Episode 04: Senate Spy
This last week brought us a very different episode of the Clone Wars than we've seen before. Instead of the typical Jedi-on-Droid or Jedi-on-Bounty Hunter action we've had in every episode up to this point, this week offered up a tale of political intrigue. Senator Padme Amidala takes the center stage (finally) in this episode about two-faced politicians who are secretly working for the Separatists. Specifically, the controversy is around a republic senator by the name of Rush Clovis, whom both the Republic and the Jedi suspect of secretly working for Count Dooku and his army.
The episode opens with Anakin returning to see Padme after a long tour of duty and god damn if this isn't the single greatest scene between the two characters that I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. This one scene alone is better written and shows more emotion and chemistry than all of their scenes in the whole prequel trilogy put together. I know that's not saying much seeing as how the Anakin & Padme scenes from the film were so atrocious, and Hayden Christiansen has the acting ability of a granite slab. Still though, the dialogue between the two in these opening scenes actually makes them feel like the lovers they are for the first time ever. They playfully tease each other and actually act like two young people in love. This episode managed to accomplish something that George Lucas' scripts never managed to do, it made me believe in the romance between Anakin and Padme. It's a shame it took CG animated characters to make that happen, but whatever.
Soon enough though, Anakin is called away by the Jedi council. Padme is pissed, and Anakin leaves her with this stupid statement about how "duty comes first, especially in wartime." The Jedi council tells Anakin about their suspicians of the Senator, and they task him with convincing Padme to spy on Senator Clovis for them. They've chosen Padme because she and Clovis entered the Senate in the same year, they served on the same councils and they were "good friends" as Mace Windu puts it. The Jedi Council has already asked Padme once to spy on Clovis for them, but she refused. They know that she trusts Anakin though, so they're giving him the job of changing her mind. Anakin doesn't like this idea at all, but he's got no choice in the matter, so he goes to speak to Padme.
When Anakin and Padme talk, they strangely decide to have their conversation about spying on a fellow senator in the middle of the open senate buidling. Not the most intelligent spot for such a private and secretive conversation in my opinion, but Intelligence has never really been Anakin's strong suit. Anakin has no intention of talking Padme into working for the Jedi, instead he tries to get information from her about the guy so he can get another spy to follow him. Unfortunately for him though, he comes off as a bit of an arrogant douche during this scene. He tells Padme that the mission is too dangerous for her and that he won't "let" her do it. Padme suprises me here by actually showing some spine for once and tells Anakin off. She says it's not his decision and he has no place to tell her what she can or cannot do. Mainly to spite him, she accepts the spying job and goes to see the Jedi Council.
While speaking with the Council, it's revealed that Padme's past with Clovis was a little more personal than Anakin had expected. It turns out that the two used to be an item back in the day. That's right, Anakin's not the first guy get with the former Naboo Queen and he's really not happy about it. The whole thought of Padme having to hang with her ex brings out some major jealousy issues in him right away and he spends the rest of the episode acting all bitchy. Padme, meanwhile, meets with Clovis and convinces him to take her on a trip with him to Cato Nemoidia, where he says he has some business to take care of. He's a pretty easy sell on the idea actually, seeing as how he still has a major boner for Padme. As with most men who have the hots for a pretty girl, he is thinking with the wrong head and he freely invites her along with him.
For the flight out they take Padme's ship and Anakin goes undercover as one of her pilots. This is one of the more ludicris moments in the episode in my opinion. How in the hell a Republic Senator doesn't instantly recognize one of the Clone Wars' greatest generals and heroes instantly is completely laughable. It's been mentioned many times before that Anakin is a huge hero of the Republic. Pretty much anyone should recognize him, yet conveniently for the plot, Clovis doesn't. Either he's retarded or is too focused on Padme to care. Either way, Anakin is along for the trip.
As far as I can remember, this is the first time we've ever gotten to see the Neimoidan homeworld, and it's pretty damned cool actually. I always like it when the show takes us to new planets, and as opposed to last episode's trip to Mustafar, this visit to a planet that has been mentioned in the movies but never seen is wery welcome. My only hope is that someday one of these episodes will takes us to Alderaan, but that will probably never happen.
Once on the planet, things move along pretty quickly. It turns out that Clovis is indeed working for the Separatists and is planning to build a new Droid factory for them. Padme finds out and manages to copy the data when Clovis isn't looking. She sneaks the data off to Anakin, who gives it to R2, but there's one major catch. The Neimoidians, suspecting Padme of spying and trying to find some leverage they can use over Clovis, secretly poison Padme and then hold the antidote over Clovis as a ransom. They originally just want to control Clovis, but once Clovis realized that Padme has betrayed him and stolen the data, he realizes that if he can get it back he can trade it for the Antidote. He and Anakin argue over this, but Anakin would rather face the Neimoidans head on (typical Anakin).
Once again thinking with the wrong head, Clovis agrees to help Anakin, claiming he loves Padme and saying he can't bear the thought of her dying. What a dumbass. The woman just betrayed you. If you're going to be a villain, don't do a half assed job of it. If the life of the woman who betrayed you is in jeopardy, then you let her die. Don't go trying to save her. That's what villains do. But no, Clovis is tool and decides to help out. He and Anakin (with an unconscious padme in tow) go looking for the Antidote.
Even though they're in a massive palace, they only have to go about 20 feet before the Neimoidians find them and a big confrontation is had. At gunpoint, the antidote is handed over and the group beats a hasty retreat back to their ship. Once they get there though Anakin closes the hatch before Clovis has a chance to board, thus pulling a total dick move on his part and screwing the guy over for what will most assuredly be torture and death at the hands of the Neimoidians. Nevermind the fact that the guy is a traitor, he did give himself up and help saved the woman that Anakin loved. Nevermind that Anakin is a Jedi and is supposed to help people when he can. Nevermind that bringing Clovis along could have probably have led to some handy plea bargaining back on Coruscant where the Republic could have gotten a ton of useful information out of him. No, completely out of jealousy Anakin decides to ditch the guy and leave him to his fate.
Now that's some dark Jedi behavior if I ever saw some. I love it. Anakin should be acting like this. Obi-wan would have saved Clovis, Anakin chose not too. Therein lies the difference between the two.
Overall, this was a solid episode. It is notable that not a single blaster was fired and not once did a single lightsaber get turned on during the entire show. It's really cool to see the Clone Wars change things up a bit and not give us the same mindless action week in and week out. This was a whole episode devoted to plot, not action. I loved it. However, I do have one major problem with this episode. I am sick and tired of seeing a helpless Padme being saved over and over again by Anakin or Obi-wan or whoever else has to come to her rescue. It's getting old.
For Christ's sake, this is the woman who will be the mother of Princess Leia, one of the coolest and strongest female characters in science fiction. Why can't her mother get an episode or two where she gets to be the badass? Why doesn't she show any of the traits that her daughter will show later? At the beginning of the episode, that's what I thought we might be getting. It was wonderful to see her and Anakin argue, and for Padme to shut him up and put him in his place. He needed it. Then, for a while I thought I was going to get to see her be the badass she should be. She conned Clovis, stole the data and was almost home free. Then they had to go and poison her and Anakin once again had to come to the rescue. By the end of the episode he was once again carrying her unconscious in his arms like the big dumb hero he is.
How great would it have been if Padme was able to pull everything off on her own? How much fun would it have been to watch Anakin getting more and more frustrated as he sits on the sidelines watching and being completely useless. It could have been such a strong character defining episode for Padme, where she proclaimed her place as an action/adventure hero like her daughter is. But no, instead she is once again the damsel in distress and while she does accomplish the mission, she needed a man to help her do it. How sad.
Final Grade: B
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