Carnage of Krell

"Our actions define our legacy."

- Moral

"Carnage of Krell" is the tenth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fourth season. It officialy aired on November 18, 2011.

Official description
"With two of his men facing execution for disobeying orders, Captain Rex must confront his overly aggressive commander, General Krell. Risking charges of mutiny, Rex must make a dark choice as the true face of the enemy emerges. "

Synopsis
Captain Rex meets Krell in his command tower and asks him to reconsider Fives and Jesse's court martial, but Krell refuses to back down on the grounds that the two "traitors'" insubordination will inspire others to rebel against his command as well. Krell dismisses the bravery of the two prisoners as a "defect", again demonstrating his high disregard for the troopers. To Rex's dismay, rather than agreeing to postpone a court martial, Krell claims that they don't have any more time to waste, and orders Rex to organize an immediate execution.

Rex descends to the brig to retrieve Fives and Jesse, and informs them of their impending fate; an announcement they do not take lightly. Initially Fives reacts in shock, and warns Rex that Krell is using him, but Rex feels helpless to resist, though he assures the prisoners that he will not let Krell's injustice go unpunished. In apparent acceptance, Fives tells Rex that they knew that they'd be punished for their actions; an admission which Jesse does not appreciate.

Under the supervision of Dogma, Fives and Jesse are led out to be executed. As the men take aim, Fives suddenly appeals to his brothers, telling them that they are not unthinking droids but sentient and intelligent beings. Fives argues that the clones are men, who not only follow orders and serve loyally, but who also must be trusted to make their own decisions when their orders are clearly wrong.

Disregarding Fives' appeal, Dogma orders the the execution squad to fire. The men obey, but none of the shots hits its target, to Dogma's dismay. The squad drops their weapons, bolstering Rex's resolve, who orders Fives and Jesse to be released. Despite Dogma's energetic appeals to carry out the order, he finds no support among the firing squad, or with Rex, who remarks that Dogma will not find anyone willing to follow the order.

After the failed execution, General Krell orders Rex and Dogma to the tower. Krell warns Rex that he will be punished for his disobedience, and implies that Rex too will be executed for his inaction. Though clearly shaken, Rex stands his ground, and even asserts his own rank against Krell.

Before Rex and Krell can come to blows over the matter, the tower receives a transmission from a clone scout, informing them that the Umbarans are preparing another offensive, possibly with the aid of clone armor and weapons captured from a platoon. Krell decides on a pre-emptive strike. The troops move out, but soon run into a firefight and begin targeting what they believe to be the enemy in disguise.

Rex ventures alone across the enemy lines, investigating the corpse of one of the supposedly "disguised" Umbarans. To his horror, the soldier turns out to be a clone trooper from the 212th Attack Battalion. Realizing they'd been deceived, Rex breaks into a run across the battlefield, frantically ordering his men to remove their helmets and reveal their true identity to their misled comrades. In a desperate move, Rex charges unarmed into the 212th's ranks, tackling one trooper and revealing the shocking truth to both sides. Stunned, the two units advance towards each other, brother staring at brother in disbelief. The 212th trooper whom Rex intercepted collapses in tears, while Rex himself appears brokenhearted.

Among the casualties, is the 212th platoon leader, Waxer. Rex manages to speak with him briefly, and the dying clone confirms his suspicions, informing Rex that General Krell had given the same orders to his men, claiming that the enemy was wearing clone armor. Overcome with grief, Waxer dies.

Shaken and stunned, the troopers of the 501st Legion and the 212th rally under Rex. Despite the potentially treasonous nature of the act, Rex orders the volunteers to apprehend and arrest Krell for treachery against the Republic. They return to the airbase, release Jesse and Fives, and leave to confront Krell.

In the tower, the clones surround Krell, and Rex states that the General is being relieved of duty. Unperturbed, Krell casually condemns the clones actions as treason. However, when further challenged by Rex, he flippantly admits to ordering the clones against each other. Upon Rex's repeated order to surrender, Krell suddenly attacks, cutting down several of the clones in an intense close-quarters fight. After declaring his superiority to the clones, calling them "creatures bred in [a] laboratory", Krell smashes through the tower windows, cutting down or evading any troopers in his way as he fled towards the jungle.

As Rex begins to give pursuit, Dogma, who had deserted the group beforehand, intercepts his squad, holding them at gunpoint and denouncing them as traitors for refusing to follow orders. In spite of Rex's order, Dogma refuses to stand down, claiming that defending Krell is his duty. In a tense standoff, Rex admits to once feeling like Dogma, believing that a good soldier always obeys their orders. However, he argues that despite their engineering, the clones are not droids, and that they must make their own decisions. After a final warning from Tup, Dogma lowered his weapon, and was arrested. Rex ordered Dogma to be imprisoned before leading his men in pursuit of General Krell.

While the clones search the jungles, Krell ambushes one of Rex's squads, then uses the force to project his voice to taunt them before attacking Rex's own squad. Tup is thrown aside during the carnage and lands near one of the native vixus. He has Rex lure the traitorous Jedi to him, allowing the monster to capture the General. The plan is successful, resulting in Krell being injured and stunned by Tup.

In the brig, Krell admits to Rex's questioning that he has in fact turned traitor, having forseen the rise of a a new order in the galaxy, and seeking to gain from it, abandoned his Jedi principles in favor of a self-serving ideology. He gives away his intentions of sabotaging the Republic war effort by giving away vital information to the Umbarans, with the ultimate intention of being recognized by Count Dooku and becoming his new apprentice.

In addition, the clones find that Krell has sabotaged the airbase's communications and had been feeding them misinformation: Obi-Wan Kenobi's men have long since captured the capital, but the surviving Umbarans are now on their way to assault the airbase. Fearing they might not be able to hold the airbase, allowing Krell to escape and use his knowledge of the Republic against them, Rex and his men decide that the renegade Jedi is too dangerous to be left alive. Returning to the prison, Fives releases Dogma, and watches as Rex prepares to formally execute Krell.

Krell taunts the Captain, reminding him that the Umbarans are approaching, and asserting that Rex is unable to actually fire the killing shot. Despite insisting that he had to act, Rex is trembling in fear, to the Jedi's satisfaction. However, as Rex hesitates and Krell continues his taunting, the Jedi is suddenly shot in the back by a terrified Dogma, using a pistol slipped from Fives' holster.

As the clones regroup at the airbase, Fives informs Rex that Obi-Wan's men have routed the remaining Umbarans and secured all sectors, marking the end of the invasion. Dogma is taken into custody, receiving a nod of affirmation from Rex for his act. As Fives and Rex watch the wounded being carried away, Rex questions the reasons for the war. Fives attempts to reassure Rex by stating that the war will end one day, to which Rex responds by questioning what will happen to the clones when it does end.

Cast

 * Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers
 * Dave Fennoy as Pong Krell
 * Tom Kane as narrator

Behind the scenes
First mentioned in the "Launch Pad" article of Star Wars Insider 129, the episode was erroneously introduced as "Carnage of Krall." An update to the StarWars.com "Events" section clarified that the episode's correct name was "Carnage of Krell."

This episode features a couple of references to the third episode of the Star Wars movies, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. For example, the scene where the clones confront Pong Krell in order to arrest him is similar to the scene in the movie where Mace Windu and three other Jedi surround Chancellor Palpatine and order his arrest. Both Krell and Palpatine even say the line "It's treason, then". Also, during the scene where Krell explains his actions while incarcerated, he describes the fall of the Republic and the Jedi and the rise of a new order, all three of which occur in the movie.