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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Death Trap

Episode No.: 42 (Season 2, Episode 20)
Original Air Date: April 23rd, 2010
Production No.: 215 (Season 2, Episode 15)

Written by Doug Petrie
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Steward Lee

Key Characters: Boba Fett, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Admiral Kilian, Clone Cadet Jax, Aurra Sing

Cast:
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Daniel Logan as Boba Fett and clone cadets
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers and clone cadet Jax
Terrence Carson as Mace Windu
Jaime King as Aurra Sing
Julian Holloway as Admiral Kilian
Tom Kane as Narrator

Full Synopsis:

“Who my father was matters less than my memory of him.”

Newsreel:
Calm before the storm! A rare and
welcome respite from endless battle
awaits Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker
and Mace Windu as they travel through
deep space aboard the Jedi cruiser
Endurance. Preparing to rendezvous
with a Republic frigate, the Jedi remain
unaware of a deadly peril lying hidden
in their midst….

ACT I

Clone Sergeant Crasher addresses a class of clone cadets before their frigate docks with the mighty cruiser Endurance. The young clones seem very eager to explore the decks of the warship, though one in particular — a sullen lad named Lucky — keeps to himself. As the youth brigade enters the Endurance, a chipper clone cadet named Jax befriends Lucky, keeping the teasing of his noisier brigade-mates at bay.

The cadets are met by Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker, who are about to take the youths on a tour before the Jedi are suddenly called away by Commander Ponds with new orders. With regret, Anakin hands the tour back to Sergeant Crasher. Lucky watches Mace Windu depart with a fierce intensity.

The cadets are taken to the gunnery bay, where they are met by Admiral Kilian, the commanding officer of the Endurance. The children are tested with target practice, blasting mechanical skeet out of the sky. The cadets are too inexperienced to tag the targets, but when Lucky tries it, he succeeds in blasting three bogeys in an instant. Kilian is impressed by Lucky’s performance, seeing great potential in the lad.

The cadets continue deeper into the ship, a Lucky leaves the tour — he is in fact, Boba Fett. Boba produces a tiny comlink from his tunic, and makes contact with a woman code-named Watcher. Watcher transits to Boba coordinates for Mace Windu’s quarters, and Fett secretly plants an explosive onto the doorframe.

ACT II

Boba skulks away from the Jedi Master’s quarters, narrowly avoiding Windu’s attention, and rejoins the cadets. Windu does not return to his quarters, however, and hands off a datapad for a clone trooper to deposit in his room. The ill-fated trooper trips the explosive and is killed in the blast. Alarms resound throughout the ship. Crasher keeps his cadets in order as the sirens wail, leading them to a safe room. The Endurance holds orbit over Vanqor as emergency repairs are enacted.

From a status report, Boba overhears that Mace Windu survived. Anakin and Mace investigate the ruins of the blasted quarters. When Anakin learns that the ship’s navigation systems were not targeted, he begins to postulate that the attacker was after Mace specifically. This was not an act of sabotage; rather, an attempted assassination! Mace and Anakin order the clones to conduct a thorough sweep of the ship for the killer.

Boba contacts Watcher again, who orders young Fett to destroy the ship’s reactor. Boba is reluctant: he’s after revenge on Mace Windu, and does not wish to jeopardize the rest of the crew. Boba relents and enters the ship’s vast reactor core. Confronted by clone security, Boba knocks the trooper unconscious, and then opens fire on the exposed core.

Explosions tear through the ship, splitting its hull. Admiral Kilian, Anakin and Mace are nearly dragged into the void. With the Force and some quick-thinking, the Jedi activate the emergency bulkheads and are spared a death by hard vacuum.

ACT III

The Endurance lurches in space, fire spilling from its shattered hull. The stoic Admiral Kilian shows no fear in front of the clone cadets, who he orders to evacuate the ship under the guise of it being a test of their efficiency.

Boba rejoins the cadets easily amid the confusion as the brigade breaks into smaller teams to board the escape pods. Boba shares a pod with Jax and some other cadets. After the pod blasts away from the Endurance, Boba sabotages it by deploying drag fins too early. The malfunctioning pod spins out of control, away from the others.

Anakin commands R2-D2 to prepare the Jedi starfighters for takeoff. He fails to convince Kilian to evacuate. The traditionalist officer refuses to leave, preferring to go down with the ship. Commands Ponds and a small crew of navigation officers join him on the bridge as the Endurance plunges towards Vanqor. Mace and Anakin board their fighters and leave the ship.

Boba’s pod finally decelerates and sits dead in empty space. The cadets fret about their fate, but Jax keeps his cool. Sergeant Crasher reports to Anakin that he’s missing a pod of cadets, and Mace suspects the saboteur may have gotten to the cadets.

In deep space, the unmistakable Slave I docks with the lone escape pod, and bounty hunters Bossk and Aurra Sing enter the airlock. They welcome Fett aboard. Jax is shocked to see his fellow cadet is not what he seems. Aurra — who was Watcher — tells Boba that the cadets are living witnesses, and are to be abandoned to the void. With regret, Fett leaves the cadets behind.

The cadets begin to panic, and Jax tries to hold the team together. Suddenly the piercing search lights of the Jedi starfighters enter the pod’s viewports. Anakin and Mace report the pod’s location to Sergeant Crasher for pick-up, and then focus on the next challenge. They have lost contact with Admiral Kilian. The Jedi need to enter Vanqor’s atmosphere and see what has happened to the doomed Endurance.

Trivia & Details

• When the Endurance suffers a massive hull breach, one of the troopers caught in the blast lets out a Wilhelm scream, a sound effect “easter egg” of an original recording that dates back to the 1930s, and has been used in every Star Wars movie.
• The gunnery station aboard the Endurance has a display screen that resembles the ones found aboard the Millennium Falcon.

Memorable Quotes

“War does not come with a guarantee. No soldier gets the promise of safety, survival or victory. But men, I guarantee you this: every member of this clone youth brigade will have his moment. And it is that moment when you are no longer a cadet. You are a soldier.” — Sergeant Crasher

• “You seem more disappointed than our cadets.”
• “It’s our job to instruct and inspire.”
• “You just wanted to show off.”
• “Hey, when I show off, it is instructive. And inspiring.” — Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker

“If you want Windu dead, do as I say.” — Aurra Sing

• “What are you doing? We’re brothers! Don’t shoot!”
• “You’re not my brother.” — CT-1477 and Boba Fett

“Let’s hope he is. If he is like us, he’ll realize he’s wrong.” — Clone Cadet Jax about Boba

This Article was Originally posted 2023-06-20 12:00:07.