, Luthen Rael, played by Stellan Skarsgård, has been one of the great enigmas. A key player in the early Rebel Alliance, we constantly see him weighing the relative costs of Rebel missions and assets in a way that is cold and calculating. He seems tortured by the decisions he makes and the way so much of his fate is out of his hands.
In “One Way Out”, he finally opens up about what he’s doing as he confronts a Rebel informant, embedded in the Imperial Security Bureau, who wants out.
“Calm, kindness, kinship, love,” Luthen says, listing all the things he’s sacrificed in the name of the Rebellion. “I’ve given up all chance at inner peace, I’ve made my mind a sun-less space. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote fifteen years ago for which there’s only one conclusion: I’m damned for what I do.
“My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they’ve set me on a path from which there’s no escape. I yearn to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down, there was no longer any ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see.”
Luthen and Kino are the unsung heroes of the Rebellion. The ones who paid the ultimate price* early in the fight, so that someone else can pick up the torch. They both went out of their way to bring others into a fight they knew they themselves could not survive. Kino on the small scale, inspiring others to escape a prison he can never leave. And Luthen on the macro scale, putting into place the pieces needed to win the day and making impossible decisions in the process. All so that people he will never meet can live in peace.
It’s the uncomfortable truth at the heart of a revolution, anything worth doing requires sacrifices. Sometimes that’s sacrificing your life, other times it’s sacrificing your morals. Kino and Luthen, and eventually Cassian, embody this. Luke Skywalker doesn’t blow up the Death Star if Cassian and Jyn don’t sacrifice their lives on Scarif. Cassian doesn’t make it to Scarif if Kino doesn’t sacrifice himself so Cassian and the others can escape. And the Rebellion doesn’t have the resources for either the battle of Scarif or the attack on the Death Star without Luthen’s maneuvering. And yet most people in the galaxy likely won’t know their names.
Luke’s heroics, and the triumph of the Rebellion, are built on the sacrifices of countless others who came before him. Heroes of the Rebellion who knew that, for them, there was just one way out.
*Yes, I know Luthen is still alive at the end of season one of Andor, but I’ll be stunned if he makes it out of season two. I guess we’ll find out in 2024.
***
I mentioned earlier that 2022 was the 20th anniversary of Attack of the Clones. It’s funny to think back to two decades ago when having a lot of Star Wars meant a film every three years and a handful of books, comics, and video games in between.
This past year alone, we were treated to 33 new episodes of Star Wars television, and that doesn’t even take into account all the behind-the-scenes documentaries that were released this year. And next year will almost certainly top that, there are going to be 16 episodes of The Bad Batch alone, plus entire seasons of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, and Star Wars: Visions.
It’s a lot. I won’t say it’s too much, but I could understand why some might think that.
When Disney first took over Star Wars ten years ago, my hope for the franchise was that there would something for everybody. Which is not to say everyone will (or has to) like everything. Instead, I want people to have the option to pick and choose what they focus on. And if something isn’t for them, they can easily put it aside and wait a couple of months for the next thing that speaks to them.
This was the first year that I felt lived up to that promise. Want something that features familiar characters as part of an ongoing story? There’s The Book of Boba Fett. Or would you prefer something that felt like a missing chapter in the Skywalker Saga? Well, then there’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. How about a meditation on the nature of revolution and an in-depth look at what the Rebel Alliance was all about in the early days? Have a season of Andor. Or what about an animated look back at the prequel era? Here’s Tale of the Jedi.
The Star Wars galaxy is expanding in ways, I think, are worth celebrating. And one of those ways is the expanded choices fans now have. 2023 will bring even more choices than ever before, so let’s enjoy the ride—picking a choosing what lands for us, whether that’s everything, most things, or just one thing. That’s the beauty of this era of Star Wars, so let’s embrace it in 2023.