The Clone Wars: Episode 305: Corruption Discussion Thread

PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 306 OR LATER IN THIS THREAD.

Use the General Discussion (Spoilers Allowed) thread for any discussion beyond Episode 305!

<img src="http://www.starwars.com/img/theclonewars/guide/epguide305.jpg">

"The challenge of hope is to overcome corruption."

Synopsis: Padmé, on a diplomatic mission to Mandalore, guarantees the pacifist planet the Republic's full protection, but she and Duchess Satine soon find something sinister lurking beneath the planet's serene facade.

Director: Giancarlo Volpe
Writer: Cameron Litvack

Key Characters: Padmé Amidala, Duchess Satine Kryze, Prime Minister Almec
Key Locales: Mandalore

Explore the Official Episode Guide HERE

Who could ever have imagined a few years ago that an episode about Mandalore could appear to be so... boring?

I hope it's great, but so far nothing really peeks my interest here.

Gee, I wonder if the sinister underside has something to do with Death Watch!

Ah hell. At least Satine is probably the strongest female character we have on the show, so that counts for something.

However, it appears this is a sequel to the Mandalore Trilogy yes? So why is Mandalore suddenly so desperate for Republic protection? Weren't they going to fix the problem themselves?

Huh, I guess I called it when I said that a pacifist nation denying military assistance would stand no chance against an organized Terrorist group.

I enjoy Satine a lot but this episode seems like a snoozer.

We need some CLONE War action.

Actually, this looks like it is to be a prequel because Prime Minister Almec is in the character list.

Almec survived the Mandalore Trilogy. Davu the informant and Jerec the spokesperson were killed during Duchess of Mandalore.

Whoops, my bad. I tried to check, but did it too quickly it seems.

This could be alright. Assuming it's the first part of a two-parter.

Again, as I posted in the general thread, they've had a pretty bizarre sequencing of episodes so far.

We start with a prequel to the 5th episode of S1 (Rookiees), then go to full on attack mode for ARC troopers, all talk no action with Our Heroes, then we jump to a prequel of the 1st episode aired of S1 and the Ryloth trilogy, half talk, half action, starring Bail, Lott Dod, Jar-Jar and a Jedi whose fate the TCW director spoiled for us.

Then we move on to our good friends Chuchi and Ahsoka pairing up against the TF again(?), and we get George Lucas versus Greedo the Younger.

Now it's politician city, with smack-talking pacifist Satine to boot, again with none of the major characters.

I understand they want to show all sides of the Clone Wars, and I've been asking for them to do this very thing from the beginning of S1, but they pick an odd time to do so!

Mandalore Threatened by Corruption!

<img src="http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/corruption_preview/corruption_img.jpg">

On a diplomatic mission to Mandalore, Senator Padmé Amidala uncovers a sinister plot lurking beneath the pacifist planet's serene façade. With the help of Duchess Satine, she investigates a mysterious illness spreading among Mandalore's children, discovering corruption that extends into the highest levels of the Mandalorian government. An all-new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "Corruption," airs at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT Friday, October 8 on Cartoon Network.

"Corruption" explores a system divided. Deep in the midst of an identity crisis made even worse by the widespread turmoil of the Clone Wars, the people of Mandalore find themselves torn between their violent past and their leader's promise of peace for the future.

"It's a fascinating culture at a really interesting time," says Dave Filoni, Supervising Director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. "Mandalore has a long history of violence, and they're trying to move away from that. But this is all taking place in the middle of a galaxy-wide civil war, so it's difficult for Satine to make a case for peace when there's so much violence all around. And that's exactly why peace is so important to her."

While Season Two's visit to Mandalore saw the schism reflected in the explicit aggression of the Death Watch, the latest plot indicates a far more subversive threat -- reaching into the highest echelons of the Mandalorian power hierarchy.

"There are bigger threats to peace than the Death Watch," says Filoni. "We've seen their approach in Season Two; they used violence as their message. But political corruption can be far more damaging in the long run. The scale's so much broader here, and the stakes are system-wide. Ultimately, Mandalore's allegiances are key to the Clone Wars, so every little transgression can have ripple effects throughout the war. Corruption can spread, and it's threatening to poison Satine's best efforts."

Without the explosive threats of the Death Watch, the story necessarily takes an altogether different tone. Teamed with Padmé for the investigation Satine sets out to uncover the threat to her power -- and to Mandalore's peaceful future. Though they come under fire as the investigation heats up, the two women face dangers with far-reaching consequences even greater than mere threats to their own personal well-being.

"Whenever we visit Satine, we're going to see a war of ideals," says Filoni. "She's very steadfast in her beliefs, and that's what makes her a good leader. She's got a tough job, though. She is often undermined by her own people, and her core beliefs are even at odds with the beliefs of the other Clone Wars heroes -- including the Jedi and the Senate. Ultimately, they all want the same thing -- peace -- but they have different thresholds. With an endgame that is so important to the entire galaxy, compromises can be difficult -- even when it comes to the means by which peace is achieved."


In other words, BORING.

To me this sounds like all kinds of awesome, Of course Satine and her pacifetts will make it through the episode, but anything that works at moving Mandalore itself away from that end is of interest to me.

And not a Jedi on the roster either, double win!

This might be decent, but usually anything staring Padme puts me to sleep.

If there is trouble on Mandalore, possibly caused by outsiders, then it looks like it will be causing internal conflict - people considering whether they should remain pacifists. It seems like even the Prime Minister is having doubts about it. So maybe this episode sets up future storylines. The current crisis gets sorted out and Satine remains as leader but the planet is more divided than ever. And that is something that can be exploited by Death Watch if and when they return.

This is a bold move. I hope they know what they're doing. That said, given the gradual development of politics in season 3, I daresay there's a glimmer of hope in terms of how this unfolds.

Of course, there's always this to consider: At least they're getting all this stuff out of their system and hopefully for most of the season.

Presuming that this is also an internal affair, why is it allowed for a senator to risk his/her life on one of these missions and not allowed for a Jedi to help? Weird.

All I (and lots of other fans) wanted from the prequels was some serious jedi or republic forces vs Mandalorians...and it never happened.

Now the clone wars series aren't doing it either... I loved the Mandalore Trilogy -but it teased us with what we wanted!

Grrr!

The TCW team has to show us some Mandalorians v.s Clones action. It's just something so awesome they couldn't resist it. They might be teasing us with it now and later on show it. Been about 8 months since the Mandalore Trilogy right?

It's been 8 months since I've been waiting for a duel between Rex and some Mandalorian.

I like Satine, but her dialogue (monologue?) in the preview clip is terrible. Go on Satine, see if you can repeat "poison" and "children" one... more... time... There ya go, knew you could. And Padme's costume... for a character virtually defined by her ever-changing outfits why do we see this awful one so often?

Still, love the look of Mandalore.

If we had already gotten an episode where the Death Watch was unleashed I would have been fine with a slow political episode on Mandalore. The way it?s now it just feels like DF is stalling for the sake of being annoying. The fact that this episode seems to lead into an Ashoka solo episode where she seems to easily kick the ass of several Death Watch members disguised as guards doesn?t help much. Does Dave Fillioni hate the group?

Hang on... Is this a 2 parter? ...and an Ashoka episode to follow?

Oh man... The Savage episodes and Quinlan Vos can't come quick enough!

You know, at least it's quite refreshing not to be talking about continuity issues for once! This episode seems to be steamroll-free. (other than the whole urban Mandalore pacifism thing, which we've already got used to).

Unfortunately this seems to be veeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyy bbbbbbbboooooooooorrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggggg episode... ok some shootout between Padmé and gotals but that's it- rest of the episode is smuggling sodapop and worrying about politics.... Satine without Obi-Wan... Padmé without Anakin... Pacifist mandos without Death Watch.... what next?- Trade federation without droids? Jedi without Lightsaber?
Are they doing these episodes for purpose to make action episodes later to feel better? I want to see fullscale invasions (Kamino battle was LAME)- Grievous killing jedi- Death Watch and so on... no more politics

Padmé is ridiculously overused in action episodes- thank God there was Chuchi instead in the sphere of Influence- and Bail and JarJar in Supply Lines..

Don't know about Quinlan- Lucas seems to like him.... but I really fear that great appearance of Delta Squad is already seen completely in that CV-clip - they come and tell that someone killed jedi and council is like "Let's send Anakin and Ahsoka to deal with this- oh and Obi-Wan -because Anakin cannot face Grievous"
Embo's great "appearance" was to hang around in Jabba's palace with all those weequays- just because animators didn't bother to animate new thugs (where are all human-criminals- we haven't seen any- all humans are hired to be senate guards and admirals or what?)

That preview summary of the episode is rather vague... a lot of "Yeah, Mandalore is a peaceful planet that's having problems... etc... etc... etc..." over and over again. So unless 90% of the episode is Satine whining to Padme about how Mandalore (ie herself) should be extremely pacifistic, there's bound to be some other secretly awesome part of the plot they're not telling us yet.

Or so I tell myself.

I swear, I half expect Quinlan to have a 5-second cameo where he shows up, says something to move the plot along, turns to wave at the camera briefly, and leaves.


(Come to think of it... that was basically his entire role in the first EU story he was ever in...)

One can only hope that this will lead into the Ahsoka kicking-butt episode!!! If I had my way, every episode would feature Ahsoka kicking galatical rear-end.

I don't see any problems myself, other than seeing that Mandalore again. But this is the third episode in a row where we see a senator in an episode.

Let's hope we won't see Lott Dod this time...