A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast - 24: Hutts and the Underworld Arc (Clone Wars 51 - 53)

Episode Date: November 17, 2021

If you only knew where this series of episodes began, you might expect quite a different podcast than what we deliver to you today. What begins as an arc about the power (and limit) of prophecy quickly turns into something else. Sure, we get to debate the limits of Padme's boilerplate political rhetoric for a bit, but before long there's a the return of an old antagonist. The only question is, who hates this guy more: us or the people who came up with him in the first place. You can support the show and gain access to a monthly Q&A cast by going to patreon.com/civilized NEXT TIME: Episodes 54 - 55 ("Heroes on Both Sides" and "The Pursuit of Peace") Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

Let us return once more to a more civilized age, Clone Wars podcast. I'm Rob Zackney, joined by Ali Akampora, Austin Walker, and Natalie Watson. Today, we settle all-Hut family business. Hopefully, in the name of tying off some dangling B-plots from the first two seasons of Clone Wars. First, we have Asoka concluding her adventures in working as a... Jedi Pinkerton in Assassin, and then we see both the setup for the attack on the Senate building that freed Zero the Hut and Evil Plans, and the results of that escape in Hunt for Zero.

So, cards on the table, gang, I don't have a lot of nice throughlines to pluck from these episodes, and in my view, they're kind of odd things. They don't really stand on their own very well, but also I'm not sure I came away feeling like these were really compelling side stories in their respective arcs. How did y'all get on with this ad hoc trio? I think the middle episode is utterly unnecessary. I like, and I like the droids. But one of my notes straight up is, why did this episode need to, like, I didn't need the

backstory on hostage crisis, the episode where Cat Bain takes hostages and gets zero free. Like, I didn't need, we could have had the- He didn't need to have the plans. He could have just, he could have just cruised through. I mean, he did. I can prove to you evidence for why we didn't need this. It's because we watched hostage crisis and thought, yeah, that's a pretty sick episode. That was the first Cadbane episode we watched.

And we were like, that was a dope episode. We were not like, I wonder if he got the plans by kidnapping R2D2 and C3PO. An event that only makes it all make like less sense to me. The idea that he had to get close to the principal characters of that episode before doing that episode you know what I mean it's like it's bad hunting it's bad hunting get those plans anywhere else yeah yeah although I did like having an episode with Cadbane and Toto same and I like that R2 got a spa day I'm happy for R2 not sure that part was pretty yeah unnecessary well if you have misgivings about the the role of droids in society I

think well that episode sure deepens them because it's like wow they got their home own little world and they do commerce by themselves, but also they're owned. They're owned people. They truly are. Yeah, I don't, I don't just a through line. I think the most interesting through line is unfortunately just in the first episode, which means it's not really a through line at all. So let's get to that.

Assassin features Asoka being charged with protecting Padme as she conducts the important work of being a totally ineffectual liberal. Padme has to go to Alderan to deliver a vitally important speech called Refugees. Boy, I don't know. The SOPA, meanwhile, continues to have visions of Orys saying killing Padme and is frustrated by the way reality keeps not quite matching up with what she foresaw. She manages two foils saying at the last second and in the end, they reached the conclusion that Zero was the one who put the contract out on Padme. There's beats I like in this episode. I think I enjoyed the way that it plays around with this notion of the moment you begin acting on something you have foreseen, you begin changing the future and the difficulty in reconciling the fact that just by having a vision you are likely to change the actual outcome, that was kind of cool, seeing Asoka try to navigate that.

I think the setup left a lot of space for tension. I just don't feel like there was a ton of tension for me. Did that even happen? Like, that wasn't, that would have been the cool version of this episode. If, like, as, because she's talking about how these different visions aren't lining up with each other. But what she was actually seeing was two separate events. One, like, the, the, she saw the attempted assassination when she is, like, speaking to the crowd the first time in real life. and she was also seeing the attempted assassination in Padme's bedroom.

So we didn't actually see, because that's what I was anticipating, is that she's making changes to the plan of like where Padma is going to deliver which message and all these kinds of things. But I don't think we ever actually saw the butterfly effect of her visions changing. What we, we always had the same two visions, which always led to, things that actually happened but we just didn't know that they were separate events yet we also had a vision that we have not seen come to fruition yet which is or a sing stalking her through this kind of like swamp this gray scale swamp at the very beginning and lifting her up

and like mocking her and it's not clear if that's a real thing that will happen at some point or if that is just the force communicates in strange ways but but right the three visions that we get are that initial one which makes her realize that Padmae is in danger the she says she will die there's nothing you can do then we have the one while I guess like again the very quick overview of what happens here is Asoka has this vision goes to tell Yoda yo I had a vision Padmae's in trouble she gets she gets given the freedom to do what she will with that vision which I have some notes about later um attaches herself to Padmae warns Padmae goes with Padmae to Alderon on the way to Alderon we get our second

which is the one where it seems as if Padme is being attacked in her own bedroom and we see Asoka running through hallways and you're saying that's a vision of the final assassination attempt at the bedroom in the in the Alderani like Capitol building or whatever wherever she's staying which is a weird thing and then we also get the vision of her when she first gets to that Alderani building where she does a little meditation and sees the then impending attack in the large. room. Yes. I think you have unpacked that correctly in a way that I did not fully comprehend until this moment now having looked back at it. Because you're right. I don't know that it is the, it's a, do you know how to make sense of what you're seeing story more than a?

Correct. By impacting it, you're changing it story, which. Correct. And I do think there are, like the fact that her first vision, to me, I read as more like a symbolic vision of Padma being in trouble. If Padma, I mean, if Ors Singh and Asoka end up in a swamp fighting each other, like that sounds cool as hell and I hope to see that one day. But I read that as more the sort of symbolic, is this reality, is this, you know,

given that Asoka was seeing herself, it seemed more dreamlike than vision-like to me. And also the vision in which Ors Singh, like, appears in front of Asoka's bed. Right, right, right. And it's like, it's already begun or whatever. That also fell in line with sort of this more symbolic, like, conflating, like, vision into the future with, like, a more, like, premonition-type dream. So. I should also note, I messed up because there was a fourth, there was a fourth premonition. And that, of course, is the final one, which is the bizarre laughter and purple.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Which, of course, is... That's what, as Rob said, zero the hut's involvement in all of this. Right. We don't see that, but she does say it. Can you imagine you've opened your brain to the psychic maelstrom of the force? And what it gives you back is someone laughing at you and the color purple.

And you're like, word, this is what I've been training for for my whole life. Cool. I would be curious. There's pros and cons. I mean, she's saved Padme, right? You know. She did save Padme. She's working through it.

To rewind and go back to a thing that I found really interesting about this is one of the beats that we came back to again and again while doing the prequel movies were the different ways the Jedi responded to visions. We have Anakin Schmee visions being completely dismissed in episode two. And then we have him not fully talking about, not fully sharing what his visions are in three, having already kind of being tied up because of it being about Padme and his babies. And not being able to say that outright. Here, my initial note was like, see, Asoka said exactly what she saw and she got the freedom to do what she wanted. And I was like, all right, slow down, Austin. Be real.

Why is Yoda giving Asoka more freedom to investigate this than he gave to Anakin? at a point in time where Anakin was just as advanced, if not more advanced as a Jedi than Asoka is, when he saw visions of Shmi. And the two answers are, one, because Anakin has an attachment to Shmi and the Jedi are so dogmatic in their get rid of attachment view that he's not going to be allowed to pursue that. And two, because Padme is a famous senator who the Jedi like. and it is as always with them, you know, not for thee, but for me. It is, it is, you know, Padmae is important to the galaxy in their worldview.

She is an ally to them. She is someone they have used as a spy multiple times before. She is an asset. And so Yoda is, that has to be part of the calculus as to why she is allowed to go do this thing, along with the sense that she does not have like a deep personal attack. But she does have a deep personal attachment. She hugs Padmae when she sees her. She's like a little sister to Padmae in this episode. Yeah.

Yeah. I was pretty struck by that moment of intimacy between them. Like I did not realize how close they were at this point. But clearly, Osoca does have a very strong investment in Padme. And I was surprised that Yoda, I was really taken aback that Yoda let Asoka move so freely and without supervision through these visions and, like, explore what they meant. And then solo assigned her as her guard for, he didn't even assign her any of he was like, do what you think you should with the vision. You think you should. And she's like, okay, I guess I'll go like bodyguard for her for this event that she's going to where it's clearly not in somebody's political, like, interest.

And it's interesting because the beginning of this episode is, this is when I said earlier, there's a through line, but it's only in this first episode, is that there's a through line here that we see previously in the, what are you? call it episodes, the Pantora episode and the, uh, whatever the first time that she does the Jedi mind trick and it works. What was that? It was a couple of episodes ago, not the Mandalorian one, but the other one where she does that stuff. And it's like, this season has had a string of, she is, she is coming into her own effectively. We've seen her now use her, her powers, uh, efficiently. We've seen that she is growing as a Jedi. Um, she's gaining additional autonomy at the beginning of this episode, Anakin gets assigned to go fight. on some planet somewhere from the EU and the Jedi Council is like oh no sorry we need you here

for stuff I don't know what for because they did not assign her shit because she had a dream the next day right yeah she was they said stay here because we need your full report yeah full report so I guess she hadn't finished her homework yet you couldn't email that one in from the ship from the ship I guess not yeah I that was a thing that stood out to me in that scene because, like, Jedi Council is Jedi Council or whatever, but, like, aren't you all busy? Like, how do you have this time to sit in a roof together? To read someone's report about this or that.

Well, that's management culture, baby. That's like, I think, maybe, maybe, Ali, just put your finger on another issue with the Jedi, like, order, is that the entire thing's gotten real top-heavy, and it's, like, hold the phone. We have to spend, like, three hours a day meeting over, like, Jedi PowerPoint.

and just like getting briefings on this stuff or else. This meeting could have been a hollow message. Yeah, no, you're right. I think that that's definitely a decent synopsis. I think one of the, like to that point about Padman Asoka's closeness, I think the the thing I enjoy here is that it is tested. Asoka is an unnerving presence as a bodyguard. The transit to Alderan, it's actually a really effective sequence where she wakes up from this vision that we can tell like it's an abstract vision, right?

Like this is not like an imminent threat. It just doesn't, it doesn't match up, but she sprints down the hallway, bursts into her bedroom and like, imagine like your cat trying to guard you, I guess, because like Padmey wakes up and Asoka is standing over her with like weapon drawn elite. It's like the most terrifying way to imagine waking up. And she's like, okay, what's going on? Everything good, which is probably not how I would react if my bodyguard was like, all right, I'm here. Wake up, I'm here. I would probably not like be that chill about your bodyguard is the other thing. Padmay had a couple extra melatonin gummies that night.

Yeah, you know, like, if you have a bodyguard, your bodyguard is like, everything is chill, Rob, don't worry about it. Asoka is, if, one, if you had a secret, if you had a secret marriage and your secret spouse had a mentee who, like, happened to be hanging around a lot recently. And you like that, you think, oh, yeah, you're cool, you're growing up, you're, you know, you got some, I'm happy to play space chess with you and whip your ass. by the way which is actually a very Rob Zakney thing in my mind

I can easily imagine you doing this and then have that person bust in with their katana and you're like

all right like you had to go on like a weekend like a retreat or some shit and they were like I really should go with you I really should

and you're like we don't work together but okay I'm trying to get my bodyguard thing off the ground and I need some really good work experience like I need the credits you know like can I are you sure I can't come be your bodyguard because it would really help me out with my mentor and like graduating and yeah next thing you know you're like waking awake waking up

and like flop sweats because you're like your little sit your secret sister-in-law is about to start like shooting wildly around the room well and to your point Padme takes it like a champ. Yeah. Throughout this whole thing, I think they do a pretty good job of showing Padme be a little, a little, you know, pushed out of her comfort zone by all of this. She's a little shaky, but she never completely leaves Asoka, you know, to hang out to dry. She does still trust her. She recognizes that, like, the sort of way she's delivering this information is rough around the edges, but, like, the heart of it is probably, there is probably some true there.

She's known Anakin long enough to know that this is how the force works. Yeah, she does have that experience. And she's a political figure. Like, I'm sure she's constantly thinking, I mean, constantly aware that her life is in danger. Like, she's one of the... Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. I'm not laughing at you. You finish this thought, and I'm about built onto it.

I mean, she is one of the quote-unquote, like, leaders of a semi-resistant-ist-ish. group of people which a lot of other people seem to take issue with so i mean she i guess is she must be aware that she's a political target right yeah i don't want to dismiss the trauma felt by those people on the boo during the crisis with the trade federation sure i don't want to undersell that padmay as a young queen a young leader went through a lot during that that time. Sure. And that she put herself out there in a way that was, you know, heroic.

I don't want to take anything away from her. But I think she takes something away from her when she delivers a speech in which she tries to equate what she went through where a couple of hundred people died to an ongoing conflict that is costing the lives of hundreds of thousands or millions or more, which is what she does at the beginning of her speech where she is like sure it was a small conflict but hundreds died and it's like you're so the way she wields what happened a decade prior is it's not cynical because she believes it but it's a it's a use that i think we've all seen politicians use before that is i think it's really deft writing of padmay as like

the the liberal war hero the liberal who has like been through the shit in a way that like gives them a little bit of extra umph when they can talk about this shit but like the fact that we've seen what the scale of this war is today and it's such a different thing it's such a i didn't know only a few hundred people died it in a boo when she said that number i was like oh word okay she's speaking directly she's not counting the gungans oh right probably not she does she says the gungens right but she also wields the like and a jedi died there like that means anything at this point? She does.

Yeah. Did I be dying? That's what's happening right now. We're in wartime. Did I be dying? And she's speaking to a room full of not not refugee, like fellow philanthropic,

you know, bullshit politicians. She's speaking to actual refugees. I don't understand. Is she, wait. Oh, are they? Yes. Okay.

I was reading them. I was reading them as, fellow bullshit politician. Yeah, I thought it was a what to do about the refugees, like, meaning. Yeah. Everyone was wearing, like, what, nice white dresses? That's what I didn't understand. I was like, who, like, what is this?

That's what I did. Okay, so I clearly misread that. No, I mean, I would, I don't totally believe you're right, but it's like. I thought she, yeah, I thought she had said, like, I need to talk to the refugees. Oh, that would make this even worse. Oh, my God. That's what I thought And I was like, how are you saying this

To this group of people specifically Literally, that's what I was like Read the room I ended up on tattooing With nothing but my space yacht My personal entourage, my bodyguards And two Jedi

And I had no idea where my next meal was going to come Except of course I had handmaidens Who would make sure that it arrived Yeah, it's called the Alderon Refugee Conference Oh, oh, oh, this is, I think I looked this up. Is it here? Fuck.

I believe, oh, no, that's the next episode. The next episode is tied to Senate murders. That in that next episode, that dude that she's worried about, like, schmoozing well is one of the people who votes on the military spending act that the military government. We'll get there. We'll get there. So, yeah, this one I don't. really this one I don't truly don't know outside of it's called the alderan refugee conference and there's like a line somewhere where she talks about who specifically she's

addressing in somewhere in the beginning of the episode I forget yeah I believe you yeah but I could I 100% could have missed misheard so and and I mean the like I didn't understand why everyone like was borderline uniformed I mean it like a lot of it didn't make sense to me I mean, the answer to that is because what they did is made one Alderani body or two Alderani bodies and then just swapped heads around is why they're all wearing the same shit, probably. I just, I found that exact, I found the exact dialogue. She is set, she, you know, Asoka is being like, there's a, there's a start on your life.

And Padmi says, uh, the refugee situation is too, is much too crucial to, to ignore. I called this conference. It could make an enormous difference in policy. It's vital that I go. That to me sounds like it's like, uh, a, you know, a conference to discuss the refugee crisis and among politicians the way that, like, you have, like, a, you know, any sort of a policy summit, you know. Absolutely. Anyway.

Just want to also point out that every single person in that room is white. Yeah, of course. Of course. Yeah. Except for bail. Yeah. Except for bail. It's bail.

Bail and the, uh, uh, uh, and her, like, guard captain. Oh, yeah, yeah. Right, right. Oh, there are no aliens in the room? I don't think there's a single fucking alien in that room, Rob. I truly don't think. Or a sing. Yeah, or a sing.

Who's also a white woman, but in a different way. Yeah, Dan, there's not, no one here has like a cool bulbous head or blue skin or like a tendril. I'm checking. Some other, while we're in that room and thinking about that room, two other things. One is they did an interesting job. I think drawing on a bunch of different references for what Alderan should look like. In terms of fashion, you have people who have the sort of like backwards, like bike helmet look that Leia's guards have in the beginning of, and throughout the prequel or the original

series, rather, the original trilogy, but like Leia's guards on the Tannif Four at the beginning of New Hope. Alderan itself is drawn from both what it looks like in the brief scene. and Revenge of the Sith, but also a lot of original Ralph McQuarrie art, which is like very different. George really liked Mountain Alderan, and Ralph really liked big, vast grasslands. And so that was like what they ended up with was kind of a blend. And then I have a question for everybody,

which is there's a painting in this room that goes completely unremarked on, and I have no idea what it, I want to know what's going on in it. And I cannot find anything about what is, about what is going on in it. Does anyone else notice this? It's like behind where Padma gives her speech. Oh, it's the lady pouring a thing, right? Yeah, it's someone with like a big bowl of milk. And the milk is dribbling out.

I'm going to try to get a screenshot, but I didn't know if anybody else just intuited that I would want to talk about this. I mean, the way that they, it feels very, I mean, it's a completely. Completely gray scale room, except for this one huge, like, altar piece, essentially, behind the, behind the podium. I'm dropping it in our general chat here. It's, yeah, it's like a, I guess it's like a, it's like a, I thought those were corn stalks at first, but now I'm looking at it, more closely. They look almost like rocket ships taking off, and then someone holding a big bowl and the liquid is pouring out of the bowl. And there's a halo around her head if you look.

Oh. Those buildings look like the capital city Alderon buildings. They do. Yeah. No, now I remember that. That did strike war. I was like, oh, like, Alderanian Joan of Arc is gone but not forgotten. I wish I knew anything about their local culture or what their vibe was because it's a neat touch to be like, yeah, of course they have this thing that's of them.

but I cannot find anything about what it's like I guess largely because of how Alderan gets blown up in a new hope and they don't really fill in the gap there very much I guess I don't know I think that's all of my weird oh there's one last aesthetic Alderan thing that's worth noting which is when they're landing they of course play an interpolation of the Leia theme from a new hope

and it rules it like it totally hit me in a way And it's like, yeah, Alderon, like, this is where Leia is from. Laya grew up here. And this place does not exist after a new hope because the Death Star blows it up, which is pretty effective if you're tuned into it in that way. Wow. I think something else that in setting up, like, because this whole opening, they're sort of also laying, well, we're not in the opening,

but these early moments on Alderon, they're also sort of setting the stage for the game of cat and mouse that's going to unfold here. and the various ways that Asoka is going to be envisioning this going down. Very much, I think in terms of how she ultimately ends up seeing this go is extremely mentoring candidate or a parallax view inspired with like the incredibly obvious sniper's nest that for some reason nobody foresees as a place where someone post up with a rifle. Are you kidding me?

She could have taken the shot. She could have taken the shot. She does take the first shot, right? She does, but she waits so long. And that sniper rifle is like, hello. Yeah, it's sticky all the way out, 100%. Oh, was there another? Didn't Asoka have, like, another vision of, like, an assassination unfolding, like, on the landing pad or the balcony?

I feel like Osama. I think of, like, something happening there. That's why I thought, that's why I thought, that's why. I thought the vision was changing because, like, the minute that she's there to, like, guard Padmeh, getting off the ship and, like, guard her, you know, back at her, at her chambers, she starts getting the vision of, like, the assassination happening in this reception hall. The vision that she has in the, the only ones that I have seen now scrubbing through it again are the one that she has at the beginning, the swamp one. And then the one that she has while being on the ship. And the one on the ship is the one that's very vague. But it is, because it just shows Asoka running through the hallways.

It shows ventruses, not ventrresses. Worcet's saying. Yeah, sorry, I was going to apologize to ventrists. And I was like, you know, worse things kind of bad, too. Like, that's, you know, she's no ventress, but it's not like an insult. I know which one you're talking about, Rob. It's, uh... And she's looking at the window.

It's the one that she has when she's in, in the Jedi. temple and it looks like Padma is outside because of the like lens flare on the reticle but I believe she is inside the inside the building that's the one that does kind of reveals it's Padme right that's the first time she sees Padme in one of those visions oh sure yes because then she goes to warn Padmae right right so there is, in fact, this fourth one. You're right. And that is, that is, that is also part of that vision is, like, is Orsing getting the mission from someone, right? Yeah, yeah. So yeah, maybe that one is also a broader one that shows some other stuff, to Rob's point. Because that's

also, is that, where would that even, where would she even be standing with that haircut at that time with a window or whatever behind her? That does seem like a different place. I don't know. Well, Well, there's one where she has her hair up. So the vision that she has in the library, I believe, is Asoka going to talk to Padme about what's going to happen. So it's just like Padma's going to start in the face. Yeah. Yeah.

Can we talk about the Betty droid? Yes. Please. So Padma gets shot or Singh shoots her the first time during the first speech. There's two speeches. Asoka comes. up with a great idea that they're like, oh, I don't know if you

should still talk, but Padmey's like, I need to get my voice out there. And then it's so because like, I have a good idea. I can figure out how you do this. And then we cut to Padma looking extremely like Chancellor Palpatine with the like Senate security

around her. Like, these are bad optics. Do not listen to a teenager for your political things because this looks really bad your security but it's Padme Padme

Padme with yeah I would not want to be in the room for this like if somebody had just got shot in the room

I would not be like You don't want to go to a different venue you were at the same venue I actually made all these notes in my in my shit

and then I realized like oh actually when January 6th happened they all went right back to those exact same chambers didn't they and is this the thing is this the politician thing

of being like I'm going to stick my chest out. Sure. They can come and try to get us. Also, I have 30 more armed guards this time. You were definitely sticking your chest out when you said a Betty droid robot to go to a speech for you with a cloak on. And it's like a snake skin cloak. Like, is that the only one that they can get to fit that sword?

Like, what is happening? Her lips are glowing because it's like a sex worker robot. Like, everybody knows what's happening. People have seen one of those before. Betty droids. Yeah, uh-huh. There's just one hanging around, just around the council chambers. Is it bail?

Didn't bail have a personal one? I'll bet it is. He did. He did. He totally did. Okay. Long roads, you know? Yeah. Also, like, real demonstration of the difference between, like, live performance and voice acting, because her speech through the Betty Droid sucks. Like, the delivery is terrible.

It's like, wow, this is really flat. And then he makes sense because she's reading on. index cards sitting on her bed speaking into what looks like one of those microphones that came with your Mac like 25 years ago

like she's just kind of like just speaking into this and giving this I wish I'd I wish the speech had made any you want me to read it do you need please Catholic and like she's talking shit here it's so weird um

fear in these times It is the greatest weapon Imagine you just got shot And you step back in And all these people are shook Like You don't know that though

Because you're not there Lebeddy droid is there Right So actually even better You got a yak back in your hand That you're talking into And you're like Fear

Fear wielded against those who would stand up for truth and justice. We have a responsibility as the elected representatives of the Republic to face our fears and challenge those who threaten the safety of its people. I stand before you today bruised, but not beaten. The voices of the people shall be heard, and together we shall represent them. The homeless shall no longer be homeless and faceless. The soldiers who so valiantly fight to protect them,

must also be protected once their job is done. We need legislation to defend the displaced from slavery, to protect our soldiers from feeling as if there is no future beyond their warfare, and we must open channels through diplomacy so that we can end this war. I know that there are those among the separatists who would end this conflict, and I know that there are those individuals in the galaxy who would seek to promote fear and spread chaos. For those who act as agents of chaos,

this. I stand resolute and unyielding. And if you strike my voice down, know that a chorus of thousands shall rise up in its place. She can't get votes. Like, who are you talking about? For you have no dominion over the righteous.

We are the defenders of truth. There's some stuff in there that I would like there to be policy for. I've never seen anyone move to, you know, introduce any. Yeah, I don't think she's talking. Yeah. I don't think she's talking about the droids

when she talks about oh the slayers now definitely not but like is she even talking about the people on Tatooine like it's just hard to take the like the homeless will be taken care of y'all been on Corrissot you know what I mean like

there are people homeless where you live yeah well people got homes down there they're not good homes but they're hold on homes slums for all, slums for all, and underclass living in booming tenements. That's the, that's the vision we're laying out. I guess the thing that I'm, the thing that I really want to get at is that the things that she identifies as issues here, the homeless being homeless and faceless, the soldiers fighting without a future, the fact that there are people who get displaced and have slavery, all of that was already happening in the Republic before the war, except for the soldiers who were introduced as a class of warriors without a future. But like, the war did not introduce homelessness. I guess there is a refugee crisis. That is part of what she's

getting it. There are people who have been driven off of their homes from that. But it's not like the Republic was killing it to begin with. Yeah, there was already a refugee crisis because of planets that had been abandoned by the Republic and were no longer receiving resources and thus left the Republic and joined the separatists because they weren't being protected. Like all of, yeah. It's actually a really good rendition, though, of mid-2000s. zero rhetoric that like what was that bit like I stand resolute like you heard

shit like that in so many speeches it was like now you need to show strong and tough you are but not bellicose but like strong so you like wrinkle your forehead and be like I am resolute and firm and people be like yes this is how politicians sound and then they eat shit so like

it very much is a this is how like liberalism responded to these moments where it's like these are grave times with violence and war and here's our list of social programs that we've not really made a lot of progress on in the past we're now going to connect it to security in these unprecedented times and like basically say we support everything but also maybe you like do some of the things that we value i think it's i do think that it's very interesting to hear for the first time i think

this is the first time since cut at least um but but in a more strong sense here, someone voice, hey, what happens to the clones after the war is over? This is the first time we've heard anyone in the political sphere raise that at all. And if, to the degree that she is a representative, to the degree that she is representing the voices of people who shall be heard, that means that someone somewhere has said to her, hey, I want to be protected once my job is done. hey, I feel as if there is no future after this, beyond this war.

And to see that finally get brought up after three seasons is interesting. Or, because even Cut didn't really raise it in those exact terms. Like, so. Or someone else said, what are we going to do with all these clones after the war is done? Yeah, totally.

But even there. I would love to see a clone advocacy group. Like, clones don't ever say shit at these kind of meetings ever ever ever um so it's hard to tell like where it's coming from but if it was indeed coming from like clones themselves that would be cool but my my guess it's someone saying like yeah what how do we repurpose the soldiers we made i know enough soldiers who became radicalized leftists during that time

who came back and worked to try to change American foreign policy and war policy to be able to imagine that in the minds of these writers that is partly what might be happening here

even if they don't show that part of it happen. It's hard for me to imagine them I suspect in their minds Padmay talked to a clone and the clone was like sometimes I think I don't know what's going to happen after the war is over.

And then she was like, yeah, that's a good point. I'm going to put this in my talking about. Not just that. I do think, like, you know, when we go back to literally the second episode, the first arc where the, where grievous ship is just wrecking house and plows on that escape pod. It's not far from his troops' minds that, like, they're expendable. And so you can easily imagine in various moments when things are more stressful. fold, that some of this comes out, the sense of, like, we are just here to die for this

republic. And, yeah, I can imagine that working its way back to a senator, either through a soldier or through some of the Jedi, like, officers who are like, hey, you know, some of these guys are starting to sound a little bit fatalist, which is, like, would be a concern. There is, of course, also one other person who we did hear this shit from, which is slick who betrayed the clones and said, are you really going to keep dying for these people? I'm doing this for clones everywhere. So that message has been delivered, and it's, what is better than that, like, cry of

pain being turned into a speech in the Alpine Hills of Alderon, where everyone is, like, sipping their fancy drinks as a Betty droid delivers words of justice and freedom? Yeah, that's the thing. Like, it doesn't get in front of Padman... Like, it's not Padmae talking to a clone. It's that Padmae heard about a change.org thing signed by a bunch of clones and clones separate... Or, like, clone supporters.

Right. I think this is something else that occurred to me, too, is, like... It's not Senate business. Like, this feels like... Maybe there are senators. Maybe this is, like, a meeting of, like, a bunch of the, like, the senators who are concerned with this issue. Maybe it is, like, sort of an action or...

oriented thing. But the whole thing feels like government official meeting with like NGOs to discuss an issue and like maybe it's their notable NGOs involved. But the fact that these are, yeah, these are boring questions. Not being handled in the Senate because the Senate doesn't handle business at this point. The Senate, well, we'll, you know, I think Padme is still denial, but the Senate rubber stamps military appropriations at this point. And, that's all they're really good for. So I think something about this whole, this whole setup of like, got to go to Alderon to talk about the refugee crisis.

Also just like smacks of, yep, and now we are trying to do politics outside or like adjacent to the actual political organs and try to affect change that way because the actual political apparatus is completely sclerotic. and can't. So, speaking of things not really getting carried off

or handled well, Oura Singh is not fooled. O'Ras Singh knows a Betty droid when she draws down on one. Yeah, she's like, that's not Padmei, that's hexadecimal from reboot.

I was wondering, yes, the Betty Droid is giving me like real reboot vibes, yeah. Yeah. So she tracks down, She starts hunting down Padme

In her quarters Unguarded Yep But Assoca reads the play And also starts chasing after her And gets there In the nick of time Kind of at the same time

It's tight I would not say like Ultimately Padme is alive, you know Yeah Any bodyguarding Any bodyguarding you too Where the body is still alive

At the end of it I guess it's a success Yeah also Padme does have to do a lot of guarding her own body she gets the shot in the end right she does the thing it may be raised a question so the thing that happens is that we get like Venturous being like it's you the person who

I said Ventress here adventures is on my mind we get some ventures episodes coming up I was looking forward to yeah I was I cannot wait I cannot wait uh fuck um or a sing Ora Singh I don't know why

I just said I you know in my mind she's already dead you know she died when when her ship got blown or when the slave one got blown up

but she explains in fact that did not happen hondo pulled her from the wreckage like the good ex-husband ex-wife guy uh huh then

uh Asoka defends Padmay by blocking a bunch of shots but not all of them gets hit herself and then Padmay reveals that she is the one, in fact, you keeps that motherfucking thing

on her. And then stun shots or a sing. The sunshot noise could be way cooler. It's, Philoony's going to use the one that existed 30, 40, 50 years ago, you know? Can you lightsaber block a stun shot,

do you think? I do. Because if not, I'd always fuck with stun shots. In a EU novel. They do call out the fact that it expands in, like, concentric rings. And there's one book, I think, where, like, Luke goes to block it, and it's like, shit, it's, like, it just went around and he gets stunned. Um, so, but only one book.

Then I think the rest, like, it became too messy that, like, well, Jedi are really vulnerable to stun shots, so nobody went with that. But I do like the notion, because they do seem like a trickier. It's like an off-speed pitch where, like, Jedi are all like, you're, near, new, new, and they just, like, give them a low and slow one and they're like what and then they just eat shit uh yeah it was quote it was difficult to block a stun blast of the lightsaber admiral dala uses to her advantage against calista ming on the dying ship nighthammer however it was possible for a skilled lightsaber wielder to dissipate the stun beam uh as demonstrated by blank blank blank blank blank blank blank i'm not going to read the rest they just have to make the right shape it's like a

QTE event. That's why you have to learn to make the circle. All the young Padawas, like, why do we have to do it? And Yod was like, trust me. Circle, square, triangle X. Yeah. And then. Asoka.

Oh. Well, we have one. I liked when I liked an or a sing was like, honey, this isn't about your cause. This is revenge. I was like, tell her. You don't give a fuck about this. this political bullshit. But also, then

Asoka does an interrogation sequence with zero. Well, first she has her vision when she said, I see shapes. I was just dying, laughing. I could not. I just,

I was like, Filoni. Mr. Filoni, man. Um, and then, yeah, she does an interrogation with Zero and, uh, just gets the, gets the whole caboodle on him. And it's like, hey, Zero. Or a Singh told me everything. And Zero's like, oh, no, how could she have told you my whole plan in which I hired her to kill the Padme? Yeah, a classic, a classic mistake from, while being interrogated. The huts have to train their people better than this.

And that's who they got with the book of crimes? That's who they gave the book of crimes to? No, they didn't give. They didn't give. He's keeping it. It's a secret diary. So much as he himself

is channeling oh shit, the writer. Truman Capote. Truman Capote. Of course we also have a reference to a secret diary which notoriously Marilyn Monroe's diary went missing. So like like he's just you know if you're a fan of conspiracy theories and like the the artist circles or in deciding the politics in the 60s 60s yeah uh the episode for you zero's got all the

references Austin you did bring to light the one through line that I feel like is at least in these first two episodes is that there's a moment where it feels like oh this episode is over now but then there's like 15 more minutes for no reason like they get or saying and it's like great credits but then they have to go talk to zero I was like why are we talking to zero and then in the next one R2 and C3Pio come back

and you think they're back they're safe but then they gotta go do all this other shit like what is I the next episode is truly bananas the way it's paid I don't understand it

and we'll get there I have one more note on this one which is did Anakin have dreams of Padma dying here and we just didn't see them or were these Asoka only dreams I suspect he, like, it's probably an order of priority where, like...

Anakin's lower? Well, it's proximity, right? No, when it escalates to a certain level, like, he'll be like, oh, no. But, like, because Asoka got the vision, she was on it, and it never, it never popped for Anakin. No, it's not proximity because Anakin saw Schmey from, like, planets away. Well, maybe there was no other Jedi close enough who knew who Schme was. It was, yeah, it just, like, pings the first.

Jedi it hits It's just interesting to me That this went to Asoka Seeing how the force works You know Force I've seen how you work for other people I've seen you do good things Yeah I just think it's weird

I think it's interesting that Anakin comes back and is like Huh cool thanks Asoka And like a year from now In fiction he's going to be just like I'm consumed by these visions I mean The Force one's

saying is the force should have gone to Assoca again next time. Keep Assoca on the Padmae plan. Got the strongest vision of taking her to a prenatal specialist and just hanging out with her?

Just keeps getting the word Uba appearing to her in dreams. There is one thing, sorry. Before we get off of this episode, we touched on this on the last Q&A a little bit. about how people are like, oh, Dave Faloni is improving upon the ideas of George Lucas.

And I have like a worry here that this is one of the episodes that people think is that. Because like... I don't think so. I don't think like having the same scene in the same room with the plides at the same time of day so the light hits the soak in the same exact way. So she can talk to Yoda and Yoda is like slightly. nicer is like such an improvement on the prequels that clone wars is like good you know yeah and i just want to say that out i could see i could see why someone would think that but like

to me this sequence i guess it's just it's at odds it doesn't fix anything from before it doesn't Yeah. Like when people say, oh, Dave Filoni is like fixing things, like, how do you fix what's broken in the prequels? You fill in gaps of like things that weren't explained or things like that. But like this is Yoda directly, like, giving oppositional advice to Asoka compared to what he had given or like made himself unavailable to Anakin or. in the prequel.

So I just feel like, I don't know. I often feel like other Jedi get different treatment than Anakin does. That feels... Aniken also had that feeling, Natalie.

Yeah, you didn't say. The thing is, I truly believe if he'd been like, Yoda, I'm sensing that Padmay is going to get killed in Revenge of the Sith, that whole, Yoder would have been like, hmm, why are you so tight with Padme? But also, Yoda knew he was tight by then. But in this episode, if that had happened, if it had been Anakin, that had been like,

I'm having visions. Yeah. He would have been allowed to do it because it's Padmei, who is one of their agents. This is the case I'm making. It's different when it's his mom, who they explicitly want him to stop caring about. They're kind of happy she dies. But in that logic, then in that logic, Yoda would. would have been like, oh shit, you saw something about Padman.

He did not say it was Padmae in Revenge of the Sith because he's so afraid of being found out about, about who it is. But it doesn't make sense because fucking Osoka had all these visions. So this actually doesn't make any sense because if Anakin, with this Clone Wars context had been like, oh, Asoka had mad visions about Padmae and got to go on a big weekend retreat. Asoka wasn't having babies by Padmae. Anakin was he's guilty about that and he's afraid that it's going to not just afraid he's been told by Palpatine that this is like a deathly secret that has to be like he's been

led to his feeling like he can't I know but other people be having visions about his woman like it's fine just be chill about it that's I'm surprised he didn't catch feelings at the end of this honestly well he was like he was a little tight he was like are you okay yeah and she was like yeah i had asoka here my little buddy and it was all fine even though she woke me up in the middle of the night with a lightsaber to my face on my bed but other than that it was cool and i got shot that's the thing that's the thing maybe she's used to it she's used to like traumatized jett i'm hanging by her head yeah that's what i read it as like she's just this is not the first time that she's been woken up in the middle of the night with a like somebody with standing

the lights over bed like aniken every time they go on, you know, a little week-long vacate together. Guaranteed at least one night Anakin's waking up because he heard something outside and he's got the lightsaber out ready to go. Well, and she reminded us she is ready to die and has been ever since she met grown-up Anakin. That's true.

Let's not forget that either. All right, so next we have evil plans or as I like to call it, why Toto got what he had coming to him. Oh my God. we see, Ken? This is a different... This is... Nope. Wait. No, this is the same... Same Toto. It's the same, but it's post. Right?

Oh, sure. Or no. Toto shows up. But, okay, wait, let's get on the weeds, because what Rob is saying is completely true and he's correct, and we don't have to argue with him on this. Because we can't have good things in Clone Wars. Like, Toto was fine before, and now he's 100% identifiable Seth Green. Yeah, I agree. His voice is like... I wish I'd never say. it, maybe I would have never noticed it, or maybe it's more Seth Green now than it was before. It's Seth Green. The thing I was going to say is, this is from Star Wars.com.

This episode takes place sometime after Holocron heist, which saw the destruction of Toto 360. Toto was rebuilt off screen by Anakin Skywalker after the episode Children of the Force in an attempt by the Jedi to learn more about had Bain and his whereabouts. The plan goes wrong and Toto escapes. The episode immediately after this one is hostage crisis. They couldn't have, okay, I know Toto's slandering now, but like this episode should have been the Toto escape. This episode is trash.

That's a better episode. That's a better episode. That's a better episode. Yes. I don't think we're ever going to get that episode that what I just described as being canon, which is that Anakin repairs Toto. Okay. What?

For fun? Yeah. I don't know. I don't think we're going to get that episode. I mean, that makes no sense. We're now done with Toto. Toto does not come back until Toto was in two episodes of Bad Batch and that's it. But Toto should be down.

This only made sense. It makes so much more sense if this is all, like, if Holocron Heist came after. Because, like, Cadmaine's escalating in terms of seriousness, right? Like, by then he's working for Palpatine, which is a big, like, jump from the hut. I hate that it's in this order This really upsets me And Toto should be dead Anyway

I like Toto I did until he started torturing droids And then I was like well He wasn't the one doing that No he literally was He was like I would He talks about like I would sure love to torture these droids

Fuck these droids And so I was like damn I'm actually glad So I'm jammed the bomb and Toto's out Not in a total got to realize that it was happening too. Anyway, so here we, who got Cadbane and his team of commandos, recognized the whole crew, the assassin droids,

they're all getting ready for the attack on the Senate building, and for some reason, they have determined that the richest source of intelligence about the building would be 3PO. The spring that trap is 3PO and R2 are shopping for a political dinner, being thrown by Padmay and her definitely not husband, just a friend who hangs out a lot,

Anakin. He's just, like, why is he there? Why is he there? Security. Yeah, shut the fuck up. He had a vision about Padman. He's a horrible delegator, and we'll get it to him. He makes the absolute worst decision here.

Is this a Frazier episode, by the way? Yes. Is this like a classic? There's like an important, like, dinner party and someone's fucking things up. I want those cherries jubilant. So, by the way, the episode were Niles and Frazier. Me either, that's why I had to ask. This themes like this come up a fair bit.

Anyway, the Commandos, the Bonnie Hunter gang spring their trap is 3PO and R2 doing the shopping. They end up capturing and torturing both droids and then wiping their short-term memory, so they have no idea where they have been or what has happened. And everyone is distracted by the success of the dinner party, and they don't realize that this should raise some red flags. But one thing we do know is that thanks to successfully whining and dining a member of the Armed Services Committee, Padmay has almost assuredly made a decisive ally in a request to turn the Republic away from a permanent war footing. I think that's real. Real stakes for this episode. We know that that doesn't pass, right?

I think it doesn't. Doesn't that not pass? I mean, it drives me crazy that they spend approximately two, like two seconds of this episode explaining what that is. It's Senator Ang holds the deciding vote on the military oversight committee, and that's it. The deciding vote? The military oversight is determined by whether or not there are approximately four berries on this fucking cake, apparently. Like, what? Delicious croquet ball.

balls of flavor. The Republic is already gone. Like, it's dead. I'm sorry. It's done. They don't even repair those berries. It's just like, bam. They just drop them in.

They're not even garnished. What am I supposed to do with this with a cake? Just, like, pull it out of the cake and, like, cut up the... For people who ever see, they're, like, big plum-sized berries. They're bigger than plums, man. They're big. They're big. They're big.

Yeah. And you put them on top of a cake, just on top of the top layer of a multi-layer cake. I kept thinking, I was like, can you call it a janga? No, it was jungle? What was it? Jogun. Jogun fruit cake. Joggin fruit. The way that you call it like a strawberry short cake, because there's strawberries on top. No, there's strawberries in there, too. Like, there's strawberries in there. Yeah, there's strawberries. Maybe everyone gets a jojo fruit. and maybe everyone gets one bite of Jojo fruit and they pass it around and they pass it around everyone gets a slice of cake too I think this motherfucker's eating all the fruit and he's like what a well-made cake and everyone's just like yep uh-huh just so we got your vote I think this is the reality

this guy lives in which is just everyone's like kissing his ass and he just sort of accepts that like of course that they got all these rare berries for for me I do think the opening this is very funny too where you have 3PO in full we never get to see him being a protocol droid i'm actually so thrilled we get to see this where it's like what's 3PO's actual job like why is he like this why is he so like i'm a protocol droid and all the communication here we see him being like doing the whole like no you can't seat this person there we got everything's got to be perfect uh you know here like here's some cultural sensitivity Daniels wrote some of that stuff, by the way. Anthony Daniels C.3PO's long-term voice actor

who voiced him in this episode. The part of the Filoni zone in this episode was showing Anthony Daniels at the writer's room, be like, that's not what C-3PO would say. C-3-Pio would not have said that these guys were all thumbs. They clearly, these little rabbit droids don't have thumbs. And so he wrote, uh, waiter droids with malfunctioning digits because he felt like that is the way that 3PO would say it, which I thought was very cute. Yeah, I thought it was very cute how, like, in that character... And, like, Flonie was like, we're, like, so blessed to have Anthony be able to, like, write his own shit and, like, be able to bring the authenticity to the voice of the character he knows him so well, blah, blah, blah. I ended up taking a big turn on this episode and being like, this is my favorite of the set.

Because really, in its entirety, it's a really, like, intimate look into what the real function of a protocol joint is. say more keep talking so we have c3 p.o right and i i don't know if we would have rid all the plot beats here what we we just know about c3 p o later on but cadman's trying to get information from c3 p o and can't get the specific thing because that's not important to c3 p o c3 p o needs to know so many other things about protocol and language and translation like why would you put the floor plan in there. You have other droids for that. See, C3PO

doesn't walk around by himself around. Like, he doesn't need to know where to go in the building. He's just like hanging out with Padman all the time. The ducks and stuff is. That's an R2 unit situation. And then later in this episode, because all these episodes have two parts

for some reason, we see another C3PO droid in a situation where you would think, why would you do that? If your boss was taking a phone call, like an evil secret phone call and a bounty hunter was in the room you would be like no you should go right but that's not what protocol droids are for

they're there to help translate they're there to be you know accommodating and I just like to really see a friend of you of how people use protocol droids in this universe for this yeah and also because other droids

don't have these skills and they're game but they don't really think about like what is this a good move So when 3PO is trying to get all of us to go well And they bring out the ice centerpiece And it is a horrifying rendition of the guest of honor It's like I think it might be my favorite psych gag In the three episodes

When he turns around a little like rabbit-eared droids Are like proudly bringing out This just horrific ice sculpture He's like, no You can't do that Get it out of here It is like a screaming alien face

mouth as open as any mouth has ever been wearing huge like metal helm a helm not a helmet a helm you know that's him that's the guy we got to convince to vote for us he's good I like 3PO 3PO I hope you could chill a little bit

you know what I mean you could have a day at the robot spa, probably. Oh, he was so excited for it. He should have gone. R2 went. He should have gone. Yeah. I don't. I think C3PO probably goes to the spot on his own time.

Oh, true. Semi regularly as a protocol droid. I don't think R2D2 seen the inside of a spot. That's a good point. Until maybe this point. That's why R2 was so excited. Yeah, he's never done. He was like, this is not for, he's not even know this existed.

That's very true. They won't get it. bath until a new hope um but we do we do see three p o enjoying uh that one as well i also like what do we go ahead oh well i was yeah i was just going to say also the domestic arrangements of the uh like of the padmay aniken household are interesting as well which is that this is not a hidden relationship you can't be hosting state dinners with like senator amadala and, like, giving orders to the staff. And you'll not figure out, like, you live here.

Yeah. The little rabbit droids all treat you like you live here. They all, okay, okay, or whatever it is that they say. They all have little things they say. Yeah, because they're talking to... Yeah, because they're done it with laundry. Exactly. Exactly.

I think I was going to introduce this. I was going to ask, what do we think in this fruit cellar whose face is, like, big squid-tendril mustache that are actually just, I think, face... flesh. And then also it looks like he has a big round like cow, not cowboy hat, but like a 10 gallon hat on, except that's his head and his eyes are on the brim. What do we think? And also he's very much like New York Italian like, hey, I'm selling fruit here.

I like it. Four credits. And did I say four credits? I mean 16 credits. He's like the way like the out of towners imagine fruit sellers. You know what I mean? Like sidewalk vendors in New York was like you're going to watch your money around them. Right. Uh-huh. Yeah, that is what this, yeah. I don't like looking at his face because of where his eyes are. I think if I didn't see the eyes part, I would think his built-in hat and mustache is really cute.

But the eyes. Right, the face tendrils are like a long mustache, I guess, yeah, that makes sense. It's kind of fun. I like a... The eyes are just a lot. The eyes are a lot. I don't like how they track R2D2 and 3PO as they walk around. That freaks me out a little bit.

But otherwise, I'm a fan. Do you like when he says that these are the last four Jogenberries on the planet of Khoras? I mean, I love that he's just scamming the fuck out of C-3PO. He's like, of course I can handle this negotiation. I'm a protocol droid. And he's like, yeah, this fruit, this whole planet, only these four. I know where every fruit is in the world. and there's only these four on this planet

so give me all the money in your pocket great swindling and he knew this would happen where he was like don't get scammed but you always you guys are going to be okay this time right just like don't don't fuck this up and yeah he's just and I love that R2

is in his R2 he's clearly like hey what are we doing here like we already counted out the money and 3PO just What's the What's the opposite of I'll take any motherfucker's money Like I think it's like where he's just like

I will give anyone Oh price changed Okay Yeah watch you know watch your Watch your health not your credits True So that's what his grandfather said I will say

That I do think that this is an episode Where this is maybe The first time we've seen R2D2 taken out. Okay, but no, okay, wait. I was confused by the L. Yeah? It sure seemed like he intended to take the L.

I thought it was like, you got some plan to get 3Pio out of there. And then he didn't, unless was he just being noble and self-sacrificing? I think he was being noble. But I mean, I even before that, the L of just like making the wrong decision, which was I'm going to go,

so they get their fruit, they're getting ready to leave to go back to deliver the fruit and R2 is like we can just go by the spa real quick I know we have the state dinner but he shows up and he's like

a barker basically hey come by the spa right and R2 was like that's incredible I'd love to go to the spa this is the first time we've ever seen anyone deceive R2 successfully I feel yeah he's usually quite apt

right but the thing about R2D's his life though like he's never heard of a spa he needs this he started he came off of that ship all of his boys died he's been in a war

this whole time all his boys died you ever think about that all his boys on the Naboo Star Cruiser that was the start of his life he could use a bath yeah

let him get a bath I wish they'd give him a deeper bath he didn't look that clean coming out not gonna lie hang on though he periscope through an oil bath.

Like, I think he got a good, like... A deep clean in there. He put the snorkeled out, and it's just like I'm going under. I respect it. It's fun. It looks great. I would love to do it. But, uh, but yeah, I just think he could have been a little shiny.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so actually, thinking of our 2D2s, um, foresight and everything here, his relationship with Anakin, think about this episode that's really catching me is that, like, why would you send your two workhouses out? workhorses out during such a busy day. Like, you can send one of the rabbit droids out. Go get the fruit. Come back.

It is what it is. It's fine. But now that we're having this conversation, maybe Antigin was silently communicating, like, we have a lot shit to do. Get C3PO out of here. Just kill a couple hours. 100%. Go kill some time. Get 3PO out of our hair.

We're going to deal with what we got to do here. So now Artu's like, okay, we can spend a few hours. in the spa. That makes sense. You know? Yeah, he's like, and let's give Anakin and Padmae some alone time. You know, just the rabbit droids that don't seem to matter.

You know? Anyway, C. Creepio gets jacked. Just gets absolutely pushed into a speeder, driven away, and tortured a bunch. Yeah. Which is unfortunate. He doesn't know what. Yeah. He knows.

He doesn't have. He doesn't know shit. He knows a lot of things. Okay, he just doesn't know the specific thing that can be he's looking more. Allie. Wow. Very strong feelings.

Just because he doesn't have the floor plans, doesn't mean that he doesn't know stuff. He is fluent in over 6 million forms of communication. Are you? I'm not. I had to make room. Some had to go, and it was spatial awareness.

Well, so you also mentioned, we also do say, see CAD getting this commission. Is that here or in the next? No, that's the very end of the episode. This is the thing Allie is talking about. Is that like he gets this, this part's fine, right? And then the commission stuff is at the very, very end when he comes back with the floor

plans. Which, yeah. Zero or not zero. Job hires him for the second part, which is hostage crisis or whatever. Which has. But that comes after all the rest. One of my favorite Cad Bain lines of all time. in that sequence where I don't know if people have more to say about the I guess R2 we should get there we should get there we should get there we should get there which is yeah Artu Toto realizes the Toto explicitly tried to get R2 to come out by saying I guess we'll have to go kill the other droid then I think Toto is genuinely ranting like I would he starts out like he just can't like that's like that

useless protocol he's going to do all these horrible things to him what he's was going to but i think it's when i think it's when they realize we're just going to kill this other droid that r2 is like i need to get caught because i do yeah and so r2 knocks over a big barrel a big oil barrel or something so that he can get caught and uh save say you know prevent c3b from being killed and so he gets taken in he also gets tortured he gets his mind stolen and then wiped short-term memory wiped

and then they go back I do have to say it is quite surprising that R2 doesn't have any plan going to... Okay, first of all, the the quote at the top of this episode is a failure

to plan, it's a plan for failure or a failing in planning is a plan for failure. That's right. And I feel like none of that makes sense. I guess you should have planned to get the fruits, maybe. But I was very surprised that R2 went into this

without any plan. Like, he didn't do anything differently. Like, anytime we see R2 going on these kind of rescue missions, he's always has a way of getting out of them. But they just, they didn't even have to dump them. Like, they chose to send him back because if they didn't send him back, something would look suspicious.

Like, what do you? Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I don't know what would it look suspicious. I feel like they were, they're going to do. Changes the floor plans of the Senate? No. Yeah.

Anyway, I think it speaks to what Allie was saying before, which is that, like, or maybe this was Rob, that, that, Artu just wanted to save his friend here. He was not trying to get a, he wasn't trying to rescue anybody. He was trying to sacrifice himself in favor of letting C3bill live. Anyway, Cadbin gets it. they sends them all back, dumps them in the street. They're like, whoa, we're back out here and we have our, well, look, let's get the

fruit. We left them on the ground. I'm the tennis mall and stole these. Right? Yeah, in the tennis small container. How did no one steal these? I thought they were for sure going to be gone. And they're going to be bruised. You can't put that on a cake. They're going to be bruised. Well, too bad. They put it on the cake. They get back in time. They put it on the cake.

Dude comes in. He does have a gross, weird face. I will say, I don't like the way the senator. I don't like his I don't like it's toast either Or he's like Here's to the party And here's to that dessert I know is coming This guy's a grifter

This is like this is He's taking bribes from any direction This is fucking Kristen cinema shit This is like I made it I'm here And now everything is comped And I am going to make the most of this He's got hella gift baskets

In his office right now Hella me muffins cheese, honeies. He's living off of edible arrangements. You know it. He's got stock in edible. Yeah, 100%. And then, yes, now we get to the thing that y'all are talking about.

The back half of this episode, like Allie, I got through half this episode. I was like, how is there more episode coming? And suddenly we're on tattooing. Yep. And Java's got a protocol, droid. Yes. also a similar unit sends everybody away

because he wants to talk to Cadbane about Cadbin's like here are the floor plans and job is like all right yeah here they are do you want to Cadbane is like I want my money he gets the money he gets a he gets a briefcase filled with credits

which is important to note because we see someone else get paid next episode we see a lot of credits in this episode and I just want to talk about the math later because it's, we'll talk about it. Bain gets paid for no work, for no work. He didn't do shit. He stole, he didn't do shit.

He grabbed, his people grab droids. He didn't even grab the droids. He didn't, he didn't, Toto did the interrogation. You know, when. He didn't even repair Toto, and it can repair Toto on the screen. And Toto went back to him, and Toto went back, like a bad X. Listen, you deserve better.

Toto, please. Toto, please. It's different out here. Don't know, it's like, all right, time to get to torturing some droids. I got a new lease on life. Go back to the bounty hunter of your youth. Then, yes, there is now the thing where Jaba hires, not just Jaba. Jabba is like... Well, Jabba's like, hold on, I need to have secret meeting on BRB and turns around.

Everybody get out. And just turns around. Yeah. Cadvane's like, well, I'll stick around and just ask your droid what the fuck of y'all talking about. And then Cadvane just saunteres into the middle of the circle as all the huts are like, yeah, so zero. Well, we get the huts. Yeah. This is the thing, right?

The hud family appears. we get four huts in this sequence there's five total java is one of the five main hut the five families quote unquote one of them is uh godfather hut guardula one of them is ed right uh one of them is um gamer hut uh who has uh like a tech scouter over over uh their face one of them is edward g robinson gangster hut with the big cigar and then one of them is just kind of the fifth hut, the final. I guess Jabba and then also there's another hut who doesn't have

hair or anything, right? That's a gardula. Right? Is that Gardula? I know, I guess the last one is the one who has like, he does have like a shawl, right? And like close cropped hair. Yeah. Looks kind of like from Italy,

Italian mafioso versus the other ones who look like a various American mafiosos and the gamer. I don't know why one of them has a Vigita scouter. I don't understand why that one has the Razor sponsorship and the other ones are all just various

mafia stereotypes, but... I got to try his G-fuel flavor. Um... And then, yeah, we get the job. And then, yeah, and then Cadvain just saunteres in and says, you say, and there are still more moves to this dance? And I was like,

Thank you. Thank you. For this and for you and for you and for all of it. This episode was worth it. It was worth it for that. Cadbane's great. I love Cadbane. Can I, we stand a bald king. We do stay in a bald king. We stand Chadbane. Chad Bain They literally call him Chad Bain in the next episode I don't know if anyone else caught that But somebody's like, what was his name, Chad? I'm like, yeah

Perfect It's so good It's so good Hey, quick question At the very end here When they tell 3PO he done good Oh, yeah What happens to his brain?

He's never been complimented in his life and he's short circuits. I mean, he doesn't actually short circuits. He's a sad detail. It's like, oh, no. He's losing his. And Anakin's like, well, we're going to hear a lot of that in the next couple of weeks or something. I'm like, damn, do y'all just not, like, no positive affirmations in this house? None. None.

Yeah, I guess not. All the affections were R2. You know, R2 deserves it, so. See, 3PO could. See, this is Archie's the baby of the family And Artu is the baby of the family

Not that I have to defend the Amadala home because I don't know that C3 feels being treated well there But it could be a fact of his recent torture slash memory wipe that like this hits him The way that it does Not that y'all are wrong

I'm just there's an alternative Yeah He's in a vulnerable emotional state in general given the day he's had. I mean, he just blacked out in the middle of the time. Right, and everyone's like, that's normal. That just happens to droids, right?

And move on. He notes in this, go ahead. Go ahead, Rob. No, but we had an episode that, like, man, if somebody gets a hold of R2's brain, like the entire Republic's fucked, now the two droids just came back with no memory. It's not even the first time.

It's not even the first time that we know this about this because of that time that Junker tried to sell R2 to grievous. Yeah. This is a classic. clone worst thing. We know that R2 has important information in there. Yeah, if R2 came home and was like, guys, I just forgot some stuff.

Like, I would be freaking, I would be like, oh my God, these things aren't meant to forget things. They literally, Art2 specifically never forget shit. That's like why he's R2. And for some reason, everyone was just like,

oh, normal, they must have taken a little napie or something. Like, what? The C-3PO Anakin nonchalotness is like especially fucked up when Anakin built C-3PO. Like, you should know. Allie. What? He didn't know.

This is a piece of information I learned from this episode. There's a moment in this episode where 3PO says that he was previously the protocol droid for the chief negotiator of the Manacron system. Quote, this supports George Lucas's original character notes that had C3B over 100 years old at the time of episode 4 New Hope. Nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker did not build C-3PO from scratch

but rather rebuilt an older droid that had previous protocol assignments. I also was struck by this. Wait. He did not build C-3-Pol- Hold on. He just refurbish him. He was the droid we meet on Tatooine

when he's like, this is my joy. That's C-3-Pio. That's his droid. But he, like, bought that from, like, a scrap heap and, like, refurbished him. He refurbished him. He refurbished C.3PO. And I can understand if you're a nine-year-old, you might say, I built this Freud, but, like, he didn't. And that means that 3PO remembers, or it has record, maybe, I guess, that he used to be the negotiator for this other chief.

I mean, why else would he be able to speak, like, four billion languages? I always did wonder, like, how Anakin got that. He just, like, get Rosetta Stone. Yeah, like, find them on the scrap heap, and he's just like, maw, mur. But even so, that's your guy, though. right? Like, Anakin was a caretaker. Yeah, yeah. For, you know, the majority of his life.

Also, Austin, I take issue with the notion that he didn't build. Like, okay, say you got a jalopy from the, from, like, the junkyard, right? And then you, like, build it into a classic car. Sort of thing you'd sell at, like, Make Hume Auctions. And, like, I say, I built that. Are you seriously going to turn to me and be like, hold on, champ. That thing came off the assembly line in Detroit in 1962. some other people built it, you refurbished it.

Because I think that's kind of what happens with Anakin. Anakin got his hot rod. We have no idea what quality it was in. All we know is that George Lucas' original character notes say that 3PO is over 100 years old as of New Hope. All right. I think it's, I think it's fair to say. It really, you really got to know like how much was there when he got a hold of it.

Because, like, if he's just popping new arms on there and, like, making sure the capacitors work, they're like, I don't know. But I don't know what goes into building a droid anyway in this universe. Like, going back to the six million languages thing, like, he just popped a language chip in there. Or, like, whatever the core chip of the C-3PO unit is, or the C-model droids just probably has all that shit in there already. I don't know. You're right that it's his droids. You're right that that's his, like, dude. And 3PO even says

It's been a long time Since I was a new droid fresh off the assembly line Like when they're making the spa day pitch He's like, yeah, it has been a while Since I felt like that So yes, he's conscious of his own Advancing years Speaking of running out of time

It's time to say goodbye to zero Wait Two more pieces of ridiculous trivia Yes The Baker droid Who Bakes the cake is voiced by Duff Good Goldman Duff Goldman from the TV show

Ace of Cakes No fucking way And they had previously done an entire episode Based on creating an R2D2 cake For a Clone War Season 2 rap party So this is that Like the payback for that

Is that Duff gets to be in this episode Presumably Great, good for them Uh huh Um Yeah And then the last thing is, I guess I have two other little ones. One is the droid that yells murderer as Toto

kills a droid. Remember what that happens? Toto kills a droid that did. He thinks his R2. Oh, yeah. And another droid is like, murdering. And it's a joke, of course, because it's how droids aren't people, and so you can't murder a droid. That's Matt Lanter, Anakin Skywalker's voice actor, doing that droid, which is very funny. And then finally, this is, I think, important to just have this in our heads. The signage outside the droid. spa promises quote oil changes

rust removal memory flushing polishing motivator repair defluttering restraining bolt application and removal

general maintenance overhauls junk and junk removal while the signs inside promise recharge repolish repair and refit

I just I just want to get that out there in terms of all that sign because I when I was watching I was like

I don't know what all these signs said so You bringing your droids in blindfolded, and you just take off the blindfold when they step in, and it's like, hey, we're at this box. What, surprise? But actually, you're about to put some restraining bolts on them? Well, maybe a droid needs to get a restraining bolt sometimes.

They're running a little hot. They make them for a reason, you know? They make them for a reason. So it is very funny. You get pictures from my dog daycare of, like, your dog being groomed. and it's very funny because there's a mirror. And, like, some dogs, they're, like, just stand on the table. Meena just stands on the table.

Some have to be sort of harnessed up and leashed, or otherwise they try to make too many escapes. It was very funny, though, was in the background of all the photos. You can see one of the other people at the daycare just making, like, baby faces at the dog to try to keep their attention, so they, like, just stay, like, focused while the groomer does their thing. And so you just get increasing galleries of some. someone just desperately trying to think, like, what's the...

How else can I, like, entertain this Pomeranian? And that's just how to... I get why you have to put the restraining bolt on. Yeah. Yeah, right, I see. Yeah, sure. These droids are so advanced. Anyway. Zero. You're right, Rob. It's time to deal with zero once and for all.

Dunzo. We now find that the huts have been holding a prisoner trying to recover his crime diary, so he can't use it as a bargaining chip with the Republic. However, Zero has a friend on the inside of the Hutt Palace, his ex-girlfriend, the Shantus Syce Noodles. We know Sys Noodles. It's the long-nosed, big-lipped singer lady from Return of the Jedi. She helps him escape, and that triggers a pursuit from both Cadbane and two Jedi, who were on Zero's trail already, the Virgin Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Chad Quentin Ross. The pursuers completely failed to apprehend Zero,

but Zero failed to apprehend that Syneedles was giving off intense femme fatal vibes. As soon as he hands her the diary, she shoots Zero Dead and flies off to deliver the journal to Jabba at the end of the episode. And the Jedi are left. She's paid pennies. Yep, she does not make a hard bargain. And then it appears she decides to just, like, be artist in residence at Jobb Talis, which seems like a real chancy career move.

She does it for the, for the, For the love of the music, you know. You're right. Oh, and the music we get. Mm-hmm. It's like a full two minutes of just that. I was thrilled. Good for them, you know, but...

Just a Fosby Berkeley music video, like old school Hollywood, like dance number. And the reveal, the three dancers do the thing where you have the dolly shot where the camera pulls back and the dancers sort of fan apart in front of you. The reveal of size new is the end of it. Yeah, it is one of many... Okay, so I, you know I look at the Wikipedia for all of these episodes as we watch, and I also go to, I also look up trivia and stuff and watch the Flonie Zone and all that. Most episodes don't have that much on the Wikipedia. This is one of the longest ones I've ever seen.

People love this episode enough to put effort into this. A big part of that is that there are a lot. lots of lists, there's a long section on like what the number of references to other things are in this episode, how many, how many specific filmic references are. Some of these are small things like Zero saying, what a world, what a world, which is the final line spoken to the Wicked Witch of the West. But this opening act is an explicit reference to Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom where some singers do the song anything goes and it's like it's that exact like they very explicitly are trying to to pull back to that and also to pull back to a number of

mid-century like gangster scenes um in fact you know I shouldn't say this you know who should say this is are we going we can go to them we can go to the we're going we're going on to the zone. Get ready to step into the zone, everybody. Oh, fuck yes. It's cowboy hat time. You know it's going to be a good one. It's cowboy hat time.

Both of the other ones, I think, did not have cowboy hat. So we're back and, like, we lucked out here. Thank God. Let me know when you're ready. I'm ready. Three, two, one, go. He gotta love the huts, they love a good time. I'll give him that.

I mean, they certainly know how to throw a big party. They love a big dance number. They obviously have a big show. I thought the dancing girls were great. And Darren Marshall and I, the designer, we conspire to create these kind of big headdresses that look like the huts. I didn't realize that at first. They accept everybody all shapes and size.

They don't have, you know, it's kind of a really neat, neat group of slug. Slugs. It reminds you of, you know, kind of growing up watching gangster movies and, you know, the Chicago nightclubs. And it's always an element of a gangster film. So you had to have it. And along with that came a romance that I think shocks everybody. Zero, honey, much of love.

What happened to you? People who always listen to the podcast might not know what these characters sound like. It's a love story between two. of the most bizarre beings we've ever had in the Clone Wars. What I loved about the original trilogy was the romance being Han Solo and Leah

and how was that going to work out and you know, but in the Clone Wars you get in 5,000 zero and how's that going to work out? I only care about us being together forever. You really mean that. From the bottom of my

fluid sack. Reading the script and the dialogue between Sysnoodles and Zero at the end of Act 1, you just kind of scratch your head and go, wow, we are really way far out there. With true love, there's always away. And there's a kiss. Important we get the kiss. Anyway, buy Clomworth on DVD. Uh, hang on.

Anyone notice that Dave Filoni is now taken to wearing Rebel. pilot wings on his shirt. He is. Stolen valor, IMO. Yeah, it's not your shit. You didn't do that. You didn't fight in that war. I didn't see you on the Rebel Moon of Endor or whatever.

What a what a Filoni zone. I'm just processing. I don't like that he's like these bizarre people. I hate that. Because because they're fucking alien. We are in Star Wars.

Like, what do you mean bizarre people? There are no bizarre people. What he means is that they're fat. Yes. Natalie. Yeah. Right? And like, and that Zero has a voice like gay Cartman, as Rob pointed out many

fions ago. That's why this is, this whole episode fucked me up so much. Like to write in a heterosexual relationship with zero, like just, I, what I wrote down was he's not gay. He's just annoying. Shout out to Sylvie Claire. My note here is It's very important that we know that Zero fucks women

That is what they decide It is possible that they just approach the brink And we're like So should we have Zero killed by his gay lover And You know that could We gotta have him get killed by a lover But

86 the Truman Capote he's now just a piece of shit gangster. Yeah. Oh, my God. Here's what I will say is that if I was a criminal and my whole thing was going to be being a criminal, I would also get a girlfriend with really long clips with which to kiss me through jail bars. To jail bars, yeah.

It's very romantic. Uh-huh. The only people who know how to kiss in this show are criminals. It's true. We saw this with Grito's girls. Girlfriend, Ventress, I've seen Anakin and Padmae kiss. It ain't like that. It was like one good kiss in the first season when they're on the grievances ship

and they're like going through a tunnel. And I feel like that's mostly the atmosphere and the danger, add some sexiness to it. But that's it. We've seen them together other times. I just don't think they have it the way Zero and Size Snoodles do. Absolutely not. There's just a pure magnetism between them. It's like, you feel it.

Also, I do love Sice Noodles walking past the gammering guards and being one to know which of you is stronger and they immediately start brawling. Like, I know, it's like, it gets me. The A plot is, is Zero's X is trying to break him out and they're trying to go get the diary. Because he doesn't have it on him exactly. And he's bluffing when he says if they kill him, someone will release it. which also was extremely funny because the top of the separaties like you can't you you can't hurt me if you hurt me someone's going to publish the i'm going to put the diary on the front steps of the senate and like no you're not but you don't have that shit and you don't have anyone who works for you at this point

nobody likes you so they call his bluff in the smartest way possible like all right we won't kill you you're in our you're in jail now you're in jail yeah what are you going to do bye um and so that's one half of the episode is him escaping via size noodles and cat Bain being hired to go try to hunt him down and kill him. The other half is, like you said, Obi-Wan and Quinlan Voss, which is part of the reason why I think this episode gets written up a lot is motherfuckers love Quinlan Voss. I mean, they should, but... Quinlan Voss was in a lot of comics at the time, and so this was sort of like seeing

your fave from like an indie wrestling promotion show up at like the big federation for a show and be like, yo, that's, that's Quinlan, Quinlan, yeah. True. I agree. So here's the thing with Quinlan and Obi-Wan, right? There's two energies that are happening here. It could be both. We don't have to pick one or the other. But there's powerful X's energy, which Obi-Wan just has with everybody. He's like the X as a gym. That's his force power, being an ex-man. But there's also, there's a little bit of Obi-Wan being like, I hate Quinlan Voss because he keeps beating the sexiest Jedi of the year. And, like, without him, Obi-Wan would be in. But Quidlin is out there. But Quilin is out there every time. Just a little smoother. The exact exchange is,

Obi-Wan has his arms crossed, which is an extremely ex-poster, waiting for your ex-that you know you have to work with on some shit. And you're like, all right, like, when's he going to get here? And Cody says, sir, you seem troubled. And Obi-Wan says, well, Quinlan Voss has that effect. And Cody says, ah, yes. that Jedi has quite a reputation

and nobody once says that may be overstating it Cody let's just say he's crazy and the lesson for me is the clones do be talking about their jetties they do be saying like oh yeah well I got Quimlin Voss

and Quillian Voss I want to know I want to know the Goss in Voss's unit we don't do that shit you haven't smiths exactly we don't do that we just get dubs man we just get dubs and we come home we get high. Like, what do you want for me?

Play for a night. Well, I love this too. Like, Obi-Wan has, like, school valedictorian energy, and Quinlan is the good quarterback who's going to state on a scholarship. Like, he's just, he just rolls in, and he's not even

mean about it. He doesn't, like, he's not even in the competition with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan's like, er. Like, people, people think Quinlan's so cool, and Quinlan's like, hey, bro, missed you. Quinlan's just biting. He's like, how's temple life?

Yeah, I think he's a little bit me to laugh at him. Because saying how is Temple Life, he's a dick, especially when you're this beautiful man with a fresh tan, flipping out of a... Yeah, he does not, his airship does not land. He just does a jump out of it, a sick landing. Immediately nags Obi-Wan. He's like, oh, you look bad.

He's like, you look worse for Warehouse, Temple Life. Hand-on shoulder. These are all the maneuvers. Yeah. Yeah, good to see you too. Uh-huh. And then he just quotes the dude from the Big Lebowski, which is, that was a surprise for me. Yeah.

He, Obi-Wan is like, we would be behind schedule if you knew how to keep time, da-da-da-da. He's like, well, that's just your opinion, man. I'm like, all right, well, you're getting, I'm getting so many different vibes from Quinlan Voss. That was the thing. I couldn't quite pin him down, like, because there were, there were ways in which he felt like, yeah, like, kind of hymbo energy. But also, like, early Gibson roles in some ways, too, where we're just, like, 70s action star, you know? Just, like, effortlessly cool and glamorous. He's like, if Spicoli were a jock is the thing, right?

Like, he has that slacker energy that is, like, effortlessly cool and can, like, see past everything and isn't going to play the game the way Obi-Wan is. But he's also, like, buff his shit and has good hair. and, like, the unique style. Yeah. And I think, unfortunately, this is the only episode we're getting... Really? I don't understand. Wait, he appears in a splash art, though, for the show all the fucking time.

Are you telling me, this guy's not a major character? It's not a major character. They wrote him just to look at a cup. I mean, I love that ability, and I would love that he's here, but, like, they wrote him into this episode to touch Zero's Cup and be like, I'm getting memories from it. I'm Kiddlin Moss. Did you read my comics?

Like, is that what you're telling me right now? I'm triple checking. That's really unfortunate. All right. He was supposed to be in Bombat Jedi, but he got cut out of it. Then he's in, he's an indirect mention in Jedi crash, which we've already seen. He's in Hunt for Zero. And he appears briefly in a vision to Yoda in a future episode.

That's it. Wait, but I'm over on his one. Wikipedia and there's like working with Vendres, Vendris, Vendris Disciple, Vendris Boyfriend. Yeah, that's all comic shit. That's all comic shit. Oh, no. Yeah. Where can I get these comics? I don't know.

They released Aquil and Vos omnibus 2008-ish. Voss XVentis. Just seeing what's out there. Bro, we have to read this shit because there's shit here. Voss succumb to the dark side and be Duku's apprentice, serving the confederacy as Admiral Enigma. However, he was brought back to the light side of the force by his love for Ventress.

We have to read these comments. Working with Ventress, here's a back and forth between the two of them. What is this? It's called a tackle. Who are you? Relax. I've got this one, honey. Honey.

And I don't know who's who in this exchange. I think Quimland Voss is the one who said, I've got this, honey. Is he, though? I have to know. Someone needs to write it and let us know if this is worth our time. We need to fucking, yeah. Oh, this art is kind of sick. Hold up.

I think it's worth our time. I remember. Look at this fucking art. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this looks all right. He's fucking cool. He's cool. They're cool together.

And that's his force powers that he touches things and then learns people, the memories from the object. Yeah, he has psychometry or whatever. It's a classic. I can only imagine the dramatic tension that would exist. of him talking contrast the first time and like what he'd see and like can he accept that? Oh my goodness. It's a lot.

Anyway, here he touches Zero's cup which he threw dramatically on the ground and learns that he went to the swamp, I guess. Then he went to the bayou. Then he went to the bayou to his mom's house for a different fatphobic caricature. I also have a really, really,

really Austin Walker note here. which is there's a DJ in this episode. First of all, this DJ never gets used again, and it's heartbreaking to me. Does anyone know the name of this DJ? Does anyone go looking? No. Okay, the name of this DJ is Rang Thang, R-A-N-G, P-H-A-N-G. And I cannot find the song that is playing when the Jedi first show up here or when they leave.

But it sounds like a Star Wars version of Rapture by Blondie, and I tried so hard. to find the source, the way we did with like Indian dance source or whatever it was called at Hondo's place the first time, or whatever the radio version of the Grandmaster Flash song was that, and I found those, I cannot find, because it's like nothing. It's at like 735 in this episode and then again at nine minutes and it's like a total of eight seconds. It's barely there. But it has that like, it has all of the elements of rapture by Blondie, which is a dope song, except for when she raps, which is not as good. The rest of that song is incredible. and I want the whole version of it.

Someone find it for me. Please. Anyway, he touches the cup. The cup says, wait a second, Zero was here, and Zero got arrested or whatever, and then now they're going to go check, find Zero. Yeah. I actually don't really know how he got enough information to find where Zero is from that. He just sees Zero briefly, right? He sees...

He seems like a man who knows his way around an elbow. Yeah. I guess that makes it. Well, he doesn't know he's in the swampia. Doesn't he have to go check and see the empty cell? Check the cell. First, he sees the empty cell. Oh.

Right, sure. Then they fight a swab snake. Yeah. That happens. Oh, okay. We're not even out to this part of this episode. But a thing that just came to my mind here is that it's funny that they spent so long on that big dance scene.

Because there's a fight scene at the end of this episode that looks like shit. Oh, you don't like that fight scene? I don't mind that fight scene so much. In the first minute, they're all, like, floaty and, like, moving, like, Lego Star Wars characters. And I think they probably spend a lot of time on that dance. Yeah. I mean, Faloni didn't mention this fight scene at the end, did he? In the Faloni zone.

You're not wrong. I think there's some hot moments in that fight when we get there. And I think that, you know, it's fun to see Cadbane do Cadbane shit, but you're not wrong. So, yeah, they hunt him through the swamp. Zero ends up going back to his childhood home, I guess, where his mother lives. His mother, the largest hut we've ever seen. Who's wearing creatures on her head. He's like black starfish creatures, slug creatures, I guess, with like wings as if they're like a tall hairdo.

Yeah. Which is also what the Marlon Brando hut is doing, but much less of it. which is like it's a I don't know I don't know what's going on anyway crawling over her body yes yeah uh-huh

she he's like hey can I borrow the spaceship and she's like I knew you wanted something I don't know that I could understand her voice if I didn't have captions on oh not at all the effect that they have on her voice is so intense and it's just like I don't like any of this

it's an unpleasant episode And yeah, it's like From the highs of the dance number And it's like this is going to be charming and fun To like, hey, you ever seen seven? Right. And one, it's like, yeah, it's half being a really uncomfortable way Which is like it is the corpulent body as just this rotting mass

And like the creature lives in felt and we see the other huts Like they're big slugs, but they're dandy you have a hang out of the club and here's where zero's from and yeah I'm watching and also like I just don't know which direction I should be offended in like I suspect if I'm like Creole from the bayou

also not going to be thrilled with like how this is being well this is the thing that's like so hard and weird is that like it's not hard it's this is a show that wants us to know how corrupt and ineffective the republic

is but the republic gets to have sick armor and, you know, bold speeches. And maybe it's skewering those a little bit. We can go back and reread that had May speech, and it's like, eye-roly. But, like, the huts are not corrupt in an eye-roly way. They're corrupt in a gross and physical way. And that is, like, not only is that less effective in terms of storytelling, in terms of, like, convincing me why the huts are on the same villainous tier

as the separatists or the republic. it's just, it's like increasingly lazy as the show goes on with hutshit. The combination of the huts as both, they're just fat and they're just gangsters you know from gangster movies is like where there's no, no creativity is what you're telling me. You're telling me like you literally had nothing new to add to this. When the huts are like this huge, like this mega important entity like political, like a political force in this universe. Like, the huts are one of the republic's most important allies, specifically because they do not belong to the republic.

And they, like, they're not just some, like, rando, like, group of characters that will never see again. They're not the mere cat pacifists. It's not the, like, weird German mad scientist. It's not some other, like, offensive caricature of some, you know, person that we're going to see once and ever again. And this is like one of the biggest, like one of the biggest influences in how the universe operates. And it's just like what a great, it's a great illustration of like the limits of reference in stuff for me. Because like if you're going to have a hut do a bad Don Corleone, a bad Marlon Brando, do you know what I'm going to do is think about how good the Godfather is and how much fucking better it is than the shit I'm watching right now. Like, this is not an, like, this isn't the homage you think it is.

Like, it's the ha-ha look, like, it, you know, you found Waldo or whatever in the, in the episode. But there's nothing about that, that one betters the structure, the quality and value of this episode on its own. And, yeah, it just makes me want to watch the good thing that you're making the cheap reference to. And I do want to say there are stuff here that I think is, and Rob, I'll throw to you right after this. I do want to say there are things here that are like, oh, cool, that's interesting. The idea of Zero having the diary with all of the criminal details, that's a great MacGuffin. It's fun. The idea that they want to stop him from being able to have that to leverage it against them is great.

I like the size snoodles, Fem Fatal, backstab. I like the weird mummy hut, his father buried on this other planet as this big laid-out mummy. is like a interesting, weird detail. The bit where he's like, I couldn't bear to tell mom that you left or that you died is like, ooh, okay, there's like, I don't know, there's some stuff that's happening here. But for that stuff to really shine, I think you need to like spend the time with that culture and let it breathe a little bit more than where we, what we see here, you know? That's, I don't know. I think, there's two, there's two thoughts here that are sort of trying. traveling um one is that it bothers me that they made all the huts just like java yeah a feeling

you always get is java's a weird dude like yeah i always have the feeling before the series if you met other huts they wouldn't be like jaba like the java was already kind of a guy who's like you know taken over a planet somewhere become a crime lord but like he's a big slug who likes to have Twylex dance form and then feed them to rankers and like stage public executions at the sandworm like he's like this excess decadence right like and that's supposed to be that's supposed to be his character type but here we've learned that is not true right they're just that's that's just how huts are like that's how they get down which is of course we're gonna we're gonna see each other at the big nightclub uh tonight all borrowed culture uh from from other folks like

what do huts do they're entertained by others um but it's not yeah you don't you don't get a sense of like they're being now at this point they're all just like xeroxes of java uh which is kind of a bumer and makes them less interesting which diminishes java because now java is the one without a fancy hat or a monocle or a cape java like doesn't have even the like the the mark of any his voice doesn't sound different he's just the he's just the hut and it yeah I don't know. You know what's funny about Gardula? What's funny about Gardula?

Gardula died. Is Gardula the... Yeah? And Filoni was like, I want... For real? The same shit happened? No. Hold on, I have to find it.

I was just... Oh, yeah, here it is. Another hunt who appears in Hunt for Zero is Gardula Basadi, the elder. Despite having previously been fed to a crate dragon in the 2002 video game, Star Wars Bounty Hunter, which is set prior to the phone word. Right, I did read this. After Hunt for Zero aired, Leland Chee declared that the crate dragon had found Gurdula indigestable, echoing a similar line spoken by Boba Fett in a 1992 issue of the comic series Star Wars Dark Empire.

However, Star Wars author, Eidrich, Tolliver pointed out the continuity era surrounding Gurdula's desk had existed for some time with both the galactic phrasebook and travel guide and the novel tattooing ghost mentioning her being alive after the guy's about a hander. Soldier boy, it don't mean shit. I'm just coming in from off screen here. I think the other thing that kind of speaks to that

which is also you're talking with the limits of reference and I agree I think also sometimes if we're talking about the things like what is Faloni doing cleanup on I think there is so much that can get jammed together in Star Wars that stuff ends up being nothing but shallow reference

really hastily skipped over and I think this is an example of I would like to know more about this hot criminal empire but I'm never gonna know more because they're not dealt with in because fucking zero has been our lens on all this through the entire time everything is shot through that really mediocre

or character and we aren't going to see any we'll never get a sense of like here's how the huts function here's how they wield power here's like here is why people troop up to these palaces and like pay homage and uh you know hang out in this court here's here's how these client relationships work we're never going to get that and i don't think it's not that we need an episode that like describes blow by blow the workings of hot society and power but i am thinking about like there a lot of times like later on for instance when we're talking like the mandolorean uh when the mandolian takes you somewhere they're actually really good at establishing like this is what's up in this community this is what's this is what's happening this is how

people live this is why it's working this way without taking up a ton of screen time without like just exposition bombs dropping everywhere and a lot of times star wars doesn't do that work very effectively. And I think at its worst, Clone Wars really fumbles it because it has a, it's creators love making reference. I mean, this is a creative team that dedicated one of their worst episodes to Curisawa.

Yeah. And so it's not surprising that they're like, gangster movies from the 30s. But it's, yeah. At the same time, it's just so bizarre to me because this isn't the last time we're going to see the huts.

Like, they are this pervasive force in, like, the Clone Wars movie was about Jabba the Hut getting his son back. Like, we're always in and around their culture and interacting with them and, like, at different points in time, like, at the subject of, like, their alliance with, or at the, like, interacting with, like, interacting with, the specific alliance between the huts and the republic and the fact that we don't really know anything about huck culture really is just like such a miss i mean calling it a missed opportunity is an understatement like it's just uh yeah it just feels i don't know just feels like there's like this whole yeah i don't know i don't know i don't know I feel you I feel you

It's tough Anyway go ahead Rob Yeah so I mean I also don't think The It's just a slow episode The scenes with his mom Like getting the keys to the car

The spaceship from her That stuff is slow Having them repeat the conversation A little bit with her As Voss and Obi-1 Like are hot-b-trail They also show up and do the same conversation again Right

Yeah And then Quinlan boss is whack and is just like rude as fuck the whole time. He cuts down the door, which was rude. And then he's like, it smells in here and is like literally holding his nose the whole time that he's in the room with her. And it's just so unnecessary and whack. Well, yeah. I mean, it's, again, it's like how to just drive home.

This is just a morbidly obese hut. And it's gross in there. Right. It's, yeah, it's, it's unfortunate. poor people are smelly. Yeah. The other thing, but I do think, like, that weird

tomb for Zero's dead, the whole scene is weird. They end up, like, in a halo level, basically. Like, they fly off into a Halo death match level where the centerpiece of it is this altar to this, like, mummified hut. And there's something kind of

affecting, yeah, but, like, he's just kind of mummified, and he's all small now, because, like, you know, obviously desiccated. a little hot and so it's just like his dad's a potato now he's got this secret like grave that he visits

and sort of tucked that that crime diary in and of course at that point the minute Snoodles grabs that diary I'm like oh yeah okay

here it is he's misread this and then she He shoots him, bam, and he drops I didn't not think she was gonna kill zero.

Like I was pretty, I was pretty shook by that. Is there first major character death? Yes. Yeah, I don't count that Jedi. Yeah, there's other, who? The Padua?

Gunn die. Am I'm a gun die. Oh, a different one. Yeah, so, yeah, obviously not. Bolorapal, who gets who gets Revolver Osol Yeah, maybe.

But he's not a major character. This is the character who's been with us. Has, like, been around the most amount of times and then died. Three arcs or less, or more, rather, right? Because it's the original movie, it's hostage crisis, and now it's this. That's three full arcs. And, like, and our hostage crisis is only one episode, but still. I don't think anybody else has died.

Well, I mean, that's not true. I list all the deaths in every episode if a clone dies. Well, he looked... And he looked so pathetic, just like all dead on the floor when CAD and the Jedi show up, and it's just like, oh, he's dead. He's even, his colors are dull, and it's like, oh, zero's just, zero's gone now. I guess retroactively, you could say, cut up heavy and droid bait, but they, that's retroactive. They died before we cared about them.

that's true and we didn't see him oh no no no we did yeah yeah yeah I'm gonna confuse yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so yeah I think this is our first true major character Godzilla Beast obviously also

and Toto Mired Zero is a major character Toto compared to like we've now seen Toto Dwight twice but no Wids the other time Toto dies

Opie one yeats him Toto only dies once Oh does he get out because No, they get out. I know they get out because they both have the shoe hover feet and they hover into the ship. Into the ship together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because Toto's like flying the ship away.

He brings his hat. He brings Cat's hat. He, yes, yes. Never mind. I was really sad about that, I should not be sad. I'm, Toto's canceled. Sorry. Uh, but. Well. Just been learning more about this Toto guy. And they have to say, not a fan, did not know all this when I retweeted.

Yeah, there's a big fight. That's, we already alluded to this. You know, after Zero dies, uh, Cad Bain shows up first and was like, oh, fuck. And then smartly backs away into the shadows so that the Jedi can seem as if they've arrived first and he can get the drop on them if he needs it. And he's like, he's like, listen, we don't have to do this. we can go a separate ways I didn't do this

but this is all after Holocron heist and like all them kids oh yeah what about them what about them they got they got saved you know

sometimes you're on the other other side of a war heroes on both sides like the name of the episode we're watching next time I man I

Quinlan Voss with that with that big energy though you know I felt like this this stud is going to take Cadbane to school. Nope.

Nope. He gets owned. Cad just works these guys over. It's, he's just an onslaught. There's more than they can handle. It's fun stuff. I enjoy the, like,

jumps from, like, plateau to plateau. Yeah. Again, like the pivot to a Smash Brothers level, I guess. He gets Quinlan Voss with, like, a bolo around his legs,

which is like, you've got to be more careful than that. You're a Jedi. You know? Yeah, I feel like Quinlan Voss is constantly on the back foot but what does Quinn Las Voss out there do

if he's touching things like maybe he's not well he's also flipping around I think he knows what he's out there doing and I am keen to find out of one yeah no he beats the shit like he beats shit out of them there are moments when he's losing

this moments when he's winning but at all points it's worth remembering that it's like him and Toto versus two elite Jedi masters and the fact that it's even close is ridiculous. There's a bit where Toto gets Quinlan's lightsaber

and charges it at at Obi-Wan and he gets that's when he gets easy into the mist briefly. But then you would think Obi-Wan has both lightsabers it's done for

fucking he does a kick to Chad Bain and he Bain gets the lightsaber off him somehow. He kicks Cad Bain in the check. And the result of that is that Cadbane goes up one lightsaber, which I don't even know how that happens.

And then he gets Obi-Wan with the same trick that he got Asoka with forever ago, which is, I'm going to zap you with my zap hand from that earlier episode. And he did it, and he did it while Obi-Wan has the lightsaber in his hand. If you rewind the tape, go back to that episode. One of the things I say is if Asoka didn't give up that lightsaber, if she didn't lose hands on that. lightsaber she would have won that fight and disproves that that's not even Obi-1 had his lightsaber he still got got that's Chad Bain for you

that's Chad Bain again Chad Bain theme of this series like that the Jedi Order is in the process of falling and I think one of the signs is that these guys do not win street fights they bring those dueling skills out into these streets and it does not go well for them

and they're not seeing that like man we're just getting rocked every Tom Dick and Harry who's got like I was willing to, like, break off a pool queue, and they're like, it's probably just because they fight dirty. Yeah. Anyway, that's the end of zero. Zero's dead. There's dad.

Chad Bane and Toto. Escape with a fortune, I guess. I guess we don't know what they get paid for this, but given what they got paid for just getting the plans. Well, okay. So a fistful of them credits buys you four nice fruits. Okay, we, let's math time. Because, okay, because this is fucking me up. So we get, what's the name of the girlfriends?

I already forget. Scy Snoodles. Sneudles is talking to Java the hut at the end and is getting her payment for betraying her boyfriend, killing one of the major huts, and like one of Jaba's like main adversaries at this point, kidnapped his son. And let's just look through.

Okay, this is R2D2 receiving. When I'm going to generously see. say is $50. What is your, wait, let me see, what is the, you have a photo here? It's two of the gold ones, and it's one of the silver ones, and they spend $32 on fruits. Let's assume they get change back. So you're thinking that's $2.20 is in the 10. Yeah, let's say, let's just say.

I'm being generous here, because we're going to see it a second. If the UI is showing, so it's a bad screenshot, but you're seeing the hand. Okay, I first watched this, and I thought it was three gold pieces and three silver pieces. Silver underneath it. Which would have generously been, like, maybe she's doing this for, like, $120? You can find someone to kill someone for you for, like, $25. I just, it feels like she did a lot for maybe $300. She did way more than this.

Zero literally told her, like, we can retire on this baby. Like we can get an island Yes He did say this to her And she said, I'm good I'm gonna get a surping Like this It's just

I don't know That's not Do you want the final image The final comparison image? Oh please Is what Bing got Which for just again

This is just for Kidnapping R2D2 briefly, briefly, and getting the plans out of him. Not even doing that mission. He gets a, it's, well, we see, one, two, three, four, five, six. It's, yeah, ten, low, just, somebody do that. Let's say that that's 30 per row. No, it's way more than 30.

It's 40 per row, something like that. And then one, two, three, four, five, six, seven rows. And that's one layer. It goes deep. It's a thick briefcase. It's like a large briefcase. Like that's not even like a carrier. And that's all gold.

That's all gold. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And this is only P.L. number one. You assume CAD being up more for the second job. 50 a row. This is why.

50 a row. Plus the ones tucked down the sides. Brough. Dude, Jabba the Hub of the Hibing is, oh, I didn't get you for that. That's what I'll say. Okay. You're not wrong You're not wrong

And then he then did the hostage thing And did it He got paid off that too Cadbane The difference is Cadbane owns a space station Right? Like it isn't

He's got expenses He's spending He do have expenses now He's living a higher A higher class life And so I get why he wants to negotiate For more But we didn't even see him negotiating

He just gets what he's earned He just gets what he is worth. Someone needs to, needs to, we got to get Syneedle her money. Yeah.

We got to go to Java. You're going to kill your whole boyfriend for couch change? Like, what's happening? But I think there's the problem. It's her ex-boyfriend. So the thing that she got caught up on was, it was like,

you know, it's that you can make this much money working from home. And that was like a pitched people would be like, hell yeah, I'll make that much money working from home. It's like that. It's like you can make all this pocket

change but killing your ex-boyfriend and she didn't think like well what's an actual like what would a what would a professional killer get she was just like i'd kill i'd happily kill zero for that and so that's she went she didn't have the right mindset she was like here's what i want to do now i'm getting paid for it that's that's how video games freelancing got me do you think that she keeps the the ship the ship at least i hope so fingers crossed That's hers now. Yeah. She better.

She better. Also, it's real. No, it just makes no fucking sense, and it pisses me off. She knew, this is not retirement money. She knew, she knew she was owed retirement money. She wasn't looking, she wasn't looking to retire. She was looking to kill someone who broke her heart. But that's the other fun of thing.

They didn't break up. He got arrested. Like, that's, like I understand that you get feelings, but. No, no, no, no, no, no. I think what happened is... Because of him. He was lying. Right.

Right. I think that he was lying about... Oh, baby, I would have stayed in touch with you, but... Oh, sure, shit, okay, okay, okay, okay. You know what I mean? Okay, I'll go to that. I still think it's a lot... It's...

You're still going to kill someone. Yeah. But the thing I was going to say is, these are Republic Credit Ingets. That's what these are. What happened to Republic Credits aren't good out here in Tattooing? No, what Obi-Wan, so this is, but this is specie currency, what Obi-Wan was offering was a check.

You're right. Like, so that's the thing. Like, there's the credit, and then there's hard currency, and I think this is the difference. Oh, sure. Like, this shit travels. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay.

Sure. Okay. I'd buy it. Now, mind you, if I were a Jedi, I would just be like, I would be like, I don't know, I do not. leave the planet without a briefcase full of cash to cover my glasses.

Absolutely. They just should print it. Print me the platinum credit chip. Please. Everything would have been so different.

Like, Quigon gets back there, it's like, I bought out every slave on tattooing. And they're like, well, we're not reimbursing you for that

and he's like, wasn't my money. It was yours. So what you want to do here? And then he starts breakdancing. Anyway, so yeah, I think that that wraps up these three episodes, which all feel like Tales from Jabba's Palace type stories of like, you know the thing that happened?

Well, you ever wonder about the thing that was implied? Not really, but here's the implication everywhere. It involves the same crew of people. It's like, and how do you think he got those plans for the most recognizable building in the Republic? Like, how do you think he got the plans for those? Oh, City Hall? He kidnapped three and R two. Yeah.

Also, I just sent you all some nose art of Quinlan Voss's gunship. That's another thing I have here. Alien Lady on there, number 81, which I'm guessing was his high school football number. That's not really a good number for a quarterback, but that's his... Oh, I mean, he was, he was a two-way, like, receiver corner. I see. He was doing the Dion thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. I got you. That's it. I don't have any other fun trivia for this one, really, unfortunately. Well, coming up next, we've got an episode that I've had Circle on my calendar for months. The enticingly titled Heroes on Both Sides Plus Pursuit of Peace. After that, I think we have a ventress three-parter that might involve a group you've probably never heard of. They're a little obscure.

the Force Witches of Dathir Ah, the Force Witches of Dathir Yeah, baby! We then have another multi-parter after that that I'm very excited to see even though I remember disliking it because of... So, like, we're in it, in a way.

We're truly in it in a way right now that I am excited after this to move on from the Zero of the Hut shit to get to the real meat of season three. So I think next episode, I think next episode is getting us more behind the scenes on Banking Clan and Separatus shit. So I'm very excited about that.

We'll see. So that's our next episode. But next week, however, Patreon backers, if I have the scheduling right, Patreon backers will get to hear us chat about Star Wars Visions, the series of animated shorts that was recent, at least on Disney Plus.

If you'd like to hear that, or just want to support the show, you can do so at patreon.com slash civilized. Until next time, please rate and review us on your podcast platform, of choice. And remember, if you just make sure you're nice to your center-right colleague and make sure he gets his favorite treats, he will decide to do good politics. It's literally never failed.

We're going to be. We're going to be able to be. I don't know how much. We're going to be. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.