Star Wars: The Clone Wars fails to make its case for Ahsoka's post-Jedi predicament
TV Reviews Recap
Over on Twitter, I learned about a thing called “resets.” Resets are those annoying, wonky moments at the beginning of an episode, or the beginning of an act break after a commercial, where the characters re-iterate or re-state the plot, conflict, or goal as it is up until that point. If you binge a show created in the, well, pre-binge era, you’ll probably notice them a lot more, as the forgone commercials have characters reciting things that occurred literally 10-20 seconds ago. Needless to say, resets really aren’t necessary for streaming shows (recaps I understand, as a quick refresher before episodes can help when re-starting a binge session), but old habits are hard to break. In the case of “Together Again,” the reset at the beginning undermines the sentiment that ended “Dangerous Debt,” a moment that really exemplifies the vibe of this entire arc.
Rafa ended “Dangerous Debt” with a mournful, perhaps-regretful resignation that she should have never took up such this dangerous mission of space smuggling. In the beginning of “Together Again,” she’s right back to angrily insulting Ahsoka’s interference and Trace’s naiveté. Rafa’s quick-to-anger attitude has been established, but it isn’t clear what the direction or development of Trace and/or Rafa is going. In short–I’m losing track of these Martez sisters. Not that I don’t quite understand their motivations, although a lot of it is really forced–it’s more I’m failing to grasp their purpose. Their attitudes and energies as a foil to Ahsoka are starting to loosen at the seams. Their dynamic, or static, characterizations don’t seem to be functioning towards anything. It worked in the second episode of this arc, as a broad, comic bit of clumsy, idiotic, out-of-their-element energy, but here, neither sister learns anything from or about each other, no one really changes, the semi-toxic nature of their relationship is still in tact, and perhaps worse, Ahsoka doesn’t seem to gain anything from the experience.
Perhaps you could make an argument that Rafa and Ahsoka make some rather intense, bold sacrifices. Ahsoka plays mastermind betrayer, pretending to turn on the Martez sisters so they can escape. It’s a clever ruse, too, playing up the sisters vulnerable parents as potential bait, even though said parents are long dead, knowing full well Ahsoka has a pretty good chance of escaping, you know, as a Jedi. While out of the Pykes’ clutches, Rafa makes a surprising claim and save Ahsoka, shocking even Trace–even though she was too clueless to recognize Ahsoka’s original ruse (it’s hard to place how the show wants to view Trace’s cluelessness; it’s not quite funny, but it’s not at the… “developmental concerns” level in which you could argue Rafa’s role as genuine protector). So Ahsoka sneaks around and plants explosives in order to take the entire organization down, while Rafa and Trace brute-force a con on a random spice supplier to steal more spice as a bargaining chip. Ahsoka’s mission has the benefit of being a bit tense, as well as being part of her character: disrupting a drug-smuggling operation for the greater good. The Martez sisters’ mission is just goofy. It feels unnecessary, the lack of “real” security for such a valuable commodity is absurd (especially since it’s a Pyke shipment they’re robbing), and it’s not even portrayed in comical enough manner to allow the goofiness a comical intentionality. Basically, it’s just dumb.
In the midst of Ahsoka’s stealth mission, she sees the Pykes speaking with Darth Maul. A lot is going on here, which I’ll expand a bit below, but basically this Pyke/spice operation is bigger than what’s shown here. (This ostensibly is meant to tie to the appearance of the Mandarlorians, those shadowy figures that were following Ahsoka around–specifically Bo-Katan, the woman who removes her helmet at the end.) Ahsoka is caught, then the sisters are caught upon their return, and it’s at this point Ahsoka reveals she is is a Jedi. Rafa and Trace just… accept it. Which is mature of them, sure, but the fact that it doesn’t generate any conflict, not even internally, makes all of Ahsoka’s secrecy pointless. And even worse, Ahsoka doesn’t even get an opportunity to expound upon any of this. When asked why would anyone walk away from being a Jedi, she responds “It’s complicated” and says nothing else. That’s like the most important dramatic piece that’s needed from this entire arc! This was a cop-out.
“Dangerous Debt” ends with Ahsoka going with Bo-Katan and the rest of the Mandalorians to deal with Maul, who is indeed is a common enemy. The next episode is called “Old Friends, Not Forgotten,” which I’m assuming will continue Ahsoka’s story. Hopefully that will prove to be more fruitful and rewarding than the Martez sister saga. Not that they didn’t have their moments, but I can’t imagine them or this arc being remembered fondly. Apparently a lot of the assets were already created, so Star Wars: The Clone Wars probably felt obligated to use them. But even still, the show failed to pull much of anything out of them.
Stray observations
- Rafa frames her decision to rescue Ahsoka as not wanting to have the Jedi hold the moment against her. I get that this line is meant to mask her true feelings, but I don’t know, it comes off sloppy and nonsensical. I think it’s more due to the shaky line-reading–the subtext gets completely lost.
- I thought Trace was a terrible pilot? That would have been such a specific, unique obstacle to have with during that final chase from the Pykes. But Trace actually does some great aerial moves. It’s like the show completely forgot about it.
- To make an extremely long story short, Ahsoka once fought Bo-Katan and her boss, Pre Vizsla, who were members of a more militaristic sect of Mandalorians called the Death Watch. (Bo-Katan’s sister, Satine, was the leader of the more peaceful sect of the Mandalorians.) Ahsoka escaped, and in the interim, Maul arrived, joined up with Pre and the Death Watch, killed Satine, and took over Mandalore. Maul then forced an alliance with the Pykes and the Hutts to form The Shadow Collective, to control the underworld of illegal smuggling of all sorts of illicit things. Pre tried to betray Maul, but was killed by him. Bo-Katan probably reached out to Ahsoka to try and fight back against Maul’s rule, but Maul got his tail handed to him by Dooku and Sidious (another long story). So technically Maul should be gone, but according to Wookieepedia he came back and re-asserted his rule in some kind of comic? I don’t even know any more. I’ll be happy to hear from you all out there!
30 Comments
Sigh. I’m losing patience with this season. Its not been terribly engaging and I’m utterly disappointed in the Entire Ashoka story line thus far. Not much heart and completely forgettable episodes. I really hope things pick up and the writers remember what made the show great.
The Martez Sisters Arc seems at least 1 episode too long considering how few are left in the series.
27:54 – There were plans for one more Ahsoka arc before The Siege of Mandalore. I feel like Ahsoka’s character growth got short-changed in order to have the current story lead directly into The Siege of Mandalore.
“Wookieepedia”LOL.
(sees mean words written about the Martez sisters)(slowly hides bouquet of flowers and hand-written card meant for the Martez sisters)
I enjoyed them too, although it’s the hard to deny them just accepting everything about Ahsoka being a Jed with no problems was a pretty anticlimactic end to this whole arc. still, though, there were some really funny line readings. Rafa’s “glad we could help” after Trace chicken’d out the Pyke ship was genuinely great
“killed Sabine”That would be Satine. I usually wouldn’t be this petty about a typo, but since there’s also a Mandalorian named Sabine, it’s kind of important here.
Yeah, that was a slip-up. It’s been fixed!
Pffff, if only.
I didn’t know that
Ultimately this entire arc felt like pointless filler.The only significant thing that really happen was the damage done to the Pyke organization. (which again makes me wonder, if this spice shipment was so important to them, why did they hire a couple of young and inexperienced kids to deliver it in the first place?)In terms of character development for Ahsoka, nothing was really changed. (she already had some idea of the less than positive reputation the Jedi have)
I thought for sure that their ship was going to be used as fodder, i.e., double-cross the sisters & send the authorities after them to clear space for a larger shipment.I didn’t mind Trace but Rafa was a dud. Never really redeemed herself… and there *was* conflict about Ahsoka being a Jedi after she had saved them, which was dumb. My take on this arc: If you follow the novel about Ahsoka and Rebels, she kind of has a thing for helping young people in trouble. Perhaps this was just showing her first foray into that.
Perhaps what this episode needed was more punk rock hairdos?
I was waiting for No Doubt’s ‘ Just a Girl’ to kick in at some point.
Why do they keep doing four episode arcs when they don’t have enough story to fill them?
You must be new to watching The Clone Wars. The arcs usually have more time than story to tell, with rare exceptions that people look back upon with nostalgia goggles.
I am still going with the Martez sisters show up in The Mandalorian episodes that Ahsoka is supposed to be in. There is no other reason to have forced this arc with such a limited amount of episodes. If we trust Filoni, there is a bigger picture still to see.
I hope this means we’re done seeing Trace and Rafa have the same conversation again and again. Yes, sisters look out for each other and Rafa doesn’t trust Ahsoka because sisters look out for each other and only Rafa can look out for Trace because they’re sisters. I got it the first time around.
Also … all that work to get the spice and then it’s never mentioned again. But, like, it’s still on the ship, right? So the sisters are rich now? Or in great danger since the Pykes would be after it? I dunno, man. This is just sloppy plotting.
A C? This is still D territory for TCW. Maybe even D-. Does AV do D minuses? I mean I love TCW but this season has been utter drek from the word go.
This entire “arc” could have been condensed into 2 episodes. Also:
“Apparently a lot of the assets were already created, so Star Wars: The Clone Wars probably felt obligated to use them.”
So I was right about what I said last week:
Season 6 – What we had done!
Season 7 – What we had left!
I’m not gonna deny, I kinda feel like this episode and the previous one were written at the same time by folks who didn’t communicate with each other. It’d explain how you could basically drop the last episode and nothing’s actually lost at the start of this one. So technically Maul should be gone, but according to Wookieepedia he came back and re-asserted his rule in some kind of comic? I don’t even know any more. I’ll be happy to hear from you all out there!Long story short, back before the Disney buyout, LucasArts had the plan to take unproduced Clone Wars scripts and turn them into novels, comics, etc. that were meant to be considered as canon as the show was (which was a rarity in the days of the old canon). One of those was Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir, which picks up where Maul’s fight with Sidious leaves off, featuring his escape and his return to his role as a Sith crime boss on Mandalore. That description sums up 90% of what you need to know. Because its canonicity is tied to the show, it’s one of the few ‘Legacy’ products that is actually still considered wholly canon after the reboot.(Other Clone Wars ‘leftovers’: A bunch of half-finished episodes eventually released to DVD, including a version of the now-properly-finished Bad Batch arc, and the novel “Dark Disciple,” which continues the story of Asajj Ventress.)
I was really hoping for a Ventress arc.
Hey, if it helps you feel any better, clearly they had one planned. I haven’t read Dark Disciple (which came after the buyout so it’s canon) so I can’t vouch for whether it’s any good, but it’s something.
double post
I feel like the entire point of the Martez sisters was to just to give Ahsoka more to think about, questioning the jedi involvement in the clone war and to solidify Ahsoka’s decision to leave the jedi order. Initially she left because the council didn’t support her when she was framed for the bombing in ‘The Wrong Jedi’ but she’s left in doubt of the jedi order as a whole.This could’ve been addressed in a single episode but over the course of three, it just feels like needless and repetitive filler. The fact this is a rather short and final season, makes it all the more painful and a waste.
I feel like the entire point of the Martez sisters was to just to give Ahsoka more to think about, questioning the jedi involvement in the clone war and to solidify Ahsoka’s decision to leave the jedi order. Initially she left because the council didn’t support her when she was framed for the bombing in ‘The Wrong Jedi’ but now, she’s left in doubt of the jedi order as a whole.This could’ve been addressed in a single episode but over the course of three, it just feels like needless and repetitive filler. The fact this is a rather short and final season, makes it all the more painful and a waste.
Is there really a need to watch the this episode and the last? I skipped them because they just felt tired and uninspired after first meeting the sisters and then reading that the 2 characters stayed on for 2 more episodes. I hope the home stretch of this season with the Siege of Mandalore gets everything back on track. Really the bad batch arc was not that great so here’s hoping they saved the best episodes for last.
Maul went from being zapped at the hands of Sidious in his last appearance on the show to back to running Death Watch and Black Sun in the hologram, so in case anyone is wondering, the missing piece between those two is the Son of Dathomir arc which was published by Dark Horse in 2015 as the Clone Wars lost missions arc project. Hopefully SoD gets a recap at the start of the next episode. (I managed to dig it out of the bottom of my box o Star Wars canon comix and gave it a re-read a month ago or so)
“but here, neither sister learns anything from or about each other, no one really changes”Except for both sisters learning to trust Ahsoka even after they learn she’s a Jedi, and that may be not all Jedi are bad.
“I thought Trace was a terrible pilot? That would have been such a specific, unique obstacle to have with during that final chase from the Pykes. But Trace actually does some great aerial moves. It’s like the show completely forgot about it.”Trace was never a “terrible” pilot. No idea where you got that from in the previous episodes. She built her own ship from spare parts, and she knows how to fly. She’s not a terrible pilot, just inexperienced. She doesn’t know that about the proper lanes to fly in over Coruscant, or that you need a license. This mission was the first time she had flown in hyperspace or in outer space. Don’t confuse “inexperience” with ‘terribleness”.