"Point of No Return," initially broadcasted on January 12, 2013, represents the thirteenth installment within the fifth season of the animated television program, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Notably, this episode serves as the concluding appearance of the character Meebur Gascon. The narrative sequence positions this episode prior to the fifth season's initial episode, entitled "Revival."
Near Abafar, D-Squad makes connection with a Venator-class Star Destroyer in its orbit. Despite the droids' bewilderment concerning the hangar doors being sealed and the absence of any crew members, Colonel Meebur Gascon disregards their misgivings. However, upon reaching the bridge, they realize that the clone officers are merely projections. Abruptly, the ship engages its hyperdrive, revealing that Confederacy droids have seized control. D-Squad flees the bridge, eluding their pursuers within the hangar's control center. WAC-47 cleverly uses the remains of a destroyed droid to mislead their adversaries.
Subsequently, D-Squad notices a device within the control room, which R2-D2 identifies as a bomb's activation mechanism, as the hangar doors reveal numerous rhydonium containers. It becomes evident that the Confederacy plans to utilize the Star Destroyer to obliterate Republic Navy vessels. However, Gascon intends to abandon ship immediately upon exiting hyperspace, showing no interest in stopping them. As D-Squad heads back to the hangar, Artoo observes a rabbit droid spying and captures it. Upon presenting the captive to the squad, the rabbit droid introduces herself as BNI-393, known as Bunny. She explains that she and other Republic droids have been hiding on the shuttle, hoping D-Squad would take them off the ship, as none of them are capable of piloting the shuttle.
D-Squad then inquires about the Confederacy's target. Bunny discloses that she only knows the Star Destroyer is heading to a space station within the Carida system. Gascon becomes alarmed, recognizing it as the location for the Republic Strategy conference, an event he assisted in planning before joining D-Squad. The Jedi Council and high-ranking Republic officers will be present, and a successful attack could severely impair the war effort. However, sending a warning is impossible due to communication jamming.
Before they can decide on their next action, Gascon spots a buzz droid spying on them, leading to a chase. The pursuit ends at one of the gun batteries, where they encounter a swarm of buzz droids. Artoo manages to create a ring of fire to protect his companions, but the overwhelming number of droids prevents him from eliminating them all. M5-BZ then rushes to the airlock controls. Everyone quickly uses their magnetic boots to hold onto the deck, but Beezee is not so fortunate and is ejected into hyperspace along with the buzz droids. Artoo swiftly seals the airlock. Gascon then delivers a brief speech, vowing to honor Beezee's sacrifice by thwarting the Separatists.
Gascon devises a plan for D-Squad to escape via the shuttle while Artoo reprograms the trigger to detonate prematurely. However, a super tactical droid arrives to arm the detonator as battle droids pursue D-Squad, complicating their plan. Gascon and U9-C4 divert their fire while Artoo battles the super tactical droid. As everyone boards the shuttle, Gascon refuses to abandon Artoo, but WAC initiates liftoff. Ultimately, Artoo gains the advantage and successfully reprograms the detonator, causing the rhydonium to explode early, destroying the Star Destroyer but saving most of the Republic fleet at Carida. Gascon manages to contact the space station, informing Anakin Skywalker of Artoo's apparent demise. However, Skywalker refuses to accept his friend's fate. He dispatches salvage teams of TUG-314's to search the wreckage, who recover and repair Artoo's remains. Gascon personally praises Artoo's bravery and tells D-Squad that he'd be honored to serve alongside them again. An excited WAC then informs him that D-Squad has been assigned to Gascon's platoon, ensuring their continued association throughout the war, much to Gascon's dismay as he weeps.
According to Star Wars Insider 137, "Point of No Return" was initially reported as the twelfth episode within Season Five, but this order was later adjusted after the magazine's release.
The episode's introductory logo, which is normally yellow, was presented in blue as a tribute to R2-D2. This blue logo was also used in the preceding three episodes of the story arc: "Secret Weapons," "A Sunny Day in the Void," and "Missing in Action." However, this is not the first instance of the logo's color being altered. In the final two episodes of Season 4 ("'Brothers" and "Revenge'"), the logo was rendered in red to signify the return of Darth Maul.
Midway through the episode, the colonel utters the phrase, "It's a trap," a well-known line from Return of the Jedi originally spoken by Admiral Ackbar.
As stated by the official Star Wars: The Clone Wars Facebook page, the destruction of the Venator-class Star Destroyer towards the episode's conclusion represented the largest animated explosion they had created up to that point.
The Blu-ray subtitles for the episode mistakenly refer to the planet Carida as "Corrida." This error is not present in the Disney+ version or the episode's guide on StarWars.com.