Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode 6 recap: Ahsoka Tano dives deeper into the underworld
The former Jedi apprentice gets into deep trouble with her new buddies.
Rafa Martez still isn't sure about Ahsoka Tano, but enlists her for a risky job.
The sixth episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars' seventh and final season, Deal No Deal, landed on Disney Plus on Friday, continuing Ahsoka Tano's (Ashley Eckstein) first adventure since she left the Jedi Order. Having nowhere to go, Ahsoka agrees to stick with sisters Trace and Rafa (Brigitte Kali and Elizabeth Rodriguez) for a bit longer.
Having earned Trace's trust -- Rafa remains wary -- she ends up going with them in Trace's ship, the Silver Angel, when they leave Coruscant for a job that's clearly gonna be something illegal. SPOILERS coming!
Fortune cookie
"Mistakes are valuable lessons often learned too late." These wise words reference the errors by all three of our heroes in this episode -- Rafa probably shouldn't have roped her sister in on such a dangerous job, Trace made their lives a whole lot more difficult by dropping the spice and Ahsoka's Jedi mind trickery wasn't enough to get them out of trouble.
Echoes of Anakin
Even though Ahsoka opted to leave the Jedi Order, she can't escape her old master's shadow. Before they set out on their journey, Ahsoka tells Trace she learned her skills as a mechanic at "Skywalker Academy" -- a reference to Anakin's abilities.
And then as they leave Coruscant, Trace flies a little too close to a military flight lane and attracts the attention of Admiral Yularen (Tom Kane), who plans to arrest them. However, Anakin (Matt Lanter) is on board and senses his former Padawan, so he tells the admiral to let the ship pass.
This moment is nearly identical to the Return of the Jedi scene where a Vader'd up Anakin allows Luke Skywalker and his buddies to pass the Imperial fleet over Endor. In both cases, Anakin is driven by sentiment, though he was being a little calculated as Vader (since he wanted Luke to come to him willingly).
Our heroes meet some of Kessel's rich inhabitants.
Another side of Kessel
It turns out Rafa is bringing them to Kessel, the rather bleak mining world we saw in Solo and Rebels, to pick up spice. This episode reveals how the one-percenters of this world live, in a verdant area far from the barren mines. In a fancy castle, no less. We don't meet King Aruba, whom Rafa has agreed to move the spice for, so he'll probably show up later.
Spice is something mentioned pretty regularly in Star Wars, but never explained in the movies -- it's a valuable substance that can be used for medicinal purposes or refined into a highly addictive recreational drug. Kessel is infamous for forcing slaves to do the latter, and it's clear that the batch Ahsoka, Trace and Rafa are smuggling will be used for illicit purposes.
Things go a little awry when Ahsoka and Rafa argue over where they should bring the spice, prompting Trace to solve the issue by simply dumping it as they travel through hyperspace. Unfortunately, that leaves them indebted to the rather scary Pike Syndicate.
This is basically the same situation that got Han Solo indebted to Jabba the Hutt prior to A New Hope, though Han dumped his spice shipment because he got boarded by the Empire.
The Pykes are pretty intimidating.
Scum and villainy
Ahsoka tries to use a Jedi mind trick to get the Pykes to take empty containers, but one of them is too sharp for her -- our heroes end up trapped.
The Pyke Syndicate joined Darth Maul's Shadow Collective earlier in the Clone Wars, but abandoned him during the Son of Dathomir comic series. At this point, their larger allegiance is unknown, but this encounter could set Ahsoka on the path to Mandalore, where the season's final arc will take place.
Before that, she'll have to escape this sticky situation. We'll find out when next episode comes to Disney Plus on April 3, and my next recap will arrive that day too.