The truth about yourself is always the hardest to accept.
During an assault on a Separatist space station in Ringo Vinda, the clone trooper Tup begins acting strangely, eventually killing a Jedi Master in the heat of battle. He has no memory of the event, and Anakin Skywalker orders him sent back to Kamino for evaluation. But the Separatists have also taken notice, and kidnap Tup off of the shuttle before it can leave the system. Anakin, Rex, and Fives lead a mission to get Tup back so they can determine what is wrong with him.
Tropes:
- An Arm and a Leg: Trench is shown to have survived "Cat and Mouse", but his three left arms, along with his left pedipalp and the side of his face, have been replaced with cybernetics.
- Arc Words: "Good soldiers follow orders" first shows up here.
- Bloodless Carnage: Tup shoots Master Tiplar in the face but, when Tiplee lifts her up afterward, her head doesn't have a mark on it.
- Boom, Headshot!: Tup kills Master Tiplar by shooting her in the head at close range.
- The Bus Came Back: It turns out Admiral Trench did not die during the Battle of Christophsis back in "Cat and Mouse", although he did not survive unscathed.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Shortly before the beginning of the attack, Tup starts acting odd and saying "Jedi" in a menacing tone when he looks at Tiplar, but Fives snaps him out of it by asking if he's alright, and he seems to just have a headache. Minutes later, when the strange behaviour returns, no one is close enough to stop him in time...
- Foreshadowing: Tup shoots Tiplar and later tries to attack Tiplee, but he never goes after Anakin. This is because Anakin is slated to one day become Palpatine’s apprentice, so he’s been left off the kill list.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The execution of Tiplar is shown twice. The first time, there is a close-up on Tup's face as he shoots, and when Admiral Trench reviews the holo-footage, he pans the image just before Tup shoots, so that Tup's body blocks the event from the viewers.
- Madness Mantra: Courtesy of Tup: "Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders..."
- Oh, Crap!: When Trench describes Tup as being in a trance-like state when he killed Tiplar, Count Dooku is extremely concerned. Sidious is also gravely concerned and with good reason, since a failure of Protocol 66 means a big chunk of his plans for absolute power are ruined.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Sith's concern when they learn of Tup's premature activation of Order 66 is palpable (no pun intended). They know their plans are in serious risk of failing if the protocol fails, and quickly go to great lengths to try to cover it up.
- Revealing Cover Up: When Dooku and Sidious learn of Tup's actions, they suspect he was following Order 66, but can't be certain. They therefore have him abducted a) to find out if he was, and b) to ensure that, if so, the Republic won't find out about it. However, this tips Anakin and the 501st off that the Separatists must have been involved in Tup's actions, prompting further investigation.
- Ringworld Planet: Ringo Vinda is a space station that completely encircles a planet. Different parts of the station are under Republic and Separatist control, with the former wanting to take the whole station and planet.
- Secret-Keeper: This episode reveals (though it may have been revealed elsewhere) that Dooku is aware of Palpatine's plan to destroy the Jedi Order using Order 66.
- Shout-Out: This episode introduces a clone commander named Doom, whose armor has a green and grey color scheme to boot.
- Space Friction: When Anakin, Rex, and Fives grapple onto the Separatist shuttle carrying Tup, the battle droid pilot mentions that they were experiencing drag.Kraken: You were experiencing drag in the vacuum of space?
Droid pilot: Yeah, strange; but it is gone now. - Space Is Cold: The Separatist droids sent to kidnap Tup breach his shuttle and open it to the vacuum of space. When Anakin and his clone troopers enter it afterward, the exposed faces of the dead, floating clones are rimed with frost.
- Spotting the Thread: Dooku keeps his composure, but Trench describing Tup's behavior tips him off that he may have been carrying out Order 66.
