Ahsoka's team is in over their heads in a fun, chatty, catty Star Wars: The Clone Wars
TV Reviews Recap
My absolute favorite reveal this episode? Trace is absolutely terrible at being a pilot. She doesn’t even have a license! It’s a hilarious, bold choice for this show, a decision that these characters have to work through, especially as the conflicts escalate so fast. “Gone With A Trace” suggested that Trace was a nice, honest person who was constantly pressured, negged, and manipulated by her trashy sister. “Deal No Deal” reveals that both Martez sisters are delusional messes in their own ways. And Ahsoka, who is the most experienced of the three but maybe not the most assertive, has to just deal with all this, while inadvertently making things better or worse, depending on the moment. Things happen so fast, and the three bicker, argue, complain, and rail on each other through out. It’s chatty. It’s catty. It’s hilarious, ridiculous, and bold. I can see this episode not being everyone’s favorite, since a lot of character decisions here are, frankly, idiotic. But they made sense for the characters, and the episode knows they are idiotic choices, and plays it as such.
“Deal No Deal” functions on contrasting scenes, tones, and atmospheres. If you feel like you’re hit with whiplash with the pacing and speed of this episode, and how fast things occur, that’s the point. It’s meant to be jarring, the juxtaposition of places and ideas, placing its audiences into the jumbled mess our three main characters find themselves in. One moment we’re in the presence of royalty on a lush, rich, verdant planet; the next, we’re landing in a rough, dirty, oppressive land filled with literal slaves. Even the interactions among the women goes in disparate directions. Distrust between Ahsoka and Rafa becomes a brief accord as they both “connect” over a understanding of Trace’s lack of piloting skills–or general understanding of anything ship-based (that awful ship name), only to turn sour again as Ahsoka’s surprising knowledge of, well, everything makes her suspicious again. And the warm camaraderie between Ahsoka and Trace? That starts to wobble on shaky ground as Ahsoka desperately tells Trace what to do when she ignorantly drifts into a restricted military lane (and is ignored). And then everything pretty much falls apart when Trace blindly, rashly, disposes of the spice in the middle of hyperspace.
To be more specific about what happens in “Deal No Deal,” a wonky if amicable conversation between Ahsoka and Trace is interrupted by Rafa, who asks Trace to help her make a delivery of a questionable nature. Rafa claims that the original pilot backed out, which irritates Trace, thinking that her own sister doubts her piloting skills. Ahsoka clearly thinks that Rafa is conning her sister, manipulating her emotions to take his job. Well, come to find out, Rafa was, in her own messed up way, right to ask for another pilot first, since Trace make some awful rookie flying mistakes almost immediately. Rafa didn’t want to bring Trace, partially cause she does want to protect her but also because she’s terrible at being a pilot. But she’s desperate for money, as well as the fact that she made promises to the kinds of characters you don’t renege on.
So they fly to Kessel, meeting with the royal staff and Kinash Lock for dinner, where Ahsoka asks too many questions and Trace blurts out her weird excitement for flying. Say what you will about Rafa, but she’s a smooth enough talker to keep Lock from growing too suspicious, maintaining his confidence in them. They head to the mines next to pick up the spice, the oppressive vision of a horde of slaves toiling over spice mining not holding them back from their work–Rafa even justifies it by saying the Jedi would have intervened if it was truly a problem (more on that in the Stray Observations). They part with the spice, and that’s when things get juicy.
The entire nonsensical arguments that blow up among these ladies have the chaotic, blabby feel of something from The Hangover, or Dude, Where’s My Car, or Keanu, or Date Night–just squabbling in the midst of real criminal dangers. Rafa’s annoyance at Ahsoka’s know-it-all do-goodery, Asokha’s frustration at the overall deal with the deadly serious Pike Syndicate, the two’s absolute bewilderment over Trace dumping the spice in some bizarre desperate move to save her ship–which it won’t: it’s all nonsense, but in a very “how the hell did we get here, how the hell did it go from bad to worse so fast” kind of way. Again, I can see viewers hating this, but it tracks in a silly, face-palming, laughable kind of way (Even Ahsoka’s weird plea to use the spice for good falls short, lacking any real follow-up on how that saves them currently). A couple of well-meaning people making awful decisions and having to somehow get out of it is a classic dilemma, and kudos to Star Wars: The Clone Wars for being willing to tell that kind of story. Sure, Ahsoka tries to Force mind trick their way out of Marg Krim’s clutches, but it fails. Spectacularly. Definitely curious to see where this ridiculous arc goes next.
Stray observations
- This episode has the kind of vibe that I think Star Wars Resistance was going for: a couple of not bright, clumsy, overtly lucky characters getting way in over their head against the First Order. I think there were a lot of top-down issues steaming from the movies themselves, but needless to say, “Deal No Deal” does it better.
- Where and when did Trace even begin harboring the delusions she was some kind of ace pilot? I guess Rafa may have put that idea in her head over the years, out of misguided love, but it doesn’t strike me as a thing Rafa would push upon her sister. Rafa’s pretty blunt, and at some point even she would have told Trace to not quit her day job.
- Anakin and Ahsoka briefly Force-connect across ships, and Anakin lets her go. It’s a small moment, but one filled with regret and guilt.
- Visiting the planet Kessel, I’m assuming this relates to the Solo film. I have not seen it, so any references that this episode make to the movie will be lost on my. Sorry!
- There’s a couple of mixed messages going on here, thematically relating to the harsh contrasts of the visuals and the narratives. Early in the episode, Trace mentions never being able to afford any academy, highlighting the difference between Ahsoka and Trace directly. Kinash Lock, the person they meet on Kessel, mentions, somewhat wryly, how helpful they are to people affected by the war with their “spice” and medicine. Later, Rafa describes their wealth, but also mentions how there’s always a price to be paid. And finally, perhaps most directly, Ahsoka mentions how the spice miners are slaves, but Rafa scoffs, claiming how if they were, the Jedi and the Republic would have put a stop to it. Ahsoka backs off. She knows all to well the darker, more questionable side to the Jedi and their actions.
- Oh, and to be clear, spice is drugs. I was going to point out the use of the term “spice” for illicit substances as an amusing Disney+ form of censorship but it’s also canon to Star Wars so there’s no point. But still.
26 Comments
I guess I’m part of the group that you think will dislike this episode. Not only did I find this episode to be a snore, I also felt as though the dialogue/situations they were put in were too forced. I know the end result of this arc will pay off with the conflict set in place, but the new characters feel like hollow shells to me. Their decisions feel likes means to an end, solely to create a conflict, instead of something organic. Maybe it’s because they’re so idiotic, and I know that’s part of the point, but it’s just not something I can get on board with so far.
Dune fans see spice a certain way also.
Has spice always been around in the Star Wars universe and is something I just haven’t noticed before? I’ve only just noticed it recently in the past few years (both film and TV content). As a Dune fan, I’m selfishly annoyed whenever I hear spice used by other IPs haha
Yes. All the way in A New Hope Threepo laments that “we’ll be sent to Spice mines of Kessel, for sure!” And yes, it was probably a deliberate Dune reference — Dune was a massive influence on all space opera thereafter.
I think the Spice Mines of Kessel got a mention in the OT and the mines and spice were used in the EU. Han was hauling a load of spice that he dumped and that’s why Jabba was after him.
Though Lucas probably cribbed that whole Spice thing from Dune anyway. (Like he cribbed plenty of other old sci fi related things for star wars)
Oh yeah I assume that’s the case.
It was first mentioned in ‘A New Hope’ by C3PO:“We’ll be sent to the Spice Mines of Kessel, smashed into who-knows-what!” But nothing is mentioned about what it actually is. I guess you could infer from Han Solo’s mention of the Kessel Run and his position as a smuggler that spice was illicit stuff.
“My father didn’t fight in the wars. He was a navigator on a spice freighter.”Spice is a big business, some of it legitimate, refining the raw material into medicine, some of it illegal, converting it into narcotics.
And IT MUST FLOW!
Ahsoka mentions how the spice minors are slavesI’m unreasonably happy you dropped this one in my lap.
*Prisoners with jobs.
There was a part in the ‘Solo’ movie where Han and his gang infiltrated a Kessel mine (to steal some stuff, could be the same mines) and on the way Han and Chewie decided to start up a slave uprising.Though it was never really clear what was the scope of the uprising. (is that the only Kessel mine? was the uprising only successful there? was the mine eventually taken back?)
If it weren’t for Ahsoka I don’t think I would have dug the last two episodes at all. The plots just seem generic at this point, especially after how awesome the first few episodes were.
Also: Really hoping Hondo shows up at some point!
It has a Hondo vibe for sure. One of the cards Ahsoka could play later on if she has to.
I actually really enjoy watching Ahsoka deal with a “normal” person her age.It’s a great contrast that does a ton to show how quickly Ahsoka has had to grow up.
all the pirate talk in this episode really made me think Hondo would be showing up. I guess that would have been a bit too similar to the Younglings arc in s5 if he’d tried to rob their ship, but I still reckon he’ll show up before this arc is over
Anakin and Ahsoka briefly Force-connect across ships, and Anakin lets her go. It’s a small moment, but one filled with regret and guilt.It’s also filled with the good kind of fan service. Anakin will be in this situation again.
The lush animations, the zippy dialogue, the new characters that pop…. this definitely felt like something new to Star Wars. Forgive the obvious reply set-up, but, it felt more like a Disney movie than an episode of The Clone Wars…. and I kinda dug it!
Don’t get me-a-wrongo, I’m still very excited for The Siege of Mandalore, but these sisters are a blast and a half to watch. It’s like watching Rhoda Morgenstern but now she’s also Han Solo!
Visiting the planet Kessel, I’m assuming this relates to the Solo film. I have not seen it, so any references that this episode make to the movie will be lost on my. Sorry!If this story was written back when Clone Wars first came out, it predates Solo.It majorly contradicts Solo too. Even if we assume that anyone can with no training in navigation can hyperspace jump to another planet, Solo makes quite clear that this doesn’t work for the planet of Kessel. It’s surrounded by space storms and giant space things, and you have to have careful detailed navigational data to get through. Trace should not have been able to get them there.
As I recall, there was a perfectly passable route to Kessel that anyone could navigate. The problem was that it took a very long time, as it had to go around all the obstacles and dangers surrounding the planet, while Han and co. had to try and find a quick route to prevent their volatile cargo from exploding, forcing them to try the dangerous and untested path. Although the episode mostly skips it, it looks like we actually glimpse the start of the corridor that leads safely to Kessel that Han was forced to stray from.
It was even less of a big deal in Rebels, where in the first episode they just quickly traveled to Kessel (its first screen appearance) as if it were any other planet, did a mission, and left again with no problem. In this episode they at least showed the maelstrom.
Trace’s sister is named Rafa, not Fara.
Yikes, what a weird mistake! Fixed, thanks for pointing that out.
(you missed one)
Spice=drugs. Hmm ya don’t say