!!List of episodes in this story arc
[[index]]
* "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS3E10HeroesOnBothSides Heroes on Both Sides]]"

* "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS3E11PursuitOfPeace Pursuit of Peace]]"

* "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E15SenateMurders Senate Murders]]"
[[/index]]

!!Plot summary
As the Clone Wars drag on, the costs to the Republic climb ever higher. On the table in the Senate is a new bill to deregulate the Intergalactic Banking Clan to allow the Republic to borrow even more money to grow even more troops (the fact that the Clan serves the CIS as well makes it even worse). Senator Padmé Amidala seeks to find a way to end the war peacefully, if for no other reason than allow the galaxy to recover. But while there are those among the Separatists who would gladly hear her out, forces on both sides would see the war continue, and are willing to take drastic measures to make sure it does...
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!!Tropes:
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* ADayInTheLimelight: Padmé is firmly front-and-center in this storyline, which takes the focus away from the battlefields of the Clone Wars to the backroom boardrooms that keep it going.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Palpatine plays up his role as a beleaguered, overwhelmed leader of a nation at war for all it's worth, occasionally reminding people that he'd want nothing more than for there to be peace with (or victory over) the Separatists. Of course, no one is aware that he ''started'' the war in the first place and he has absolutely no intention of allowing it to end until [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith he says so]].
* DoomedByCanon: Padmé's efforts to bring peace to the galaxy by negotiating an end to the Clone Wars will fail, it's just a matter of ''how'' that needs to be resolved.
* ForegoneConclusion: Seeing as ''the rest of the Star Wars timeline'' is a direct result of the Clone Wars and their bloody ramifications, Padmé's attempts to stop the conflict naturally come to naught.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: This arc marks the point in ''The Clone Wars'' when the characters begin to receive revamped appearances, and the transition of ''The Clone Wars'' into the aesthetic presented in ''Revenge of the Sith''.