Hostage Crisis

"A secret shared is a trust formed."

- Moral

"Hostage Crisis" is the twenty-second and final episode in Season One of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series.

Official description
To free crime lord Ziro the Hutt, bounty hunters seize control of the Senate Building and take hostages&mdash;completely unaware that Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker is still inside.

Plot summary
Cad Bane and his crew of bounty hunters, along with a few droid enforcers, arrive at the Senate landing zone, where they meet a host of Senate Commandos, who are not happy with their unauthorized arrival and try to arrest him. However, three commandos are sniped by Aurra Sing from long-range and the rest of the bounty hunters overwhelm the members of the squad. A commando droid fools security into thinking that the Senate Commando squad had taken care of a group of protesters against the war before promptly taking their uniforms. Aurra Sing and the rest of the bounty hunters the meet the group on the landing platform.

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. Anakin then gives his Lightsaber to Padmé to show that he trusts her with his life. However, he has to hide, as Threepio and Senator Organa are about to enter. Padmé quickly takes the lightsaber off of her desk and hides it in her sleeve. Organa informs Padmé that they must meet in the lobby to discuss the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. Meanwhile Bane and his crew take out the rest of the senate commandos and then go down to the control panel room and subdue the droids there, leaving Robonino to get the power down. The bounty hunters then leave to talk to some senators. Suddenly, once all the senators are gathered, the bounty hunters surround and take them hostage. Senator Philo attempts to leave only to be shot by Bane in the back. 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. Bane shoots at him and then 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 Alama in the search.

Anakin manages to locate the power core, but a panicked Robonino shuts the door behind him. Alama then come up behind Anakin. Though Anakin grabs his gun, Sing then attacks 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, Palpatine and Clone Commander Fox's detachment of the Coruscant Guard to have them arrested. Anakin wakes up and Padmé gives him back his lightsaber, playing it off as if Anakin had dropped it. 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. Padme then thanks Anakin for his daring escape.

Cad Bane liberates Ziro from prison, and they escape successfully. Ziro congratulates Bane on a job well done, but Bane states that it's time to pay, saying he doesn't work for free.

Cast

 * Corey Burton as Cad Bane, Ziro the Hutt, Shahan Alama
 * Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
 * Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala, BD-3000 luxury droid
 * Phil LaMarr as Bail Prestor Organa, Orn Free Taa, Philo
 * Ian Abercrombie as Palpatine
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Clone troopers, Robonino, Onaconda Farr
 * Matthew Wood as Commando droid, HELIOS-3D, Senate Guard #1, #3
 * Tom Kane as Narrator, Captain Jayfon
 * David Acord as Senate Commandos, Assistant droid
 * Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
 * Jaime King as Aurra Sing

Behind the scenes
According to USA Today, "Hostage Crisis" had 3.3 million viewers&mdash;the series' highest ratings since the premiere.

In one version of the script, Senate Vice Chair Mas Amedda was to be in the executive office with Palpatine. However, the character was changed to Senator Orn Free Taa, as his character model already existed, and would not require more work to produce.

The text on the back of Robonino's backpack reads "PATSFAN-01" in Aurebesh.

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&mdash;albeit non-combatants.

Clone Commander Fox's appearance in the episode was not confirmed until its Decoded airing.