The senate is outraged by the unprovoked attack during peace talks (what do you mean, "unprovoked"? You people are at war!) and the kaminoan senator suggests purchasing five millions clones [insert joke about the scales of SW armies here] which would be payed by taking a huge loan from the Interplanetary Banking Clan. Padmé and Bail of course object and Amidala guesses that the attack was an attempt to sabotage the peace talks as she knows for a fact not everybody in the CIS wants to fight. This gets her called a traitor by the vampire-looking proto-imperial senator who got killed last season. This is the moment Mas Amedda chooses to show a message sent by Count Dooku: he accuses the republic of an attack on their soil that killed Mina Bontari (well, that was fast) and therefore withdraws the peace proposal offered by the CIS. The Senate once more descends into chaos.
Amidala, Organa and Farr meet up to discuss their next move and Bail says that Republic spies have evidence that Dooku had Bontari killed. I'm surprised he's got access to that intel, I thought Palpatine would have had a better grasp on Republic Intelligence. they resolve to keep fighting the bill, but they're gonna need ammunition. "But we can't afford ammunition, remember?" says Farr. God that joke was so bad that I first thought he was legitemately confused, there. Padmé and him go to the IBC to learn what interest rates they plan on demanding of the Senate. "You know these banking Clans people, plus you owe me for telling such a bad joke." Hey remember that time you betrayed your oath to the Republic and almost had your people turn to the other side? Fun times.
The Banking Clan plans to demand an outrageous 25% of interest instead of their usual 10%. Oh, and the seppies have already secured a loan to fund 3 millions more droids. "They would wipe us out". Would they, though? B1s are pretty ****. Back with Organa, Padmé explains that the interests alone would be enough to bankrupt the Republic which, because of the war, already has underfunded infrastructure, healthcare and education. So, it's basically guaranteed that the IBC would never get their money back, then? Bail points out that this makes their job of arguing against that proposal that much easier. In fact, they only need a handful senators more to get a majority. However many senators have received threats to dissuade them from voting against the bill. Indeed, we see Farr being beaten by a selkath and another amphibious alien who I think worked with Bane on the senate attack (if that's the case I can only wonder how he still is on Coruscant).
The next morning, several senators refuse to listen to Padmé, while Farr, his arm in a cast and accompanied by his future murderer, states that he intends to vote against, no matter what. Meanwhile in a twi'lekki strip club the two thugs report to Dooku who orders them to assassinate Padmé. Because that worked out so well the twenty-seven last times. Padmé asks Bail, the finest orator she knows, to speak beofre the full Senate to oppose the bill. Isn't that exactly what he's been doing? He goes to work on a speech while she visits some unconviced senators. One of whom is a quarren who A) doesn't want to get beat up, B) doesn't care about the casualties of war since clones were bred for that purpose, C) only cares about his constituents since they are the ones who put him in office. When asked when was the last time he spoke to one of the people he represents he replies that would be about the same time either of them (Farr is also there) did, which hits Amidala close to home. However he wants to know Organa's stance on this (hasn't he made that pretty clear allready?) and will listen to what
he has to say.
On her way home, Padmé is attacked by the two hitmen (who killed her driver) and is saved by two police droids who distract the assasins long enought for her to steal a jetbike. The selkath manages to tether himself to her bike while the other follow on his own bike. There's a chase scene during which the selkath survives a truly absurd amount of high-speed collisions and they attract some more police droids, one of them even drops his drink(-analog?) as they pass his car by. Fifth Element homage? Eventually Padmé gets arrested for stealing the bike while the "bounty hunters" make their escape. Back in her appartments, Padmé laments the state of democracy and her aid, Tekla says that unlike the other politicians, Padmé does listen to her people. This prompts Amidala (clearly thinking back to the quarren's comment) to ask her how her family is doing and how the war is affecting them all, in details.
The next morning, Organa is attacked by the hitmen, but he's apparently the only politician on the planet to have a security detail and the two are captured by Alderaani guards and Coruscanti police. However Organa is injured in the kerfuffle. Organa can't even stand on his own right now so he begs Padmé to deliver a speech in his stead before passing out. Padmé doesn't feel she's up to it, as the senators are expecting "the great bail Organa" and she's not nearly as respected but Tekla convinces her to speak up saying that they will listen to her becasue she listens to the people. Padmé makes a passionated speech where she explains that the Republic is loosing track of what it is fighting for and that her aide and many of their people live in squalor (Tekla's district apparently has no electricity or running water so her children can only bathe once every two weeks. I get your point Padmé but maybe pay her more?) so they mustn't divert even more funds to war. The speech is broadcasted all over Corsucant and the whole Senate applauds.
Cut to Palpatine's office. He finds it remarkable that one could have all the power in the Galaxy but a simple senator's words can sway the thoughts of millions.
Spoiler: hmm, if only there were a word for this...
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Amedda asks him what he plans to do about it and he answers that they must adhere to the principles of democracy... for now.
Re: Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time
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