Episodes "An Old Friend", "The Rise Of Clovis", and "Crisis At The Heart" Synopsis Assisted by her former political ally Rush Clovis, Padmé uncovers widespread corruption in the Intergalactic Banking Clan and inadvertently plays directly into the hands of the Separatists by revealing it. Analysis This story arc is, to be blunt, boring. It's all about how the Banking Clan's funds are being embezzled, how they're not charging the Separatists any interest on their loans (a state of affairs that Count Dooku tries hard to maintain), and how Senator Rush Clovis is able to use this corruption to take control of the banks. This is The Clone Wars and we've got a three episode story that's partly about interest rates. Did Lucasfilms' accountants pitch this story? It really only gets going once the actually interesting political manoeuvring starts at the end of "The Rise Of Clovis" (apart from a pretty decent chase scene in "An Old Friend" where bounty hunter Embo uses his hat as a snowboard) and Dooku uses the situation to mount of an invasion of the planet Scipio where the banks are based and destroy Clovis's reputation. "Crisis At The Heart" is a lot more entertaining since things actually happen and it has a death during the Separatist invasion of Scipio that will come as a bit of a shock to in-depth viewers because of how quickly it happens and is swept aside. On the downside, the resolution to Clovis's part of the story is pretty clichéd. Suffice it to say that it actually involves the old "two people hanging off the edge of a cliff" scenario. As well as the story being too political, Rush Clovis just isn't an interesting character and there's a bit too much focus on Anakin and Padmé's love life with a subplot of Anakin becomingly increasingly jealous of Clovis to the point where he bursts into Padmé's flat and starts beating him up. Anakin's decision to not use his Lightsaber or any Force powers during the fight makes it seem like Wall Street meets Eastenders. An interesting side note is that since this episode was produced alongside Seasons 4 and 5, it marks the final broadcast appearance of the late Ian Abercrombie as Palpatine/Sidious Verdict Far too political, sluggish, and unengaging to fully enjoy, and without enough time to properly pull itself together in the final episode.
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
