A beefy 26-minute episode doesn’t hide the fact that there were more negatives than positives during the latest episode of The Clone Wars. Ahsoka Tano’s arc came with some lofty expectations. Unfortunately, the last two episodes have been nothing more than a giant set up for her showdown with Darth Maul next week.

“Mistakes are valuable lessons often learned too late”

This week’s quote dives into Rafa’s decision making over the last two weeks. Rafa’s ultimate desire for financial stability has clearly taken over her ability to provide and keep her sister safe. Rafa is completely oblivious to the implications of her choices and blames everyone but herself for the consequences. Deal No Deal establishes firmly establishes my hatred over Rafa. Period.

Episode 6 picks up right where we left off in the garage as Ahsoka and Trace continue to work on repairing Ahsoka’s speeder bike. Ahsoka continues to be lost, unsure of what she wants or who she wants to be. Rafa continues to take jobs from the scum of Coruscant without telling Trace the full dangers of the mission. Ahsoka senses trouble and agrees to help her friend Trace remain safe under the care of her sister, Rafa.

Is Rafa the worst Star Wars character since Jar Jar Binks?

Rafa and Trace are clearly out of their depths with this mission from the jump. Despite being an aspiring pilot, it was a pretty bad look for Trace when she wasn’t even aware she needed a license to fly. Rafa confirms this when she notes “Trace’s flying is more of a dream than a reality.” Rafa finally reveals to the team that they are on a mission to Kessel, a planet where The Empire uses slaves to mine spices, in order to pick up medicine. All seems well at first for Rafa and Trace, as they are welcomed with a banquet to meet the King.

Two sisters who are in way over their heads…

While Rafa and Trace work on setting up a continual transporting contract, no one is asking the right questions except for Ahsoka. What kind of medicine are they transporting? Who is asking the medicine to be transported? What is the spice being used for? Ahsoka attempts to reason with Rafa on the dangers of transporting spices from the planet Kessel. Trace is utterly naïve and, despite the dangers of the mission, her love for her sister ultimately takes precedent over Ahsoka’s warnings.

Visually, Kessel was beautiful and stunning. We previously saw glimpses of Kessel in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Rebels, but I couldn’t help but want to further explore this area of the planet. The King is never revealed during the episode either. Will he be revealed next week? I think this arc is clearly pointing Ahsoka in the direction of heading to Mandalore. We’ll get to that in a little bit.

Rafa makes a deal with the Pyke Syndicate…

Rafa continues to ignore the warning signs directly in front of her and she witnesses slaves working in the spice mines. As expected, Ahsoka finally gets Rafa to reveal that she made a deal with the Pyke Syndicate, a ruthless and dangerous family known to control the production of raw spice across the galaxy. Upon learning of the significant dangers that lie ahead for her family, Trace unloads the shipment of spice to save her ship.

Ahsoka’s plan to use a Jedi mind trick to escape the botched delivery doesn’t go as planned. Fittingly, Rafa attempts to blame everything on Ahsoka despite being the only one with a plan to escape their situation. What were the positives of Deal No Deal? First and foremost, I felt like this entire episode was one giant set up for Darth Maul’s appearance in next week. As we all know, Darth Maul has a clear connection with the Pykes and that is something that is truly exciting.

The Clone Wars continues to tease Star Wars fans with some truly interesting concepts…

What were the negatives of the episode? As I had hoped in my previous review, we really didn’t explore anything about the Jedi. Last week introduced some really interesting questions. What are the perspectives of the Jedi from the lower class? Are the Jedi really heroes to the people? Did anyone find it shocking that the underbelly of Coruscant are unaware of the Jedi Academy or the Skywalker name?

I am a huge fan of The Clone Wars. You know that. Everyone knows that. But there are concepts being introduced here that need to be more fleshed out. We never saw the dynamic and history between Rex and Echo explored during the previous arc. And now this? Just as the last two episodes have been, I feel like this is a major tease for all of us Star Wars nerds. Come on Dave Filoni. Don’t do us like that.

These last two episodes have clearly been giant set ups for the showdown between Darth Maul and Ahsoka Tano…

And I have to be honest. I don’t have the same connection I did compared to the Bad Batch, Rex and Echo during the previous arc. I’m just not having as much fun. I’ll say that the dynamic between Trace and Ahsoka is somewhat interesting. Rafa, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Her decision making to put her sister in danger is both ruthless and selfish. How in the world are we supposed to care for a character like that?  

Final Thoughts & Grade

The real ticket here is that Darth Maul should be finally making his season 7 debut next week. I also expect Ahsoka to be making her way to Mandalore fairly soon, which is exhilarating. Could we see Ahsoka meet up with Bo-Katan next week? The introduction of Bo-Katan and Darth Maul is somewhat redeeming during an episode where not much happens. Rafa continues to put her poor yet naïve sister in danger. While I thoroughly enjoyed all the characters of the Bad Batch, Rafa is quickly making her claim as the new Jar Jar of the Star Wars-verse. I truly hate her.

My Grade: 6/10

What where the best moments and top takeaways from the first arc of The Clone Wars? Check it out below!

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