An Old Friend (The Clone Wars - S06E05) - Animated Series

Series: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Title: An Old Friend

Season: Six

Episode: 5

Original Air Date: March 7, 2014 (Netflix)

Runtime: 23 minutes

Credits: Review & Text: Mike Taber; Page layout & Design: Chuck Paskovics

To love, is to trust. To trust is to believe.

Not even a snowboarding Embo could save this episode. I should’ve known “An Old Friend” was going to be a rough episode as soon as the opening narrator started talking about Padmé and bank transfers. Padmé went to Scipio to secure a loan from the Banking Clan. Yes, that really was the setup of this episode and unfortunately it doesn’t get much more exciting than that. When Padmé arrived on Scipio, Embo watched on from a nearby roof top. When Padmé discovered Rush Clovis, her ex-boyfriend and a former separatist who we first met in season two, was going to be the Banking Clan’s representative on this loan she stormed out. Clovis snuck into Padmé’s apartment to ask her for help. He claimed the Banking Clan had no funds and asked her to sneak into the vault and help him gain evidence against the Banking Clan. Padmé didn’t believe him at first, but as soon as Embo took a shot at Clovis she believed everything he said. Padmé’s handmaiden cut the power so Padmé could get the evidence from inside the vault. As soon as the handmaiden cut the power she was shot by Embo. Padmé got the evidence though and she and Clovis discovered that the vaults really were empty. Before Padmé could do anything with the evidence, she was arrested because her handmaiden’s body was found at the scene of an explosion.

A few days later, Anakin arrived to come get Padmé. He joked about what trouble she had gotten herself into and was all smiles until Padmé brought up Clovis. In this scene we once again saw Anakin’s extreme jealously when it comes to Padmé. It’s not a healthy relationship; he even threatened to leave her there. Many complain about the lack of chemistry between Anakin and Padmé in the prequels, but I don’t think there was ever supposed to be any. They’re two flawed people trying to live out a fantasy. I think their relationship was always intended to feel awkward.

When Anakin and Padmé found Clovis at his residence, Anakin’s clear hatred was cut short when Embo and Marruk, his pet anooba, attacked. A great action sequence followed with Embo using his hat as a snowboard to chase Anakin, Padmé, and Clovis done the side of a mountain. This was the real stand out scene of the episode, but then again that’s not saying much. Padmé, Anakin, and Clovis escaped thanks to R2. Marruck brought Embo his hat and Embo contacted Darth Sidious who congratulated him on a job well done. I’m happy to get any new Clone Wars episodes, but despite a standout action sequence featuring Embo “An Old Friend” was one of the series’ weakest offerings.

What Worked

• The mountain chase with Embo

What Didn’t Work

• Padme investigates banking fraud! (I almost fell asleep just typing that)
• Clovis isn’t a very compelling character at this point
• Is this a story that really needs to be told?

External Links:

• StarWars.com Episode Guide
• Wookieepedia Episode Summary