Original Air Date: February 6, 2009
Production No.: 201 (Season 2; Episode 1)
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Steward Lee
Key Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Clone Captain Rex, Clone Commander Cody
Key Locales: Christophsis
Cast:
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi / tactical droid
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress
Tom Kane as the narrator
Matthew Wood as battle droids
Episode Brief: Anakin and Obi-Wan discover evidence of a traitor amongst their ranks while attempting to lead Republic forces to liberate the planet of Christophsis from a Separatist siege.
Full Synopsis
"Truth enlightens the mind, but won't always bring happiness to your heart."
Newsreel: A planet under siege! Separatist forces mercilessly batter the beautiful and
elegant world of Christophsis. Unable to
defend themselves any longer, the people
of Christophsis call upon the Jedi for
assistance. Hoping to save lives and
prevent further destruction, Obi-Wan
Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker plan a
daring ambush that can turn the tide in
the fight for this crucial star system....
On the 46th level of the south tower of a parallel-structured building, Obi-Wan Kenobi stares out a window with his macrobinoculars. He contacts Anakin Skywalker, who is the north tower. Anakin's troops (including Captain Rex) stand at the ready. In the first tower, Clone Commander Cody arrives followed by Sergeant Slick to inspect the heavy repeating blaster emplacements the rest of the clones have readied. Trooper Gus reports that his cannon will be back in business momentarily.
Kenobi looks back at the open plaza far below. A full battalion of battle droids is unwittingly walking into an ambush: a crossfire between the two towers. Gus is surprised to see ATT tanks as part of the column. Suddenly, the droid ranks split up, bypassing the ambush. Something has gone wrong.
The turbolift doors open, and battle droids spill out of it. The ambush point has been compromised. Kenobi ignites his blade, deflecting blasts back at the droids while the rest of the unprepared clones begin to scatter. There's no place to retreat. Droids emerge from the far side of the turbolift as well. Kenobi's troops are surrounded.
In the north tower, Anakin can see the blasterfire through the south tower's windows. Anakin radios a gunship for an evac of the south tower. Trooper pilot Hawk acknowledges. Anakin then slices open the window and orders the troops to fire ascension cables across the gaps between the two towers. Rex, Anakin and his troops then slide from the north to the south tower. The battle droids on the ground try to fire up at the exposed clones. One clone is hit and falls to his death, but the rest of Anakin's group arrives on the other side, jumping through a broken window, and taking down droids.
With the odds now evened, Anakin and Obi-Wan regroup and retreat with their troops once a clear path has been cut to the turbolift. The group takes the lift of the rooftop where Hawk's gunship arrives to airlift them to safety. The battle droids arrive and turn the landing zone into a firefight. In the thick of combat, Trooper Gus jumps on the commanding tactical droid and yanks its head off. He runs to the gunship with his sparking prize: the tactical droid's cranial unit.
Rex examines the severed head. Perhaps by probing it, the Republic can discover how the Separatists knew of their plans. Later that night, at the Republic base, Rex and Cody place the droid's head on an analysis console and perform a robolobotomy. They confirm that the droid knew that the Republic teams would be on the 46th level of each tower. It was no lucky guess -- the Separatists had solid intelligence on top secret Republic plans.
Cody and Rex update Obi-Wan and Anakin on their findings. Anakin is puzzled how they could be exposed to such a security breach. Kenobi begins to suspect a double-agent within their ranks -- a spy in their midst. Kenobi proposes taking a fact-gathering mission behind enemy lines. He orders Cody and Rex to stay behind and ferret out the security breach, and to keep the Jedi mission a secret.
As the Jedi depart, Cody notices that a nearby hand comlink has been left open this whole time. Someone has been listening in on their plans. Rex spots someone skulking about the hallways. He orders the shadowy figure to stop, but it instead bolts down the corridor. Rex and Cody give chase. They split up, hoping to surround the suspect. Instead, when they turn around the bend, they find each other. Somehow, the spy has gotten past them.
With only one doorway between them, the clone officers conclude the mystery figure must have escaped through the mess hall. They open the door to the dead-end chamber and spot a roomful of clones. Could the spy have been a fellow clone?
ACT II
Cody and Rex return to the command center. Cody attempts to contact the Jedi. Obi-Wan and Anakin are speeding through the ravaged Christophsian streets on BARC speeders, monitored by battle droids that hold their fire but jam their transmissions. Unable to reach the Jedi, Rex turns to R2-D2 to examine the transmission logs of the station.Meanwhile, Kenobi and Skywalker have noted the mechanical eyes watching their progress. They also note that no attack has been sprung; the Separatists want the Jedi to reach their headquarters. Clearly, this must be some sort of trap, one that the Jedi intend to spring.
Artoo's data-detective work has turned up a peculiar spike in wavelength interference on spotty, irregular intervals. This could be the work of a traitor using a particular terminal in the base to contact the enemy. The terminal is in Sergeant Slick's barracks; only Slick's men would have access to it. Cody and Rex need to search it immediately.
The clone officers confront Slick about their findings. He refuses to believe them; his troops are the best, he insists. The troops -- Chopper, Sketch, Punch, Gus and Jester -- walk in, called in by Rex and Cody. The questioning begins. Slick wants to prep the troops first, as he fears this will be a great blow for morale. Heedless of Slick's reservations, Cody continues.
The Jedi arrive at a stately 23-story residence that has been appropriated by the Separatists as a command center. They find no guards, no barricades; the way in is rather easy. Taking a turbolift to a large, ornate foyer, they are suddenly confronted by Dooku's assassin, Asajj Ventress.
During the clone interrogation, the nervous Jester reports what he did after the last mission -- clean his weapon. An examination of his freshly scrubbed weapon confirms his story. Next, Cody and Rex move onto Punch, who reports he went directly to the mess hall with Sketch. Other clones from the other barracks would be able to corroborate this. Next is Gus, who reports he went to the infirmary. He has a freshly bandaged arm to show for it. The officers turn to Chopper, the scar-faced, trooper. He tries to claim he was in the mess hall, but Sketch reveals that Chopper came in much later than the rest.
Meanwhile, at the Separatist HQ, Asajj ignites her blades, gloating that her informant had warned her of the Jedi's arrival. A duel begins...
ACT III
Back in the barracks, Cody and Rex continue to question Chopper. He reluctantly reveals that he was hiding at the south exit because he did not want anyone spotting him stringing together a necklace of droid fingers -- an act forbidden by war protocols. Gus is displeased and the other clones have their suspicions raised. Sergeant Slick, too, is now wary. He was willing to overlook Chopper's odd personality because he had the skills, but a clone lying and breaking protocols is extremely bad form.Chopper strikes back by accusing Sergeant Slick of strange behavior as well. The scarred troop saw Slick detour to the command center rather than return to the barracks. Slick deflects the accusation, recognizing that Chopper feels cornered. Slick tells the trooper not to worry; they'll start a proper investigation once the Jedi return.
That's all Cody needs to hear -- how did Slick know the Jedi had left? Slick lashes out and punches Cody, then elbows his way past Chopper and the rest. He rushes out the barracks door. Cody and Rex give chase.
Rex and Cody search the grounds. Their sensors spot a signal near the gunships; Slick must be making a break for it. What they find instead of their clone traitor is his utility belt connected to a primed thermal detonator. The charge explodes, crippling the gunship, and seemingly tripping off more explosives that tear through the parked AT-TEs and the weapons depot. The blast takes out the base's power. The clone officers are frustrated -- Slick knows all their moves.
Elsewhere, a three-way duel between Asajj, Anakin and Kenobi continues. She uses the Force to hurl debris at the Jedi. The duel has moved up to the upper balconies of the residence. Asajj strangely sits peacefully cross-legged as Kenobi and Skywalker approach. She ignites her blades and cuts the floor, collapsing a trap that sends the Jedi plummeting. She grins. for the Jedi have served their purpose. Her whole plot was to stall them. As she runs out, off the balcony, the Jedi give chase, only to witness an entire droid army arriving on Christophsis.
Asajj stands atop a massive tri-droid. The Jedi cut the droid's legs out from under it, jumping from the collapsing machine by leaping onto passing STAPs. Asajj falls safely as the Jedi escapes, but no matter -- General Whorm Loathsom's army is here. The droid takeover of Christophsis has begun. Asajj meanwhile moves to her personal vessel, a strangely configured squid-like ship named the Trident.
At the Republic base, Gus reports spotting Slick run into the command center. Rex and Cody return there, blasters drawn. Slick sits in a ventilation shaft, watching them. Rex spots a bootprint on a console, which leads them to believe that Slick is in the air system. But they don't voice their discovery, and instead talk loudly, discussing possible scenarios that Slick may have played out. They decide that Slick is probably heading toward the south exit. Cody visibly leaves his gun behind while Rex heads out to get the generators restarted.
Or, at least, that's what Rex says he plans to do. What he does instead is get out of range of the ventilation shaft while Cody serves as bait. Slick emerges from the shaft, and picks up Cody's rifle. He points it as Cody, but Cody's been expecting him: the gun is empty. Rex returns, holding Slick at gunpoint. Cody retakes his gun and arms it. Slick goes for broke and elbows Rex out of the way, taking his gun. Cody tackles him, and a confused brawl breaks out, but Rex and Cody finally subdue Slick.
Slick reveals he did what he did for freedom. The Jedi return, and are surprised that Slick was the traitor. He verbally blasts the Jedi for basically enslaving the clones. Slick is marched away. Cody and Rex report to Kenobi that the weapons depot is in shambles, as is the heavy armor, but they did manage to save the heavy cannons. They'll need it. There are a thousand droids marching on Christophsis now. The fight goes on.
Trivia & Details
- This episode is indeed a prequel to The Clone Wars movie. As the series progresses, it will become evident that some of the stories are more in the format of an anthology, jumping about the timeline. This is especially true of the second season of Clone Wars episodes.
- In the script, the opening sequence was to involve the clones setting up their own combat droid that they had nicknamed "The Beast." Its design would resemble the dome-shaped mining droids from A New Hope -- but modified with weaponry to look not too dissimilar to the head of a Dalek from Dr. Who. Ultimately, it was decided to keep the sides clearly defined as clones versus droids, and not clones using droids versus droids. Furthermore, the opening scene would not even display just what "The Beast" would do, so it was cut as an unnecessary story complication.
- The script describes Obi-Wan's placement in the towers as both on 287th floor and the 46th level. This is not necessarily a contradiction.
- The side of the tactical droid's head is stenciled with Aurebesh characters that read "TACTICAL."
- The display screen that Cody uses to contact the Jedi says in Aurebesh, "SENDING," "RECEIVING" and "LOCATING STATUS."
- Due to late editorial changes, at the end of Act I, you can hear Obi-Wan refer to Cody as both "commander" and "captain." The latter shot was originally of Kenobi referring to Rex.
- During the first footchase inside the Republic base, it may sound like Cody orders Rex to take the left corridor (who then proceeds to turn right). What Cody actually says is "You take the west corridor."
- The music that accompanies the brawl between Rex, Cody and Slick is a variation of the speeder chase from Episode II.
- Originally, Sergeant Slick was supposed to have red hair, but when rendered, the standard dark hair model was used. This actually helps him blend in more rather than stand out as a suspect.
- Clone pilot Hawk was originally in the Clone Wars movie, called by Anakin for an extraction from the B'omarr monastery on Teth. That sequence was cut from the movie -- which may have ended up saving Hawk's life, because as it originally played out, that rescue gunship would have been shot down by a vulture droid.
- The clone barracks include pin-ups of Twi'lek girls and Naboo handmaidens.
- Sketch has an Aurebesh "S" tattooed on his brow.
Memorable Quotes
- "How did you get over here?"
- "I improvised." -- Obi-Wan and Anakin, remarking on Anakin's sudden arrival at the opposite tower.
"I really wish you hadn't noticed that, sir." -- Sergeant Slick, being caught as a spy.
"There's no escape now, you piece of rankweed!" -- Captain Rex
"It's the Jedi that keep my brothers enslaved. We do your bidding. We serve at your whim. I just wanted something more." -- Sergeant Slick
- "Ventress. And here I thought this mission would be unpleasant."
- "The pleasure is all mine, my dear Obi-Wan. I've missed you." -- Obi-Wan and Asajj, engaging in their strange chemistry.
Related Article Links
Video Preview A short video introduction to this episode.
Video Commentary Director Dave Filoni discusses the genesis of clone traitors as a concept.
Clone Wars: Shadowed The Republic arrives on Christophsis in this exclusive webcomic.
Rex and Cody must Uncover a "Hidden Enemy" Behind-the-scenes preview article, with quotes from director Steward Lee and series writer Drew Greenberg.
Voicing Ventress Nika Futterman discusses her role as the lithe and deadly Asajj Ventress.
