Star Wars: Clone Wars, “Deal No Deal”, Review!

The arc of Ahsoka Tano, as she has just left the Jedi Order, and the Mendez sisters trying to survive the rough life of level 1313 of Coruscant.  The title of course is a nod to the game show Deal or No Deal, the titles this season are not too clever.  In the hangar of Trace Mendez, she is working on her ship with Ahsoka.  Trace is impressed at Ahsoka’s skill with starships and asks about her cover story of going to an academy top side.  She replies that she went to Skywalker Academy!  Trace is an untrained pilot and inherited the hangar after her parent’s death.  She built the ship by doing odd jobs, they turn to working on Ahsoka’s speeder bike, and Trace convinces her to stay on to test the ship.  Rafa enters and mentions a job to fly a ship.  She doesn’t trust Ahsoka though it is Trace keeping her on the job.  Trace welcomes them to the Silver Angel.  No test runs, checking the engines, and fuel for the lightspeed engine!  She flies into the Coruscant skies and Ahsoka warns her about straying into the military lane as Republic gunships head towards a Venator-class Star Destroyer.  

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS -- “Deal No Deal” -- Disney/Lucasfilm.

It seems there is great ease slipping close to a warship with gunships not worried.  We saw in Cloud City that the pod car sent warning blasts.  The strange part is that Coruscant is filled with craft yet they don’t bother to send any kind of security.   They are hailed by Captain Wulf Yularen (Tom Kane).  Ahsoka shuts off the transmission and they start to head to the transport lane.  It is about to pass the Star Destroyer while on the bridge of the Resolute is Anakin Skywalker, this is his flagship, he uses the Force to sense who is onboard the ship!  This is of course a mirror of Luke in the Imperial shuttle in Return of the Jedi (1983).  Anakin allows the ship to go on its way.  Ahsoka walked away from Master Skywalker leaving the Jedi Order, but we see that he lets her go on her own path.  This also reflects Ahsoka realizing Darth Vader’s identity in Star Wars: Rebels, “Siege of Lothal”, with the epic line, “The apprentice lives.”  Ahsoka’s placement in Star Wars is very well handled since we never saw her on screen in any of the films.  Her formal appearance will be in The Mandalorian.        

The Silver Angel leaves Coruscant and Rafa whispers their destination to Trace.  I wonder how a first time pilot could follow a hyperspace course.  Trace takes the ship to hyperspace, but it is a bumpy ride.  She forgot to deactivate the air brakes.  Is there air in hyperspace?  The Silver Angel has reached its destination, a cloudy planet that Ahsoka recognizes as Kessel.  This is course the legendary planet of the Kessel Run mentioned by Han Solo and seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).  Rafa says they are transporting medicine.  The Silver Angel moves through blue skies and a jungle-like part of the planet.  They reach a palace and Trace has the ship hovering next to a platform.  The landing bay door is lowered and they meet with a red Twi’lek, Kinash Lock (Corey Burton), the majordomo of King Yaruba.  Burton is well known as the voice of Count Dooku in Clone Wars.  The last majordomo that we’ve seen is Bib Fortuna at Jabba’s palace, the connection is apparent.  He takes them through the row of soldiers to a banquet with others quietly eating. Lock mentions their shipment is unrefined spice.  If they are successful, then a contact will be made to transport the spice.  

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS -- “Deal No Deal” -- Disney/Lucasfilm.

Ahsoka mentions the spice can be refined into things other than medicine.  Lock explains that in times of war, the Yaruba family provides spice as medicine.  On the way back to the ship, Ahsoka mentions the dangers of spice transport.  Rafa says that it is high profile ships that get attacked which is why they have the job.  Ahsoka tries to warn Trace about the dangers.  The Silver Angel passes the jungle area to the desolate pillars of the Mining Zone.  It is not accident that in the cockpit, Rafa is in shadow, Trace in the light, and Ahsoka in shadow and light.  They come in for a landing, Trace thinks the spice miners are droids, but Ahsoka tells her they are people.  The miners shovel the spice into containers.  Labor droids that look like Rock`Em Sock `Em robots start loading the containers to the Silver Angel. A Zygerrian overseer gives Rafa the shipment data pad.  Zygerrian are cat-like aliens first seen in the “Kidnapped” (2011) episode of Clone Wars.  They leave Kessel and head into hyperspace.  Trace mentions their drop off point, Obah Diah, the planet of the Pyke Syndicate.  It was introduced in “The Lost One” (2014) with the Pykes seen as a major criminal organization.  

Trace mentions Marg Krim, Ahsoka is shocked that they are doing business with a crime boss, he was a character in Dark Disciple (2015) the novel based on unaired Clone Wars episodes. Tensions flare with Ahsoka wanting the spice taken to planets as medicine.  Trace ejects the spice into hyperspace!  Ahsoka and Rafa are angry at her action.  Rafa hopes to use the ship as payment for 30,000 credits worth of spice!  Ahsoka has a plan.  The Mendez sisters think it is a bad plan.  The Silver Angel reaches a landing platform and they are met by the Pykes, aliens with hexagonal heads and strange eyes in their small faces.  Marg Krim (Stephen Stanton) asks about the shipment.  A case with the credits is brought forward, but Krim wants to see the spice.  Behind Rafa, Ahsoka uses the Force to convince Krim to give the credits and allow the ship to leave.  Krim’s majordomo, Fife (Stephen Stanton), is suspicous about the deal.  The supporting roles with Baker, Burton, and Stanton fill most of the important parts in Clone Wars.  The scam has some serious consequences.  This is an average episode that touches on some important places and people in the Star Wars universe.

Three Lightsabers out of Five!    

#StarWarsCloneWars, #DealNoDeal, #Kessel, #PykeSyndicate