A plan is only as good as those who see it through.
The Malevolence, with its deadly ion cannon disabled, is being pursued by the Republic fleet. Not wanting to have their prize warship destroyed, Count Dooku informs General Grievous that his master has arranged for the arrival of a galactic senator who, once taken hostage, will prevent the Republic from destroying the Malevolence.
Padmé Amidala was told by the Supreme Chancellor that the InterGalactic Banking Clan wanted to negotiate a treaty, so when her ship drops out of hyperspace in the middle of a battle, she's none too thrilled to realize she's been lured into a hostage situation. She tells Anakin not to stop his attack, as she refuses to be made a bargaining chip. Anakin instead has the attack halted, and he and Obi-Wan board the Twilight to go rescue Padmé and C-3PO. And there's another problem: While sneaking around the Malevolence, Padmé overhears that the enormous warship's hyperdrive isn't as badly damaged as they thought, so the Separatists will be able to quickly repair it. It's a race to prevent the Malevolence from escaping, and get off the ship before it's destroyed.
Tropes:
- Attack Reflector: While heading towards Padmé on one of the internal trains, Obi-Wan and Anakin are shot at by two battle droids and deflect the shots straight back to them. The third battle droid saw it coming.
- Bowled Over: Obi-Wan Force-pushes two droidekas into groups of other battle droids.
- Butt-Monkey: C-3PO gets hit by a train and has to wander the corridors alone before R2 finds him.
- Call-Back: Anakin claims to Obi-Wan that spinning is a good trick, just as he did back in The Phantom Menace.
- Call-Forward:
- Grievous enters the room by jumping down from a high area and saying "Hello there", which is exactly what Obi-Wan will do to him in Revenge of the Sith.
- At the end of this scene, Grievous also orders the battle droids to guard the hyperdrive, while he will "deal with this Jedi [him]self." This mirrors an order that he will give to other battle droids in Revenge of the Sith.
- The ship itself, a giant construct with a weapon which takes forever to charge and then gets destroyed by a Skywalker leading Y-wings past its defenses, is one to A New Hope. The shots of its ion cannon charging up are even the same as those of the Death Star.
- The Cameo: Luminara Unduli appears briefly via a hologram.
- Clothing Damage: Grievous enters Padmé's ship while wearing his cape. It's gone when he emerges from the wreckage after the ship explodes.
- Conveniently Close Planet: Anakin rigs the navicomputer of the Malevolence to set the heavy cruiser on a collision course right into the Dead Moon of Antar, which just happens to be nearby.
- Didn't Think This Through: Grievous chooses to simply focus on causing mass casualties with the ion cannon rather than pay any attention to the ships trying to destroy it, even as he's under attack. Had he prioritized defeating the enemy attackers first, he might've succeeded. Instead, he prioritized destroying the medical facility. Naturally, the Malevolence gets destroyed and Count Dooku orders him to do nothing other than follow his orders.
- Dramatic Irony: It's obvious that Palpatine has prevented Padmé and the others from suspecting his role in her getting lured to the battle by telling her that the coordinates were from a Banking Clan official who wanted to negotiate, thus pinning all blame on the Banking Clan, which despite being Separatist-aligned are completely uninvolved with the Malevolence situation.
- Hostage Situation: Count Dooku and his master attempt to create one by luring Padmé to the scene of the battle so the Republic fleet can't destroy the Malevolence. It doesn't work, mainly because Padmé sets her ship to blow up and sneaks off to contact the Republic fleet.
- Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: This episode presents the dangers of hitting a mass shadow in hyperspace firsthand when the Malevolence flies directly into a nearby moon after Anakin sabotages the navicomputer.
- Lured into a Trap: Padmé is tricked into heading into the battle zone on a pretext of being asked to go to a diplomatic meeting, so she can be taken hostage to prevent the destruction of the Malevolence. It fails.
- Male Gaze: This episode features some camera shots that present Padmé's shapely rear end.
- Missed Him by That Much: After sabotaging the hyperdrive and cleaning up the destroyed Separatist droids, Anakin and Padmé exit the bridge through one lift just before a trio of battle droids checking on the status of the repairs enters through the other lift.
- Moment Killer: When Anakin and Padmé are about to kiss, Obi-Wan interrupts through the comlink to tell them that C-3PO, who Obi-Wan was attempting to retrieve, has been hit by a train.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Padmé and C-3PO have this reaction when their ship drops out of hyperspace in the middle of a battle.
- Grievous has this reaction when he sees that Padmé's ship is set to explode.
- The battle droids on the bridge react like this when they find the Malevolence is going to jump into hyperspace directly into a nearby moon.
- Plausible Deniability: Palpatine/Darth Sidious covers his tracks for luring Padmé into a hostage situation by using the Banking Clan and telling her that he got the coordinates for the meeting from a Clan representative.
- Spectacular Spinning: Obi-Wan, regarding Anakin's piloting style:Obi-Wan: Spinning is not flying.
Anakin: But it's a good trick! - Taught by Experience: The battle droid who knows why it's a bad idea to shoot at Jedi.
- Tractor Beam: Padmé's ship is pulled aboard the Malevolence with one.
- Villain Respect: After Obi-Wan effortlessly destroys the Separatist droids set to ambush him in the hyperdrive control room and runs off, a battle droid says "That was impressive." Grievous responds by knocking the battle droid's head off.
