Warning! SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7, episode 4 ahead.
This week's episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars includes a moment of Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side before Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, though he does it for what is arguably a good reason. Now airing on Disney+, the seventh and final season of The Clone Wars has just wrapped its first story arc, and with each episode, the animated series moves ever closer to the saga-changing events of Revenge of the Sith.
A large part of The Clone Wars' appeal stems from its ability to further flesh out the period of time between Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. On the show, viewers get to know the clone troopers as characters rather than faceless soldiers, and the conflict between the Republic and the Separatists can be examined on a smaller scale. In respect to Anakin, The Clone Wars is able to show his fall to the dark side as a more gradual slide, and in season 7's most recent episode, there's a scene that hints at Anakin's dark potential - though interestingly, it comes at a moment in which the Republic would have almost certainly been doomed had Anakin not acted.
In Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7, episode 4, "Unfinished Business", the Republic's forces are still fighting the Separatists on Anaxes. The battle is at a tipping point, and if the Republic can hold off the Separatists here, they can hold on to the planet - and more importantly, its shipyards. In a final act of desperation, Admiral Trench orders a massive bomb to be set off so as to destroy the Republic forces, shipyards, and half the planet. To retrieve the necessary code to disarm the bomb, Anakin hunts down Trench and threatens him for the sequence. But Trench remarks that Anakin's "nobility" as a Jedi will prevent him from actually doing him harm. To which Anakin responds by cutting off three of Trench's six arms, insisting he doesn't have any such weakness, and repeating his request. The Separatist admiral then offers up the code, the bomb is deactivated, and the Republic lives to fight another day, but that victory only happens because Anakin uses violence to get his way - a decidedly dark side maneuver, and one he'll come to use quite often as Darth Vader.
The scene continues with Trench attacking Anakin when his back is turned, and Anakin then stabbing him through the chest with his lightsaber, killing him. It could be argued Anakin is acting in self-defense, but it's also fairly clear he's capable of neutralizing Trench without killing him. So the swift execution of Admiral Trench doesn't do much to dispel the idea that Anakin is more freely dipping towards the dark side in order to accomplish his goals. This isn't the first time The Clone Wars has depicted Anakin acting out in anger or being ruthless, but it's just another example in a growing list of times when Anakin chooses violence and gives in to his dark side.
What makes this situation more complicated, however, is the fact that had Anakin not gotten Trench to reveal the code, the Republic would have surely lost Anaxes and the war. In this instance, Anakin doing what another Jedi would not is beneficial and even life-saving. Given that, it's easy to see how Anakin could come to believe the Jedi are actually evil, and by eliminating them, he's saving the Republic. Anakin has his doubts about the Jedi, and come Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine works to grow those doubts. But already, during the Battle of Anaxes, Anakin is finding success by tapping in to the dark side.
Star Wars: The Clones Wars season 7 continues next Friday with "Gone With a Trace" on Disney+.