Who you were does not have to define who you are.
After a failed attempt to swindle the Pyke Syndicate, Ahsoka, Trace, and Rafa are imprisoned in the bowels of the Pyke Palace. Ahsoka's attempts to get Rafa to realize that doing business with such a ruthless crime syndicate is never a good idea are angrily rebutted, with Rafa wondering if Ahsoka is some kind of Jedi before explaining why she and her sister are the way they are: the Jedi were involved in their parents' deaths while trying to prevent the escape of the gangster Ziro the Hutt several years before.
Rafa is dragged away to be tortured, and Trace tells Ahsoka that the sisters weren't raised in Rafa's mistrusting mindset; their mother taught them to help others, much as Ahsoka tries to do. When Rafa is returned and Trace is subsequently dragged off, the girl proceeds to break free of the guards and steal a blaster, running off to try and rescue her friends. Ahsoka takes advantage of Rafa's insensibility to use the Force to open their cell, and they meet up with Trace before escaping into the city. But as they try to get to Trace's ship so they can leave, the Pykes send all their manpower to reclaim their prisoners...
This episode premiered on April 3, 2020.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Title: "Dangerous Debt".
- Anachronic Order: This episode, like the rest of the story arc that it's part of, takes place before the Bad Batch arc that began Season 7.
- Batman Gambit: After capturing Rafa and Trace, Krim threatens to kill them both, betting that Ahsoka is probably nearby and will show herself to rescue them. He's exactly right.
- Blatant Lies: When Rafa wonders how Ahsoka got the cell door open (she used telekinesis on the door controls), Ahsoka claims that there was a freak power outage. Rafa, in her desperation, buys it.
- Book Ends: This episode begins and ends with Ahsoka and the Martez sisters in their cell. In the first scene, Ahsoka is arguing with Rafa over the wisdom of doing business with the Pykes. In the last scene, Rafa admits that it was a bad idea.
- Call-Back:
- The event that led to the Martez sisters losing their parents was that of "Hostage Crisis", where Cad Bane led a plan to break Ziro the Hutt out of prison.
- Bo-Katan mentions the events on Carlac after Ahsoka's presence is made known to her, but has no idea why Ahsoka is even on Oba Diah.
- Call-Forward: Several moments in the episode echo things that happened in Rebels:
- Ahsoka jumping over the sisters echoes Kanan's epic jump in "Ghosts of Geonosis".
- Ahsoka using telekinesis to pull some Pyke guards out from under cover so Trace can shoot them also echoes Kanan doing the same for Rex in "Stealth Strike".
- The Cameo: One of the Nite Owls accompanying Bo-Katan is Ursa Wren.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Invoked by Rafa when Krim threatens to execute her and Trace, as he still needs the location of the spice. He counters that he can just capture Ahsoka later and torture the information out of her, so he doesn't need them alive. It's then played straight when it turns out he was just making up the threat to lure out Ahsoka, as he plans to torture all three until one of them tells him what he wants to know.
- Chase-Scene Obstacle Course: After getting outside, Ahsoka and the sisters knock several barrels and crates over to put them in the way of pursuing guards.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Discussed. Ahsoka tells each Martez sister in turn that helping as many people as she can is simply in her nature, and each Martez sister replies in turn that their mother was the same way before her untimely death. The Pykes later exploit this by holding the captured Rafa and Trace at gunpoint right out in the open, knowing Ahsoka won't be able to resist trying to save them.
- Contrived Coincidence: The Nite Owls happen to be on the planet at the same time as Ahsoka.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Rafa turned to her current mindset when, after her parents' deaths, a Jedi (implied to be Luminara Unduli) offered condolences but little else. She came to the conclusion that others couldn't be counted on for help.
- Damsel out of Distress:
- Trace manages to swipe a gun from one of the guards by pretending to faint, then takes off to rescue Rafa and Ahsoka.
- At the same time, Ahsoka manages to free herself and Rafa by using the Force to open their cell while Rafa is unconscious.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Rafa and Trace lost their parents when the Jedi, attempting to divert a crashing spaceship from a populated landing platform, crashed it into their home on the side of the underworld portal.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Rafa thinks this is the case with the effort the Pykes are putting in to kill them for trying to cheat them, something she figures happens on a regular basis. Ahsoka points out it's a matter of reputation; they can't just let people cheat them without consequence.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Rafa's angry rebuttal of Ahsoka telling her why it was a bad idea to get involved with the Pykes is to ask her if she's some kind of Jedi.
- Bo-Katan, recognizing Ahsoka as the Jedi she fought on Carlac, is puzzled as to why she's even on Oba Diah in the first place.
- Electric Torture: The Pykes do this to Rafa to get the location of the spice from her. When she doesn't give it up, they turn to Trace. Trace manages to escape by pretending to faint then grabbing one of their guns.
- Enemy Mine: Bo-Katan recognizes Ahsoka from their previous encounter, and reasons that she could prove a useful ally since she also seems to be an enemy of the Pykes at the moment.
- Exploding Barrels: Trace shoots some fuel barrels the Pyke guards are using for cover, causing all the other barrels to go up in a series of explosions.
- Fake Faint: Trace pretends to faint when confronted with torture in order to grab one of the guards' guns and escape.
- Fights Like a Normal: Ahsoka is still reluctant to openly use her Force powers, so she tries to use her abilities only when no one will see or realize that she might have them. This makes her fight against four Pyke guards in the gate control tower somewhat more difficult than it needs to be, but she still handles all four without too much trouble.
- Force-Field Door: The cells in the Pykes' prison have red force fields, but in combination with physical bars so it's not as potentially insecure as the standard variant.
- Foreshadowing: Rafa notes that the Pykes seem unusually desperate to get their spice shipment back, and while Ahsoka rationalises it away as the Pykes protecting their reputation, it turns out there's a very good reason behind their desperation...
- Funny Background Event: When Ahsoka and the Martez sisters manage to escape onto the city streets, the Ithorian and Weequay duo Trace released earlier can be seen running away to freedom in the background.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The scene cuts away just before a guard is cut in half by an elevator.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: The Ithorian prisoner grabs one of the Pyke guards and tosses him into his fellows.
- Gunship Rescue: Ahsoka steals a small, hovering gunboat and uses it to save Rafa and Trace from the Pyke guards about to execute them. It's short-lived, however, as the Pykes bring in a tank and shoot it down.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Rafa, Trace, and Ahsoka get into a struggle with a guard on a moving elevator, causing him to be cut in half when he gets caught between the edge and one of the stairwell beams.
- Hero Insurance: Deconstructed. Trace and Rafa are aware that the Jedi were chasing an escaped crime lord and that the accident that killed their parents and destroyed their home was a result of the Jedi trying to prevent more casualties. However, what made them resent the Jedi was not just their part in the accident itself, but their hollow condolences towards the sisters and not doing anything meaningful to address the unintended consequences of their actions, giving them the impression that the Jedi are out of touch with the people they are supposed to be protecting.
- Hope Spot: Ahsoka secures a gunboat and rescues Rafa and Trace, only for the Pykes to disable it with a tank and surround them, sending them right back to prison.
- Human Shield: Rafa ducks behind Trace when the Pyke guards open their cell at the beginning.
- In a Single Bound: Ahsoka uses a Force-assisted leap to cross a retracted bridge and jumps clear over the heads of Rafa and Trace in the process. She credits it to being more athletic than she looks, and the girls don't have much time to question it with the guards shooting at them.
- Laser-Guided Karma: While on the run, Ahsoka and the Martez sisters bump into a hungry Gotal begging for credits, only for Rafa to rudely brush him off. Moments later, that same Gotal bumps into the Pykes and sells the trio out—only underscoring Ahsoka's admonition (right between the Gotal's two scenes) that you should always try to help as many people as you can.
- No Endor Holocaust: Averted and deconstructed in the Martez sisters' backstory, particularly in regards to Jedi involved in high-octane action scenes with lots of property destruction. When the Jedi were trying to pursue Ziro and his rescuers, Cad Bane shot down a transport to distract them. The Jedi were able to redirect it away from a highly populated landing platform and crashed it into a wall in the Coruscant underworld portal instead, but behind said wall was the Martez family's home, and the parents died as a result. While this action resulted in fewer casualties, it left the Martez sisters traumatized, homeless, and with a resentment towards Jedi after they got only a rather empty apology from them. And on a planet like Coruscant, even attempts to control an accident like that are likely to have unintended casualties.
- Pistol-Whipping: Trace knocks out a Pyke guard threatening Rafa with the butt of her stolen blaster.
- Redundant Rescue: After Trace is dragged off for a torture session, Ahsoka breaks herself and Rafa out of their cell so they can go rescue her. Trace, meanwhile, breaks herself out of the Pykes' custody and heads back to rescue them, resulting in them literally running into each other in the hallway.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Very little is accomplished in this episode. Trace, Rafa, and Ahsoka fail in their escape attempts, and the episode begins and ends with them being tortured by the Pykes for information about the dumped Spice. The only real accomplishment on either side is Ahsoka catching Bo-Katan's attention, but that does not lead to anything in this episode.
- Shoot the Fuel Tank: Trace delays the Pyke guards by shooting some barrels of what, judging by the explosion, was rhydonium fuel.
- Shout-Out:
- Trace and Rafa's alarm when it looks like Ahsoka has fallen to her doom, followed by Ahsoka surprising them by coming up behind them, is very reminiscent of the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that provides the page image for Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You.
- An earlier scene also recalls a particular Running Gag from the same movie where a villainous character refers to someone by their last name when a second person bearing that name is in close proximity.Pyke: Martez.
Trace/Rafa: Which one?
- Stock Scream: When Trace shoots an Exploding Barrel to take out a group of Pykes, one of them lets out a Wilhelm Scream when he gets blown up.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ahsoka and Rafa, especially on the latter's end. Rafa doesn't trust Ahsoka because she's not family, and, among other things, tries to ditch her when it looks like Ahsoka is trapped on the other side of a gap too far for a normal person to jump (but not a problem for an ex-Jedi). When Rafa suggests that Ahsoka go open the gate while she and Trace distract the guards, Ahsoka snarks that that must mean Rafa thinks opening the gate is the more difficult job.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Despite all the help she's given them, when Ahsoka is separated from the Martez sisters by a retracting bridge, Rafa tries to convince Trace that it's too far to jump, and that they should keep running and leave Ahsoka behind. Fortunately, such a jump is no problem for Ahsoka.
- Wake Up Fighting: When Ahsoka wakes Rafa up so they can get out of their cell, she starts swinging her fists and yells "I don't know where the spice is!"
