The Republic, having lost contact with an outpost on the icy world of Orto Plutonia, send Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to investigate the matter. Accompanying them are dignitaries from the planet's inhabited moon of Pantora, Chairman Chi Cho and Senator Riyo Chuchi. Cho is quick and emphatic in pointing out that since Orto Plutonia is uninhabited, it's been claimed by Pantora as sovereign territory and that he specifically requested that a base be located on the planet. Upon entering the base, the Republic forces discover a semicircle of clone helmets placed on spears, which Obi-Wan and Rex find puzzling. Despite the oddity, Cho assumes it to be the Separatists. Clone scouts, meanwhile, have discovered a droid base on the far side of the ridge.
Upon arriving at the Separatist base, the Jedi discover more of the same: battle droid heads impaled on spears. Anakin and Rex, while searching around, discover headless droids frozen in battle positions and large footprints. Investigating the droids' logs, Obi-Wan and Anakin discover a recording of a droid being attacked by a furry white creature and that the droids seemed to be investigating the southern canyon. They go to investigate and discover the village of these aliens, called the Talz. Speaking with the chieftain, Thi-Sen, they learn that the Talz were attacked by the droids, and the Republic base was caught in the middle. The Jedi arrange a meeting between him and his council and Chairman Cho at the old Separatist base.
When the Jedi return to base, Cho is incredulous to learn that Orto Plutonia is an inhabited planet, seeing the Talz as trespassers upon sovereign Pantoran territory. He makes several attempts to order the clone troopers to attack the Talz, which he doesn't have the authority to do. At the meeting, Cho refuses to listen to reason and demands that the Talz leave or it will be war. Thi-Sen, angered by Cho's demands, agrees. Obi-Wan and Anakin ask Senator Chuchi if there's any way to override what Cho has done, since he's declared the conflict an internal affair. She responds that the Speaker of the Assembly has the power, and they return to the base to see if they can make contact. Anakin orders Rex to protect the Chairman until the mess can be sorted out.
The Talz ambush Cho's party on the way back and he's injured when a Talz spear strikes him in the back. Rex and the surviving clones are forced to take a stand defending Cho when they're backed up against the edge of a cliff. Back at the base, the Jedi and Senator Chuchi manage to contact the Pantoran Assembly, and Chairman Cho's actions are ruled out of order. Chuchi is given the authority to negotiate peace. She asks Obi-Wan if he can negotiate in her place, but he tells her that since it's the Pantorans the Talz are at war with, she must do the negotiating.
When the gunships arrive to reinforce the clone troopers defending the injured Chairman Cho, he gives Senator Chuchi an order, as his final command as Chairman of Pantora: destroy the Talz. She tells him she can't do that, and he dies ranting that he died for his people, and that peace is impossible. Chuchi removes his hat, grabs a Talz spear, and asks C-3PO to come with her as translator. She walks across the battlefield and Thi-Sen approaches her. With Threepio translating, Chuchi points out that dying for your people is a great sacrifice, as she plants the spear in the ground and places Cho's hat on top. She then points out that living for your people is an even greater sacrifice, and that's what she chooses. When she asks Thi-Sen what his choice is, he chooses to live as well, planting his spear in the ground next to Chuchi's. Thus, peace is achieved between the Pantorans and the Talz. Obi-Wan tells Chuchi that the harder part is making it last.
Tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Obnoxious racist that he is, Chairman Cho's death is surprisingly sad, wasting his last breaths in obvious agony, cursing the Talz and ordering Chuchi to wipe them all out, with the last words he ever hears being her telling him that's not going to happen.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Cho, while not technically an ambassador, is extremely rude and demeaning to Thi-Sen.
- Bear Hug: When Obi-Wan offers Thi-Sen a handshake following their successful first contact, the chieftain promptly scoops him up in a massive hug.
- Car Fu: Cho is injured and being threatened by a Talz when Rex drives a speeder into it sideways... before unceremoniously dumping the swiftly-unconscious Chairman over the front of the vehicle and driving off again.
- Changing of the Guard: Senator Chuchi's arc in this episode is learning to stand up for herself and for the values of a presumably changed Pantora. While Chairman Cho is shown to be respected (or at least feared) by the Senator, she and the rest of the Pantoran government choose to leave behind his xenophobic, violent ways in favor of pursuing a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Symbolically, the young and inexperienced Senator replaces the seasoned older Chairman as the representative of Pantora with the Talz.
- Dead Hat Shot:
- The Talz place the helmets of the clone troopers and heads of the battle droids on spears, intended as a warning not to return.
- Later, Senator Chuchi places Chairman Cho's hat on a spear when negotiating with Thi-Sen.
- Despair Event Horizon: Chairman Cho crosses it moments before his death, being informed that the Assembly have declared his actions out of order, his authority has been revoked, and they will make peace with the Talz. He is horrified to realise that rather than dying a martyr of his people like he believed, he will be unavenged and his legacy will be viewed with disdain.Cho: "No... Impossible! Peace? Never! I died for our... people."
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Pantorans have vaguely South African accents whose field leader demeans the natives as "savages" and demands that Pantora rule over Ordo Plutonia, threatening violence if they disagree.
- Empathic Environment: There's a snowstorm going on for most of the episode, which ends the instant Senator Chuchi negotiates peace with Thi-Sen.
- Evil Colonialist: Chairman Cho has shades of this, as a racist warhawk who insists on Pantora's rule over Orto Plutonia.
- Fallen Hero: It's implied in the dialogue and further discussed in the Episode Featurette that Chairman Cho was a respected long-time leader of the Pantorans, whose ruthless tactics and fervent nationalism may have been effective in a different age. But Pantora is also shown to have begun to move on, and the chairman's attitudes no longer are keeping up with the times. The featurette notes that it's time for a change in Pantora, from using violence towards a peaceful outlook. By the end, Pantora has chosen to go take a high road and Cho's ways die with him.
- Fictional Geneva Conventions: Chairman Cho believes that the Talz aren't protected by the "Convention of Civilized Systems". Details about these conventions aren't provided, but it's implied that at minimum, it covers the protection of sentient beings and that both the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Council abide by it.
- Fantastic Racism: Cho, upon learning of the presence of the Talz, demeans them as "savages" and states they have no claim to the planet despite it being pointed out that if they are sentient, then the Galactic Senate has jurisdiction.
- Geo Effects: The Talz's main advantage in ambushing the Republic forces is their extensive knowledge of the terrain.
- Grew a Spine: Senator Chuchi is initially completely intimidated by Cho, but she eventually stands up to him and gets the Pantoran Assembly to agree that his actions are out of order, being given the authority to negotiate a peace treaty with the Talz.
- Hidden Depths: Apparently, C-3PO knows how to pilot a speeder, as he's shown piloting one to the meeting with the Talz.
- Homefield Advantage: Aside from superior numbers, the Talz clearly know how to use their environment to their advantage, positioning their mounted warriors high on cliffs while individual Talz hide in snowbanks, both of which allow them to get the jump on the Clone troopers.
- In the Back: Chairman Cho is fatally wounded when a Talz spear hits him in the back.
- In the End, You Are on Your Own: Obi-Wan tells Senator Chuchi that she must negotiate peace herself because it's her people the Talz are at war with.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Chairman Cho repeatedly insists that the events on Orto Plutonia are an internal matter for Pantora, and that neither the Jedi nor the Senate have any authority to override him. Despite this, he has no problem with trying to order around Anakin's troops.
- Last Request: Cho, knowing he's dying, orders Chuchi to destroy the Talz. She tells him she can't do that as she's been given the authority to negotiate peace.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Cho is an almost suicidally aggressive War Hawk; his attempts at fighting the numerically superior Talz on their own turf end up getting eleven Clone troopers and Cho himself killed.
- One-Word Title: "Trespass".
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Thi-Sen is an affable figure who is open to diplomacy, although he's in no way a fool or a pushover. Despite Chairman Cho's aggression, Thi-Sen gives him two chances to leave Orto Plutonia in peace, and allows the group to leave the negotiations unmolested despite the declaration of war. He also sends his warriors only after the Chairman, and immediately agrees to peace after the Chairman's death.
- Rock Beats Laser: The Talz, despite their primitive weaponry, managed to wipe out the personnel of both the Republic and Separatist bases and inflict heavy losses on the clone troopers guarding Chairman Cho. However, they do take losses of their own, and their victories are implied to be down to a mix of superior numbers and greater knowledge of the terrain note .
- Sherlock Scan: Senator Chuchi quickly notices the absence of blasterfire or dead droids at the Republic outpost, realizing that the Separatists weren't responsible for the attack, even before the Talz are revealed.
- Shout-Out: The beginning of the episode is quite similar to The Thing, with our heroes investigating a base in a frozen wasteland that shows signs of an attack from an unknown entity.
- Single-Biome Planet: Orto Plutonia is an ice planet in the tradition of Hoth, being almost wholly covered in snow, glaciers, and snow-covered glaciers.
- Snow Means Death: For Chairman Cho, at any rate.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Chairman Cho believes that, despite the Talz overrunning both Republic and Separatist forces with ease, he can easily handle them with a small battalion of Clones. He is aghast at the idea of retreating from a fight that Rex's men are clearly losing, and has to be carried away after receiving a fatal spear in the back.
- Tactful Translation: Averted — Chairman Cho orders C-3PO to translate what he says exactly as he says it. The Talz are not amused.
- This Is Gonna Suck: The moment Cho derails negotiations by belittling and antagonizing the Talz, who have been established to be easily provoked to violence, Obi-Wan and Anakin's expressions reflect this trope.
- Too Dumb to Live: Chairman Cho initiates hostilities with the Talz despite being outnumbered, being on their territory, and knowing that they've already wiped out two better equipped outposts before this.
- Visual Pun: With only a small change in their gear, the clones are outfitted for cold weather operations. They're snowclones.
- War Hawk: Upon hearing the base has gone silent, Chairman Cho's first assumption is that it's Separatists who need to be fought. When he finds out it's the Talz, he immediately demands that they go to war with them and overrules any effort to make peace with them, before taking to the front lines himself.
- Wrong Genre Savvy:
- Despite Cho's assumptions, Rex and his men don't answer to him. They disregard his orders to initiate violence against the Talz, and only open fire in self-defense. Cho is in a position of authority, but he's not in the Clones' chain of command, so they're under no obligation to follow his orders.
- Additionally, despite being the overall ruler of Pantora, the chairman is implied to be an elected position with checks and balances in the form of the Pantoran Assembly, thus Cho does not have the authority to declare war on a random race out of misplaced patriotism without consulting his board. Once the Assembly is informed of his antics, they declare his actions out of order and remove him from power while authorising/ordering his successor to negotiate peace with the race Cho attacked, resulting in the Chairman dying a pointless death and ruining whatever legacy he had among his people despite his misplaced patriotism.
