– Spoiler Review –
“Gone with a Trace” brings The Clone Wars‘ seventh and final season into the Coruscant Underworld, but all isn’t grim as it also means the return of the one, the only, Ahsoka Tano! By the end of the episode, despite my excitement on seeing her in TCW again, I found myself more intrigued by a pair of sisters who quickly steal the spotlight.
I adore the Martez sisters. Full stop. These are some the brightest, most human, and most infectious new characters introduced on The Clone Wars and canon in general. Stuck living in the Coruscant Underworld, they make their living as best as they can, between Trace doing repairs and building droids while Rafa makes the connections for the jobs they work. The Jedi and their war don’t reach them, but it means they are ignored and left on their own, constantly in debt to nefarious characters preying on the less fortunate or those who don’t have protection. They turn the other cheek if it means an extra credit, though Trace has more misgivings than her older sister Rafa, but she looks up to her and her guidance so she hasn’t acted on those feelings often. Rafa makes more deals than she’s good for, but she does it to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. It’s not a new story, but it’s not one we often see in Star Wars, and that’s one of the reasons I found them so captivating. In fact, I haven’t been this enamored with new characters since the introduction of Doctor Aphra, and it’s thanks mainly to the insane degree the voice actresses and fidelity of the animation bring these sisters so thoroughly to life. Brigitte Kali (Overwatch) voices Trace, imbibing her with an earnestness that’s easy to pull people in, including Ahsoka, though the hints of anger at the Jedi and her doubts about what Rafa has them do offer Kali plenty of options to showcase all different sides of Trace. Elizabeth Rodriguez (Orange Is the New Black, Power, Shameless) makes it easy to tell why Rafa is so damn hard to say no to, especially for Trace, as Rodriguez manages to really ring out sympathies from Trace for Rafa’s latest scheme with how it keeps the trouble at bay, while the actress brings plenty of sass and hustler attitude to the character. The casting was great, but the nuance in the characters’ facial animation, and little expressions like tossing back hair, add so much more to performance I could almost swear we were dealing with a performance capture system like most video games use these days. Rafa’s exasperation over Ahsoka and Trace’s bumbling with the droids, her indignation at Ahsoka’s words over the amount of their debt, Trace’s beaming smile when Ahsoka rescues her, to her disappointment with how Rafa is handling things towards the end, I’ve never seen so much expression in TCW animation before, though we got some hints with Anakin and Rex’s expressions in the previous Bad Batch arc. Altogether, the Martez sister’s could’ve been literal moof milkers and nothing more and I would’ve loved them just as quickly as I did here, but now I want comics, novels, and more about them after one episode, which needless to say, means I’m very excited for the following three episodes!
As much as I can’t stop talking about those sisters, of course the even bigger deal is the return of Ahsoka Tano! Sure, she got plenty of stellar limelight in Star Wars Rebels, and even a voice cameo in The Rise of Skywalker, but Ahsoka first originated from TCW and to have her back, and in its animation style, felt like coming home, something the Bad Batch arc didn’t capture as easily despite having Anakin and Rex. It’s clearly been a bit since she walked out on the Jedi Order, and Anakin, and it seems whatever she’s been up to (check out below to see what tales have been teased) has left her eager to leave Coruscant far behind, beyond its proximity to the Jedi Temple. It hurts to see her surprised when Trace is willing and eager to help her, and even after their adventures together, Ahsoka is ready to leave and get out of their lives. As she tries to keep her identity a secret so she rarely uses the Force, leaving her to solve problems and situations, like the pursuit of the modified loader droid or her speeder bike crash, without it, pushing the limits of her abilities and showing her various skills without it. I’m wondering if helping the Martez sisters will change Ahsoka’s mind on sticking around and dealing with people again, hence how she gets caught up with the events of the Siege of Mandalore in the next, and final arc, of the season.
Here are a few other things:
- Back in 2016, at Star Wars Celebration Europe, the Ahsoka’s Untold Tales Panel revealed plenty of their plans for the character after her leaving the Jedi Order. The arc we are seeing now, with the Martez sisters, was a little earlier in her journeys, and instead had Ahsoka running into, and “getting close” to, Nyx Okami, who also was in debt to the same character the sisters are here. In fact, the speeder bike falling scene, where Trace first enters the picture, was first seen in The Untold Clone Wars Panel at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 (47:50 in the embedded video), while Ahsoka stepping in to save Nyx, now Trace in the finished episode, was seen in the SWCE ’16 Ahsoka panel (51:43 in the embedded video). Other arcs of note for her? A flashback one to Plo Koon picking up Ahsoka to bring her to the order, one where she teamed up with the Jedi and explored a Sith Temple deep beneath the Jedi Temple, and of course…the Siege of Mandalore, which we’ll see here in the final season (and got a taste of in the Ahsoka novel‘s interludes)!
- Also ahead for Ahsoka, her journeys with Sabine to track down Ezra Bridger, as teased in the Star Wars Rebels finale, potentially as an animated show coming later this year, though we might get our first glimpse of her with a certain baby character sweeping the meme awards…
- For as long as Ahsoka has been around, the idea of bringing her to live-action has been spinning around as well. The wait might be over sooner than expected, as rumors point to Ahsoka joining The Mandalorian season two later this year! Does that mean Ahsoka will help finish Baby Yoda’s journey home, or he’ll end up joining her and Sabine’s show? While plenty of sites seem to think Rosario Dawson has been picked, Clayton Sandell (whom I trust a lot) seems to at least back up the Ahsoka part, just not the name everyone is throwing around. There are plenty of great actresses who could play the part, and as much as I’ve enjoyed Dawson in so many projects before this, the recent report of transphobia is disturbing and is something Disney/Lucasfilm should keep in mind when finally bringing this beloved character to live-action; don’t want her big debut with an asterisk next to it, especially when they’re are plenty of actresses out there.
Expect an update on Monday with the episode guide here. Episode guide is up!
“Gone with a Trace” is more of The Clone Wars I really love, and while I was so enthusiastic to see Ahsoka again, the Martez sisters might have taken the cake.
+ The Martez Sisters!
+ Voice acting and animation really bring them alive!
+ Unpacking Ahsoka’s loneliness
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”
Legacy Impressions: Crystal Crisis | The Bad Batch