Full Series The Clone Wars: Episode 222: Lethal Trackdown Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Just watching it again. That certainly looks like one of Jango's blasters that Boba has in the holo where the first hostage gets killed.

 

Exactly. I really don't understand why people nitpick so much for a little line of humour. I wonder if they would do that for every line in the OT movies...

Agreed. This is another case of stupid nitpicking.

 

Episode Highlights
1. Aurra Sing! Wow! The story arc was supposed to be about Boba, but Aurra stole the show.
2. Aurra Sing locking lips with Hondo.
3. Hondo commenting ?Not mine, I take it? as he referred to Boba. The implication being that Boba was not a child Hondo had fathered with Aurra. Risqué for a show with children as a primary audience!
4. Plo Koon! OMG we don?t see enough of him!
5. Coruscant underworld! Very lavish and detailed.
6. Ahsoka deflecting point-blank blaster shots from Aurra?s pistol.

 

OK, I rewatched this episode, and I know I said Ahsoka was fine in it, and she pretty much was, but I was disappointed they gave her all the cool action scenes. What about Plo Koon? Why couldn't he chase Aurra on the bike, or cut up her ship?

 

She saved the day.

 

^I think both her and Plo saved the day. But since Ahsoka got more of the action and dealing with the more dangerous villain, it probably makes her look more heroic than Plo, who pretty much just stood there and only had a moody boy to concentrate on.

I would've liked the action to be more shared with Plo and Ahsoka, especially since she gets plenty of fighting spotlight, and Plo has been very much a background character in the show. Perhaps the writers wanted to demonstrate (again) how Plo isn't brash as Ahsoka, 'craving adventure and excitement' and all that.

 

Most likely. I always assumed they gave the "writer's pet" more to do, than any other character. Plo did get a nice bit of action when he disarmed Aurra, but it was quick. Ahsoka is a Padawan, and yet she can deflect multiple shots. She's too strong for her age, and now in season three she'll get rare Force visions. That takes me back to my theory of her definitely being a writer's pet. Hopefully those visions will have something to do with her fate.

 

I find myself liking the character of Hondo. I found it surprising that he of all people would tell Boba what the honorable thing to do would be. Considering after all that he's a pirate, preyed on defenseless farmers, asked for mercy from Anakin only to have his Monkey-Lizard try to shoot him in the back, etc.

In this episode he reminds me of the kinds of people that get into a rough spot in life, acknowledge that they wish things were different, and swear that they will make a better life for their kids. He just came across as the kind of person that would look at Boba and think, "Kid. Don't make the same mistakes that I did." I wonder if Jango was the same way. Perhaps he did not want Boba Fett to follow in his footsteps and become the kind of kind of person that is identified with "scum."

 

I don't think Hondo is quite like Jango as a 'family man', but maybe with age he would be. Now he has honor, but he also had no problem with Boba witnessing someone getting killed infront of him. 'Hey someone scrap this body off the floor'.

Yeah, but think of the possibilites. Her dreams could mean she could get the character developement we've been waiting for, and more challenges.

 

Ahsoka's an alright character. My biggest problem with her is that she is just a teenage girl version of Anakin.

-Great with a lightsaber
-Very strong in the Force for her age
-Brash, overconfident
-Recieves Force visions

I like the idea of Ahsoka's Force Visions, I think it will make for goo character development, but at the same time it seems to take away Anakin's thunder.

 

^I agree there. It could be good for her character, but her having visions and talking of premonitions with Yoda makes her seem even more of a she-Anakin than before. Making her act like him is one thing, but they need to draw the line somewhere.

 

Cause that really isn't Plo's style, seeing who Ahsoka's master is it is no shock that she would be the first to jump into action.

 

BEST POST SO FAR!!

 

Boba Fett was shown to be mysterious but an awesome killer in Ep. 5-6, when? We saw him 3 stooging himself to the bottom of the Sarlacc, but thats about it.

 

I think the Force visions are a little too much and over the top for Ahsoka. They could have easily did something else, but not make it very Anakin like.

 

I keep hearing the speculation of a "jail break" episode. I really hope that it doesn't come to pass that the League of Villains: Boba Fett, Bossk, Wat Tambor, Cato Parasitti, and Poggle the Lesser all decide to team up and escape together.

And it would only get more ridiculous the more villains that they have get captured prior to that speculated episode.

 

Hondo: "You're not the first man to bail out from under her command"
Aurra: "He speaks from experience"

Sexual innuendo FTW!

Seriously, best line in the entire series so far. If the that Hondo is leaving a trail of little hondo's throughout the galaxy was risque, this one was flat out scandelous for an animated series. Loved it.

Also, Aurra aint dead and Slave 1 aint destroyed. Are we forgetting that there is a pirate group just down the road with salvage abilities, who have a friend of Jango and aurras ex booty call as their leader? Trust me, Give aurra a little bacta time, Slave 1 a little Spackle and paint, both will be as good as new and ready for the inevitable jail break episode in season 3.

I do like the upped animation values. Season 2 got progressively better but the series is seriously starting to border on photo-realistic with the backgrounds.

I have two complaints with season two overall. I would have loved to see an episode with Dooku getting the spotlight, and just kicking utter arse. We got to see him getting the better of anakin and obi-wan again in season 1, I would love the series to give him an episode by himself, and just letting him go all out. I would also have liked to see ventress show up. I mean seriously, We got a Grievous two parter, why not let Ventress show up for even a cameo or another action focused episode?

The second complaint has to do with the filler episodes. Lightsaber lost and it's ilk seriously have to step up their game and be either for jokes, or for character insight into lesser seen jedi. Or perhaps just there to give anakin a moment to indulge his dark side tendencies a little further, as that was definitely one of the highlights of season 2.

That said, I really like where this is going. Season 1 started out rough, but improved its game as the series went on. Season 2 started out cool, and despite a few hiccups brought the intensity levels up several notches. I'm hoping that in season 3 we will get into more character story arcs, maybe ashoka finding out about anakin and padme and having to struggle with jealousy and dark side tendencies as we do know she has feelings for anakin, or perhaps the visions being a recurring theme and building to a season long story arc. We know she is one of the series chief focuses, and so far I think she's mellowed out a lot from what we saw in the pilot, I just want to see the show start really developing some huge epic story arcs that have legs enough to carry us through to the end.

 

I really enjoyed this episode. I think it goes into my top five or so for this season. I know that some guys here might have a problem with the "Ahsoka saves the day" nut it really doesn't bug me that much since we did have good breaks from her this season(Mandalore Arc, Zillo Beast,Trench's debut) and I don't think Ahsoka is that bad of a character to warrant that we should get worked up when she does something heroic. I mean...would we rather have her be a bumbling idiot? At least it seems like she's actually maturing and becoming a real Jedi. If a Jedi doesn't put herself in harm's way and helps people without hesitation, what good is she???

My Highlights for This Episode:

-BOSSK. I actually thought the voiceover worked rather well. I was never much of a Bossk fan until this arc as initially he just didn't seem like the kinda character I could get into. I'm glad they didn't have him speak in some other language that everyone but the audience can understand. We have Artoo doing that for the main heroes. Embo doing that for the bounty hunters in episode number 17. It would have gotten silly and redundant if Bossk was done that way

-The Coruscant Underworld. Coruscant is a big planet/city with many different districts and areas, it was nice to be reminded that not everyone in the Republic is a Jedi, or a politician, or some kind of aristocrat. I thought seeing graffiti scrawled walls, swoop bike gangs, and alien pubs added some flavor and diversity to sights that was beginning to be a too familiar. Coruscant is a huge planet wide city, we need to see all the different sights it has to offer. This season has really tried hard to do that.

-Boba's dialogue. I wasn't too happy with some of the dialogue Boba had in the last episode. It seemed a bit too simple. However, this episode made me get a better look into who Boba is. We sometimes get caught up in Boba being a super badass Mandalorian mercenary that we often of Boba as being that way from the beginning, but that's just not realistic. This episode really showed what some of the influences on Boba were that created who he was. I really was happy hearing Boba finally say things I would expect him to say: "Why whould I help anybody!? I've got no one!"

-The Nautolan mercenary. I think it's cool to see a different and unexpected species working the mercenary trade business. It also gave insight into what the Nautolans may be like as a culture on Glee Anselm. I hope one day we get to actually see that planet.

I was a bit confused at first when Hondo told Boba to help Plo Koon by saying it was the honorable thing to do. However, it kinda makes sense. Jango was part of the True Mandalorian party in the civil war which pushed for Mandalorians to return to being mercenaries of honor and renown instead of brigands,thugs, or thieves. When Jango's people were killed Jango became a mercenary on his own. So I thought that Hondo's statement on how Jango wouldn't have wanted Boba to behave that way meant that he felt Jango would have wanted Boba to admit defeat with dignity especially since he no longer has any reason to defend Aurra like a comrade or "mother" given he betrayal by leaving him to be captured.

Note: we should also remember that Aurra AND Slave 1 survive well into the future. Aurra is alive and Slave 1 is eventually repaired and repainted because we've seen Aurra in later time periods and we saw Slave 1 in Episode V. It should be so obvious that there is no reason to think this series is trying to tell us that both were destroyed indefinitely!

 

One of the better episodes of this season, IMO.

-The prisoners scene aboard the Slave 1 felt really intense.

-Anakin and Mace were wearing exactly the same outfit as Luke did at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.

-Aurra finally felt like a real character. In the other parts she seemed to focus too much on sounding "ultimately evil".

-R.I.P. Commander Ponds. Him floating into frame was kinda shocking.

-When Aurra told the others they'd meet up with someone, I was expecting it to be Cad Bane, even if I already saw the episode's preview showing her talking to Hondo.

-Hondo officially became my favorite new character from this show. He simply has the best dialogue, voice and animation.

-Massiffs from AOTC!

-Aurra and Hondo having a past! Brilliant!

-So Aurra and Cad Bane are working purely professional or is he her new lover?

-"Not mine, I take it."- Hondo

-Hondo knowing Jango was a great idea and helps to bind him into the Saga for me.

-I liked Castas' accomplice and how Aurra called out for Castas and having him turn around before she shot him and him jerking back onto the hologram was very well choreographed.

-The Coruscant underworld really goes down deep. Reminds one of the escape tunnel in Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars Series.

-Why would you need entry booths to the underworld? And for that matter, why are the skiff taxis just parked for anyone to take?

-Loved the nightclub scene from start to finish! Great character animation all around. The Bartender was really interesting. Ahsoka's Force focusing was very impressive.

-Didn't the two Ahsoka had been listening in on let off her a little too easily? Would have probably worked better if the crowd had pushed them down trying to get the Republic Credits.

-That shot of Plo Koon and Ahsoka meeting up with Hondo did last too long for seemingly no apparent reason.

-Speeder Bike chase felt like a mixture between the Shadows of the Empire Speeder Chase and the Podrace from The Phantom Menace. Interesting.

-Slave 1 crashing? I was pretty uneasy about the scene when I saw it. But I guess Hondo did repair it.

-That dialogue exchange between Boba and Mace was just one big cop-out. There should have been a much better exchange here.

-They used Boba's "eerie child singing theme" too many times throughout this trilogy.

-For Season 3, please, Filoni and team, put more money into the scoring. More focus on the music. It would add so much to the Star Wars atmosphere.

 

Part of the problem is that the customs entry scene serves no purpose, and for a minute-long scene in a 22-minute episode, that's not a good thing.

 

Here are my thoughts:

-Definately in my top five favorite episodes. It could have been my favorite, if not for the terrible ending. Everything after Ahsoka cut Slave 1s wing off was absolutely horrible. Aurra could have sped away in the ship, leaving everyone in the dust like the awsome bounty hunter she is, but Ahsoka had to defeat the villain for it to be a "complete" episode. Also, this arc was supposed to show us the beginning of Boba's descent into the dark world of bounty hunting, but alas, at the end he's just a kid crying "She left me!" to Plo Koon and yelling "You started it!" to Mace Windu.

-The bar was gorgeous. The design, detail, creatures, lighting...

-Plo and Ahsoka's descent into the underworls was amazing.

- The shot of the Jedi Shuttle approaching Florrum was breathtaking. Did anyone else see the lightning storm ion the planet? Loved the detail.

-THAT was the correct way to use a Jedi Shuttle, when it is an internal Jedi mission! (Sorry, had to say that.)

-Minor gripe: All the Mandalorian blasters sound like Jango's blasters, even though I'm pretty sure the blasters Jango had in AOTC were not even Mandalorian, yet when Boba uses one of the actual blasters from AOTC, it sounds nothing like it?

-Loved all the new costumes. The ESB robes were pretty cool, and Plo's cape was utterly fantastic. They better make a figure of him in that cape...

-Loved the scenes with the prisoners. Pond's death was well done, but it should have been the nameless officer.

-Boba's exchange with Admiral Kilian was excellent, until Boba starrted shouting "What?! What are you looking at?!"

-Aurra is officially my new favorite villain. Pure awsomeness.

-Castas was a terribly annoying character. Apparently that was by design. I cheered when Aurra killed him.

Awsome season finale. It would have been so much better without the weak ending, though...

 

Yeah

 

One promblem I had with the customs scene is that they had a Force-powered lock from the Jedi Temple. Seriously, how many Jedi visit the Underworld? And even if they did, couldn't they just show theur identification to the customs droid? I just don't see the point of the investment on Coruscant's part.

Also, on the topic of the unguarded transports, maybe you can only drive them if you get a key from customs, eliminating the need for security.

 

Nice episode. Best one in the trilogy, although unfortunately that's not really much praise. the trilogy fails because the middle chapter completely dropped the ball. But this final episode was quite good and enjoyable. The writing was some of the best we've seen in the show, both in dialogue (Hondo and Aurra, Plo and Ahsoka...) and in the structuring of the narrative (the tying up of the Florrum and Coruscant scenes with Castas' death was very elegantly done).

I think the character of Boba was well handled in these episodes. Sure, we would all have liked to have seen him actually DO more stuff. I prefer to have him be too passive than be a little Rambo character. At the end of the day, he's just a 12 year old kid, alone in the galaxy, with lots of emotions bottled up. He might have received lots of training from Jango, but he doesn't really have that much experience with the real deal. It's one thing to cheer on your father as he's hunting an enemy, quite different for you yourself to coldly execute someone who isn't really any threat to you. Jango and Boba aren't psychpathic murderers, they are practical men, who will do what must be done to get a job done. But they won't kill someone if they don't have to.

About Hondo's honour. I think what it boils down to is that Hondo will not be mean if it serves no purpose. If you can afford to a nice guy, why shouldn't you be one? Boba has already been captured, and he has nothing to gain from allowing Bossk to kill the hostages. Actually, he would actually score a few points with his captors if he aids them. That's Hondo's idea of honour, don't be a **** if you've nothing to gain from it.

So, Aurra expects the Jedi to somehow figure out where she is and come for her (coordinates in the transmission would be useless, since they were in the middle of nowhere at that point), that's fine by me. What's a little weird is that Aurra's great trap for Mace Windu and whatever Jedi who showed up chasing her was just a an old mexican standoff. Against a Jedi, I wouldn't say that'd the best way to go about it, when you're fighting on your own turf with plenty of preparation time.

Of course Aurra and the Slave I were not destroyed. The crashing explosion was a bit too mig for my taste, but it still doesn't make it farfetched to imagine that Aurra could survive it and that there would be enough left of the ship for Hondo's gang to rebuild. What makes no sense to me is that they don't adress what happened to Aurra. I mean, she crashed just beyond that hill, a dangerous and violent criminal. Wouldn't Plo Koon search the wreckage for any signs of her? A little line at the end saying that she wasn't found on the crash site would be enough.

I really liked the bar scene, with Ahsoka's Magnify Senses being demonstrated. I specially liked that it actually didn't end in a big brawl with the Jedi. I know it's probably due to time constraints, but still, it shows some rare restraint for the writers to shy away from a bit of gratuitous lightsaber twirling when it would be so easy to go for it.

 

Ahsoka's line "Drinks on the house" and her tossing the change really made me cringe. I don't know about anyone else. They certainly could have ended that scene better.