The Clovis Arcs in Star Wars the Clone Wars: a Breakdown of What Went Wrong and What Had Potential
Part 1: Introduction and Senate Spy
Okay, so I’ve been meaning to talk about this for a while but I keep forgetting or putting it off but here I go. I am going to tackle the Clovis arcs from The Clone Wars. This post will include in depth analysis, including my inferences into the implications and consequences which are not necessarily canon but in my opinion are the obvious conclusions to draw if the story were more fleshed out. If it bothers you that I am stating things that were never explicitly said but were definitely implied, this essay is not for you.
Full disclosure: I loved them when I was a naive little kid who didn’t understand the difference between fear and jealousy. I was a possessive kid who feared having people or things taken away, not because I saw them as purely mine but because that was my experience. Someone else swoops in and “steals” my friends or toys or projects. So for me, it was very easy to love these episodes seeing Anakin as similar to me, fearing that Clovis would take Padmé from him, without Padmé’s consent or permission because Clovis was obviously the bad guy. I didn’t understand the attempted nuance of the jealousy and the supposedly “toxic” relationship between Anakin and Padmé. And honestly the first Clovis arc still works with some minor tone adjustments or added dialogue between Anakin and Padmé. The second arc, not so much.
Let’s start with the first arc, which is just one episode, Senate Spy. The opening quote is, ironically “A True Heart Shoud Never Be Doubted.” It begins with an adorable and in character scene where Anakin returns to Coruscant and Padmé bearing food from a kind stranger who he’d hitched a ride with after he blew up his own ships. There’s a couple adorably sad moments when it’s made clear how committed they are to one another but also how new the relationship truly is when Padmé is surprised but incredibly happy when Anakin calls her apartment home, and when Anakin learns that apparently his wife is a good cook as well as a badass politician. The first few minutes of this episode are perfect. The trouble starts, as it is won’t to do, with the Jedi Council.
Actually it starts with Anakin getting their summons to meet, since nothing to bad happened in the scene where they’re trying to get him to pick up, but that’s the trigger for the downward spiral as this is where they begin deliberately butchering Padmé’s character, though it does bring up an important point in my personal view of Anakin. When Padmé gets angry that he has to leave, which is understandable but ends up getting blown way out of proportion, Anakin is able to sense that anger, but not, I assume, who it’s directed at. Padmé isn’t mad at him, she’s mad at the situation and his presumption that he can “read [her] mind.” Which tells us that Anakin’s passive awareness of other people’s feelings is much stronger than most Jedi’s. This is the kind of power that unnerves people, but also explains a lot about Anakin’s character, particularly why he was so quick to trust Qui-Gon and Padmé. But it’s also something he doesn’t talk about to openly, presumably because it scares people and the Jedi really didn’t need anymore reasons to fear him. Therefore he hasn’t been able to hone or practice this particular skill, leading to fumbles like this where he assumes he knows what someone is feeling but he misunderstands and reacts incorrectly. What would’ve been the right words if Padmé had been angry with him became condescending and aggravating. If Padmé were truly in character she would understand Anakin’s struggles and tried to help him understand, maybe promise to have a conversation about this passive ability once he was done reporting to the council. Instead she’s made oblivious and insensitive for the sake of drama *jazz hands.*
When Anakin finally joins the “council” (it’s just Mace, Yoda, and Obi-Wan! That is not the full Council it’s a tiny group of Councilors at best!) they are obviously teasing Anakin about his affection for Padmé (Obi-Wan) or subtly interrogating him about his relationship with her (Yoda and Windu). Once they’re satisfied that yes, Anakin is too attached to her and yes, meddling is necessary, they demand he convince Padmé to spy on Clovis. Let’s be clear here: this was not a request. Yoda’s exact words were “convince her, you must,” to which Anakin bowed and gave a subdued “yes, Master.” That rubbing anyone else the wrong way? The entire conversation is just really creepy and shady and manipulative. It is set up to be literally shady, there is an obviously sinister vibe to the whole thing. They’re plotting in the middle of the night, with all the lights out, illuminated only by a holo table displaying a candid shot of Clovis and a Nemoidian, with eerie music playing in the background. The three councilors practically gang up on Anakin, presenting shocking information that he doesn’t get time to process and then steamrolling him into doing what they want.
Anakin of course doesn’t just roll over and do as they asked, instead approaching Padmé to basically confirm that no, she won’t be spying on Clovis. But Yoda’s crafty, he planned this whole thing out. He didn’t tell Padmé Clovis was a spy, leaving Anakin the unknowing messenger of the particular bit of intel, which is all it takes for Padmé to be on board with the plan. I’m glossing over this scene because it’s full of OOC drama that needs no further explanation, it’s just stupid and petty and neither Anakin nor Padmé would actually act like that, case closed, goodbye.
Now, I’m not saying that asking Padmé to spy on Clovis wasn’t a good idea, it very much was, she has all the skills and Clovis trusted (read: underestimated) her. No, the issue was how the Jedi Council presented the mission, both to Anakin and to Padmé, in a way that was meant to drive a wedge between them, and especially the wording used when briefing Padmé on the mission.
The briefing scene is absolutely disgusting to me, the second even more than the first, because rather that simply being callous and manipulative in a shady room, this one happens in the middle of the day, in the council chambers, bathed in sunlight. Windu and Yoda continue making inappropriate and inaccurate insinuations that they know will get under Anakin’s skin, and Padmé, continuing to be either oblivious or petty and callous towards her husband’s feelings of insecurity, doesn’t make it clear that she and Clovis were not lovers, Clovis just wanted to be. So Anakin is uncomfortable, he feels vulnerable, no one in the room is on his side, he’s isolated in his discomfort and ignorance, and his superiors are actively trying to make it worse but he can’t see that, or at least he can’t admit it to himself.
Padmé reveals that Clovis “didn’t take it well” she returned their relationship to a professional level, which is definitely a red flag for someone who only knows Clovis as a Separatist conspirator from the Banking Clan. And then the fear mongering begins. Windu asks if Padmé might be able to “rekindle their… friendship,” and Obi-Wan tells her that the closer she can get to Clovis, the better, prompting Padmé to respond that she “will do anything to succeed in [her] mission.” Do you hear how icky that sounds?! They’re deliberately trying to make Anakin not only insecure about his relationship with Padmé, but also afraid for her safety! They don’t tell her to be mindful of her own safety, they don’t tell her she doesn’t have to do anything she’s uncomfortable with, in fact they encourage her to do so! They offer no aid or protection, Anakin assigns himself to be her bodyguard once again, but reminder, her just got back from “a lengthy tour of duty” and is probably supposed to be on some kind of leave and no one ordered him to go with her. He was just supposed to convince her. He is giving up much needed time off, ostensibly of his own accord, to participate in a stressful mission, which is followed almost immediately by what might be the most brutal conflict in the non-Disney portion of the Clone Wars.
Honestly my issues with this episode are pretty much covered, before we even get into the meat of the episode. All the problematic stuff is kinda covered in the first 7 minutes and 40 seconds of the episode. Of course the tone of everything remains for the actual mission but nothing new happens to screw things up from a writing perspective. Padmé slips into character for pretty much the rest of the episode so of course she’s OOC, it’s deliberately done to appeal to Clovis and make him underestimate her. Anakin is still unstable and anxious and terrified but that’s less because of butchered character and more because of the Council’s manipulations. The mission is basic, made ridiculously easy by Clovis’s obsession with Padmé and his severe underestimation of her intelligence but it’s entertaining enough, I love watching Padmé being a boss and manipulating Clovis expertly. The Nemoidians were well thought out for villains in this series since they’re usually pretty basic, but Lot Dod (or however you spell it) is both shallow and complex in his motivations, because he’s simultaneously a businessman and a senator and a conspirator and a person with grudges. While his actions are simple, poisoning Padmé but giving up the antidote went held at gun point, his motivations are layered. Padmé is a long time opponent of the Trade Federation, a Republic spy, a personal thorn in his side, and someone Clovis (who he hates) cares about. Like I said, the episode has its redeeming qualities, and honestly the overarching plot is one of them. It’s a set up for the Second Battle of Geonosis, it’s a view into Padmé past and current relationships outside of Anakin and the Jedi, and it’s got a good villain who has wasted potential as a reoccurring major antagonist.
The biggest issue I have with it is that despite being a Padmé episode she got pushed to the side. The whole thing is full of sexist undertones, and indeed overtones. I really wish they hadn’t damsel in distressed her at the end, if it were me I would’ve kept the poisoning scheme but add in that Padmé realizes she’s been poisoned and actually tells Anakin that something’s wrong and then deliberately uses it to escape questioning about her movements and to distract from the data disk she stole, just like in canon. Just make all the convenient stuff that happened as a result deliberate on her part and erase the “Anakin saves the day because he got super anxious” thing. Not that I don’t think Anakin has anxiety, but just… Padmé balances him perfectly because she’s got a cool head and incredible awareness of her own body and skills. De-damselify the Queen, have Anakin actually be her partner instead of her restless bodyguard.
All you have to do is get rid of the sexist ink it’s written in and it’s a good episode. The argument between Anakin and Padmé in the senate is basically just sexist writers projecting onto Anakin. He’s not that overprotective of Padmé, he knows she can handle herself and if she says “let’s go rescue Obi-Wan” then they’re going to go to a hostile world alone to rescue Obi-Wan together. He is way too smart to tray and tell her what to do. So take that out of the equation, get rid of Padmé’s OOC childish attitude, and we’re good. I don’t like what the Council did and the way they plotted to break up Anidala, but it’s not completely out of character. I would give it a little more nuance or motivation, maybe explicitly link it to Anakin’s behavior during the Blue Shadow Virus arc, but it’s something I would keep because it’s one of the best times where we get a real glimpse into how the Jedi have treated Anakin, not just how he thinks they’ve treated him based on Palps manipulations.
In conclusion: I will probably be writing a fic that completely retells this episode because this is very long and rambling and I don’t think anyone is going to read it!
For real this time, in conclusion, the Clone Wars episode Senate Spy committed atrocities against Padmé Amidala but by fixing that we could make a more than decent episode with many important plot points and insights into characters. It’s a tragedy that this plot was executed so poorly because it had SO MUCH potential. I know all Anidala fans hate the Clovis arcs with a burning passion, and believe me I do too, but mine is a hate borne from love turned sour. I have tried before, when I was a lesser writer, to ease the pain with a fix-it fic, but the wound still festers. I will try again. And this time I will succeed in not just attempting to patch up the ending but rewriting the episode better and deeper and more nuanced than before!
