– Spoiler Review –
In The Clone Wars‘ latest, “Deal No Deal,” Ahsoka Tano’s journey with the Martez sisters gets an absolutely enjoyable extension, as all three wonderfully performed and animated ladies get in over their heads with the deadly Pyke syndicate.
As I mentioned in my review of the previous episode, I really do adore the Martez sisters and “Deal No Deal” compounds that exponentially (can you tell I work at a bank?). We spent a lot of time with Trace in the previous episode, but we get far more time with Rafa here, and though Trace remains the focus alongside Ahsoka, I’m happier to have more Rafa as we gain deeper insight into the sisters’ dynamics. Rafa plays a lot of cons on people, but the biggest and most heartbreaking one is how she takes advantage of her sister’s dependence, roping her into her latest scheme or asking for forgiveness after she’s already done something by playing into the bond they share. She keeps friends away from Trace, afraid they might lead her on a path away from her sister, because as much as Trace depends on Rafa, Rafa depends just as much on her to be complicit with her schemes and ways. I couldn’t quite place how Rafa kept stringing Trace along in the previous episode, but it became far clearer in “Deal No Deal” as Rafa warns Ahsoka off from getting too close to Trace, claiming she could be the trouble Trace needs to worry about; it’s an act to keep Trace on her side and off of Ahsoka’s more ethical leaning ways, and Ahsoka doesn’t help her case by doing what Rafa does by telling Trace what to do. We see the direct result of Trace’s reaction to being bossed around, as despite several warnings, the two older, and therefore feel wiser, ladies ignore her, and it results in one intriguing encounter and one terrifying decision. Trace is far smarter and resourceful than either Rafa, and even Ahsoka can seem to admit, though Ahsoka’s more willing to see it than her older sister, especially as she learns the hard work the younger sister did to get and fix up her own starship. What does Rafa have to show for all her dealings? Her criminal enterprises runs through a laundromat front and she holds her sister back to help her with her continuously failing schemes. It’ll be interesting to see how Ahsoka’s interference will change the course of these two intriguing women’s lives…
Once again, the animation and voice acting from Brigitte Kali (Trace) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Rafa), and as always Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka), really helps make this sisterly pair so compelling to watch, and having them all out on a mission together brings so many intriguing and enjoyable interactions. There’s far more charisma and unique attitudes between these three than all of the Bad Batch episodes combined, as while those characters are fun, they aren’t as three dimensional as these three ladies, as each one has separate motives, desires, and opportunities for change. Ahsoka’s been in charge of armies for most of her adolescent life, but she’s never had to secede control to someone who wasn’t technically a superior, nor did she often listen to those who were, but Rafa doesn’t care about any chain of command and Trace doesn’t respond to commands very well, so she’s a bit out of place throughout their mission to Kessel. And all her moral and ethical teachings from the Jedi cause her to quickly jump in at the first sign of shady dealings, nearly starting a scene at a fancy dinner party by getting sanctimonious regarding spice running, while her continued focus on ethics leads to a fight between her and Rafa that spitballs into one helluva choice by Trace. The younger Martez built her own starship from the ground up, so when Rafa is considering it as collateral in Ahsoka’s alternative scenario, she makes the drastic choice to dump the spice. For once, Ahsoka and Rafa are in agreement: this was a bad choice, but Ahsoka manages to seize the moment and step up with a plan to get out of their predicament when they arrive on the Pyke’s doorstep. The Force could get Ahsoka out of most of her problems, but it isn’t enough with gangsters and the world she’s dealing with now, which means to get out of their even deeper problems by the end of the episode, she’ll have to rely on the Martez sisters, or more likely, both Rafa and Ahsoka need to let Trace finally shine.
The earlier choice by Trace leads to a somewhat emotional scene for Ahsoka, that mirrors a few others in Star Wars cinema. As they leave Coruscant for Kessel, Trace’s lack of piloting experience rears its ugly head when she dives straight into a military traffic lane, against Ahsoka’s warnings, and even picks up a hailing from Admiral Yularen, who threatens them with revoking her license. Anakin Skywalker happens to be on board (and it’s weird he was!*) and asks about the disturbance, and while Yularen begins to write it off, Anakin reaches out in the Force, sensing Ahsoka, who senses him, and he lets them go despite some visible pain on his face. I really loved how it directly mirrors the scene in Return of the Jedi when Vader senses Luke on the landing ship to Endor, allowing them to pass, though his face isn’t so visible that time. It also foreshadows the big moment in Star Wars Rebels‘ season two premiere, “The Siege of Lothal,” when Ahsoka connects with the mysterious Sith attacking the rebels and realizes it’s her long thought dead former master. That she calls the amazing academy where she learned a whole lot of things, in response to Trace’s question, the Skywalker Academy, really highlights the depth of their bond and I loved that Anakin’s decision here was a way of him showing respect for her choices…and one of the few times he let someone go.
Here are a few other things:
- *As touching as the Ahsoka/Anakin scene is, airing this episode AFTER the Bad Batch arc can be confusing, as Anakin doesn’t return to Coruscant from the Outer Rim Sieges, which is where he is with the Bad Batch, until the opening moments of Revenge of the Sith. The events of this Ahsoka Underworld arc take place therefore somewhere after the end of season 5 and before the start of season 7, and I’m aiming a little closer to the start of season 7 considering she’s older than at the end of 5, but I hope they update the chronological order soon.
- Responding to the rumors of Ahsoka Tano joining The Mandalorian‘s second season (as I mentioned in the “Gone With a Trace” review), Ahsoka’s voice actress Ashley Eckstein took to Instagram with a note, basically stating she isn’t involved, though she’d love to be, but she can’t confirm whether it’s true or not.
- Seeing Kessel’s greener side brought out some really lovely, eye-catching visuals and makes the spice-mining side even more of a contrast of rich vs poor and the Republic’s ability to look the other way. It was also neat to see the landing pad area on Kessel that the Ghost family visits in Star Wars Rebels now in TCW animation style.
- The Pyke whom greets Ahsoka and the Martez sisters on Oba Diah, Marg Krim, sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite place it right away: he was part of Dark Disciple, the novel based off of unproduced TCW scripts!
- When this series of episodes was first revealed in 2016 at Star Wars Celebration Europe, it was introduced as the “Ahsoka Walkabout” arc. Over on Twitter, Abigail (who has many excellent Eleven-ThirtyEight articles) pointed out using the term walkabout is appropriating Aboriginal culture. She suggested Ahsoka Alone but I’ve gone with Ahsoka Underworld.; your choice, just avoid walkabout!
“Deal No Deal” doubles down on more Martez sisters, and showing Ahsoka trying to make her way in her new life, to exceptional and enjoyable results.
+ Martez sister dynamics
+ Ahsoka’s ethical dilemmas working in the Underworld
+ Exciting set up for the next two episodes
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
THE CLONE WARS REVIEWS
Season Seven: Ep. 1 “The Bad Batch” | Ep. 2 “A Distant Echo” | Ep. 3 “On the Wings of Keeradaks” | Ep. 4 “Unfinished Business” | Ep. 5 “Gone With a Trace”
Legacy Impressions: Crystal Crisis | The Bad Batch