A Friend in Need

"Friendship shows us who we really are."

- Jedi Fortune Cookie

"A Friend in Need" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It is the eightieth episode of the series overall. It was released on January 13, 2012 on Cartoon Network.

Synopsis
A peace meeting is held between the Republic and the Separatists on Mandalore as it is neutral ground. The meeting is held in Duchess Satine's throne room. During the meeting, Lux Bonteri interrupts and angrily accuses Count Dooku of murdering his mother in cold blood. The commando droids that accompanied the Seperatist representatives escort Lux out of the throne room and the meeting continues. Ahsoka states that if they don't do something, Lux will be killed. She tells Ahsoka to follow, but discreetly.

Ahsoka sees the droids take Bonteri into the Separatists ship to be confronted by Dooku. Lux vows that he will have revenge for his mother's death, but Dooku only orders his droids to execute Lux. Before they can, Ahsoka intervenes and destroys the droids. She is able to get Lux out and onto the Republic's ship in which they came. While in space around Mandalore, Anakin contacts Ahsoka and asks where she is. She says she is already en route to Coruscant. Anakin orders Ahsoka to take Lux there to discuss giving him amnesty before ending the transmission. But he pulls a gun on her and says he can't go with her and says he has a plan. Ahsoka grabs the gun from her friend and points it at him. She says she is taking him to Coruscant, no exceptions. Lux then reluctantly shocks Ahsoka into unconsciousness. He lays her down on another chair and then blasts off to Carlac to meet up with a group he is working with.

On the surface of Carlac, Ahsoka awakens aboard the ship to find her weapons and Lux missing. She sees him standing outside of the ship. She tells Artoo to find her lightsabers while she "chats" with Lux. Outside, she asks him where they are and what he did with her lightsabers. Suddenly, Death Watch soldiers arrive and surround the two, pointing their weapons at them. Artoo succeeds in finding Ahsoka's lightsabers and goes outside to give them to her, but he must pocket them to hide Ahsoka's identity. Ahsoka claims to the group that she is Lux's betrothed as a cover. The Death Watch take Ahsoka and Lux to their camp to talk to their leader.

While entering the camp, Ahsoka notices several Death Watch warriors shooting down poorly crafted droids. When they walk into the main tent, Lux tells Ahsoka not to ruin his plan. He explains that he accused Dooku of murder because he knew he would be brought to face him, and therefore learning his location from a holotrace device that identifies the origin of holo transmissions. When Ahsoka tries to tell Lux that the Death Watch are nothing but murders and liars, the leader Pre Vizsla walks in. But before he hears Ahsoka's objections, Lux pulls Ahsoka into his arms and kisses her. Viszla tells Lux to dismiss Ahsoka so they can talk privately. Lux hands over the holotrace device to Viszla and he calls for a celebration.

Two Death Watch soldiers take Artoo to a tent filled with the shot-down droids from earlier. The two order the little astromech to fix the droids so they can blast them again. The droids beg Artoo to fix them, and he is frightened by the surrounding droids all asking for the same thing. Meanwhile, Ahsoka is taken to a tent filled with Ming Po women from a nearby village. Bo-Katan pushes Ahsoka into it and she tries to fight back, but a Ming Po named Tryla stops her before she does something she will regret. A Death Watch soldier comes in and orders the servants prepare food for the warriors.

In the main tent, the leader of the Ming Po village storms in and angrily orders the Death Watch leave the planet and return the people. Surprisingly, he agrees to Pieter's demands and that the Death Watch will be gone by tomorrow morning.

The next day, the Death Watch (along with the captives) head to the Ming Po village. When at first it seems Viszla will be leaving without any violent measures, more warriors surround the people and land on the roofs of houses. When he hands over Tryla to Pieter, he attempts to stab Pieter with the Darksaber, but Tryla intervenes and saves her grandfather at the cost of herself. Viszla then orders the village and its people torched. While the Death Watch burn down the village, Tryla's asks Ahsoka to save her people before ts too late. With Tryla dead and the people being killed, Ahsoka has had enough. She uses a Ming Po tool to spear one of the Death Watch soldiers. She removes her coat and uses another tool to kick down several Death Watch. Viszla sees Ahsoka as a Jedi and he attacks her, but fails to kill her. More soldiers use their cables to subdue Ahsoka and drag her back to camp to be executed.

Back in the droids' tent, Artoo has just finished repairing the last target droid. He hears Ahsoka's grunts as the Death Watch drag her into camp and take her into the main tent. He asks his new friends to help him rescue Ahsoka. Artoo quietly sneaks into the tent while Viszla angrily shouts at Lux for bringing a Jedi into their camp. Lux implored Viszla to release her, but he says its not an option for him. Lux realizes that Ahsoka was right all along, that the Death Watch are nothing more than cruel murderers. But Viszla says that its hypocritical since he came to the Death Watch in the first place to seek revenge. Just before Viszla kills Ahsoka, Artoo intervenes with his set of tools and gives her her lightsabers so she can untie herself and fight back. Viszla and Ahsoka duel each other but Viszla gains the upper hand by kicking her out of the tent. There she discovers Artoo's droid friends. The Death Watch are shocked by the droids' mutiny and are forced to permenantly damage them. But the droids give Lux and Ahsoka enough time to escape. Bo Katan's warriors follow them and attack Ahsoka from above. When Ahsoka gets rid of both of Bo Katan's warriors, she comes in to fight Ahsoka herself, only to be shoved off of the vehicle.

When Lux and Ahsoka safely escape, she finds that Lux isn't with her. Artoo informs her he is in an escape pod. She hurries down and asks Lux why he is leaving. He says he can't go with her, but she tries to dissuade him from leaving. Lux is stern on his choice and says they make a good team. Ahsoka sadly looks down and Lux promises her they will meet again. They both put their hands parallel to each other on the glass before Lux blasts off to follow his own path.

Cast
Starring
 * Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
 * Jason Spisak as Lux Bonteri
 * Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla
 * Corey Burton as Battle Droid 513 / Count Dooku / Bec Lawise
 * Catherine Taber as Tryla / Padmé Amidala / Voe Atell
 * Phil LaMarr as Chieftan Pieter / Death Watch Soldier #1
 * Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan
 * Matthew Wood as Battle Droids / Captain Taggart / Death Watch Soldier
 * Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker / Death Watch Soldier #2
 * Anna Graves as Duchess Satine Kryze
 * Tom Kane as Announcer

Crew
Created and Executive Produced by
 * George Lucas

Supervising Director
 * Dave Filoni

Produced by
 * Cary Silver

Directed by
 * Dave Filoni

Written by
 * Christian Taylor

Score by
 * Kevin Kiner

Original Star Wars Themes and Score by
 * John Williams

Characters

 * Padmé Amidala
 * Lux Bonteri
 * Mina Bonteri
 * Dooku
 * Bo-Katan Kryze
 * Satine Kryze
 * Mon Mothma
 * Bail Prestor Organa
 * Pieter
 * R2-D2
 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Ahsoka Tano
 * Tryla
 * Pre Vizsla

Locations

 * Carlac
 * Coruscant
 * Mandalore
 * Sundari
 * Sundari Royal Palace

Events

 * Clone Wars
 * Confederate–Republic Peace Conference
 * Skirmish on Carlac

Organizations

 * Death Watch
 * Galactic Republic
 * Confederacy of Independent Systems