Hostage Crisis

"Hostage Crisis" is the twenty second episode and first season finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It first aired on March 20, 2009 on Cartoon Network.

Moral
A secret shared is a trust formed.

Plot
Bane and his crew of bounty hunters and droid enforcers arrive at the Senate landing zone, where they meet a host of Senate Commandos, who are not happy with their unauthorized arrival. However, three commandos are sniped by Aurra Sing from long-range and the rest of the bounty hunters overwhelm the rest of the squad. One of the commando droids fools security into thinking that the guards had taken down a group of protesters before taking their uniforms.

A few levels above, in Senator Padmé Amidala's office, her husband, Anakin offers to take her to somewhere in the galaxy for a few weeks, where no one will recognize them, but Padmé is too focused on her work. He passes her his lightsaber to show his devotion before kissing. However, he has to hide, as Threepio and Bail Organa are about to enter. Organa informs Padmé that they must meet in the lobby to discuss the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. Suddenly, once everyone is gathered, the bounty hunters surround and take them hostage. Senator Philo attempts to leave only to be shot by Bane. He then communicates with Chancellor Palpatine, demanding the release of Ziro the Hutt from captivity. Palpatine refuses to do so. Unfortunately, Bane proves his point by locking down the entire building, severing all communication with the outside. He takes everyone's comlinks, but before he can search Padmé, who is holding Anakin's lightsaber in her sleeve, Bane notices Anakin in the upper levels and orders an IG-86 sentinel droid and Shahan Alama to get him.

Anakin manages to elude his pursuers and hot-wires a terminal to communicate with Palpatine. The Chancellor advises Anakin to get to the central power core to contact for help. Anakin manages to disconnect and hide before the bounty hunters find him, and then uses a mind trick to convince Alama to check the other two floors. As the hunters split up, Anakin follows the IG-86 sentinel droid and manages to bash it into submission. Alama comes back down to check and finds the droid's mangled remains. Noticing no lightsaber slashes, he quickly figures out that Anakin isn't armed. He reports this to Bane, who sends Sing to assist him.

Anakin locates the power core, but a panicked Robonino shuts the door behind him. Alama and Sing then attack Anakin, and Robonino shocks him into unconsciousness.

Bane then gives Palpatine instructions to give a pardon chip to Orn Free Taa to be transported to the prison where Ziro is being held. 3D then comes in to take the Senator. They arrive at the prison and ship Ziro away.

An unconscious Anakin is dragged into the lobby, where the bounty hunters start to plant bombs that can go off if their laser detectors are triggered. This enables the hunters to leave the Senate unhindered, despite an attempt by Orn Free Taa to have them arrested. Anakin wakes up and Padmé gives him back his lightsaber. He then manages to save everyone by cutting a hole in the floor and dropping everyone one floor down, just before Bane triggers the bombs anyway for the clone troopers' interference.

Cad Bane liberates Ziro from prison, and they escape successfully.

Trivia

 * In one version of the script, Mas Amedda was in the executive office with Chancellor Palpatine. In the final, it is Orn Free Taa, taking advantage of his pre-existing character model (made for the previous episode, "Liberty on Ryloth")
 * Among the Senators held hostage are:
 * Riyo Chuchi of Pantora
 * Onaconda Farr of Rodia
 * Jakker-Sun the Ithorian
 * Dantum Roohd, a character based on a costume design used by Giddean Danu in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Zinn Paulness, a character based on a design of an Alderaanian aide in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * an unnamed Christophsian Senator
 * This episode featured the second appearance of a Christophsian. Also, since the Christophsian was a Senator, Christophsis was apparently part of the Galactic Republic.
 * As Shahan Alama searches for Anakin Skywalker, he comes across a startled "Betty Droid", a BD-3000 luxury droid model first seen in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith whose design was partly inspired by Bettie Page. A hologram of the droid was seen earlier in the series, in "Rookies".
 * Throughout the script, Robonino was simply referred to as "fish guy". He is based on an unused Iain McCaig concept for an alien Jedi.
 * The text on the back of Robonino's backpack reads "PATSFAN-01" in Aurebesh. It appears that Robonino may be a New England Patriots fan.
 * This marks the first time the LEP servant droids are seen in the service of the Republic, as all previous appearances had them as Separatist droids — albeit non-combatants.
 * First onscreen appearance (with dialog) of Aurra Sing since Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * First appearance of Ziro the Hutt since Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film)
 * Originally Ziro the Hutt was supposed to have new tattoos to represent his time spent in prison. However, this proved to time consuming and costly and the idea was scrapped.