Full Series Discuss/Regrade the Episode: S03E21: Padawan Lost

Episode 3.21 - Padawan Lost
Ahsoka: Hunted for Sport!



"Without humility, courage is a dangerous game."

Ahsoka and a group of abducted younglings find themselves trapped on a Trandoshan moon, prey in an elaborate and cruel hunt. The forlorn younglings have lost all hope, despite the best efforts of their spirited leader, Kalifa. Ahsoka rallies them to defend themselves and strike back against the Trandoshan, an effort with deadly consequences.

http://starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep321/#!/about
Now let's regrade and discuss this episode!

 

I voted 10/10, a very intense episode.

 

One of the best there is. I gave it a 9.

The death of Kalifa was one of the saddest and most tragic deaths in the whole show. The kid was a lovely young human being, and her life was just snuffed for no reason other than a bit of sport for those wretches.

When she pulled the Vader-choke on that Trandoshan... I thought Ahsoka should have just let her finish the job. Kill or be killed, the Jedi need to learn that. Leaving him alive, or at least conscious, was stupid under the circumstances. It's like the argument that Mace should have "taken Jango alive". Detached from the reality of the situation.

But Ahsoka convinced Kalifa to let the Trandoshan go... and she soon died. Kill or be killed. Sad.

 

I also give it a 9. Not because of any glaring flaw, just because I don't feel it's up there with the episodes I rate a 10.

If anyone's interested they can read my massive wall-of-text epiphany about the symbolism in this episode, called Padawan Lost: Ahsoka and Anakin in Star Wars, here: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/padawan-lost-ahsoka-and-anakin-in-star-wars.50003705/

 

Can a mod please unsticky the previous thread and sticky this one? Maybe Seerow or eht13?

 

10/10

My comments are on the initial discussion thread.

 

10/10 a very good episode

 

I admit that the first time I viewed this episode, I wasn't that impressed, probably because I wasn't very thrilled by an episode centering solely around Ahsoka as its protagonist. But I admit as the character grew on me, so did this episode. On a rewatch I can say that this was definitely one of Season 3's more solid episodes.

First of all, this episode possessed some great visuals, some of the best of the series to date. It starts off in Felucia, a planet that's been heavily contested throughout the Clone Wars, and one that's never lacking in visual splendor. Here Plo Koon, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano divide into three groups with their own squads to take out a small Separatist base with reinforcements on hand. While the attack is successful, Ahsoka, who was guarding the flank of her squad, ends up being stunned and captured by a clandestine Trandoshan hunter. We then learn that the Trandoshans intend to take her and other captured beings to the Trandoshan moon Wasskah, where they can proceed to hunt them for sport, like animals. A rather vicious pastime, I must say. This episode wasn't wanting for violence, considering that right off the bat many of the deposited sentients are swiftly dispatched by the Trandoshan gunship, but Ahsoka and a couple of others manage to escape into the forest. There she meets with three younglings, Kalifa, O-Mer, and Jinx, and together they simply try to survive to live another day. But Ahsoka, being brash but determined like her Master, doesn't take kindly to the idea that they have to always run and hide, and this puts her at odds with Kalifa; experience has hardened the youngling leader, and also caused her to skirt the depths of despair.

This is evident when Ahsoka confronts a Trandoshan hunter and Kalifa and the gang arrive to help; as Valkyrus stated earlier, Kalifa Force-chokes the hapless Trandoshan but is stopped by Ahsoka, who stresses the Jedi tenet of not killing an unarmed enemy. But like Valkyrus said, it's kill or be killed, and the Trandoshan manages to call for help and force the Jedi to flee. Though I will say killing the Trandoshan then wouldn't have made much of a difference, as they managed to escape at that point in the episode. I think the purpose of that scene was to stress that the younglings, after who knows how long being stranded on Wasskah, had lost hope and were on the verge of giving in to despair. Living in fear has strengthened their negative emotions of anger and hatred, hence why Kalifa didn't hesitate to use a Dark Side power on the Trandoshan. Ahsoka's arrival, however, ended up rekindling hope in the younglings and giving them the confidence they needed to strike back at their attackers by taking the fight to them.

However, tragedy strikes the next morning as the Trandoshan leader Garnac encourages his son Dar to make his first Jedi kill. Dar targets Kalifa, and Ahsoka successfully fights off the hunter, culminating in Dar's impalement on a thorny stalagmite. But a vengeful Garnac manages to kill Kalifa with a well-placed sniper shot, though Ahsoka manages to drag her into a safe spot, where we witness the toll the Hunt has taken on poor Kalifa, finally resulting in her demise. Ahsoka promises the youngling that she would watch over O-Mer and Jinx, and is forced to leave Kalifa's body behind even as a raging Garnac keeps firing randomly into the thick brush. Meanwhile, having already left Felucia after failing to contact or find Ahsoka, Anakin confides in his apprehension and fear of losing his Padawan to Plo Koon, who urges patience; if Anakin has really trained Ahsoka well, she would find a way back to him, someway, somehow. So already we see a good glimpse of Anakin's attachment issues, both a blessing (unmatched determination to do what it takes) and a curse (an inability to let go).

All in all, this was a very solid episode. I originally gave this a 7.5 out of 10, but now I'd give it an 8/10, rounded up. It does a good job of showing the more primal side of human Trandoshan nature and emphasized always holding on to hope, no matter how dark things would seem. I didn't give this a higher rating though, mainly thanks to personal preferences; I prefer episodes starring more of my favorite characters, and Ahsoka isn't quite one of mine, so it's simply personal bias.

 

Further to my earlier comments though, I liked the ep in that it (along with Wookiee Hunt) showcased Ahsoka for the warrior she was becoming. It marks a transition from Ahsoka-the-kid, constantly under the protection and overwatch and care of her master, to Ahsoka-the-warrior, able to stand alone amid conflict, and meet whatever comes her way with her own power. And not only a warrior, but a force-multiplier, one who can whip others into shape and turn a bunch of disjointed despondents into a fighting force. A natural leader.

While she was barely more than a youngling herself when first introduced way back on Christophsis in the TCW theatrical movie, she now contrasts starkly with the younglings on Wasskah. They all look like they're about 12, and probably never fought anything outside of a simulation at the temple. Ahsoka by this point is several years older than that, and is a two year combat vet of a full scale galaxy spanning war, in the course of which she has fought in multiple theaters across a full range of combat roles (ground, air, space, starfighter and capship ops). Really, the Trandoshans should have known better than to kidnap her and think she'd be a walk in the park like those 12 year old younglings. They really bit off more than they could chew with her.

Oh, and she's trained by the proto-Darth-freaking-Vader. That has to count for something. Although to be fair it's not something the Trando's would have known.

Then having already bitten off more than they could chew with Ahsoka, they had to go do something really super dumb, like throwing freakin' Chewbacca into the mix. They were pretty much doomed from then on.

But yeah. It's a very Ahsoka-centric duology. Possibly the most Ahsoka-centric arc outside of the S5 finale arc. And it's a real character development sequence. It's real well done. Solid.

Edit: I posted this before seeing Circular Logic post above. I had the window open and took my time typing it up, while looking at stuff in other windows etc. I see he has touched kinda on some of the same points.

 

Superb episode. I really like the idea of the Most Dangerous Game/Predators-type plot with Ahsoka dropped off on a moon and her along with the other kidnapped ones being hunted by Trandoshans for sport; it's not a new concept but they managed to put a great SW spin on it with Ahsoka finding herself in an new and somewhat enclosed area and joining forces with a trio of Jedi younglings who are also captives, have essentially given up and just tries to stay alive, while she herself wants to fight against her captors and get her newfound allies to do the same & get out of there; this also leads to some good drama and moments between the character, especially Ahsoka and Kalifa, the leader of the youngling trio (the latter's death is also very well done, quite sad and marks the turning point for Ahsoka where she has to step up for real and act as the leader of the younglings). The opening Felucia battle is short and sweet & the bits with an increasingly worried Anakin looking for Ahsoka and Plo talking to him & attempting to assure him that Ahsoka will work things out and return to him was a great little subplot and added that extra "oomph" to the episode. Overall, I'd also say that with the possible exception of the Fugitive arc, this is also pretty much the essential Ahsoka story and showcases her headstrongness & inner strength perfectly.

I also think that the Trandoshans are great villains; not only are they a really cool race and have some great individual designs here (their leader Garnac in particular has an interesting and unique design) but in this story, with them as the bad guys they very nicely break away from the tradition of Separatist villains as these guys are doing their own thing (I wish more episodes could have had villains not affiliated with the Separatists to add some diversity). There's also some really good action scenes and intensity; the final chase & fight with the Trandoshan Dar, Garnacs son, was pretty great and well-staged. This episode (and it's sequel) also looks gorgeous, with some of the best animation on the show: the colors are great (for instance the nighttime Felucia setting at the start of the episode looks awesome with all the glowing plants) and there's a lot of solid texturing, lighting and shadow & details like dust particles in the air, butterflies flying around and insects crawling around; almost every shot looks great (then there's also a great sound design with many nice jungle sounds). The look and sound of the episode perfectly shows just how great the animation in the show can be and earns it a couple of extra points.

Summed up, it's a really great episode and it earns top marks from me: a great start to a small but great story arc.

10/10

 

One of my favorite things about this episode is how we see that the younglings' desperation has driven them to use the dark side of the Force and Ahsoka sees it and tries to discourage them (which she's no stranger from doing with a master like Anakin - as we heard in Cloak of Darkness way back in S1 and finally saw first-hand in Kidnapped in S4).

 

I enjoyed that scene as well; probably the part of the episode that stood out to me the most outside of Kalifa's tragic death.

 

I don't want to be that guy, but it felt a little forced. Like I barely had time to care about her, she was only in what? One episode? Not to mention, Her purpose in the story basically boils down to: "Opportunity to show off how pure hearted Ahsoka is."

Because as we know, she has never done anything Un-Jedi like.

 

Ahsoka never acts un-Jedi like? Have you ever seen Cloak of Darkness? Or Storm Over Ryloth? Or Holocron Heist? Or Lightsaber Lost? Or any of the Citadel arc?

Assuming everything about the show is reverse-engineered for Ahsoka's benefit does nothing to enhance it, trust me.

 

She killed them. They're dead. Every single..... well, uh... maybe about half of em. Still, it looked like a little revenge fest. Not that slaughtering the Ming Po village in a My Lai sort of fashion wasn't something that called for action, but she seemed to become a little uncharacteristically enthused, untypically mercenary in how she dealt with them. That moon was littered with cooling Mandalorian corpses by the episode's end, all of them at her hand.

Never heard of Dawson Casting have you?

At least it's not as obvious with TCW because it's an animated show so you can't see the actors.

Heh, Ashley Eckstein who is in her 30s did the teen Ahsoka obviously as everybody knows, but she also did one of the younglings in the Young Jedi arc of S5. And they were even younger than the Wasskah younglings, they looked about 8 or so.

 

So what does anyone else think of the Tradoshans as the villains in the story?

I already said that I really liked the choice and portrayal of these lizards here and I also liked that they showed some of their customs as well with the nighttime inaguration of Dar with a roaring fire in their hunting lodge full of trophies (and the Wookiee pelts are a good foreshadowing of what's to come); when I think of it, how they presented this scene was very viking-esque.

 

They seem somewhat derivative of the Yautja, though not nearly as sinister and generally badass. They're like the Pred's hillbilly cousins.

 

Eh, they're no Taung.

 

Darth Valkyrus, you're lucky I know what you are talking about when you say Yautja (it's of course the Predator creatures from the movie series of the same name )

But yeah, I can see what you're getting at when you call them hillbillies; as they holler while getting their weapons and waving them around while they're heading outside to start the hunt (and one of them even firing his blaster wildly) certainly gave them a hillbilly or redneck feeling.

And those Taungs really seem to borrow a lot from the Predator concept.

 

Already mentioned in the thread but they did a great job of making the Trandoshans look different from each other instead of all being the same exact character model. TCW has some moments that unfortunately make the Star Wars galaxy seem smaller, but this is one of those episodes that made it feel as expansive as the films. The Trandoshans not all looking the same contributes to that.

 

10/10.

Kalifa's death made me cry. No, really. The only time in the series that did that. I was emotionally moved by Satine's death, but Kalifa made me cry. I suspect because of how desperate her situation was and what she had been through, only to have it all end the way it did. It's still hard for me to watch it.

Beyond that, the rest of the episode to me, served as a gut-check for Ahsoka. She spent the first scene and even episodes prior, bragging about how good she was. Now it was time to nut up or shut up, and I think she did really well.