Clone Wars -- "Together Again" (Ep. 7.08)

-- You can change who you are, but you cannot run from yourself.

May the 4th be with you...

This arc, what I'm going to call the Trace arc, comes to a close. It didn't redeem itself; it just transitioned into something else.

On the surface, this adventure with Trace and Rafa serves only to put Ahsoka in a place where she can run into Bo-Katan and get caught up in the Mandalorian mess dealing with Darth Maul. And that's fine.
Sort of.
The issue here is that if what they wanted to do was get Ahsoka involved with the far-reaching Maul story line, they could have done it more directly. Having Ahsoka crash onto Trace's landing platform (three episodes ago) is just as arbitrary as having her cross paths with Bo-Katan. They could have gone directly to the pivotal story rather than futz around for four episodes doing nothing.

Except...

Except it seems that they wanted Ahsoka to have an epiphany about her Jedi-ness, and they used the convoluted story with Trace and Rafa to get her there. Not that they couldn't have brought Ahsoka to the same place with any number of stories, but I do understand the appeal of using Trace and the whole idea of 1313 to bring Ahsoka to the mental space where Rafa could say to her, "You're the Jedi we always hoped Jedi would be," and Ahsoka would accept it and take back the Jedi mantle, just from outside of the Council.

Sure, I may be jumping the gun on that, but...
Ahsoka goes off with Bo-Katan to deal with a Sith issue, something that's not really her responsibility anymore. Unless it is.
And I know where she's headed, development-wise, since I've already watched Rebels.

I don't know. Maybe I would have enjoyed this arc more if Trace and Rafa weren't so stereotypical and the plot device of not-using-your-powers not so cliche. I do like when we get to see other bits of the SWU we don't usually see, and we got to see both Kessel and the Pyke home world during this arc. I just wish the story had been more engaging.

"You and I were always good, good until she showed up."

"We have to trust each other."

"You're going back to help her so you can one-up her?!"

Clone Wars -- "Gone with a Trace" (Ep. 7.05)

-- If there is no path before you, create your own.

All right, a new episode!

Meaning there will be no referring back to anything.

Ahsoka pretty much dropped off the map after she left the Jedi. I think that was at the end of season five, but I could be mis-remembering. At any rate, she was pretty much never mentioned again after she left, which was more than a little disappointing. She was the heart of the show in many ways, and definitely the lens through which we viewed Anakin. She's back in this episode and it seems that it picks up not long after her departure.

Let's talk about something else for a moment.

The last game project under development from LucasArts before Disney pulled the plug on them was something called 1313. There was a lot of excitement over this game because it was going to take Star Wars gaming in a whole new direction. 1313 referred to a level of Coruscant, or something like that, which was a bad place to be. We were going to get to see the underworld, or underbelly, of the capitol of the Galaxy, and it was going to be a big deal.

Was.
Because, and I still really don't understand this, Disney shut LucasArts down when they bought the franchise. Not just that game, the whole company. But whatever, I guess; it's not like I'm really a video gamer at this point in my life. I mean, I'm about to be the only person in my family not playing Animal Crossing.

So Ahsoka leaves the Jedi Order and where does she end up? Down on 1313, of course.

And, really, that's all there is to say about the episode. Ahsoka meets a friend and hi-jinks ensue. Her friend, as all of the residents of 1313, don't think much of the Jedi. Mostly because the Jedi don't think much about them, as in the Jedi don't think of them at all. 1313ers consider themselves forgotten. Needless to say, Ahsoka doesn't let on about her ties to the Jedi.

"I don't have much in the way of credits."

"Don't worry. Down here, no one does."

"I don't know where you're from but, down here, everything has a price."

"I can only take so many punches to my head and still be considered a pilot."