Top Ten Films & TV Shows Of 2023

2023 boasted its fair share of exceptional genre films and TV shows. It is also noted for being the year when superhero films and TV shows started to lose steam. More on that some other time. Still, there plenty of quality fare for us fans and here are the best films and TV shows of 2023. Be sure to drop a comment with your own choices and rankings.

Films

10. 65

Adam Driver starred as a pilot of a crashed starship who struggled to survive in a hellish prehistoric landscape that turned out to be Earth 65 million years ago. This absorbing survival tale had intense moments and great dinosaur scenes.

9. The Creator

Garth Edwards’ film about a soldier protecting a young A.I.girl while pursued by hostile forces was derivative in terms of its plot. But its jaw-dropping visuals of a future Asian society where man and A.I. live harmoniously, action scenes and performances more than made up for its flaws.

8. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

The third Ant-Man film was unfairly put down by many who missed the usual capers of the previous Ant-Man films. Instead this film went in a different and wilder sci-fi direction as our heroes explored bizarre landscapes and confronted the next big bad in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Kang the Conqueror.

7. Leave the World Behind

This apocalyptic psychological thriller was both disturbing and intriguing as we see how the world begins to crumble from the viewpoint of vacationers. We were also swept up in their horrified plight as they struggled to understand their new situation and survive in a dangerous new normal with their limited skills and experience.

6. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

This fun-filled fantasy romp based on the classic board game turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The film boasted spirited performances starting with Chris Pine as a lovable rogue and an imaginative script and direction that always kept the pace moving throughout the film.

5. Blue Beetle

It’s a shame that one of the last DC Extended Universe (DCEU) films did not perform better in theaters since it was of the best DCEU films. While the film followed the typical superhero origin formula, its strong performances, direction, and humorous family interactions elevated the film with its back-to-basics approach with superhero films.

4. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

The last hurrah for our favorite swashbuckling archeologist hit many emotional notes in its depiction of Indiana Jones in his twilight years. Yes, Steven Spielberg’s masterful direction was sorely missed in the final Indiana Jones film, but its solid direction, thrilling action and Harrison Ford’s solid performance as the title hero made this a memorable finale to the fantasy adventure franchise.

3. Godzilla Minus Zero

The latest Godzilla film proved that the decades-old franchise could still deliver captivating and exciting kaiju films. It stood above other Godzilla films thanks to its grounded approach, emphasis on relatable characters and a directorial decision to make the title creature a terrifying force of nature. It’s easy to see why this is one of the best Godzilla films.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

There were other notable animated films this year like Elemental or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem that rivaled Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with distinctive animation and scripts. However, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse stood out from the pack with stunning and unparalleled animation that was simply stunning.

More importantly, what made the film such a success was its engaging storyline of a relatable Miles Morales involved in a head-spinning story, which involved other universes and characters. Cannot wait for the conclusion to the storyline!

1. Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3

James Gunn’s final MCU film was one of the best in the Marvel film franchise. It perfectly closed the chapter of these lovable galactic misfits/heroes while exploring their emotional connections and giving us glimpses of how the team would continue without the OG heroes.

This film proved that the MCU could still deliver quality films that are widely acclaimed and perform well. What made audiences engage with Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 was its emotional core as we witnessed the tragic backstory of Rocket Raccoon, the fragile nature of the other guardians, and one of the most evil MCU villains ever shown.

Noteworthy Mentions:

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Elemental, Evil Dead Rise, The Flash, Knock at the Cabin, M3GAN, The Marvels, Rebel Moon, Part One: A Child of Fire, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

TV Shows

10. Superman & Lois

The third season of the final Arrowverse TV show continued demonstrating that it is one of the best Arrowverse TV shows as Superman/Clark Kent continued balancing life as a superhero and a husband and father to his family in Smallville.

9. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

This TV show did so much to flesh out and expand the world of the Monsterverse by featuring interesting characters and fascinating plots involving time jumps and conspiracies. The result was a fascinating look at the impact that giant kaijus would have in the world.

8. For All Mankind

Ronald D. Moore’s alternate reality TV series where the Soviets landed on the moon first, relished in how that reality has begun to wildly diverge from ours as it featured life on a thriving Martian colony circa 2003, along with the intriguing geopolitics and personal drama that often intertwined.

7. What If…?

The second season of this animated MCU TV show featured more diverse variant MCU characters and situations. Unlike the live-action MCU, What If…? really let its imagination run wild with the concept of the Multiverse thanks to its inventive tales of alternate MCU realities.

6. Sweet Tooth

The second season of this live-action adaptation of the Vertigo comic book by Jeff Lemire was just as enjoyable as the first thanks to winning characters like young Gus and other animal/children hybrids and humans trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a plague and warlords.

5. Gen V

This spinoff of The Boys was much more than a satirical take on the X-Men or the New Mutants. It further fleshed out the world of The Boys and underlined the dark side of supeheroics with relatable characters who suffered with the burden of having super powers and their lives as angst-ridden teenagers.

4. The Last of Us

This was a faithful and tense adaptation of the classic video game about a ruthless man protecting a young girl in a world devastated by a plague that turned most of humanity into mindless monsters. The performances were simply brilliant and the scripts truly touched viewers during its explorations of the characters and their relationships in a savage world.

3. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The second season continued the episodic back-to-basics approach to Star Trek with excellent one-off episodes. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was buoyed by solid scripts and spot-on acting, which made it one of the franchise’s best entries. Even though some of the episodes may have been too bizarre like the musical episode or the one that featured characters from the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks, the season overall was a genuine success.

2. Loki

From the first frenetic moments of its premiere episode to the majestic triumph of its last scenes in the season finale, Loki singlehandedly demonstrated that there was still creative life in the MCU, which struggled in 2023.

Highlighted by brain-twisting time travel conundrums and a topnotch cast, the second season of Loki was arguably better than the first as we saw the title character complete his emotional transformation from a petty foe into a mature god burdened with maintaining all of time and reality.

1. Star Trek: Picard

Yes, the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard reveled in memberberries, call backs, Easter eggs and references. But it was much more than that, it was a genuine love letter and tribute to the Star Trek franchise, circa 1990s.

Star Trek: Picard had an engaging and exciting storyline with many twists and turns as it reunited the cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation for one last hurrah to save the United Federation of Planets from an old foe. At the same time, the TV show introduced intriguing new characters that tantalized viewers with potential future adventures. Come on, give us a Star Trek: Legacy show already!

Noteworthy Mentions:

Ahsoka, Black Mirror, the Doctor Who specials, Doom Patrol, Foundation, Harley Quinn, Invincible, La Brea, The Mandalorian, One Piece, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Primal, Scavengers Reign, Scott PIlgrim Takes Off, Silo, Upload

 

The Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie Spoiler Talk!

The long-awaited live-action movie version of the classic online game Five Nights at Freddy’s or FNaF has excited fans. Unlike critics who do not understand the FNaF franchise, fans recognized how faithful the movie was to the franchise while developing its own identity. With that, it’s time for SPOILER TALK about the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie! For anyone who has not seen the FNaF film yet, you’ve been warned…

Touching upon an issue brought up earlier with my review of Five Nights at Freddy’s, some things should’ve had a little more explanation than they were given. The main reason I say this is because fans have a general idea of some characters and ideas, but to someone else, it’s a complete mystery that makes them think “Okay? So, what?” The prime culprit of this issue is none other than Golden Freddy. Sure, his spirit is very present in the movie, but the animatronic is only seen for three scenes and is never elaborated upon. That leaves me with many questions: how did he get to Abby’s house? Why is he so withered? Even if I have a general reason as to why, HOW is he still functional? Although he is only seen for two minutes, he still looks very good, and I’m very happy with the practical effects (no surprise there!).

To talk about cameos and Easter eggs, I am happy with the people they brought on! We all knew CoryxKenshin would be in the movie, playing as the taxi driver, but no one expected MatPat as a waiter, as he convinced us that the filmmakers treated him dirty. Both cameos were hilarious and I’m sure they’re both very happy that they were able to be included. The self-proclaimed “King of FNaF”, Markiplier, unfortunately had a planned cameo, but ultimately could not film a scene, as it conflicted with the filming of his own movie that is coincidentally also based on an indie horror game, Iron Lung. Talking about Easter eggs, I was genuinely shocked to see references to Five Nights at Freddy’s history in the movie. Sparky the Dog, the franchise’s first ever, fan-made hoax character had a diner named after him and possibly even an animatronic suit to himself. MatPat’s name tag also had “Ness” on it, which is a golden reference to one of his theories based off two whole different franchises where he argues that Sans from the indie game Undertale, was actually a Nintendo character named Ness from the Earthbound series. Only Scott Cawthon would be able to reference both another indie horror game AND Nintendo at the same time! I also really loved the opening credits for the music and the pixel art. They were both PERFECT for FNaF’s general vibe!

Let’s talk about secrete characters in this movie. Emma Tammi confirmed a couple of weeks ago in an interview that there was a character in the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie who was not seen in any promotional material. That begged the question, who was that character? I genuinely do not know which character it specifically was, as there were multiple featured characters. I have a list of possible characters she could’ve been talking about.

Shadow Freddy, who was seen in a hidden YouTube video made an appearance in the movie as the suit that babysitter Max gets stuffed inside after dying. I must admit I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t get any story relevance, but I probably should’ve expected that, as it probably would’ve been too early for him. Another character was Sparky the Dog (or possibly Fetch, the fan base is still working that part out). Yes, Sparky wasn’t seen in any advertising, but I think Emma would’ve been talking about a character that was important to the story, so this leaves me with two more culprits who I was able to predict in my last essay!

Balloon Boy was only seen on one of the children’s drawings, but we didn’t know if he actually would’ve made a physical appearance in the movie. Luckily, we now know the answer is yes, he appears as a troll character in the form of a mini figurine. Ironically, he was probably the character with the scariest jump scares in this entire movie, which only fuels my hate-fire for him. The last culprit, who still seems to be a mystery, is the Puppet, or sometimes referred to as the Marionette.

We have speculated that she would make an appearance in the movie, as she was the one to give the children the gift of resurrection after they were killed by William Afton, but it seems like she wasn’t included in the movie. That is until people noticed at the end of the amazing end credits that the same cryptic voice that would spell words in the FNaF 2 mini-games was included in the movie and spelled out something. I couldn’t make out what it said myself, but after close examination, (and Peacock’s subtitles), we know that it spelled “C-O-M-E F-I-N-D M-E”. As this was being spelled out, fans noticed the familiar theme of her music box playing in the background, implying the Puppet is directly speaking to Mike, prompting him to find her. This isn’t the end of this manhunt, however. After going through the movie, fans started noticing in certain scenes that you could barely make out shapes in the backgrounds that look very similar to the Puppet. The Puppet may be in the movie, but she is lurking in the background, usually on the ceilings.

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The Five Nights At Freddy’s Movie Is Coming!

After nine long years of waiting through countless script rewrites (12 to be exact), overall restarts, company changes, and even director switches, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is finally upon us. In just one week, we will see the beloved animals we’ve become acquainted with on the big screen. As a fan of the online game Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) since 2014, to say I’m excited for this movie is the understatement of the century. Jason Blum, Emma Tammi, and of course, Scott Cawthon worked tirelessly through the many road bumps of production and were determined to deliver Freddy and the gang to the big screen.

Alright, you may be wondering, “How big of a FNAF nerd is this guy?” and to that I say, be prepared. My journey started where most people did, with famous YouTuber,  Markiplier’s Five Nights at Freddy’s gameplay. I remember being frightened and Bonnie’s uncanny appearance in the thumbnail when I was only a kid (I didn’t even know he was a bunny back then, since his ears are cropped out of the frame on that video).  Since then, I’ve kept up with every game entry, piece of media, and how could anyone forget the massive waves of merchandise, good or mediocre. My room ia practically walled with many of the franchise’s posters, I have over 60ish plushies, and I have almost every book ever produced in the franchise. To say this movie was a dream come true is underexaggerating my excitement! Alright, you may be wondering, “How big of a FNAF nerd is this guy?” and to that I say, be prepared. My journey started where most people did, with famous YouTuber,  Markiplier’s Five Nights at Freddy’s gameplay. I remember being frightened and Bonnie’s uncanny appearance in the thumbnail when I was only seven (I didn’t even know he was a bunny back then, since his ears are cropped out of the frame on that video).  Since then, I’ve kept up with every game entry, piece of media, and how could anyone forget the massive waves of merchandise, good or mediocre. My room is practically walled with many of the franchise’s posters, I have over 60ish plushies, and I have almost every book ever produced in the franchise. To say this movie was a dream come true is underexaggerating my excitement!

The four main animatronics, Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy have been treated with immense care when thinking about how to translate them into real-life functioning robots and suits. They are almost ripped straight from the video games, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that. I think despite it being a horror movie, it has a major chance to stand out among great video game adaptations, alongside The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Arcane. It is projected to be the highest grossing opening for any horror film ever, which shows the power of our fan base. It’s safe to say I think we are all excited for this movie!

And of course, how could we wrap up our discussion of the FNAF movie without talking about Scott Cawthon’s upbringing. When Scott was starting off with computers, he first made direct-to-video short movies; in fact, they were Christian movies! He made a less than stellar paycheck doing this, so he eventually turned to game development. His first notable game was titled: The Desolate Hope. In this game, you play as a sentient coffee maker running through this dark and mechanical world filled with giant robots. Of course, this would be part of the inspiration for Five Nights at Freddy’s, but the true spark was with his last game before FNAF, Chipper and Sons Lumber Co.

This game was thought by most people as just okay. Some people thought it was bad however, and one person left a review that would change the course of Scott’s life. Scott was not a “great” modeler back then, so this person commented that the game was boring, and that Chipper looked like he was a scary animatronic bear and belonged in a horror game. SPARK! After this, Scott put together Five Nights at Freddy’s, which was about a security guard in a Chuck E. Cheese-type of restaurant at night who is stalked by deadly animatronic robots that came to life. Cawthon even looked to fund the game online. Unfortunately, he raised zero dollars, but of course, releasing it through self funding more than paid back for the development of the game.

Now that we’ve talked about the developer, I think it’s time to talk about what I think the story of the movie will be. Spoilers will indeed follow.

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Daredevil Dead Again & Other MCU TV Shows Blues

Things just seem to be going from bad to worse for the Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV shows. For the most part, some of the recent MCU TV shows have been poorly received by fans and critics who griped about the inconsistent tone of the episodes, half-finished scripts and poor special effects. The MCU TV shows hit their lowest point with Secret Invasion, which should have been a lot better but instead turned out to be the worst MCU presentations. There have been a lot of reports and rumors about how Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is going out of his way to right the ship with the MCU. This has led to substantial delays and cancellation of projects. But the news last week that the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again has been essentially scrapped created a lot of concern for fans.

Daredevil: Born Again has been one of the most anticipated MCU projects since it brought back Charlie Cox as the title character. He won so much acclaim for his performance as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in the Netflix TV series Daredevil, which was about a blind superhero with enhanced senses fighting crime in Manhattan. That series ran for three seasons and was considered to be among the greatest superhero TV shows based on a Marvel Comics charater. Fans wondered if the TV show would ever be revived and saw reason to hope when Cox reprised his role in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home and the TV show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Naturally, many were excited when Kevin Feige announced that a new Daredevil TV show was being produced by Marvel Studios.

Not a lot was known about Daredevil: Born Again other than aside from Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio would reprise his role as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, the brutal crime lord that rules New York’s criminal society. Supposedly, the overall plot had to do with the consequences of Fisk being elected as the mayor of New York. But there were some aspects about the show that put off fans, namely that Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll would not return to play their beloved characters Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. In fact, there have been leaks that both characters were killed off in Daredevil: Born Again. Also, there seemed to be an effort by the executives to not associate it with the Netflix series. This did not make sense since Daredevil was so revered and it was only logical to continue that show instead of doing a reboot given that the same lead actor was returning.

Production came to a halt with the TV show due to the writer and actors strikes, which has crippled film and TV productions this year. At the onset of the strike only a few episodes had been completed and it was supposed to have an eighteen-episode run.

Marvel Studios has been having issues with the quality of many of their projects, especially the TV shows, and this resulted in diminishing returns. As we all know, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige had been stretched very thin by mandates by Disney to produce more product and there are only so many resources and time available to consistently produce quality products. This is how we got poorly received films and TV shows like Secret Invasion, Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Naturally, this has forced Marvel Studios to take a hard look at their current and upcoming projects and honestly assess them.

This assessment and the realization that the market was being flooded with too many films and TV shows have led to delayed releases for their projects. In some cases, projects have either been scrapped or will undergo significant revisions. Unfortunately, this included Daredevil: Born Again.

According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Feige reviewed what had been filmed with the new Daredevil TV show and admitted that it was not working. It was turning out to be a procedural lawyer show that de-emphasized Daredevil and Matt Murdock did not even don the Daredevil suit until the fourth episode. This has led to the dismissal of the writers and directors and the show is now back to square one.

But Daredevil: born Again is not the only casualty. It has been rumored that a planned TV show, Visionquest, based on the android hero, the Vision, has been cancelled. Echo, which has been completed and feature Daredevil, keeps being delayed because it’s supposedly not well done and Marvel Studios is trying to fix it through editing. Agatha: Darkhold Diaries also seems to be a victim of constant retinkering given that the TV show based on the witch Agatha Harkness has had so many title changes. Ironheart, has been completed for some time, yet there isn’t any clear indication of when it will stream on Disney+. Rumors for upcoming MCU projects featuring Nova, Okoye and the Silver Surfer have stopped giving the impression that they also have been scrapped.

On the one hand this implosion of MCU TV shows is cause for concern given the high reputation Marvel Studios has with fans and most critics (excepting snobs like Martin Scorsese). Some panicking fans will use this situation to declare that superhero fatigue is upon us. But that is not necessarily so. The reason for diminishing returns in metrics and box office returns is due to diminished and inferior product that is not up to par with past MCU projects. If a film or TV show is great, people will seek it out, for the most part. Look at how well some recents films and TV shows performed. These include Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, WandaVision, Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Werewolf By Night. Right now, Loki, which began its second season a couple of weeks ago is removing the sting of the dismal Secret Invasion. However, it’s early for the show and it could wind up becoming an uneven disappointment. Another problem for Marvel Studios is that they do not have a lot of experience creating TV shows and it can be seen with their finished products. Most of them seem like overlong films instead of TV shows that are a different medium with a distinct method of storytelling.

On the other hand, these delays, cancellations and retoolings are a sign that Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have acknowledged that things are not working for their projects. It is far better to course correct now with Daredevil and be willing to go back to the drawing board. Otherwise, can anyone imagine what would happen if Daredevil: Born Again turns out to be another Secret Invasion? One thing Marvel Studios should do is bring back the folks who were behind Daredevil like Drew Goddard. He and the other creatives behind Daredevil knew how to handle the character and his world, and it would reassure fans. Anyway, with less projects to deal with, Marvel Studios now has more bandwidth to ensure that they create superior films and TV shows that will be up to their usual high standards. So, while we may have to wait longer to see the full return of Daredevil, we can be comforted knowing that it will be worth the wait.

Ahsoka Is An Incomplete Star Wars TV Show

The latest Star Wars TV show streaming on Disney+, Ahsoka, just concluded its first season which left many questions unanswered while providing lots of member berries for Star Wars fans. Whether or not that is bad or good would depend if you are a fan of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.

Ahsoka is for the most part an enjoyable and even riveting Star Wars TV show with great characters, special effects and expands the Star Wars lore. On the other hand, its pace is uneven with some episodes feeling wooden and stilted thanks to timid direction and it crams in so many characters and sub-plots that could not possibly be resolved in eight episodes. Guess what? Many of the sub-plots were left unresolved. This gave the impression that Ahsoka was merely a prologue for a larger storyline. Evidence for this is the fact that a Star Wars film is being planned that will combine the stories and characters from Ahsoka and most of the recent Star Wars TV shows. That’s very ambitous, but after viewing the final episode, the overral feeling is that the TV show is incomplete.

Rosario Dawson stars as the title character, Ahsoka Tano, a former Jedi who embarks on a quest with her former Jedi apprentice Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) to find their fellow Jedi Ezra Bridger (Erman Esfandi), who is trapped in another galaxy along with their formidable enemy Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelson). During their adventures the duo uncover a plot by members of the defeated Galactic Empire who are trying to bring Thrawn and his army to the main Star Wars galaxy in order to conquer the New Republic and restore the Empire. With the officials of the New Republic unwilling to help them, Ahsoka, Wren and their Jedi droid Huyang (David Tennant) set off on their own to stop the plot, in addition to rescuing their friend.

If this sounds complex, then you are correct. Anyone watching the series will be able to follow along with its storyline, but there is a nagging feeling that there are so many details and nuances that will go over the heads of casual viewers. The very first Star Wars film was like this, but it was easier to follow and was more engaing. A major flaw with Ahsoka was that the early episodes were a chore to watch thanks to its deliberate pace and line delivery.

This is concerning because the worst episode was the first one and it not only set the way Ahoska was presented but it was directed by Dave Filoni, the major producer of the recent Star Wars TV shows, including the acclaimed animated TV shows. He helped expand the Star Wars lore with Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, but his live-action directorial effort fell short and what’s worse is that he will direct the Star Wars film that combines these stories and characters. He was largely responsible for the creation and cultivation of Ahsoka Tano and his attempt to bring her to life was disappointing. Throughout the TV show, Ahsoka would stand around, fold her arms and take long moments to reply to others. This Ahsoka is not anything like the quippy and spirited young Jedi that first appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and won the hearts of many fans. This older live-action version of Ahsoka is so stiff and stoic that Sabine easily steals the show with her emotional journey to become a Jedi. Sabine has more emotion and heart and it was easy to identify with her, especially since she had such a poor connection to the Force that Jedi tricks and skills were a chore for her.

The fact that we identified more with Sabine than Ahsoka is a another fault with Ahsoka given that the show is named after her. This is a troubling trend with many Star Wars TV shows like The Book of Boba Fett and the third season of The Mandalorian. Like with those TV shows, there was even an episode where Ahsoka barely appeared. There are too many moments where it feels as if this show is in reality the fifth live-action season of Star Wars: Rebels. It might have served the TV show and Star Wars fans better if it was retitled. This is a disservice to Ahsoka since she is one of the most captivating Star Wars characters.

Ahsoka was allowed the spotlight in the fifth episode, which largely focuses on her as her mind enters an interdimensional realm called the World Between Worlds where time and space are not linear. There she meets the spirit of her mentor Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as they end up in past battles during the Clone Wars. This was thrilling for fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as they finally got to see these two Jedi interacting in live action during that war. More importantly, these sequences provided fascinating insights into Ahsoka and her feelings towards Anakin Skywalker knowing that he ultimately became Darth Vader. With the way this episode showcased her guilt about Anakin and the Clone Wars, it was probably the best one in the series.

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