The Clone Wars: Season 7: Episode 6: Deal No Deal

The Clone Wars: Season 7: Episode 6: Deal No Deal, written by Dave Filoni and Charles Murray, directed by Nathaniel Villanueva and Steward Lee

     This was a great episode!! And we got to see a familiar location--Kessel--from an entirely different angle which was fascinating. Ahsoka is still being cagey about her past, but circumstances are such that her secrets may not be secrets for much longer. Rafa is still super shifty and I'm just waiting for her to do something that seriously puts all three of this arc's main characters in danger. Poor Trace trusts her sister with her life and so goes along with her every move, even when she disagrees. This episode really was a character study on all three which I really enjoyed--we get to learn more about Trace and Rafa, as well as Ahsoka post-leaving the Jedi Order. There wasn't really any action here as the story beats were all character-driven, but I'm totally fine with that as it was done quite well.
     The opening parable to this episode was "Mistakes are valuable lessons often learned too late." And what a mistake Trace makes along their journey!! Of course, Ahsoka's moral philosophizing led to the mistake so Trace is not entirely to blame. And really, it all started because Rafa was cocky enough to take a crazy dangerous job involving Kessel (check out the planet below) and the Pykes.

     At the beginning of the episode, Trace asks Ahsoka where she learned so much about starships. Ahsoka offers up The Skywalker Academy as her place of training. Haha! I absolutely love this!!! And it's made even better by the fact there is a short moment in the episode where Trace, Rafa, and Ahsoka fly by a Star Destroyer in Trace's ship (dubbed the Silver Angel, see at the beginning of this review). Anakin just so happens to be on that Star Destroyer and you can tell he senses Ahsoka. Admiral Yularen wants to apprehend the pilots of the ship since he's pretty sure they don't have a pilot's license and they were encroaching on military air space. But Anakin steers him away from this, most likely to give Ahsoka her space. So many feelings!!!
     Once the three get underway with their journey, they approach Kessel, much to Ahsoka's chagrin. Rafa has made a deal with King Yaruba of Kessel to collect spice and deliver it to the Pykes!!! Ahsoka is not pleased one bit, but King Yaruba's major domo, Kinash Lock, who they are interacting with as a proxy to the King, proclaims the spice is to be turned into medicine to aid all galactic citizens. Ahsoka is insanely skeptical and even more so when she learns they're headed to Oba Diah (check out the Pyke stronghold below) after loading the spice on the Silver Angel.

     One really interesting aspect of all this was the lush greenery of half of Kessel! I always assumed the entire planet was disgusting, toxic, and mined, but at least during the time of the Republic, a great portion of the planet was absolutely gorgeous (check it out below)! Rafa makes the comment that the mined part of the world has made the people of Kessel wealthy, but then, when picking up the spice, they see people, exhausted and downtrodden doing the mining--Ahsoka points out they must be slaves, which is pretty much verified by the presence of a Zygerrian overseer...so sad.

     One of the best lines I've ever heard comes from Rafa after Ahsoka learns of their next stop being Oba Diah. Rafa says, "We can't pay off debt with your morality." How good a line is that??? Ahsoka certainly has a point in not wanting them to do business with the Pykes, but Rafa has a point too...how else are they going to pay off their debts when they live on Level 1313 of Coruscant??
     One last super cool picture (the visuals in this episode were simply stunning!!!)--Lord Marg Krim of Oba Diah (see below).

     So a really intriguing episode digging into issues of morality and survival, showcasing familiar planets and species, and teaching us more about the three main characters of this arc. I loved it and can't wait to see how the three get out of the trouble they end up in during the cliffhanger ending!!