"Hostage Crisis" is the twenty-second and final episode in Season One of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. It is the twenty-second episode of the series overall. This episode chronologically takes place between the Season Three episodes "Evil Plans" and "Hunt for Ziro."
To free crime lord Ziro Hutt, bounty hunters seize control of the Senate Building and take hostages—completely unaware at first that Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker is still inside.
Cad Bane and his crew of bounty hunters, along with a few droid enforcers, arrives at the Senate landing zone, where they meet a host of Senate Commandos, who, not happy with their unauthorized arrival, tries to arrest them. However, three commandos are sniped by Aurra Sing from long-range and the rest of the bounty hunters overwhelm the members of the squad. A commando droid fools security into thinking that the Senate Commando squad had taken care of a group of protesters against the war before promptly taking their uniforms. Aurra Sing and the rest of the bounty hunters then meet the group on the landing platform.
A few levels above, in Senator Padmé Amidala's office, her husband, Anakin Skywalker offers to take her to somewhere in the galaxy for a few weeks, where no one will recognize them, but Padmé is too focused on her work. Anakin then gives his lightsaber to Padmé to show that he trusts her with his life. However, he has to hide, as C-3PO and Senator Organa enter the office. Padmé quickly takes the lightsaber off of her desk and hides it in her sleeve. Organa informs Padmé that they must meet in the lobby to discuss the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. Meanwhile, after Bane and his crew take out the rest of the senate commandos, the team goes down to the control panel room and subdue the droids there, leaving Robonino to get the power down. The bounty hunters then leave to "talk to some senators". Suddenly, once all the senators are gathered, the bounty hunters surround and take them hostage. Senator Philo attempts to leave only to be shot by Bane in the back. He then communicates with Chancellor Palpatine, demanding the release of Ziro the Hutt from captivity. Palpatine refuses to do so. Unfortunately, Bane proves his point by locking down the entire building, severing all communication with the outside, and then takes each of the senators' comlinks. Before searching Padmé, Bane notices Anakin in the upper level, shooting at him, forcing the Jedi to flee. To ensure Skywalker cannot escape the building, Bane orders an IG-86 sentinel droid and Shahan Alama to get him.
Anakin manages to elude his pursuers and hot-wires a terminal to communicate with Palpatine. The Chancellor advises Anakin to get to the central power core, where he can reach out for help. Anakin manages to disconnect the transmission and hide before the bounty hunters find him, then uses a mind trick to convince Alama to check the other two floors. As the hunters split up, Anakin follows the IG-86 sentinel droid and manages to bash it into submission. Alama comes back down to check, finding the droid's mangled remains. Noticing no lightsaber slashes, he quickly figures out that Anakin isn't in possession of his lightsaber. Alama reports his findings to Bane, who sends Sing to assist Alama in the search.
Anakin manages to locate the power core, but a panicked Robonino shuts the door behind him. Coming up behind Anakin, Alama attempts to subdue him, but Anakin is able to retrieve Alama's blaster. However, Robonino, with the help of Sing, shocks Anakin into unconsciousness.
After receiving instructions from Bane, Palpatine gives a pardon chip to Senator Orn Free Taa, which can be used to break Ziro free from prison. Arriving at the scene, HELIOS-3D retrieved the senator, taking him to the prison, where Ziro was released from custody and shipped away.
An unconscious Anakin is dragged into the lobby, where the bounty hunters begin to plant laser-trigerred bombs. This enables the hunters to leave the Senate Building unhindered, despite an attempt by Orn Free Taa, Palpatine and Clone Commander Fox's detachment of the Coruscant Guard to have them arrested. After waking up, Anakin retrieves his lightsaber from Padmé, who plays it off as though Anakin had dropped it. Cutting a hole in the floor, Skywalker and the senators are dropped one floor down, right before Bane triggers the bombs remotely due to the clone troopers' interference. Padmé then thanks Anakin for his role in the escape.
Having liberated Ziro from prison successfully, Bane and the hunters escape the vicinity. Ziro congratulates Bane on a job well done, but Bane states that it is time to pay up, pointing out that he doesn't work for free.
According to USA Today, "Hostage Crisis" had 3.3 million viewers—the series' highest ratings since the premiere.
In one version of the script, Senate Vice Chair Mas Amedda was to be in the executive office with Palpatine. However, the character was changed to Senator Orn Free Taa, as his character model already existed, and would not require more work to produce.
The text on the back of Robonino's backpack reads "PATSFAN-01" in Aurebesh.
This marks the first time the LEP-series service droids are seen in the service of the Republic, as all previous appearances had them as Separatist droids—albeit non-combatants.
Clone Commander Fox's appearance in the episode was not confirmed until its Decoded airing.
When Bane orders the disguised commando droids to clear the dead Senate Commandos from the platform, human skin is visible beneath the droids' helmets even though the armor is now being worn by droids.