Bringing an Ahsoka story out is the best thing they could have done.
What They Say:
After leaving the Jedi Order, Ahsoka Tano finds herself in the underworld of Coruscant where she meets aspiring pilot Trace Martez. Enlisted by Trace’s sister Rafa to help build dangerous droids, Ahsoka opts to keep her Jedi past a secret.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I’ll admit, when the Clone Wars series first got underway I rolled my eyes at Ahsoka Tano. It just felt like too much of a frustrating young character whose story would end up being tied heavily to Anakin that wouldn’t be mentioned in the final part of the prequels at all. It felt like a mis-step that was just going to feel really wrong. Thankfully, over the course of the six seasons of Clone Wars previously and her time on Rebels, the creative proved me wrong and made a fantastic storyline for the character across the decades that still has me hopeful for a proper live-action appearance that she deserves so much. So, bringing her into a storyline for the final season was pretty much a given but I wasn’t sure when they’d slide her into the run overall.
Following up when Ahsoka left the Jedi Order and abandoned the life that had been everything for so long, we get some fun with her bike just failing completely at a time when it’s horrible to imagine it fail, what with being in a giant pit/corridor on Coruscant. It’s a nice little bit of action and one that pushes her further down the levels as she manages to survive. This world is definitely set up so that the level you’re on represents a lot of your status on the world and there’s a definitely working-class element the further down you go. With her bike a mess, she lucks out in meeting Trace while hauling it into one of the bays. Trace reveals that she’s operating out of one of the best repair shops in 1313 and the two of them look to help each other out. Trace is interesting in what she’s got in her garage – a nebula class freighter – and is definitely a lot friendlier than you’d expect as she essentially invites Ahsoka into her life.
What I like is that as the two spend time together, we see how Ahsoka’s views get challenged more. Trace just sees the Jedi as many do in these levels here, people who have forgotten about those down below and are only interested in starting wars and the like. It’s not what Ahsoka wants to here and it’s and it’s a distorted view of the truth, but it has enough truth to be accurate from a certain point of view. We also see early on here how things are for Trace and her sister Rafa as some thugs come by to collect on some debts of Rafa’s and Trace has to deal with it. Which naturally draws in Ahsoka. Rafa’s definitely an interesting one as well as both sisters are similar enough in how they operate and work the world, and there’s a good bond between them, but Rafa’s definitely the type that works scams and teases situations to her advantage with some exaggeration and with ease. If anything, Rafa gives me a little bit of a Lando kind of vibe.
A good chunk of the second half focuses on a droid job that Rafa takes which involves Trace’s skills in working on it. But the whole thing goes into a bad way for a while as one of them goes on the run and they’re pretty dangerous with what they’re capable of. The problem that we get is when they’re all brought back to the garage, Rafa’s intent on just keeping to the job and making the money whereas Ahsoka is about doing the right thing and not retrofitting the droids. Which Trace leans toward as well, seeing some contrary opinions toward her sister that she normally doesn’t. Sisterly dynamics. It sets up the struggle that we’ll get more of but it’s one that can resonate. Rafa wasn’t exactly thrilled with the job herself but she needed to money to pay off the guys that are coming after both her and Trace. That doesn’t make Trace happy and it’s just another reason for Ahsoka to move along from all of this as it’s certainly not her scene.
In Summary:
Having Dave Filoni being one of the two main writers on this story was welcome as he certainly captures her voice well in the way she’s written here and the team overall did a solid job in giving us more of a look at the lower levels of Coruscant. There’s a lot to explore on this planet overall that I hope someone gets the freedom to do at some point. It’s a decent little standalone piece overall that gives us a bit more of a taste of what happened to Ahsoka after she left and how she held onto who she truly is. I don’t think expectations were high since it still takes place during the Clone Wars period but that just makes me wish we had an animated series that was more far-reaching out there.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Disney+
