The Clone Wars: Season 1

I picked up Season 1 of the The Clone Wars animated series today. I wasn't a very big fan of this when it first came out (though I really liked the animated movie prequel), mainly because it is very kid-focussed: black and white morality, proverbs at the beginning of every episode, simplistic story-telling, and silly humor (especially with the B-1 battle droids). I also think that Obi-Wan has a terrible personality (annoyingly snarky instead of dry wit),that the Separatists villians (Asajj Ventress, Dooku, & Grievous) are over-used to the point where they are no longer scary because they never win, and there's little tension because we know nothing bad can happen to the protagonists since they appear in Revenge of the Sith (except for tube-top wearing Ahsoka, whom I really doubt they're going to kill off). I've probably said this before, but the original Dark Horse Comics series of nine Clone Wars graphic novels does a much better job of portraying the war as a terrible, violent, and morally ambiguous thing.

But I bought the damn DVDs anyway. Now that I know what I'm getting, I don't hate the episodes as much. I've chosen to consider them Jedi/Republic propaganda that takes kernels of what "actually" happened and massages them to make the Jedi and Clones look perfectly moral, while the Separatists are simply dastardly villains with no legitimate grievances.

This post, which I'll update frequently, is a list of the episodes with a few brief comments. One thing I really like, which doesn't get much attention, is that a few-page long prequel comic has been posted online for each episode--the comics serve as nice introductions to the episodes and explain a few things that are glossed over. I'll be talking about the comics here as well.

Episode 1: Ambush

The story here concerns Yoda being sent to an uninhabited moon Rugosa to meet the King of Toydaria & try to convince him to join the Republic. The Separatists intercept the transmission and send Asajj Ventress and battle droids to stop him. Yoda carries the day, convincing the Toydarian King to declare for the Republic.

Recently in the Clone Wars RPG I direct, I thought one of the players wasn't doing a great job role-playing when he had his character charge straight toward a Trade Federation tank--after all, who charges a tank!?! Well, in this episode Yoda charges three Trade Federation tanks and destroys them all single-handedly. Mea culpa.

The prequel comic introduces some of the Clones seen in the episode--they're stationed on Coruscant and anxious to see some action. It also shows Skytop Station, a secret Separatist communications facility (run by Aqualish Senator Nudo) that allows Dooku to intercept Republic transmissions--including the conversation between Chancellor Palpatine and the Toydarian King Katuuko.

------------------------------------------------

Episode 2: Rising Malevolence

Malevolence is a secret Separatist super-weapon: basically, a massive ion cannon housed in a capital ship that is capable of tearing apart entire Republic fleets. After each attack, the Malevolence sends out hunter-killer droid vehicles to destroy all escape pods so that no witnesses survive. After Jedi General Plo Koon's fleet is destroyed, he manages to keep himself and a handful of Clones alive in an escape pod until Anakin & Ahsoka manage to rescue them.

This is definitely a darker story than Ambush, insofar as we see Republic troopers murdered when Separatists droids tear off the canopy to their escape pod & expose them to vacuum. I like Anakin's personality in this episode--he's butted head with the Jedi Council enough times to figure out how to tell them what they need to hear while still doing what he wants (a lesson he tries to give Ahsoka). It's good to have stories focus on characters who don't appear much in the movies, like Plo Koon--his fighting with a lightsaber in outer space was kinda nifty & we learn he was the one who found Ahsoka and took her to the Temple for training. The episode also has a couple of in-joke references to the Death Star: "You may fire when ready" and a bit of a spoof of the famous rail-less platform overlooking the accumulating energy (staffed with droids here, of course).

The online comics don't have a lot to add--they just show Anakin & Ahsoka being frustrated that they're guarding the Bith system while others are out hunting for the Separatist superweapon, Plo Koon being chosen to lead the search, and a Republic fleet being destroyed.

------------------------------------------------

Episode 3: Shadow of Malevolence

After their narrow escape, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Plo Koon rejoin the main Republic fleet charged with hunting down the Malevolence before it can destroy a major medcenter. Anakin decides the best chance of destroying this Separatist superweapon is by leading in a squadron of fighter-bombers to destroy the ship's bridge. However, as his fellow pilots are getting torn apart, Anakin changes plans and instead they torpedo the super ion cannon array. The heavily damaged Malevolence is pursued by Obi-Wan and three Republic capital ships.

This episode is mostly space combat. I like the idea that, although Anakin is an extraordinarily skilled pilot, the rest of the squadron can't live up to his abilities and attack plans consequently need to be altered. This is the first we see the prototype Y-Wings in the animated series (they have gun turrets). I also quite liked the design concept for the Republic medcenter and it was interesting to see a Kaminoan in charge of the facility (it makes sense that, sense they grew the Clones, Kaminoans would be in the best position to heal them).

The prequel comic shows Anakin and Palpatine colluding to deploy the prototype Y-Wings before they've finished testing from the Bormus shipyards (and thus outmaneuvering the procedure-bound Gran Senator Aak).

--------------------------------------------

Episode 4: Destroy Malevolence

The heavily damaged Malevolence is under heavy attack from three Republic cruisers. Fortunately for Grievous, Count Dooku (and Chancellor Palpatine) have a contingency plan: Senator Amidala has been sent to negotiate with a supposed Banking Clan representative, but has really been sent to be captured and act as a hostage. The plan goes awry, however, when Amidala escapes the Malevolence's hanger and is soon joined on-board by Anakin and Obi-Wan. Together, they sabotage the ship's hyperdrive and manage to escape. The Malevolence collides with a small moon, but General Grievous lives to fight another day.

I really liked the concept for the inside of the Malevolence--in all of the live-action movies, starship interiors are clean, well-lit places with straight corridors. The Malevolence, on the other hand, is dark, gun-metal gray, with sharp, odd angles. It seems a little more alien in construction and works well. I also like the concept of a central axis along which railcars run--these ships are supposed to be massive--carrying the equivalent of tens of thousands of people--so having fast ways to move people and supplies makes perfect sense.

The prequel features Padme, C3P0, and (regrettably) Jar-Jar. Padme goes on a news program (TriNebulon News) where she's questioned about recent pirate attacks on Rodia by a broadcaster named Yutsen and forced to admit, to her embarrassment, that she hasn't been paying any attention. Later, she's summoned by Chancellor Palpatine (with Senate Guardsman Argyus making his first appearance in the background) and sent to meet the non-existent Banking Clan envoy.

--------------------------------

Episode 5: Rookies

The prequel comic here shows several Clones destroying mouse droids before they can sabotage a Republic facility. It's pretty slight stuff.

The episode is one I liked much better on second viewing. General Grievous is planning a secret attack on the Kamino cloning facility; but to get there, he needs to disable a Republic outpost before it can warn the Republic fleet. He sends in a team of cool Commando Droids who manage to capture the facility, but several Clones strike back and one sacrifices himself to blow it up (thus warning the Republic that something is wrong). There's some nice humor and cool action scenes.

--------------------------------

Episode 6: Downfall of a Droid

General Grievous' fleet is destroyed when Anakin succeeds with kind of a crazy stunt (landing several Walkers on an asteroid to fire on the Separatist fleet from the rear). However, Anakin's starship is damaged and, although the Jedi escapes, R2-D2 is captured by a Trandoshan salvager. Anakin and Ahsoka try to rescue R2, but a "bumbling" R3-S6 gets in the way and R-2 is sold to the Separatists. It's a moderately interesting episode, but R3's betrayal is rather predictable and Ahoska's naievete can be annoying. There's a scene in the episode where the Twilight flies right between two Separatist capital ships before escaping; in my Clone Wars role-playing game, a player tried something only half as dangerous (skimming the surface of a single capital ship) and got blown to pieces by a critical hit. I guess the Force just wasn't with him . . .

The prequel comic has nothing to do with the episode, though I assume it'll tie in later in the story arc. On the planet Falleen, Asajj Ventress infiltrates a palace--it looks like the palace's Prince has gotten the drop on her, but she was simply acting as a distraction for Count Dooku. There's some nice, moody artwork.

------------------------

Episode 7: Duel of the Droids

Anakin and Ahsoka, along with several Clones, find the secret Separatist listening post droid where Grievous has the Trandoshan salvager, Gha Nachkt, download R-2's memory bank (Grievous kills Gha Nachkt after the job is done, with the enjoyable remark "There's your bonus!"). Anakin and Company infiltrate the base, plant explosives, and manage to rescue R-2 and the diminutive droid defeats R3-S6 in a duel. Although the listening post is destroyed, Grievous manages to escape and live to fight another day (something which happens pretty much every episode, as far as I can tell).

This is a good example of how villains become less intimidating through repeated failure. In his first appearance in the original Clone Wars cartoon (the one with the funky Samurai Jack style animation), Grievous single-handedly kills several Jedi; when he appears again in Revenge of the Sith, he puts on quite a show before Obi-Wan finally manages to kill him. In this cartoon series, however, Grievous barely escapes every encounter and (in this particular episode) engages in lengthy duels with Ahsoka Tano and she survives unscathed. Otherwise, it's not really a bad episode--Grievous stabbing Gha Nachkt in the back was quite fun.

The prequel comic depicts one Separatist leader (Passel Argente) buying a specially-modified droid from Gha Nachkt to act as a spy on another Separatist leader (Wat Tambor). In a nice twist, Nachkt has actually been working with Tambor all along to double-cross Argente.

-------------------------------------

Episode 8: Bombad Jedi

The prequel comic sets up the silly tone of the episode: two con men (named Dannl and Achk) are on the run from Senate guards on Coruscant. They disguise themselves as Judicials and try to commandeer the starship that C-3PO and Jar-Jar are getting ready for Padmé. In his supreme goofiness, Jar-Jar accidentally lips the floating landing pad upside down, sending the ship and the fake Judicials flying. Padmé, Jar-Jar, and C-3PO end up having to take the yacht instead of the skiff to . . .

. . . Rodia, where Padmé plans to meet with a long-time family friend, a certain Senator Farr, over Rodia's threats to join the Separatists. However, Farr betrays Padmé and turns her over to Nute Gunray. Extreme slapstick ensues, as the Separatist battle droids think Jar-Jar is actually a Jedi. Through an unlikely series of incredible events, the tables are turned at the end and it's Nute Gunray who is the prisoner.

The writer of this episode had some balls to feature the most loathed character in Star Wars history, but it's actually pretty fun. I think it helps that Jar-Jar's silliness is a major part of the story, and not an annoying distraction from the otherwise serious events going on around him (like it was in Phantom Menace).

-----------------------------------------

Episode 9: Cloak of Darkness

The prequel comic features bad artwork in which all the characters look like little kids. Anakin talks a reluctant Ahsoka into helping oversee the transfer of Nute Gunray to Republic custody, and we also see that Luminara Unduli and Captain Argyus (TRAITOR!) will be there as well.

The episode features Asajj Ventress' mission to rescue Gunray; with Argyus' help, she succeeds and then (literally) stabs Argyus in the back. It was nice to see one of the show's trio of recurring villians (Ventress, Dooku, Grievous) actually succeed at a plan. Ventress' escape was pretty cool and exciting, and I especially liked where the cut the pipes on the ceiling. She's still not as scary as she should be--heck, Ahsoka fought her to a virtual standstill. It would have been better if, instead of sending Luminara (who was frankly kinda boring), the show would have had a new Jedi appear whom Ventress could have killed and thus establish some street cred. As far as I can tell, only battle droids, unnamed Clones, and assistant bad guys (Argyus this episode, the Trandoshan the other episode) actually die.

The other thing I'm starting to notice at this point is how empty ships and cities are, which I think is a function of the difficulty and cost of animating additional CGI models. It's rare to see "extras" in the background of most scenes. Also, where the heck was the ship's damage control crew after Ventress set explosives in the engine room? Anyway, a pretty decent episode.

--------------------------------------------

Episode 10: Lair of Grievous

Kay, remember two paragraphs up where I suggested they introduce a new Jedi that Ventress could kill (to "establish some street cred"). Well, nevermind. In this episode, a former Padawan of Kit Fisto (named Nahdar Vebb) is killed by General Grievous. Vebb was an annoying little bastard, so I don't think anyone (even Fisto, judging by the end of the episode) felt too bad about it. It all came about because Dooku was starting to think Grievous had gotten soft, so he made sure the Jedi knew where Grievous' fortress/shrine was.

I think Fisto is given a Jamaican accent, which is a little weird. We also get introduced to EV-A4-D, the sarcastic medical droid that handles Grievous' repairs.

The prequel comic shows flashbacks to when Grievous was organic and one of the finest warriors who ever lived. Modern day Grievous laments the fact that he now commands soulless battle droids, which are the furthest thing from the true warriors he once fought beside. It's actually surprisingly poignant.

-----------------------------------

Episode 11: Dooku Captured

Obi-Wan infiltrates Dooku's flagship in order to rescue a captured Anakin. Only, it turns out that Anakin and Obi-Wan set it all up to try and capture Dooku. Dooku escapes in the cruiser in his personal ship and the Jedi give chase, and the two ships crash land on the planet Vanqotr While Anakin & Obi-Wan run into trouble with cave gundarks, Dooku manages to get himself snatched by Weequay pirates who plan to turn him over to the Republic for a nice reward. After Ahsoka rescues them, Anakin & Obi-Wan are sent to meet with the Weequay to negotiate for Dooku's transfer on the planet Florrum. So . . . trap?

A solid episode here, with nice background artwork for Vanqor (kinda cool they used the planet, since it was originally introduced in one of the Jedi Quest YA novels). The Weeqay basically have flying saucers for starships, which is a bit odd but I suppose it's a perfectly reasonable design. The prequel comic shows Anakin intentionally damaging his starfighter to make it look like authentic battle damage, as well as his actually getting captured by the Separatists.

--------------------------------------------

Episode 12: The Gungan General

The prequel comic is a silly bit of wordless fluff, as Pilf (the Kowakian monkey-lizard) tries all sorts of things before finally managing to knock Obi-Wan and Anakin unconscious.

The Republic sends Jar-Jar and a Gran Senator named Kharrus to meet with the Weequay pirates and deliver a load of spice as payment for Dooku. One of the pirates decides he would like that spice for himself, and attacks the shuttle. Kharrus is killed in the crash (a nice surprise there) and the survivors mount these strange hippo-like beasts to head toward the pirate base, but they're attacked by the pirates on swoops. Meanwhile, Dooku, Obi-Wan, and Anakin, working together, have tried and failed a few different schemes to escape. Dooku manages to escape on his own, and then the Republic shows up to rescue the Jedi.

Jar-Jar's voice sounds weird in this episode--presumably a new voice actor. My new theory is that, like God, the Force looks out for small children and idiots.

It was kinda fun seeing Dooku forced to work with Anakin and Obi-wan, though you keep wondering the whole time why he doesn't start throwing force lightning left and right to kill the pirates (he does strangle and force choke some of them near the end of the episode).

Seeing a bunch of bandits on swoops charging toward the wreck of a ship to recover spice brought back memories of when the exact same thing happened during the Clone Wars RPG I won. Only in the game, our Duro character left handfuls of grenades and wiped all but one of the swoop-bikers out.

-----------------------------------------------

Episode 13: Jedi Crash

This episode starts out in a damn exciting way, with a frantic space battle between Republic ships commanded by Aayla Secura and three Separatist cruisers. Anakin and Ahsoka manage to help Aayla fight off Separatist rocket droids (basically, B-2 droids with jet packs), but their ship is heavily damaged and the hyperdrive misfires, sending them on a wild course towards a star. With Anakin injured during the attack, Ahsoka takes the helm and manages to make a crash landing on a nearby planet (Maridun), populated by Lurmen, a pacifist species. The Jedi manage to convince the Lurmen to send a healer to save Anakin's life.

They do a give job with Aayla's personality--she seems like a Jedi willing to make the tough decisions, a good example of a General. I don't quite understand why she says the Republic is fighting for "liberty" in the Clone Wars, as it seems to be fighting to keep planets from seceding--but the political justification for the Republic's role in the civil war has never been fully explained.

The prequel comic depicts Aayla and her Clones to luring a Separatist tactical droid into a trap. Aayla cuts the droid in half before it can erase it's memory banks. Although both the comic and the episode have a tactical droid, there's otherwise no connection between the two that I can see.

----------------------------------------

Episode 14: Defenders of Peace

This ep starts off with the Jedi and Clones still hanging out on Maridun with the Lurmen (they don't have a ship capable of getting them off the planet). A Separatist leader arrives (General Lok Durd) and decides that Maridun is the perfect place to test out the experimental weapon he's been developing: the Defoliator. Basically, it's a surging burst of energy designed to kill all organic life without harming battle droids. The Jedi mount a defense of the Lurmen village, and some Lurmen join in (much to the dismay of their leader, a stout pacifist). Eventually, of course, the Jedi are victorious, Lok Durd is captured, and the village is saved.

I think the writers here tried to do justice to pacifism as a philosophy, but the Lurmen leader still came across as a stubborn ostrich with its head in the sand. Unfortunately, I think it's just too difficult to explain philosophical and moral arguments for pacifism in the context of a 20-minute kids' cartoon. Also, the Lurmen leader speaks with a funny Scottish accent. What's up with that? I guess if Neimodians have faux-Chinese accents, Gungans have faux-Jamaican accents, and Imperial Admirals are all British, it's only fair.

The prequel comic explains how, when the Lurmen first arrived on Maridun, the planet's native inhabitants attacked them and drove them away from their ship.

-----------------------------------------

Episode 15: Trespass

The prequel comic here is very well done. It's partially the contents of a letter written by a Clone named Shiv for a Clone who died long ago (Flanker). The letter is never meant to be sent, of course, but it details the difficulties the Clones are having on the planet Orto Plutonia, an icy wasteland that seems to inhabited by savage, monstrous "ice men". After the letter is finished, we realize that the entire Clone outpost will be wiped out.

The silence from the outpost is the hook for the story in the episode, as Anakin and Obi-Wan are sent to investigate. Accompanying them are a Senator and the Chairman of the neighboring moon of Pantora. The Jedi quickly realize that the natives of Ordo Plutonia are Talz, and that they destroyed the Clone outpost (and a nearby Separatist base) because they felt their lands were being encroached upon. Anakin and Obi-Wan manage to negotiate a shaky truce with the Talz, but Chairman Chi Cho has very colonialist leanings and provokes a war. Fortunately, he takes a spear to the stomach and Senator Riyo Chuchi negotiates a lasting peace.

A few things struck me as interesting here. First, we see another Senator who appears to be a teenage girl (like Padme). I still find it hard to conceptualize a government that would put its foreign policy in the hands of teenagers, but if nothing else the idea is certainly empowering to girls. Second, there's some interesting bits dropped by Obi-Wan about the limits of their ability to intervene in the domestic affairs of Republic signatories. It'd be interesting to see this fleshed out a bit, as we generally just see the Jedi go anywhere and do anything. Also? Cool snowspeeders.

-----------------------------

Episode 16: The Hidden Enemy

Bit of an odd episode here, as it's basically a prequel to the animated Clone Wars movie--I imagine that perhaps they wanted a different beginning to that or a shorter running time, so they cut this part and decided to show it later. Anyway, Christophsis is still under seige by the Separatists, but someone in the Grand Army of the Republic is leaking information. Anakin escapes one of the Separatist traps in a really cool scene where he crosses from one tower to another by crashing through the glass and ziplining across. Anyway, the search for the spy continues at the Republic base, and it's revealed to be a Clone who goes by the "I'm not a spy!" name of Slick (I will say, they gave him nice motivation for the betrayal). Slick gets captured, but not before destroying all the Republic vehicles except for the heavy artillery (which is exactly where the movie picks up). There's also the standard scene of Anakin & Obi-Wan dueling inconclusively with Ventress. It's not a bad episode by any means, but it feels rather out-of-place after having seen the movie.

The prequel comic doesn't have much going on. Everyone watches a holovid of the Separatists announcing they've captured Christophsis. The Clones are disgusted as a guy rats them out to battle droids. Ventress gives secret info (delivered by Slick) to General Loathsome.

-----------------------------------

Episode 17: Blue Shadow Virus

The prequel comic shows Captain Typho leading a patrol on Naboo. They encounter a small group of B-1 battle droids and destroy them. Queen Neeyutnee (who apparently was after Padme and before the Queen in Revenge of the Sith) decides to call Padme for help.

The episode is all about the Republic's attempts to find and stop a Separatist scientist named Nuvo Vindi from detonating bombs filled with the Blue Shadow Virus. It looks like they save the day, but since this is a two-parter I'm guessing something bad happens next ep.

I loved Doctor Nuvo Vindi because he is so over-the-top as a mad scientist in the greatest tradition of Doctor Frankenstein (Vindi even has some sort of Eastern European accent). I also think his little rabbit droid is irrepressibly cute.

My notes, scrawled while watching the episode, include the phrase "Is Padme retarded?" I think that had to do with her decision to go looking for the secret Separatist base in the marsh while bringing along only Jar-Jar for back-up. In retrospect, I feel kinda bad for using the slur, because even retarded people would know not to bring Jar-Jar as a bodyguard.

----------------------------------------

Episode 18: The Mystery of a Thousand Moons

This is the only episode of the season not to receive a prequel comic. It picks up right at the end of the last episode, where everything relating to the Blue Shadow virus seemed to be under control. However, that super-cute rabbit droid steals a container of the virus from one of the undetonated bombs and the viral breaks, contaminating the entire facility--Ahsoka, most of the Clones, Jar-Jar, and Padme are trapped inside, while Obi-Wan and Anakin are stuck outside. In an amazing display of unprecedented scientific genius, Captain Typho and the Naboo figure out (seemingly within minutes) that the way to cure this historically cataclysmic plague is to retrieve a rare plant found only on the planet Iego--the so-called "World of a Thousand Moons."

The Jedi journey to Iego, only to find a veritable graveyard of ships surrounding it--apparently (and I'm not sure why here) the Separatists withdrew from the planet but left a powerful orbital laser to keep any of the planet's inhabitants from leaving. On Iego, the Jedi meet up a teenaged scavenger and other castaways who help the Jedi escape after they retrieve the plant.

We also get to see one of the Angels of Millieus Prime, the fictional cause of one of the worst bits of dialogue in Star Wars history (in The Phantom Menace, where young Anakin first sees Padme and asks "if she's an angel").

As an aside, if you've ever wondered what happened to Jake Lloyd, the actor who delivered that line, Wikipedia says he hasn't acted since 2001. Yes, George Lucas, the kid you cast as the central figure in the Star Wars mythos is apparently not seen by other directors as some sort of acting prodigy.

--------------------------------------------

Episode 19: Storm Over Ryloth

My memory's a bit fuzzy about this one as I watched a couple of weeks before writing this entry. Basically, the Republic learns of a Separatist blockade and plans to invade Ryloth. A Republic fleet, led by Anakin & Ahsoka, engage the Separatist fleet in a long (but very cool and exciting) space battle. Eventually, Anakin hits upon a play where he empties out one of his cruisers and crashes it into the Separatist flagship and the blockade is broken. One of the things I really liked about this episode was that the Separatist Captain comes across as an intelligent, well-prepared officer who learns about his enemies and prepares for their likely moves.

The prequel comic features Techno-Union Emir Wat Tambor watching through secret holo-cams as (I'm a bit fuzzy on this) a Separatist leader delivers packages to a local Ryloth magistrate. This seems to anger Tambor, and he orders an immediate invasion of the planet.

------------------------------------------

Episode 20: Innocents of Ryloth

Obi-wan leads a Clone assault to capture the city of Nabat in order to provide a staging area for the liberation of Ryloth. However, a smart-thinking Separatist tactical droid has placed captured Twi-leks around defensive positions, keeping the G.A.R. from using orbital bombardment or heavy weapons. A couple of Clone scouts find a young Twi-lek girl, and she shows them hidden tunnels that the G.A.R. uses to get close enough to rescue the living shields and defeat the droids.

The prequel here shows the young Twi-lek girl waking up in the middle of the night to realize that the Separatists have invaded and have captured her family. Blah.

No prequel comic.

---------------------------------------

Episode 21: Liberty on Ryloth

The prequel comic is set on Ryloth, as a minstrel named Gobi delivers a verse poem about the heroic victories he hopes that his friend, rebel Cham Syndulla, will deliver.

The episode features Mace Windu in charge of a Republic army, tasked with capturing Lessu, the capital city of Ryloth. The main obstacle in their path is that a plasma bridge, which can be turned on and off, separates Lessu from the mainland. Mace recruits Cham Syndulla, and with a not-particularly-clever ploy, manages to lead his army across the plasma bridge and capture Separatist leader Wat Tambor. It's a pretty standard episode.

As an aside, no matter how geeky you are when it comes to continuity about a shared universe, there will always be people geekier. This episode, for instance, spawned a major dispute on Wookieepedia about whether Ryloth has a normal day/night cycle or not.

--------------------------------------

Episode 22: Hostage Crisis

Really nice artwork graces the prequel comic, which features an assassination attempt on Duros Cad Bane ("the greatest bounty hunter since Jango Fett) that goes wrong for would-be assassin Davtokk. It turns out, the whole thing was a set up so Bane could test his team for an upcoming mission.

Said mission is an audacious takeover of the Senate building on Coruscant. Bane and team pull off the plan flawlessly, taking Senators hostage and ransoming them for the freedom of Ziro the Hutt. This is probably the best episode of the season: a worthwhile villain, some nice twists, and exciting action scenes. If Season Two is more like this, the cartoon will have redeemed itself for an otherwise lackluster series.