The Clone Wars is back! The show that was cancelled after 5 and a half seasons returns on Disney + to get the ending it deserved. I was a huge fan of the show, so safe to say I’m thrilled that we finally get to see these episodes.
After really enjoying writing my episode reviews for The Mandalorian and Resistance, I couldn’t wait to do the same again for this final season of The Clone Wars. The reviews will take on the same format: an overview of the plot (so be aware, there will be spoilers!), my review of the show, then a few “Moments in canon” – references that link to other media and the galaxy as a whole. Today, we’ll be looking at the finale of the Ahsoka’s Walkabout arc, Episode 8: “Together Again”
Plot Summary
Stuck in their detention cell, Ahsoka and the Martez sisters continue to argue over whose fault it is that they are in their situation. Rafa refuses to accept that fault for taking the job, and gets annoyed when Trace sides with Ahsoka. Ahsoka tells them that she has a plan, but that it will be better if the sisters don’t know what it is, highlighting the need for them to trust each other if they are to get out.
“You and I were always good. Good until she showed up.”
The trio are taken before Marg Krim, who gives them the choice of paying their debt or watching their friends die slowly. Ahsoka steps forward and tells Krim that she wants to make a deal alone. She says that the sisters hid the spice off-world but she doesn’t know where. She suggests the Pykes send them to retrieve the spice,giving them one rotation to return or Ahsoka will divulge the location of their family to the Pykes. All Ahsoka asks in return is a small percentage of the value of the spice shipment. Trace is confused, but Rafa understands Ahsoka’s ploy and plays along, reacting to her “betrayal”. Marg Krim agrees to Ahsoka’s suggestions. After the trio leave the throne room, Krim’s majordomo Fife tells him that it is surely a deception, to which Krim agrees, however he has little choice as his own life may depend on the spice being returned.
The Martez sisters leave in the Silver Angel, watched unnoticed by the 3 Mandalorians, who notice that Ahsoka is not with them. Bo-Katan orders the other two to keep watch and let her know the instant they see Ahsoka leave the citadel.
At a filling station, Trace and Rafa discuss what happened as Trace doesn’t understand Ahsoka making threats against their family when she knows that they’re dead. Rafa explains Ahsoka’s deception to allow them to escape and comments on her bravery and selflessness. Rafa begins making plans to help Ahsoka escape, as she does not want Ahsoka holding it over her head if she escapes on her own.
The sisters fly to a Pyke loading facility, where Rafa manages to talk them into allowing her to land to pick up a spice shipment (which they intend to give to the Pykes, pretending that it is the original shipment). Rafa’s bluff works and the ship is loaded with spice, but the manager – a Trandoshan – arrives, leading to a fight with Rafa while the workers fight Trace. Trace manages to hold off the workers while Rafa manages to cause the Trandoshan to fall to his death.
“You are but one small piece moving in this mechanism that I have designed, and yet when you falter, it jeopardises everything.”
Ahsoka is placed back in her cell but quickly uses the Force to break out and sneaks through the facility, taking some detonators from the armoury, which she begins planting around the refinery where the Pykes are being processed. While doing this, she overhears Marg Krim reporting to his superior, who she recognises as being Maul. Maul threatens to have Crimson Dawn take over the Pykes’ work if they continue to suffer failures and delays. After the transmission ends, a guard reports to Krim that Ahsoka has escaped.
Ahsoka makes her way to the control room, where she accesses the transmission log, finding out that Maul is on Mandalore. She is ambushed by the Pykes and overwhelmed, though in trying to fight them off, she reveals her identity as a Jedi.
“Mandalore? What’s Maul doing there?”
Krim is about to have Ahsoka executed in his throne room when the sisters arrive with the shipment of spice. Krim says that he knows they have been working for the Republic and the Jedi, Ahsoka, which shocks the sisters and hurts them. As the trio argue, the detonators Ahsoka set explode, and the trio use the distraction to escape to the Silver Angel. As they try to fly away, they are pursued by 3 Pyke patrol ships, but manage to work together to take them all out. Free, they make their way to open space, but are unknowingly pursued by the 3 Mandalorians in a Gauntlet starfighter.
The trio return to Trace’s garage on level 1313 of Coruscant, where Rafa asks Ahsoka if she will arrest her for spice smuggling as its what Jedi do, but Ahsoka reiterates what she told them on Oba Diah that she chose to leave the Order. Rafa says that even though Ahsoka doesn’t think of herself as a Jedi, she acts like one, or at least how Rafa would want them to be. Trace thanks Ahsoka for saving them and says that she considers her a friend.
“So, you remember me. Don’t worry. Death Watch is gone. And now, you and I have a common enemy.”
“Maul.”
They are interrupted by Bo-Katan, who approaches them. Ahsoka gets defensive, but Bo-Katan tells her not to worry as Death Watch are gone, and instead they have a common enemy, showing her a hologram of Maul. Bo-Katan asks Ahsoka to help her, saying that she has 5 minutes to decide and will get details on the way. The sisters convince Ahsoka that she can help the Mandalorians, but Ahsoka is nervous that the path may lead her back towards the Order. The sisters agree to look after Ahsoka’s speeder bike and watch as Ahsoka boards the Gauntlet fighter with the Mandalorians.
Review
While this certainly won’t go down as my favourite arc of the show (it will probably finish my least favourite of the season), this was definitely my favourite episode within this arc. I completely agree that this arc was needed to show Ahsoka’s growth to realise that she can do what is right in the galaxy and do what a Jedi should without being a Jedi, but I think it has suffered from being one of just 3 arcs, so feeling to small for the finale of the show.
Rafa is a character that I have not been big on through the arc, however (barring the first scene, which felt like a step back on the ending of “Dangerous Debt“) it felt like the character really grew in this episode, recognising Ahsoka’s ploy and managing to play along as she is a swindler herself – I especially loved the line she said to Ahsoka of “I won’t forget this” and the dual meaning intended for the Pykes that she wanted to get her own back and to Ahsoka as a thank you! Even more so, it was great to see her overcome her dislike of not just the Jedi, but Ahsoka specifically by the end of the episode. Even her reasoning for trying to rescue Ahsoka was great as she is still not fully understanding Ahsoka’s selflessness and is thinking how she or others in her circles would act in such a situation. Sadly, I don’t think Trace ever developed as much as I hoped. She was good in “Gone With a Trace” but never really developed much once in the wider world, other than at the very end where she admitted that they got in over their heads and confirmed her friendship with Ahsoka. That said, I’d love to see both of the sisters reappear in the future, though I doubt we will see them in the remaining episodes.
“You think he will find out about this?”
“He knows. He always knows.”
In terms of the story, I thought that this episode progressed really well, though I do wonder why Ahsoka never tried this plan earlier. Everything felt natural to the characters, though I do wonder if the sisters’ side mission to steal the Pykes’ own spice to trade for Ahsoka seemed a little too easy. For me, the best bits of this story were those that tied into the upcoming arc, with the foreshadowing of Maul early in the episode leading to the reveals to Ahsoka that the Pykes are working for Maul and that he is on Mandalore. And then finally the reunion of Ahsoka and Bo-Katan was a wonderful way to end the arc by sliding it into the next arc – something that I think really improved this arc.
One thing that I was looking forward to all arc was how Ahsoka’s identity as a Jedi would be revealed to the sisters and how they would react. While I think that they got over things quicker than I expected, I can understand that part of this is due to the trust she has earned by that point in helping rescue them when they realised they were in over their heads. It did however feel like the story was trying to set up a bit more of a feeling of betrayal with Marg Krim assuming out loud that Ahsoka was on a mission and kept her identity a secret to take advantage of the sisters. Personally, I would have quite liked the opening scene of the last episode to be tacked onto much of this, with one more episode in the arc so that we could have given a bit of time for the sisters to feel betrayed and for Ahsoka to earn their trust back.
“You might not think of yourself as a Jedi, but you act like one. Or at least how I want them to be.”
What this arc really was about, was the growth of Ahsoka after leaving the Order to figure out her place in the galaxy and realise that she could help those who couldn’t help themselves without having to be be part of the Order. Rafa even goes as far as to describe Ahsoka as what she would want a Jedi to be, and this is in fact what they should be, with this and the description of Luminara’s role in the death of Trace and Rafa’s parents in the last episode creating a great contrast to show just how far the Jedi have fallen on the whole, something that we see hinted at in a number of canon stories.
A few final thoughts on the episode and the arc:
“I see. So, it is true. The Jedi used you both. How unfortunate that your stupidity is so authentic.”
- I loved how the music during the chase of the Silver Angel had some similarity to the TIE Fighter Attack track from A New Hope, as this is one of the few moments that we see all of the trio working together, much like Han, Luke, Leia and Chewie during when attacked by TIEs as they escaped the Death Star
- I loved the name drop of Crimson Dawn in this episode, a great natural way to tie the story into Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Knowing that we are already two thirds of the way through the final season makes me really wish we were getting a longer season with all of the missing arcs. I think that would have helped this arc go down better with fans. I’d also love to see how this arc was initially intended to go, as I think that this was amended from the original plan to tie into the Siege of Mandalore arc, as well as the Martez sisters initially being a male called Nyx Okami
Moments in Canon
“He plays members of the Collective against one another.”
“An efficient way to deal with our kind of business.”
- Crimson Dawn was a member of the Shadow Collective
- The last time Ahoska and Bo-Katan came face to face was on the planet Carlac in the episode “A Friend In Need”, which saw Ahsoka taking on Death Watch. That was also the first episode in the series to feature Bo-Katan
What did you think of the episode?
Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you.
The Canon Padawan 