Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Star Wars Month 2 - The Clone Wars Season 7 Arc 2 - Ahsoka

 It’s Star Wars Month


The rest of the 8 episodes of this series focus around the Journey of Ahsoka Tano after leaving the Jedi Order back in season 5. Her appearance as Fulcrum in Star Wars Rebels showed that she survived order 66, and has a new pair of lightsabres, white. The explanation for those came in the Ahsoka Novel, which stated that she’d won a battle with an inquisitor, unarmed, I might add.

The book also I believe introduced the concept that a sith lightsaber is red because the Khyber crystal undergoes a process known as bleeding, where you channel your hatred into it, I believe there may also be murder involved. This has made its way into the comics, in one of the recent Darth Vader runs, but I don’t think Japan got that memo in Visions. Now, the canonicity of the novel is not necessarily set in stone, as the final story arc will contradict its opening but I choose to believe until I hear otherwise that only the beginning isn’t canon and what happens from there lines up with the show.

They did this again, contradicting the original Caleb Dume origin from Greg Weisman’s Kanan comic when he shows up in the Bad Batch. But back on topic, one thing you could see from the Rebels s2 finale was that Ahsoka and Darth Maul had history. And novel implied that Ahsoka was on Mandalore at the time of Order-66 and had just beaten Maul. Now some of this has been retconned by the upcoming episodes but the core ideas are still there.

We also have some fallout on Maul’s side, after his ascension to the Throne of Mandalore, Bo-Katan and several other prominent members of Deathwatch abandoned him, forming a splinter cell of their own. This 4-parter begins the setup that will lead to the siege of Mandalore and the fallout there.

Gone with a Trace

We open with Ahsoka taking a speeder bike down into Coroscant’s lower levels. This is a scene we’d been shown, I believe it was fully animated but it’s had a bit of a touch up since then. Here’s the problem, this episode I suspect was going to be part of a longer season 6, and thus taking place immediately after her expulsion from the order. Given the timeframe of season 7, it’s clear a bit more time has passed, so what is she doing exactly, we’re given any context to this.

Anyway, her speeder bike goes wrong for reasons and after sine shenanigans, Ahsoka crashes on a landing pad, right into a mechanic shop. Convenient. 

We’re introduced to Trace, who offers the tools and use of the shop to fix the bike in exchange for whatever money Ahsoka has. We also see she’s been working on a ship, hoping to increase its speed. She’s not sure where she belongs at the moment and it’s a fair arc for Ahsoka, again a story that would’ve benefited from not having a multiple-year-long gap between stories.

Anyway, Trace has a particularly interesting view on the Jedi, that between the wars that they’re not truly helping to end and how excessively political they’ve become, they’ve forgotten about the people. People who live in the lower levels rarely see Jedi unless there’s some kind of fight going on. She wants to get her ship built so her and her sister, Rafa can fly away from the war. Good luck with that.

But before we get to that some shady criminal arrives to collect money from Rafa. Trace tries to fight them off, but it’s Ahsoka’s skills that ultimately scare them away. They head to inform Rafa, who’s diving for change in a laundrette… go figure. Anyway, her motto is “You can’t trust anyone, you can only rely on yourself” I would take that mantra to heart, especially when thinking of borrowing money from shady characters.

A Twi’lek customer enters the building wanting 3 droids repaired. 3 binary load-lifters except as Ahsoka recalls, they were a front and were actually repurposed demolition droids prone to violence, and whilst restraining bolts can keep them in check, one is activated without one and runs amok. Ahsoka grabs its tracker and Trace and speeder to pursue it.

They eventually capture it and deactivate, Ahsoka using the force to covertly save Trace’s life. Ahsoka wants these droids dismantled but Rafa is having none of it. And it’s not like Ahsoka has any say in authority now, so...

Rafa actually ended up charging double, a pretty smart business move that allows her to pay off her debts, much to Ahsoka’s annoyance. Ahsoka decides to finish work on her speeder, thinking it’s better to leave things be with these sisters as the episode draws to a close.

In all honesty, this is a pretty low-key episode but that actually serves to its benefit, the character work is much more interesting as it’s allowed room to breathe as opposed to the non-stop action that drove the plot of the Bad Batch Arc. Still, we’re only at part 1 of 4.

Rating 7.5/10

Deal No Deal

As well as working on her own Speeder, Ahsoka appears to be fixing Trace’s ship too. One thing of intrigue, she said in the last episode her ‘Older Brother’ taught her to fight, and now says that the school she went to was the ‘Skywalker Academy,’ it paints Ahsoka’s relationship with Anakin in a very interesting light. There’s still a lot left unsaid between them that tragically never will be said.

The ship, which Trace has named the Silver Angel is ready and just in time. Rafa had hired a crew for a job off-world but the crew had backed out and now she needs Trace and the Angel. It begins rising from the lower levels but of course, experience outranks everything and Trace has zero experience as a pilot, flying right into a military and getting a bollocking from Colonel Yularen.

But Colonel Yularen serves the 501st under Anakin and sensing Ahsoka’s presence on the ship, allows the ship to pass, and where are they heading… to Kessel. And I think at this point we’re where the story has diverged from its original intent, Kessel was properly introduced in Solo, which postdates The Clone Wars.

Still, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, though it might be for them as this system is notoriously corrupt. They’re not at the mines just yet, instead at the much more luxurious Royal Palace. You know what though, for her first star-ship flight, Trace did pretty well. We’re introduce to a Twi’lek named Kinash Lock, the major-domo to the king and the guy who is overseeing this operation.

Their job is to deliver 3 containers of unrefined spice, supposedly for medicinal use, should this be successful they’ll be paid an offered a contract to continue to do deliveries. Ahsoka’s not only concerned about what the spice might be used for but the simple fact that ships coming out of Kessel are often attacked by pirates and no, tragically, Hondo does not appear in this season. The logic is this smaller ship is too small a target for pirates, though Ahsoka is less than sure.

They head to the Kessel spice mine, if its not the one from Solo it’s something very similar. And yes, the mine is run by slave labour, even more so than it was in Solo. Rafa thinks that if the place was as bad as Ahsoka claims, the Republic would shut it down, which gives Ahsoka pause. The spice is loaded and it’s time to deliver to Oba Diah, to Marg Krim of the Pyke Syndicate. Now this gets Ahsoka’s attention, knowing full well that the Pyke’s are not to be trifled with.

Ahsoka brings up that the Pyke’s would likely take everything and not pay them, including the ship, which has Trace freaking out. And she does the single stupidest thing she could’ve done and dumps the spice. They arrive on Oba Diah and Ahsoka has a plan to help them, though both Trace and Rafa think that it’s a stupid one.

The Pikes await the delivery, and Rafa begins to brag about how smooth the delivery was. They want to check the cargo before paying, naturally, but Ahsoka uses a jedi mind trick to convince him to do otherwise. Still, the ruse can only last so long and as they attempt to make their escape, they’re caught in a tractor beam as the episode ends.

It’s an interesting episode, if anything I wish they spent a bit more time with Kessel and the Kessel run as the animators did a great job with these scenes only to have them be glossed over a bit.

Rating 7.5/10

Dangerous Debt

So there’s a tired morality debate going on in the cells and now it’s time to throw more shade at the Jedi order. But for this I’m gonna need to scroll-watch an episode…


This did not happen on screen, boo. OK, once the situation with Ziro the Hutt in Hostage Crisis was dealt with the Jedi pursued them, they were heading off-world so them heading to lower levels makes very little sense. But whatever, Cad Bane shot another speeder and it was heading to populated landing platform the Jedi stopped that but their actions caused another casualty, Rafa and Trace’s parents. The Jedi know about this but, sounds like they had contact with Jedi Master Luminara, who had very little to offer them than vague triviality.

Rafa is taken by the pikes to be interrogated, a droid subjects her to some quite painful shocks. She comes back, unconscious and an angry trace is taken to the get the shock treatment, she fakes fainting and manages to get a hold of a blaster and escape, though the Pykes are in hot pursuit.

Ahsoka is able to use the force to disable the energy barrier so she and Trace can escape. They meet up and escape the prison, blocking the entrance with some explosive barrels, causing an explosion and naturally a Willhelm scream. But they’re not out of the woods, or the compound yet. There’s still a gate between them and the main city, Ahsoka is tasked with opening it, she has to take on 4 Pykes on her own and despite taking a few hits is able to.

Rafa and Trace are pinned down and Ahsoka secretly uses the force to turn the tables. Ahsoka remarks that Trace is not really cut out for this line of work. As they talk a homeless guy asks them for credits and Rafa is rather rude to them. He sells them out to the pikes and in the ensuing chase they bump into a mysterious masked individual. Rafe and Trace are captured as the stranger is revealed to be Mandalorian and seeking Ahsoka, believing they have a common enemy. They agree to keep track of her.

The Pyke leader plans to torture the information about the spice out of Ahsoka, meaning that Rafa and Trace are currently expendable as Ahsoka infiltrates the base to stage a rescue. He plans to execute them but Ahsoka commandeers a vehicle to stage her rescue, unfortunately more Pykes await outside, this was staged so they could capture Ahsoka as well.

In the cell, Rafa has finally realised she should never have taken this job as the Pykes are going to continue to torture them until they get what they want.

It’s quite a tense episode as Ahsoka is without her usual resources and has to rely on quick thinking, which doesn’t always work how she planned. The Martez sisters are pretty interesting pair, I just wish the event they were talking about actually happened in an episode. And then there’s the problem with this episode being entirely filler, at least from a plot perspective. You could skip from the second to the fourth episode without any issues because they’re back in the same place at the end.

Rating 6.5/10

Together Again

Hey, want more proof the last episode wasn’t important they’ve gotten right back to arguing whose fault it was even though in the last episode Rafa had admitted she shouldn’t have taken the job. Just… were there different writers for these episodes and they didn’t communicate, what the hell? Ahsoka has another plan to get out. Ahsoka offers a deal to the Pykes. She tells them the spice has been hidden off-world but she doesn’t know where. She tells them to let Rafa and Trace find it in one rotation or she’ll reveal the location of their family, in exchange, Ahsoka gets her cut.

Rafa and Trace are allowed to leave, the Pyke boss knows that this is another deception but he needs that spice, and his life is on the line too, ‘he’ already knows about this. Rafa and Trace are escorted to their ship and fly off. The Mandalorians are keeping watch on the Pyke citadel, Ahsoka is locked up but she quickly uses the force to open her cell.

Now Rafa doesn’t like the idea of Ahsoka rescuing herself and lauding it over her head so has a plan to rescue Ahsoka, by delivering the spice. Meanwhile, Ahsoka heads into the armoury and picks up some explosives and a remote detonator. Now there’s definitely an argument to be made that this scene rather counter-acts the idea of this episode. Blowing up this factory will have consequences and not all of that will fall on the Pykes, it’s not dissimilar to how Trace and Rafa ended up orphans. Meanwhile, Rafa and Trace head to a Pyke base to pick up spice to trade back for Ahsoka.

No Pykes to stop them, so time for Rafa to use her skill of being able to talk all the bullshit. Ahsoka begins planting the explosives around the citadel as the Pykes make contact with ‘him’. Maul. He senses someone but Ahsoka is able to hide. He tells the Pykes to get their shit together or Crimson Dawn will take over their operations.

Ahsoka heads into the coms room, planting more explosives and downloading the transmission log, finding out that Maul is on Mandalore. She’s then surrounded by Pykes and reveals her force powers, now the Pykes believe that the Jedi council sent her and knock her out, still not finding all the explosives though.

Rafa’s bullsh*ting only gets her so far and a brief fight ensues. Rafa is able deal with the manager and they secure the spice. Only now things get complicated, they arrive just as Ahsoka is about to be executed only to find out here that Ahsoka is a Jedi, or at least a former one. Ahsoka’s explosives detonate providing enough of a diversion to give them the opportunity to make a break for it. They manage to take off this time but the Pykes are hot pursuit. Time for Ahsoka to show her sharpshooting skills, and Trace her piloting skills. They destroy the ships and head back to Coruscant, with a Mandalorian ship following them.

Still, with the Pykes thinking she’s a Jedi operative and Trace and Rafa unwitting foils, it’s unlikely they’ll be targeted. Rafa tells Ahsoka that though she left the order, she acts like a Jedi, or what she wants the Jedi to be. But this touching up is interrupted by Bo Katan. Nice little continuity nod that they don’t have the greatest of history. Still, Maul is there common enemy and she needs help, though Ahsoka is worried it will lead right back to the Jedi. Trace and Rafa actually talk her around.

It’s a sweet end to an overlooked story that a lot of people dismiss because it isn’t a big bombastic war story. I think it’s also hurt by 2 other major factors, the gap between seasons 6 and 7 and the only 12 episode run this season had. Still, it’s important for Ahsoka’s character that this story happen, even if it diverged from its original intent early on. That said the writing is far from perfect and this story probably could’ve been done in 2-3 episodes.

Rating 6.5/10

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