Clone Wars Debriefing: "Hostage Crisis"

[lazypadawan]

Bow chicka wow wow

The episode opens with new baddie Cad Bane and his team of bounty hunters and mercenaries pulling a surprise attack on some Republic soldiers. Aurra Sing (voiced by actress Jaime King) picks off the soldiers and Bane ruthlessly breaks the neck of a survivor with a loud crack that will upset many parents. Hardcore! They all go into the Senate building.

Meanwhile, Anakin, who is supposed to be on a "meditative retreat," is basically begging Padmé to go off with him somewhere where they'll be anonymous, just "husband and wife" instead of a Senator and a Jedi. Padmé says she has important work to do. Millions of fangirls think to themselves, "Is she out of her freakin' mind? I'll go with you, Anakin!" Anakin tells Padmé nothing is more important than his love for her, proving it by handing her his phallic symbol, er, lightsaber. She comments that it's heavier than she thought it would be. Uh oh, send those kids out of the room ;). Anakin and Padmé start making out. Desk!sex appears imminent, until Threepio and Bail interrupt. Anakin hides under a desk while Padmé goes off with Bail and Threepio to work on the Invasion Of Privacy Act. This is not to be confused with the No Freedom Of Speech Act, the Taxation Without Representation Act, or the Yay Nanny State Act.

Cad Bane announces via hologram to Palpatine and Orn Fee Taa he is taking Senators hostage and demands Ziro the Hutt be released. His co-horts take a handful of Senators hostage, including the small purple chick from the "Trespass" episode, Padmé, Threepio, and Bail. It must be a Sunday or something, because the Senate seems to be otherwise deserted. One of the senators, a Gran, decides to try and walk out, only for Cad to shoot him in the back. Hardcore!

The Senators are searched for their weapons and Padmé's all nervous because she still has Anakin's lightsaber. Bail asks her how the heck she got a Jedi's lightsaber and she quickly changes the topic.

Anakin is still inside the building and he spends a good amount of time fighting and running from the bad guys, unarmed. Eventually, thanks to a small goofy little creature working for Bane and Aurra, Anakin's pwned and is dumped unconscious in with the captured Senators. Padmé hovers worriedly over him and when he comes to, she has to quickly bat away his hand from her face.

Meanwhile, poor Orn Fee Taa is stuck with having to go with the bounty hunters to spring Ziro out of prison. Once Ziro is out and on his way off of Coruscant, the Target Squadron of red and white clonetroopers spring into action. They break all of the windows in Palpatine's office (not the last time those windows are going to be broken) and seize the Senate building.

But Cad has set a trap around his hostages. If anyone moves out of the circle, the place goes kaboom. A timer is set anyway. Padmé uses Anakin's lightsaber to cut off his binders, then he cuts a big circle around the hostages, saving their lives when the explosives go off. Cad and his buddies get away, leaving them foils for Season Two.

What's there not to love in this episode? There's no Obi-Wan, Artoo, or Ahsoka, but there's long overdue romance, plenty of action, and great new characters. Cad Bane has only gotten started and they were very smart bringing in long-time cult favorite Aurra Sing. The episode brings Season One to a rousing conclusion but makes you sad it will be months before we see more. The teaser for Season Two looks amazing!

Comments

[darth-pipes.livejournal.com]

This episode was a lot of fun. Bane definitely made a splash and he's an exciting new addition to the show.

I've given them credit for not shying away from the violence. In a show that is about a war, you can't. You see some stuff here you never saw in the prequels.

The return of Ziro was great. He's gotten even funnier. The part where he mentioned the "horrors of prison" was interesting and along with Anakin and Padme's sexual innuendo, definitely not for kids.

Very nice to see Anakin and Padme (liked her design) back. Though how she ended up keeping it was silly. Just tell Bail to wait ten seconds and drop the damn thing! Also, I thought Anakin was too weak without his powers.

It was nice seeing Bail makes his debut although he was a little too much of a stick in the mud. The Invasion of Privacy Act? Man, Palpatine was so drunk with power he wasn't even trying to be subtle? I wonder if he brought the "Jedi Youngling Extermination Act" up for a vote. I just have visions of him one day walking into the Senate with the Sidious robe on and not even realizing it.

"Good afternoon. Before we start with today's business, I would like to address...oh ****."

[pronker]

I, too, liked the romance and the idea of a Jedi retreat in the midst of war seemed like something they would do. Was Anakin showing signs of stress that the Council saw, I wonder? And Cad was like Clint, in outline form at least, right out of the spaghetti Westerns, nice addition to the villain roster. I should be disappointed if it's all Palpatine's scheme, somehow. Palps needs some sort of foil in his eviltude.

[krpalmer.livejournal.com]

Even I managed to pick up on the "lightsabre innuendo" right away... although in some ways I found it interesting seeing Anakin trying to get by without it. It seems sort of easy to show the Jedi as completely outclassing their foes.

In some ways, I was perfectly happy to just react to Palpatine's involvement in the crisis by wondering how much he knew, and the moment where Ziro was informed they would be returning to the Senate seemed significant... although the very end of the episode opened the question again.

[auhow.livejournal.com]

This was my favorite episode. I loved the A/P moments. I found it romantic when Anakin gave Padme his lightsaber to show devotion to her.