Deal No Deal (The Clone Wars - S07E06) - Animated Series

Mistakes are valuable lessons often learned too late

The adventure begins

After last week's rather slow and uneventful episode things pick up speed in the latest episode "Deal No Deal". Now that the players have been introduced and all the pieces are on the board, Ahsoka's arc and the adventure of the Martez sisters take an interesting turn. Rafa has come up with yet another scheme to make money. And even though she didn't want to involve her sister Trace at first, circumstances dictate that she must ask her sister for help. It turns out she needs a ship and a pilot, but the person Rafa hired backed out and left with his ship. And Trace happens to own a space ship, the Silver Angel. She's also a pilot, or so she says. And even though Trace is disappointed she's only the backup solution she agrees to help out her sister. Rafa still doesn't really trust or like Ahsoka all that much, but it is nevertheless decided that Ahsoka will accompany them, she's proven very useful already.

Anakin has a knack for sensing people close to him on nearby ships

But before the adventure can begin Trace navigates her ship into a military lane over Coruscant, which promptly results in them being hailed by a Venator Class Star Destroyer. But as it turns out Anakin Skywalker is onboard, and he senses that Ahsoka is on the ship and he tells the captain of the ship to let them go their way. That was a short but touching moment.

The Kessel Run

As it turns out Trace has zero experience flying a star ship. she piloted mostly speeders until now. And her inexperience was the reason Rafa wanted another pilot for the job. Trace meanwhile is very excited to be in space and she really enjoys her first hyperspace jump. Even though she forgets to turn off the brakes at first, which made for a somewhat bumpy ride in the beginning. But eventually the Silver Angel exits hyperspace at a place we all know: the pathway to Kessel. And now we find out what the job is. Rafa wants to transport "medicine". And her employer is King Yaruba on Kessel, who owns a beautful estate on the planet. But the sisters and Ahsoka don't get to meet the King, they are greeted by his majordomo instead who invites them to an opulent banquet.

Some people on Kessel live in luxury

It doesn't take long before we find out that the "medicine" Rafa wants to transport is actually spice. Spice can be used for all kinds of things, medicine being just one of them. Ahsoka is becoming more and more wary of the entire deal, especially since transport ships carrying spice get attacked quite frequently. Rafa wonders how a simple mechanic like Ahsoka knows so much about Kessel, but she reassures Ahsoka that the King hired her for the very reason that the small ship they are using doesn't fit the normal description of a transport and is less likely to get attacked by pirates.

Those are not droids down on the ground

So the team makes their way to the spice mines, to pick up their cargo. Trace, who may be smart, but is also very inexperienced and knows little about the outside world, is shocked when she learns that the mines don't use droids, but slaves. Rafa thinks the workers must be local people them, Ahsoka tries to tell her that they are slaves, but Rafa is convinced the Republic would not allow slavery on such a large scale and wuld shut the mines down. Ahsoka knows better of course.

Dumping cargo can have unforeseen consequences

With the cargo loaded and back in space the final detail of Rafa's job is revealed. She's to transport the spice to the Pyke Syndicate. Ahsoka is shocked. The Pykes are criminals and Rafa's claim that the spice would be used for medicine was a lie, of course. Rafa and Ahsoka argue about the morality of the situation with Ahsoka demanding that they don't deliver the spice to the Pykes, but to somewhere else, where it can be used to help people. Also, Ahsoka warns that the Pykes they are dealing with are gangsters and that they will likely take their ship and maybe even their life. Trace is visibly upset when she hears the Pykes may take away her ship, so without telling anyone she simply dumps the cargo. Trace thinks all is good now, but Rafa and Ahsoka know better and are utterly shocked. Their only leverage is gone. What to do now?

Those nifty Jedi mind tricks

Ahsoka comes up with a plan... and we quickly learn what it is. She uses her Jedi mind powers on the Pyke to make him pay Rafa the money before the cargo containers are inspected and then tells him to let them go. Everything seems to work at first, Rafa has the money and they all board the ship. But Ahsoka didn't trick every Pyke, another one tells his boss that his behavior is very unusual, the cargo containers are inspected after all and that's the end of Ahsoka's ruse.

Tractor beams hold the Silver Angel in place. Our heroes are trapped!

Several Pyke ships surround the Silver Angel and engage their tractor beams. There is no escape anymore. And the episode leaves us with a cliffhanger!

Now as middle of the road and somewhat boring to some the previous episode may have been, "Deal No Deal" is a great adventure story. It has everything. It has worldbuilding, it has character moments and the episode takes us to a variety of places. We see that Kessel has some pretty places as well, with forested areas and beautiful estates, a stark contrast to the dusty and barren spice mines with their slaves.

One major theme in the current episode is how streetwise the Martez sisters may be, but how utterly uneducated and inexperienced they really are. Rafa is way in over her head, this is her first big deal actually. But Trace is even more naive, not only is she not a pilot, her actual knowledge of the galaxy is very limited. She's somewhat starry-eyed, full of optimism even, which is on display when she thinks the workers in the mines are droids. But Rafa is even worse in some respects, because when Ahsoka tells Trace that the workers are people, Rafa says that they must be local people then. But Ahsoka reveals that those "local people" are in fact slaves, which is met with incredulity by Rafa, who thinks that the Republic would certainly shut down an operation this large if they used slaves. So even though Rafa and Trace grew up on Level 1313, the ugly underbelly of Coruscant, they still think the Republic has some ideals and would not let criminals or local rulers use slaves for hard labor.

Then there is the central moral conflict in the episode. Rafa just wants the money, so she can pay her debts, Ahsoka is shocked when she learns Rafa has dealings with the Pyke Syndicate. They argue about what the best course of action should be, either helping themselves (by taking the money) or helping others (by giving the spice to someone else who turns it into medicine). But of course the argument is cut short when Trace, in panic, simply dumps the cargo. Another things which proves how naive and inexperienced Trace is, who didn't think of the consequences.

It's certainly refreshing that the Martez sisters are not mere tropes and clichés, but have some depth to them. Also, the tough girl act on Coruscant was just that, a tough girl act, Rafa still tries to act tough, but we learn how little she actually knows. Both sisters make rookie mistakes, especially Trace panics and doesn't really know what she's doing whe she dumps the cargo. But the flaws make the sisters more sympathetic and relatable. Actually, Ahsoka is in some ways the least interesting character in this episode. She's just the uber competent sidekick to the sisters in some ways. Of course Ahsoka's plan is also not perfect and even though her Jedi powers are impressive, they can't solve everything. So in the end all three of the main characters in one way or another bungle their way through the adventure, which is both funny and refreshing to see. This is very much in contrast to the extremely competent clones in the Bad Batch arc.

In my opinion "Deal No Deal" is one of the strongest episodes of the seventh season so far. It takes us places, it gives us character insights, we learn a bit about other planets and we deal with the Pyke Syndicate. >On top of that we also get a short but moving moment with Anakin. So "Deal No Deal" more than makes up for the somewhat lackluster previous episode. Now we have to wait for next week to find out what the Pykes will do the Martez sisters and Ahsoka, or if escape is still possible. I rate the episode 4 stars!