Clone Wars Recap S4 E18: Crisis on Naboo!

After three weeks of nefarious plotting, scheming, and bullshitting to Anakin, the plot to kidnap Palpatine is finally happening! Will it succeed, thereby changing the entire course and plots of Episodes III - VI? Uh... probably not. But it's a good excuse for some animated violence.

Thanks to the painful lingering after effects of Dan Ackroyd's Crystal Head vodka this recap will probably be a lot lazier than usual. But join me after the jump and I'll see what I can do...

OK, so this episode has to achieve a lot in a mere 21 minutes, and in its rush to do that it left me a tiny bit confused. There's been so much lying and double-crossing in this arc that I don't really know what anyone's true allegiance or plan is anymore, and found myself wondering where the episode was trying to take me. The first three parts raised a lot of questions, and not all of the threads are tied together in an entirely satisfying way.

It starts with the Jedi planning to tighten security for Palpatine's big public speech in Naboo, while meanwhile the bounty hunters are going over the final plans for their attack.

As I implied before, one of the best thing Clone Wars does at the moment is action violence, so as they descend upon Naboo, using their unique styles to pick off the guards one by one, it's cold-blooded but it works. There's some bizarre not-really-all-that-Star-Warsy tech in use here though. Apparently the bounty hunters now have devices which create hologram disguises around them, so even the multi-limbed mushroom looking guy is able to disguise himself as a human guard. Which begs the question, why didn't Obi Wan use this device in the first place instead of shaving off his wonderful strength-giving beard? But then these new hologram devices don't seem to be particularly effective either, frequently shorting out for a split second and revealing the identity of the killer. So that's a stupid thing to use at a big public event, right? And yet some how it kind of works.

When the ruse is discovered the Jedi manage to take a few of the hunters down, but not before Cad and Eval escape with Palpatine. Finally it's time for Rako Hardeen to reveal that he's really Obi Wan and they all have a punch-up and the good guys win. At first Anakin seems a little blaises about Obi Wan's reveal but then gets pissed when he finds out that it was Obi's own decision to lie to him. It's a strong character moment for Anakin but it does feel rushed and I wish there more immediate consequences. 

So that's it, right? The good guys won. Palpatine is safe. But wait... there's still like six minutes left...

Obi Wan has a patented bad feeling about this and after poking around in his rifle case he discovers that Dooku has had it bugged. So apparently Dooku has been listening in the whole time and knew that Obi Wan was in disguise, and this was all part of his master plan? So what does he really want then? Wait... he still just wants to kidnap Palpatine? So why did he let Obi Wan ruin a plan that would have otherwise worked. No... because... wait... there's a second plan?

You see, meanwhile Anakin and Palpatine are just walking around together shooting they shit, and Palps is all, "Oh Ani, honey, let's grab something to eat". So they go into a big dining room and BAM! There's Dooku sitting at the end of the table like a badass, a move that Anakin will later copy in Cloud City during Empire Strikes Back. Anakin looks kind of shocked, but he's really thinking, "Duuuuude, that is hardcore! I am totally stealing that!"

So the real surprise of the episode is an unexpected lightsaber duel between Dooku and Anakin. It's pretty epic and Anaking even winds up with some forks in his arm. Dooku looks like he might have the edge, but Obi comes running in and Dooku decides it's time to bugger off. He escapes in his ship, leaving Obi, Palps and Anakin wondering where they're going to eat. 

It was a pretty good episode, and it certainly got the job done, but I was kind of left wanting a little bit more. Probably like you when you read this recap.