"Counterattack," an episode within the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, constitutes the nineteenth installment of its third season. Its initial broadcast occurred on March 4, 2011.
"Obi-Wan and Anakin, now in possession of freed prisoners, desperately seek a means of escape from the Citadel and a return to Coruscant, all while the ruthless warden relentlessly tries to stop them. However, the prison holds more unforeseen traps, dangers, and pitfalls than they anticipated, necessitating them to overcome their disagreements to achieve escape. Their attempt to board their designated shuttle ends abruptly as heavy weapons fire obliterates the escape vehicle. ARC trooper Echo perishes in the explosion. Consequently, the escapees retreat to the caves and transmit a distress call to the Jedi Temple located on Coruscant."
Anakin Skywalker and his assembled squad carefully navigate a magma-filled ravine situated within the caverns below the Citadel, he establishes communication with R2-D2, instructing the astromech droid to ready their transport for departure. Simultaneously, Kenobi's team, discreetly maneuvering through the Citadel's ventilation system, aims to meet the shuttle at a designated landing platform; however, they inadvertently encounter a probe droid. Despite successfully destroying the probe, the Citadel's security measures activate, sealing off the ventilation shafts, resulting in the death of another clone trooper and impeding the team's advancement.
Elsewhere, warden Osi Sobeck receives communication from Count Dooku, who pressures him to extract comprehensive details regarding the Nexus Route. Concurrently, Ahsoka Tano, leading the team while Skywalker provides cover, becomes the subject of criticism from Tarkin, whose perspectives on the Jedi's involvement in the war start to resonate with Skywalker. Encountering an impassable wall, they are ambushed by commando droids equipped with force shields. Skywalker reprimands Tano for not destroying the wall, asserting that Jedi Master Plo Koon would have instructed her to do so if she were truly assigned to the mission. Nevertheless, Tano successfully detonates the wall and neutralizes the droids, granting access to a fuel pipeline that leads to their rendezvous point. R2 encounters his own challenge upon discovering the landing platform, intended for the meeting with Kenobi's team, is guarded. However, the resourceful droid deceives the attending tactical droid K2-B4, convincing him that he is a prisoner of his droid squad, thereby gaining entry into the fortress.
Upon observing the apparent abandonment of the shuttle, Obi-Wan suspects a trap and attempts an alternate approach, only to find that Sobeck has foreseen this maneuver and prepared an ambush consisting of a heavily armed battle droid squad. Consequently, they are captured and brought before Sobeck as prisoners. In an attempt to extract information, Sobeck executes one of the clone troopers before instructing the security droids to interrogate the remaining prisoners. However, R2 becomes aware of this and redirects the prisoners toward freedom with his battle droid team. Similarly, Skywalker's team encounters a droid force at their exit point, but Skywalker manages to eliminate them by detonating the pipeline. These escapes create difficulties for Sobeck, who must provide an explanation to Dooku. In desperation, he deploys his remaining forces to the landing platform, where Skywalker's team reunites with Kenobi's. During the ensuing battle with the droids, a commando droid seizes control of one of the platform's cannons and prepares to target the shuttle. Echo attempts to intervene, but the droid succeeds, destroying the shuttle and critically wounding Echo, leading to the assumption of his death.
With their immediate escape route eliminated, Kenobi orders a retreat and promptly contacts the Jedi Temple, requesting a rescue operation. While the fleet is en route, the fugitives are compelled to seek refuge within the cave system until assistance arrives. With Fives casting a final, somber glance at his friend Echo's charred helmet, the group departs in search of a hiding place.
During the capture of Kenobi's team outside the Citadel, it is observed that the clones were armed with E-5 blaster rifles, typically used by B1 battle droids, instead of their standard DC-15A blaster rifles. However, later during the battle on the landing pad, the clones are once again seen using their standard blaster rifles.
In the previous episode, besides Commander Cody, Captain Rex, Echo, and Fives, only four other clones accompanied the rescue team. One was killed by an electromine, while another was electrocuted by an electrified wall, leaving only two clones. However, in this episode, despite the remaining two clones also being killed by a security door and Osi Sobeck respectively, another clone is seen accompanying the team, indicating that five clones had accompanied the team despite only four being seen in the previous episode.
During the fight on the landing pad, one of R2-D2's reprogrammed battle droids takes cover with Commander Cody and an unnamed 212th clone trooper. When the three of them peek around the corner of their cover, the battle droid is shot by a turret. However, this droid is present in the next episode, despite being killed in this episode.
The moral cited at the beginning is a version of the well-known Murphy's Law, which generally states "anything that has the potential to go wrong, will go wrong."
ARC Commander Colt is visible in this episode behind Anakin Skywalker and Captain Wilhuff Tarkin as they exit the fuel line. This was likely intended to be either ARC Trooper Fives or Echo.