Sabotage
July 4, 2013 in Episode Guides by Firebird
#105 Season 5 Episode 17
“Sometimes even the smallest doubt can shake the greatest belief.”
Anakin and Ahsoka investigate a deadly bombing at the Jedi Temple.
Public opinion has soured on the Jedi Order as the Clone Wars continue at such a grave cost to the Republic. A shocking act of terrorism against the Jedi Temple proves how fragile the image of the Jedi as benevolent protectors has become.
Sabotage Commentary, Preview, Bonus clip and starwars.com Episode Guide. Ahsoka arc trailer.
Original Airdate: 9 February 2013
Writer: Charles Murray
Director: Brian Kalin O’Connell
Concept Art and Trivia
The four episodes of this arc are all named after Alfred Hitchcock films: Sabotage (1936), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), To Catch a Thief (1955), and The Wrong Man (1955).
Cin Drallig is a character from Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. He is seen in the hologram of Anakin’s attack on the Jedi Temple. There, he was played by stunt coordinator and sword master Nick Gillard.
“I’m afraid one can become the other,” says Anakin, referring to past political idealists who have betrayed the Jedi, including Count Dooku and General Krell from Season Four. It’s ironic, given his future.
Russo-ISC’s speech pattern, name, and habit of flipping his visor to punctuate his speech are all nods to David Caruso’s role in CSI Miami.
Seen briefly aboard the gunship in the first arc are 501st jetpack troopers with Captain Rex. These are the latest incarnation of a type of trooper seen in the feature film accompanying Anakin Skywalker in attacking an Octuptarra droid on Christophsis. Illustration by Dave Filoni and Kilian Plunkett.
The gunship that carries Rex on Cato Neimoidia is the Lucky Lekku, the one seen since the very start of the series. It has amassed quite the impressive number of kills on its nose. Illustration by Pat Presley.
In addition to an image of a crossed-out clone trooper, the Temple protestor signs say “The Jedi are corrupt,” and “Stop cloning violence.” Illustrations by Andre Kirk.
When ensnaring Letta with her own words, Anakin points out that no one said to her that Jackar was dead…and he’s right. What Ahsoka said was, “Someone made Jackar the bomb.” Unless you were tipped off that the nano-droids were in Jackar’s bloodstream, that phrase would ordinarily mean that someone created a bomb for Jackar.
This is the first episode to debut the Episode III-style Jedi starfighter. Sure enough, Anakin manages to get his fighter destroyed in its first appearance.
I liked this episode. It had a fun CSI feel to it and the David Caruso tribute was great. The opening scene was epic. That could have been a whole episode on it’s own.
Decent episode. I wish the battle of Cato-Nemodia would have lasted longer though. It’s a cool planet, having a duel like meeting up with CIS forces and having to battle good amount of droids or having some sort of saber action would have been better before they got called in to the temple.
Pretty great episode although not that much happenend in it. The opening sequence is very exciting and i though the length of it was perfect. The introduction of Russo and activists against the Clone Wars outside the temple were a welcome sight. Especially the visually splendid scene with Russon and Ahsoka in the hangar trying to find the source of the bomb was beautiful. And to add a bonus the episode was accompanied by some of Kiner’s strongest music yet.
8/10
I didn’t like seeing the short Cato battle. I would much rather have seen the actual Temple bombing.
Yeah that would have been nice.
For the most part I can agree. I thought that the Cato battle could have been a little more boom and bang. More action and fighting, instead of Anakin’s ship just crash landing and Ahsoka having to save his skins like she did. The Temple Bombing would have been cool to see and would have made more sense becuase it would have tied in with the rest of the arc. But I think they decided to go with the Cato scecne for a fast paced opener. If you see it then you were there. But if you see it over a hologram it builds more suspense becuase you don’t know all the details and weren’t there so it makes it more wow. If you see it it’s one thing but to get word about it, it builds up more questions and susepnse, if you get what I’m saying.
I think leaving the scene of the bombing itself off-screen works more effectively. Especially when they watch the recordings back.
I think they did the opening because it was great at showing the relationship between Anakin and Ahsoka and knowing what was coming up in the arc I think that was important. It would have been cool to see the bombing too, but if they had to pick between bombing or this opening I think they choose the right one.
I don’t like this one. It’s boring.
The only thing I don’t understand about this episode is why Letta just happened to tell Anakin and the other Jedi she was the wife of Jackar? She knew herself that she was guilty and was apart of the bombing. All that gave her was suspicions towards her from the Jedi. That was a dumb move on her part and I still don’t understand that, let alone why she willingly told them. She wasn’t forced to do so in any way. She fead him the Nano’s and was responsible for the killing and bombing. So why tell the Jedi that that your related, that makes no sense. She just practically per herself in the hotseat and didn’t even have to.
They would have had his wife and his home address on record and it would have been even more suspicious if they’d tracked him as the source of the explosion and found that his wife had *not* been looking for him. She either had to tough it out playing the distraught widow and hope they wouldn’t suspect her or do a runner immediately.
True, I guess I never really thought of it that way before. She running away makes things look suspicious even more Vs. if she just told them and acted innocent. Looking as if she cared about Jackar when she didn’t.