“Who you were does not have to define who you are.”
Hello and welcome to Laughing Place’s weekly recap of the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars from Lucasfilm Animation on Disney+. This week’s new episode, entitled “Dangerous Debt,” serves as the third part of the current Ahsoka-centric arc, and picks up where we left off at the end of the last installment.
After dumping a shipment of spice, former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) has been captured by the Pyke Syndicate along with her two new friends Trace Martez (Brigitte Kali Canales) and her sister Rafa (Elizabeth Rodriguez) on the planet Oba Diah. Arguing amongst each other in their cell over who is at fault for their predicament, Rafa and Trace reveal why it is they hate the Jedi so much.
It seems during Ziro the Hutt’s prison break in the first-season episode “Hostage Crisis,” the Jedi diverted a runaway transport from crashing into a populated landing platform and instead caused it to destroy Trace and Rafa’s family home, killing their parents in the process. Frustrated at becoming collateral damage in the Jedi’s adventures and only being told “the Force will be with you,” the two sisters swore to distance themselves from the Order. “I’m so sorry,” says Ahsoka, who still hasn’t revealed her true nature to the Martezes.
The Pykes torture Rafa for info while Trace and Ahsoka talk in their cell. Then Rafa is brought back unconscious and Trace attempts to fight back, only to be taken herself. “Where is the spice?” asks a torture droid, but Trace feigns a fainting spell and launches a surprise attack on her captors, escaping the torture chamber. Ahsoka stealthily uses the Force to break herself and Rafa out of their cell and they pursue Trace together as she evades the prison guards with the help of a couple other freed captives.
The three make their way out of the facility while fighting the guards in blaster combat. They make a dramatic leap over a retracting walkway, and Ahsoka uses the Force again to help Trace grab ahold of the far-side ledge. “That’s not normal,” says Rafa as the Togruta jumps clear over their heads. The trio separate so Ahsoka can disable a large gate while the sisters distract the remaining guards. Another firefight breaks out and Ahsoka uses the Force yet again to help Trace and Rafa in their battle.
Ahsoka and Rafa have a heart-to-heart about their intentions as a local hobo turns them in to more nearby guards. They find Trace’s ship the Silver Angel parked on a landing platform but before they can reclaim it, they enter into another chase through the city streets, both on foot and on a speeder. Off in the distance, a group of mysterious hooded Mandalorian warriors spot the action from a rooftop, making special note of Ahsoka’s presence. “Let’s keep track of her; she could be useful to us,” one of them notes.
The Pykes recapture Trace and Rafa and immediately order their execution, but Ahsoka steals a maintenance vehicle and rescues them by driving it into their capturers. “I’ve had enough of this planet,” says Rafa as they make their getaway, but they’re cut off at the pass and taken back into custody once more. Rafa offers to run another job for the Pykes as recompense, but the desperate plea doesn’t work and the episode ends exactly where it began– with the three adventurers locked in the same jail cell.
