Ryan Shoots First: The Clone Wars (S7 Ep5) “Gone With a Trace”
The Bad Batch are getting some well deserved R&R as we welcome our favorite Togrutan Jedi, Ashoka Tano, back to Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The episode begins with a brief recap of Ashoka’s past and the moment she walked away from the Jedi Order. We catch up with her on Coruscant having trouble with her speeder bike at the worst time. Which is interesting to anyone who has thought when seeing a bunch of floating vehicles just how problematic a breakdown could be. Ashoka meets a mechanic Trace by luck when crashing onto her platform. She allows Ashoka to use her shop to fix her bike. Ashoka is untrusting and ready to get out of there. While standing on the edge of the platform in what is a stunning shot, Trace manages to get her bike running. After discussing politics (always a great idea with people you just met) Trace talks about how the Jedi have forgotten them and they want to get away. This helps show how the Emperor has seeded doubt in the public’s perception of the Jedi and turned people against them. Their discussion is cut short when some goons show up looking for money that Trace’s sister owes them. Trace is struggling and Ashoka jumps in to make light work of the goons and show a little of what she can do complete with a kick to the alien nuts that I’m sure Yoda did not teach her.
Ashoka and Trace then go to see her sister Rafa to warn her. Rafa has a job lined up to pay him back, as everyone who owes money in Star Wars does. It really looks like Rafa runs a Laundromat… a Star Wars Laundromat. This is why the expanded universe is so great, even in a galaxy far far away people have to wash their clothes. Rafa meets a client who is looking for some droids and Rafa convinces him she has a shop in the back and the laundromat is a front. She immediately gets Trace and Ashoka on droid duty. The droids are an outdated model known for acting out and of course one gets loose before they can put the restraining bolt on. It resorts to it’s demo tendencies and starters wreaking havoc in 1313. They manage to catch up to the droid and Trace manages to climb on it and hit the button disabling it. Unfortunately this causes the droid to free fall. Ashoka catches the two with the speeder but is forced to use the force when the wench system fails. Later Rafa sells the droids despite Trace and Ashokas reservations about their safety and pays off their debts. Ashoka and Trace go back to work on her bike as the episode ends.
This week was certainly a set up week for this Ashoka arc that will see her deep in the underground crime world of Coruscant. We not only use this episode to catch up with Ashoka and see a little bit of her distrust for people but also meet Trace who will be a key person in this arc. It was cool seeing Ashoka very reserved with her Jedi skills while in hiding, a skill sure to come in handy when Order 66 is kicked into gear in the near future. Another cool moment this week was seeing the criminal underbelly of Coruscant in the form of the gritty 1313. The area we have heard about and sadly was never fully realized in the infamous EA game of the same title that was cancelled and later revealed to feature a young Boba Fett (Yea it still hurts). Still it was cool to see it utilized. Collectors like me will also notice we had multiple Vintage Kenner figures seen in the background this week including Hammerhead, Walrusman and Blue Snaggletooth that we’ve seen before. I know I say this every week but the show is so pleasing to look at, with this week’s best shot being when Ashoka is standing on the edge of the platform looking out at the ships leaving the docks. The depth of field in the shot with the subtle breeze moving Ashoka’s leeku (head tail things) was fantastic. All in all whenever we get to see what “the rest of the world” is like in Star Wars it is always cool, laundromats and all so I look forward to this arc moving forward and the revelations to come in the next few weeks. As always I will be there to gush about it!