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Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Gone With a Trace Review

Star Wars: The Clone Wars has returned for its seventh and final season on the Disney+ streaming service. In this review, we’re taking a look at the fifth episode of the season, titled “Gone With a Trace.”

In the Coruscant underworld, Ahsoka Tano befriends a pilot whose sister enlists her to help build droids, but when a unit malfunctions, Ahsoka must stop the dangerous droid without revealing her Jedi past.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Gone With a Trace

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is rated TV-PG.

What Worked

If you were to make a checklist of what you wanted to see in a Clone Wars finale season, a resolution of Ahsoka Tano’s storyline would be high on the list. While we saw a bit of her story in Star Wars Rebels, a big part of her story was still missing. Now we get to see what happened between her walking out of the Jedi Temple and reappearing with Ezra.

The story picks up from the moment of her departure and her descent into the depths of Coruscant. She quickly meets Trace Matrez, a mechanic who takes Ahsoka under her wing. She’s a great addition to the cast of Star Wars characters. She’s tough, funny, and has a heart of gold.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Gone With a Trace

Trace is well-paired with her older sister, Rafa Martez. While she’s equally tough, she has no qualms about dealing with the underworld of Coruscant. That puts a tension between the sisters that adds interesting friction to the story. They become almost a good angel / bad angel on Ahsoka’s shoulders. And seeing as how we haven’t seen many sisters in the Star Wars Universe, it adds a new dynamic that’s fresh.

The Matrez sisters also provide a perspective of the lower class that we don’t see all that often. While the Jedi and Sith do battle in the stars, the Martez sisters simply struggle to survive in the depths of the city. That’s going to give Ahsoka all sorts of new conflicts to face that she wouldn’t have alongside Anakin Skywalker.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

This particular episode brings another critical element back to The Clone Wars, and that’s humor. There are some funny gags that are perfectly executed. There’s a humorous fight scene between Ahsoka and some thugs as well as a funny chase involving a runaway droid. It’s a welcome addition to the mostly serious season.

Look for some fun Easter Eggs in this episode. Fans of vintage figures will spot the original Walurus Man and Hammerhead action figures among the background extras. There’s also a mention of level “1313,” a reference to a scrapped Star Wars video game set in the Coruscant underworld. The episode also features binary load lifter droids as mentioned by C-3PO and A New Hope. All of these fun references will be appreciated by hardcore fans.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

What Didn’t Work

No real complaints for this episode. It does get a little slow in parts, but it otherwise sets up interesting adventures for Ahsoka in future episodes.

The Bottom Line

“Gone With a Trace” is a highlight of this season and sets up a new story arc that fans will definitely want to follow.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Gone With a Trace Review Score: 8/10

Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Gone With a Trace” is now available on Disney+. From Dave Filoni, director and executive producer of The Mandalorian, the new Clone Wars episodes continue the storylines introduced in the original series, exploring the events leading up to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

Created by George Lucas, with Dave Filoni as Executive Producer/ Supervising Director, Star Wars: The Clone Wars stars Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex and the clone troopers, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan, Tom Kane as Yoda and Sam Witwer as Maul.

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