It feels like we just got the announcement for Tales of the Jedi and all the episodes are already out. But, once again Dave Filoni has delivered a world-class master piece. This series really caught me by surprise when it got announced because usually Disney doesn’t announce something that is only a couple months away. The series filled so many gaps in the Star Wars timeline and has changed Star Wars for the better.
This six-episode series featured two arcs. One arc centered around young Ashoka Tano, and the other centered around Count Dooku when he was still a Jedi. I personally like the Dooku arc more than the Ashoka one. The Dooku one just filled the timeline with so many crucial scenes that were needed to connect the dots from pre-Phantom Menace to post-Phantom Menace. It honestly made the movie a lot better in my opinion.
Breakdown of the Ashoka Tano Arc
The first scene of the Ashoka arc was her as a new born, and shortly after being raised by her parents. The scene where she connects with the beast of the planet perfectly describes how Ashoka acts during her Jedi career. Always treating animals and other with respect and sympathy.
From there we catch up to Mullet Kenobi (a personal favorite version of Kenobi), and her master, Anakin Skywalker. This episode was so poetic and it made me love season 7 of The Clone Wars even more, which I didn’t think was possible. Anakin and Rex teaching Ashoka the moves that would eventually save her life is so perfect I can’t even put it into words. Watching young Ashoka training again with Anakin was really cool to see.
We finally, conclude her arc when we see Ashoka at Padme’s funeral, where she gets to meet up with Senator Bale Organa. I had a feeling that their meeting would lead to something bigger and I was right. Before she left the funeral, Bail gave her a communicator, and Ashoka reluctantly took it. After Ashoka departed Padme’s funeral, we see her working on a new planet with a new name and an undercover look. She is later discovered and is approached by an inquisitor, who was surprised that she was alive. She defeats the inquisitor (in a bad-ass way I might add) , then uses the communicator that Bale gave her. This was the moment when Ashoka announced that she is ready to get back in the fight. This leads her right to her role in Rebels and eventually Mandalorian and her own show that will be out soon.
Breakdown of the Count Dooku Arc
Finally, getting to the Count Dooku arc, which is absolutely my personal favorite. Seeing Dooku teach young Qui-Gonn as a Padawan was something I never knew I wanted but I now want more of it. I love seeing Dooku take things too far using his anger to make his decision in the force. The beginning steps of becoming a Sith were on full display. This opening episode already showed that Dooku was starting to question the methods of the Jedi, before Palpatine got into head. I loved the line of Dooku telling the senator that the Jedi do not serve the senate they serve the people of this planet. This is truly what the Jedi were meant to do but they have fallen so much they have lost their way.
Continuing onto the second episode we get to see how far the Jedi had truly fallen. We get to see the polar opposite personalities of Dooku and Mace Windu. Mace wants to follow exactly was the council wanted while Dooku was more interested in the truth of a crime. This episode ended with Mace getting promoted to the Jedi council due to him following the councils exact instructions. Mace took Dooku’s potential spot on the council because they viewed Dooku as reckless. Despite the fact that it was Dooku’s method of solving the murder that actually produced results.
Finally, we get to my favorite episode of the six episode series “The Sith Lord.” This episode was an absolute master piece by Dave Filoni. We start off with Dooku deleting Kamino from the Jedi archives like we see in “Attack of the Clones.” This then leads us to him meeting with Yaddle and Qui-Gonn. He was talking about Qui-Gonn’s encounter with Darth Maul on Tatooine. Eventually, Yaddle senses something is troubling Dooku and follows him to his secret meeting with Palpatine. Here Yaddle discovers Palpatine’s plot to destroy the Jedi with Dooku and she tries to stop them by offering an Olive Branch to Dooku. This was such an awesome scene. Even though Dooku had fallen so much Yaddle still saw the good in him and acknowledged the Jedi’s faults during his time. However, Dooku was too far gone and eventually kills Yaddle. Truly an amazing episode and Ark.
Filoni continues to amaze me with his work.