Clone Wars Debriefing: "Death Trap"

Naw, there's nothing wrong with that kid

Baby Boba is back and he's out for revenge against the Jedi, especially against a particular "Mace Windu," for the death of his father.

To accomplish his mission, the teenage Boba slips aboard the Republic cruiser that happens to be have Mace and Anakin along for the ride. Posing as a member of the Clone Youth Corps, our young scowling friend gets aboard the ship with a group of other young clones (calling himself "Lucky") and quickly sets about committing mischief. First he tries to booby trap Mace's quarters, but a redshirt clone ends up buying it instead. Mace and Anakin set about to find the saboteur, while Boba slips back in with the Youth Corps.

As it turns out, Boba is working with none other than Aurra Sing. After he informs her that his first attempt to whack Mace didn't work, she tells him to sabotage the ship's core so that it will blow up. Boba sneaks into the engine room and after dispatching another clone, wreaks havoc and destroys the ship. The Jedi survive but it costs the Republic yet another 171 trillion credits. Boba gets into an escape pod with some other Youth Corps kids, which he disables so that it will conk out in space. Aurra Sing and, surprise!, Bossk show up on Slave I to pick up Boba. The young Fett is torn at leaving his fellow genetic copies out there in deep space to die but after Aurra reminds him they have no place for softies, Boba leaves the stranded clone boys behind and hops aboard his future ship.

Just when you think, "OMG, are they seriously going to kill off a bunch of kids on this show?", Anakin shows up to save the day after the kids send out a rescue signal. Now they know Boba Fett is no good and is still on the loose. To be continued…

You know, this could have been nothing but kewl fanservice but it's actually a lot better than that. Boba isn't quite the heartless bounty hunter seen in TESB and ROTJ. Sure, he's angry and vengeful but not yet irredeemable. He still has something of a conscience left. His only real targets are the Jedi, to whom he owes nothing but death for what happened to Jango Fett. But on some level he appreciated his fellow youth clones' attempt at friendship and camaraderie, something he has never really experienced. That's why he hesistated leaving them. In another scene when he's trying to destroy the ship's core, he struggles with a clonetrooper, whose helmet comes off. You can see Boba actually struggling with the idea of fighting a man with his father's face, especially when the clone tells him, "But we're brothers." Boba replies, "We're not brothers," almost as though he has to keep reminding himself of that. And he doesn't kill the trooper outright, but stuns him.

We know that won't last. I had a theory that Boba ends up under Cad Bane's wing, and he may yet do so, but it looks like for now he gets his career training from someone about as ruthless, Aurra Sing, and I guess from Bossk as well.

It's interesting to see Mace and Anakin act almost as though they are peers, not so much the second in command of the Jedi Order with a Knight. Again, there doesn't seem to be the mistrust or antagonism seen in the movies. There's a funny bit where Anakin loses his chance to show off for the young clones and Mace kids him about it.

It was great to see Daniel Logan reprise his role from AOTC, though obviously Boba's voice had changed since then. Is it me, or does it seem like Logan is losing his Kiwi accent?

The only thing that strained credibility for me a bit was how easily Boba was able to slip away from the Youth Corps group without arousing too much suspicion. It wasn't as though he was part of a group of 100 or there were scores of Youth Corps groups all over the ship. You'd notice if someone was missing if there were only like eight people in a group.

The mayhem continues tomorrow with the last two episodes of Season Two!