“Easy isn’t always simple”

The episode begins in a fashion similar to Episode II: Attack of the Clones.  Anakin and Ahsoka are in the underbelly of Coruscant, looking to arrest a weapons smuggler.  Anakin goes into the bar alone to arrest the smuggler, while Ahsoka waits outside.  Unfortunately, a wave of aliens flees the bar while Anakin is apprehending the thief and one nabs Ahsoka’s lightsaber.  Ahsoka, ashamed of losing her lightsaber, visits the library at the Jedi temple when they return.  Although she hopes to discover the identity of the pickpocket, the librarian isn’t very helpful.  She refers her to an aged Jedi, Master Tera Sinube, a Cosian.  Upon seeing Master Tera, I realized what a great puppet he would make.  His hunched back gives him a shape reminiscent of a mystic or skekses; his face has the shape of a llama with a turtle-like mouth. Plus, he walks with a cane. (ready to a see a young Jedi get annoyed with his pace? Where have we seen this before? :) )

Ahsoka and Master Tera head to District G17, the “slum district.”  They interrogate a weapons dealer they were told they could purchase a lightsaber from. Ahsoka, resembling her Master, says, “If you have it, you’ll give it to me,” but Master Tera chides her for this approach, warning her again to be patient. After the weapons dealer learns that they are Jedi, he reveals where Bannamu, the pickpocket who stole Ahsoka’s lightsaber, is located. At the hostile, Ahsoka wants to ask where they can find him, but, again, Master Tera tells her to wait. He says that she must also remain calm because her anxiety will keep her from sensing his anxiety.

They find and interrogate Bannamu; Ahsoka playing the bad cop, of course. Leaving the bruised Bannamu, who speaks like Watto from Episode I, behind, they find Nack Movers (clever), but he is dead. His girl friend, Ione Marcy, is distraut and says a group of men took the lightsaber. Master Tera senses her terror but also something else. Ahsoka searches the apartment and finds a bounty hunter, Cassie Cryar. Cassie is nimble and spry, leaping across the gaps between buildings in Coruscant with little effort. Ahsoka has difficulty keeping up the chase, especially after Cassie learns how to work the lightsaber. As Ahsoka is pursuing her over floating billboards, Cassie slices at the billboards with the lightsaber, changing their tilt and direction. Ahsoka, hanging precpariously off a billboard of Palpatne’s face, watches the bounty hunter and her lightsaber disappear into the distance.

Meanwhile, Master Tera is toying with  Ione Marcy. He notes the flaws in her story, saying that Ahsoka is pursuing a female, but Ione said that a group of men killed Nack. He deftly places a tracking device on her back. He then reveals that he thinks Nack was poisoned because such a large man could not be taken down so easily. Master Tera discloses his conclusion that Ione is in league with the bounty hunter, Cassie. Just then, police droids burst into the apartment, but Ione flees and leaps off her balcony into her speeder that she called from her wrist.

Ahsoka drops from the billboard onto a passing speeder to catch up with Cassie. When Cassie starts to shimmy up a pole, Ahsoka finally uses the Force and tears the pole in half. But, Cassie is not stopped. She leaps from the pole to her accomplice’s car waiting below. Leaving Ahsoka waiting for her own rescue. Master Tera arrives sometime later and says, “You have learned patience.” If she hadn’t by then, she certainly would’ve in their pursuit of the pair. Master Tera drives like an old man. Ahsoka at first criticizes him, wondering how they will catch up to the thieves at this speed, but, when he reveals that he planted a tracking device on Ione, Ahsoka bites her tongue and appears impressed.

At the station, Cassie notices the tracking device and destroys it, but it’s too late.  Ahsoka has spotted her.   The battle begins on top of the train, but Cassie breaks one of the windows with the lightsaber. Inside the train, she takes a mother and daughter hostage. Thinking quickly, Ahsoka offers up herself instead, but Cassie refuses. Then the train stops, Cassie runs for the door, but is stopped by Master Tera. He swiftly pulls his lightsaber out from its hiding place in his staff. In three quick strokes, his opponent is down. Back at the Jedi Temple, Ahsoka thanks Master Tera. He responds that he was glad to help out because he had not been on a mission in a long time and asks Ahsoka if she will pass on the lessons he has taught her. She is immediately given the opportunity. As the episode closes, Ahsoka says to the younglings, “This weapon is your life.”

I give this episode 4/5 lightsabers. Although the episode had good intention, it lacked vibrancy. The lesson of patience is one we see repeated often in the series, from Luke to Anakin (or is it the other way around? ;) ). It is not necessarily overdone, but the Jedi training lasts years, surely there is something else to talk about. However, I did enjoy seeing new species, at least to me they were new. I liked Master Tera, and I think Cassie would’ve been a good match for Ahsoka if she had continued to be a threat in other episodes.   This episode begs the question: “How far would a Jedi go for his/her lightsaber?” “Lightsaber Lost” shows the difference between Anakin and Ahsoka in this regard; she was glad to learn the lesson of patience and seemed to clearly take it to heart, but time will tell.