The Clone Wars S02E21 R2 Come Home

June 24, 2022 PT White

Episodes – Story – Characters – Vehicles – Planets – Aliens – Droids – Creatures – Equipment – Force Powers

Story

R2 COME HOME
Revenge! Boba Fett, son of the notorious
bounty hunter Jango Fett, infiltrated a
Jedi cruiser in an attempt to assassinate
General Mace Windu, the man who killed
his father.

After a near miss at Windu’s quarters,
Boba was forced to destroy the cruiser
and escape with the help of notorious
bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Now, having
lost contact with Admiral Kilian when
his doomed starship crashed, the Jedi
search for survivors with aid of a
Republic rescue ship….

The Venator-class Star Destroyer Endurance has crashed on the planet Vanqor after the sabotage caused by young Boba Fett in his quest to kill Jedi Master Mace Windu. Hoping that Admiral Kilian, Commander Ponds, and others may still be alive, Windu and Anakin Skywalker transfer the survivors to a Republic medical ship before heading down to the planet to look for survivors. Skywalker points out upon coming across the ship that, while it is in a terrible shape, the bridge appears to be in one piece. The two Jedi set down behind the ship, at which point R2-D2 beeps that he has a ‘bad feeling about this place’. Windu chastises Skywalker for encouraging individuality in his droid. Windu, Skywalker, R2 and R8-B7 proceed to the ship, unaware of gundarks following them.

Once inside, the Jedi discover a grim scene. R2 had turned a corner and came upon a dead clone trooper, lying face down in the rubble. Mace was unsure of the cause of death so he inspected the body by flipping the deceased clone onto his back. The two Jedi then saw that the trooper did not die in the crash. Rather, the clone’s dirty armor bore a large, distinctive scorch mark on his chest plate that resulted from the fatal blaster wound placed precisely through the trooper’s heart. The clone survived the initial crash, only to be ruthlessly shot and killed afterwards. Skywalker also notices the body of another clone trooper laying nearby, killed by a similar blaster wound to the heart. Dazed and already wounded from the crash, the troopers stood little chance and would have been easy victims for the unknown killer. Windu theorizes that those who tried to assassinate him may have come down looking for his body. When they came across surviving clone troopers, they killed them. The droids are sent to search for survivors while the Jedi head to the bridge. In the process of their search R2 and R8 are attacked by a pair of gundarks: R8 is ripped apart and R2 is knocked across the floor.

On the bridge, Windu and Skywalker discover more clones who had stayed behind to try and land the ship, including two navigational officers. However, they were again too late. The assassin had beat the Jedi to the bridge and had already killed all of of the clones on the bridge. The blaster wounds on their bodies revealed they were executed in the same manner as the two clones they found earlier, but note there is no sign of the Admiral or Ponds. Windu reports this to the medical ship in orbit, which proceeds to leave for the nearest Republic medical station. Noticing a Mandalorian helmet sitting on a piece of rubble, Skywalker advances. Windu, spotted the helmet. Then, he turned his attention to one of the dead clones laying on the ground before him. The clone laid on his back, with one hand outstretched and the other draped over his stomach. This trooper had lost his helmet in the crash. The clone’s eyes were closed and Mace saw that the assassin killed the trooper by shooting him in the chest. The clone’s face reminded Windu of Jango Fett, the template for the Clone army, whom he killed at the killed on Geonosis, and then remembers his son, Boba, who watched his father die at Windu’s hands. Too late, Windu uses the Force to pull Skywalker away from the helmet, which explodes, severely damaging the bridge and causing debris to rain down on the gundarks that were advancing on R2; one is killed while the other flees.

In the distance Aurra Sing, Bossk, Boba and Castas watch the explosion with satisfaction. Boba insists on finding Windu’s body, but his companions initially refuse, stating they have enough to sell Count Dooku with their three hostages; Admiral Kilian, Commander Ponds, and a navigation officer. In the end Aurra and Boba win out, leaving Bossk to guard the hostages as they head to the downed ship.

R2, now realizing the Jedi may be in danger, heads to the bridge and finds Windu unconscious and Skywalker wounded, both trapped under rubble. As the droid tries to move the debris, he causes the bridge to shudder, and Skywalker warns him against it. Instead he instructs his droid to head back to the Jedi starfighters and send a message to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for help. R2 proceeds to leave the bridge, but spots the bounty hunters approaching and instead decides to try and halt their advance. He first pushes debris down a tunnel the bounty hunters are coming through, then closes the doors on them. When they come up another tunnel, he pushes yet more debris and boxes at them, before detaching a grenade from a dead clone and dropping that down the tunnel. Deterred, Aurra declares that they will instead use Slave I to destroy the remains of the ship, thereby ensuring the Jedi’s death.

R2 then proceeds to the Jedi starfighters, but is accosted on the way by the remaining gundark. Using quick thinking, the droid attaches the gundark, via a cable, to one of the starfighters and activates the fighter’s engines, crashing it some miles away and killing the gundark. Having witnessed the explosion, and realizing that it came from near the Jedi starfighters, the bounty hunters believe Windu has survived and jam all communications before heading to the location of the starfighters in Slave I. R2 activates the remaining starfighter and pilots it away from Slave I, now shooting at it, and into the atmosphere. Seeing this, Windu states that his astromech was meant to get help, not abandon them, but Anakin returns his faith in R2.

Avoiding the blaster fire from Slave I, the astromech droid gets into space, but its communication device is destroyed: the only solution now is to use the hyperdrive rings and get to Coruscant. Realizing the droid’s plan, Boba fires at the hyperdrive rings but succeeds only in destroying one, allowing R2 to use the other to escape. Aurra states not to worry, as she can draw Windu to her using the hostages, before Slave I makes the jump to hyperspace.

On Coruscant, R2 interrupts a meeting with Plo Koon’s droid and replays Anakin’s message to several other Jedi. Plo Koon, Ahsoka Tano and Corporal Comet, along with Commander Wolffe, make their way to Vanqor with rescue ships. They help the injured Jedi just as the bridge of the Endurance collapses. Mace, at the end, compliments R2 on his bravery.