Full Series The Clone Wars: Episode 417: The Box Discussion Thread

I really wasn't so much bothered by Obi-wan helping the other bounty hunters and the honor among thieves so much as how repetitive it was and how easily he became the unchallenged defacto leader. I think it would of been better if the 'Every man for himself' part lasted longer and the other bounty hunters came to realize they had to team up and listen to Obi-wan to survive. I have no problem believing Cad Bane either likes Hardeen or has a plan for him which caused him to decide to save him. Or maybe he just wanted to watch Eval get a crap beat out of him.

 

But that's my point - everything we've been shown about Bane to date is that he is a ruthless individual who looks out for himself above all.

In fact, I almost expected him to tell Hardeen "don't expect me to help you" after he's saved.

As I said, I would be fine with Bane saving him for utilitarian reasons - I.e. they need him for the plan to succeed.

Regardless, I'll ignore it because it was a good moment, but the Box itself was so pointless.

Can someone explain the point of the shield/antidote scenario? If Hardeen didn't know the one alien could use it (it seemed like that actual alien didn't know himself!!), they all would have died.

Which is completely pointless and has nothing to do with kidnapping the Chancellor.

 

I say we just stop trying to make excuses for the poor writing and purge it from our memories. It's all filler anyway so nothing lost.

 

No, the Parwan had a clue, as Obi-Wan translated to Bane. If Obi-Wan wasn't there, then he'd have just taken the serum out of desperation. The point of that challenge was to see how the unit would operate without Hardeen to do the heavy-lifting. That actually worked out well, and Hardeen was shown to have superb leadership skills in that instance.

The whole point of the Box, from what I can ascertain, is to test both the teamwork of the bounty hunters and their individual competence. It's a brutal team-building exercise that also serves as a high-attrition ordeal to kill off all but the most competent of the BHs.

 

That makes sense and is sorta what I figured. I'll have to watch this again soon although maybe I should wait until I'm better. I think my lame filter is malfunctioning.

 

This was actually my first episode that I watched as it aired!

Anyway, I thought it was a good episode, with cool action, but I wish we could of moved father in the story, rather than just having a filler.

 

Wow, people are still having difficulty with the fact that Sith LIE, lol. "Why isn't Dooku telling them (us) exactly what's going on?!?! Bad writing!!" Sith lie, all the time. Dooku knows what's going on behind the scenes with Palpatine, he's been lying/manipulating since we first met him in AOTC. He's helping Sidious to play an elaborate head-game with both sides. It makes perfect sense & is not in any way confusing. If ESB came out today, we'd have people crying, "Bad writing!! Why does Vader keep changing the deal with Lando?!?"

Sith. Lie.

It's a powerful weapon in their hands. The more "real" the war appears to be, the easier it is to have the Republic just hand power over out of fear. That's been the central plotline of the prequel era since 1999

 

I'm thinking Palps doesn't want everyone in the galaxy knowing he's Sidious, even Bounty Hunters that are working for him.

Though one thing I don't get is why Dooku is wanting Palps assassinated, unless Sidious doesn't know that part of the plan, or he's wearing a blaster proof vest.

 

Right on, dude! People keep forgetting that everything's fixed by the Sith.

 

I still wonder if the whole thing Isn't being orchestrated by Palps just to prolong the war and maybe as a way to development a wedge between Anakin and the Jedi council and drive him closer to Palps. Like he predicted everything just right.

 

Of course it is.

 

Probably, but I find it more amusing to believe that Palpatine just doesn't want to go to some boring Naboo festival thing, so he orchestrated this plot as an excuse to get out of it.

 

Oh -- Ric Olie's birthday?

 

Watch it be Senator Amidala's peace rally.

 

I doubt that he would've predicted that the Jedi would've had Obi-Wan's death faked so he could go undercover with a group of bounty hunters. Because if the Jedi hadn't done that--or if they'd chosen a different Jedi to go undercover--then there wouldn't really have been any drama or tension between Anakin and the Council. The only reason Anakin flipped out was because it was his Master that "died."

While the assassination attempt was most likely orchestrated by Palps, in the end, I think that once he learned of Obi-Wan's death, he saw an opening to pull at Anakin and took it. Consider it a cherry on the top of a sundae.

At least, that better be the reason, because, seriously, if Palps just happened to know about the undercover plot just because he's Sidious and has UNLIMITED DARK POWWWAAAAH, then I'd have to give these writers a smack upside the head. It's one thing to manipulate the game in your favor, but it's another to know what the opposition is up to just because of some convenient omniscience.

 

It's my birthday. Today I turn forty six. This is the day I was born. I will be older now then I was yesterday. There's my mound of presents. And look, Chancellor Palpatine is waiting for us.

 

Darth_Zandalor: oh, good one!

I suspect Palps has told the Jedi he "trusts them to keep him safe" and so shall go to Naboo as planned.

It's not unreasonable for him to think the Jedi will try to get more details from Eval - no, it's not (yet) clear what the actual plot is or how/why Eval is in prison - therefore based on a supposition and not knowledge, I don't think it's unreasonable for Palps to think a Jedi will be slipped into prison.

When Kenobi is "killed," he might have suspected this was the "how" and figured out then to play Anakin against the Council.

If nothing else, Palps is a master at making the most of any opportunities, planned or not.

 

And watch her be the one to find some way to make the situation worse. Afterall, she allowed the best chance at peace to fall apart when she let Ahsoka go off to rescue Lux. And she gave up Grievous for Anakin.

Honestly, I know Palpatine is a master manipulator, but you have to wonder how much he's planning and how much he just lets others screw up while he sits back eating popcorn. If nothing else, this show has shown us that the Senate is completely and utterly inept so it's pretty easy to see how Palpatine slides into Emperor.

As to this episode: I think I'd have enjoyed it more if there were a few more well known bounty hunters (Aurra, Bossk or Boba would have been nice had they escaped. Greedo I suppose). Also, Embo seemed like fan service this episode. I would have appreciated the episode more if we'd seen Embo and Bane do one rescue as well. It would have put everyone on even playing field and made Hardeen stick out less.

The Yoda and Anakin conversation was quite good, but I would have preferred it be with Mace. Of course, if it were Mace it would have been less cordial.

 

There's a difference. To Bane, that Ithorian was just some guy with a good hat unlike Rako Hardeen who's proved time and time again how capable he is. Bane knows and respects Rako. Bane doesn't know and respect some Ithorian with a nice hat he only just came upon.

Edit: Oh, I didn't know Quango already answered your question.

 

The more I think about this episode, the more I hate it. So many things were poorly executed or didn't make sense...

This is even worse than 'R2 Come Home' in the middle of the Boba arc.

 

Isn't it a Festival of sorts? I heard that but I can't remember where from.

And watch them slip in some iconic Theed location from TPM like the Throne Room or the hide room full of catwalks where Maul dueled the Jedi. They wouldn't waste any opportunity to cross promote.

 

I can see that connection with this episode. R2 Come Home was pretty atrocious and it was a filler that made no sense in the middle of an arc.

 

I think it was a solid episode, some people are just silly..

The point of the box, while seemingly at first glance has nothing to do with the skills required by the bounty hunters - rather it has more to do to test their individual survival skills as well as testing how well they work as a team at times. I think it was a nice move that we get introduced to these bounty hunters, and see how they were selected for the task ahead (kidnapping Palpatine). This is something I wished to have seen with S01E22 with the assault on the Senate episode where we are introduced to Cad Bane and his band of bounty hunters. When I saw that episode I wondered...how was this group assembled - well, given next weeks daring mission, we got to see that with this episode.

I can say though I was disappointed that we didn't see more *unique* capabilities of the other bounty hunters...it was really all about Obi-Wan/Rako, Cad Bane and Moralo Eval, and I think the relationship developing between Bane and Obi-Wan/Rako is one where Bane sees Rako as having considerable skill, and despite seemingly despising him, sees him as a potential powerful ally.

All in all, it was a welcome filler episode and enjoyable 22 mins.

 

It's fine that you liked it. But I'm not going to call you silly for liking it.