The first season of Tales of the Jedi lasts less than the length of any Star Wars film – yes, even the The Clone Wars film that preceded that series – and is focused on two Jedi who would famously leave the Jedi Order: Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku. The series does a lot of heavy lifting for Dooku, and fills in a few blank spots for Ahsoka and, along the way, presents a really enjoyable anthology series that, hopefully, will continue into the future.
1. Life and Death
The first episode, though not the first chronologically, is an Ahsoka episode called “Life and Death.” This episode shows the birth of Ahsoka and her first hunting trip with her mother. This episode is an interesting look at both Togruta culture and the early life of Jedi. For the later point, it is interesting to see Ahsoka do something that an elder recognizes as force sensitivity. I’ve often wondered how families figured out that process began, and so this is a good primer on that. But the bulk of the episode is teaching young Ahsoka about exactly what the title of the episode says. She has to learn that life cannot exist without death, and vice versa. It’s a lot to ask a baby to grasp, but as a viewer, the episode works.
That said, the actual hunting was more disturbing and involved than I’d imagine it would’ve been for a show ostensibly produced, at least in part, for kids. That’s not a judgment, just a surprising piece of this series.
2. Justice
The second episode is the first Dooku one, and “Justice” is all about Dooku and his apprentice/thirst trap young Qui-Gon Jinn. This episode draws a line between the Jedi’s mission of peace and the government that they work with. This episode establishes quite quickly that Dooku is not interested in being anyone’s pawn, and he’s going to handle things in the way that he sees best. This will, obviously, put him at odds with other Jedi over time (foreshadowing for two paragraphs from now), but also makes him very sympathetic for the viewer.
My one critique of the portrayal of Dooku here is that while he never comes off as evil, per se, the Dooku of this series already seems to have moved past the ideals of the Jedi and is searching for a greater truth and meaning than just what the Jedi Council decides. It would’ve been nice to see a Dooku who was as gung-ho about being a Jedi as possible, to track his disillusion in a way that feels more complete than just a ‘fed up guy gets more fed up.’
3. Choices
In “Choices,” we see a different sort of Jedi, the always blank-faced stick in the mud Mace Windu. Whereas Dooku wants to do what is right, Windu wants to do what is by the book. These two clearly appreciate each other, but see their roles as very, very different. This is probably the least meaty of the episodes, because the mission statement of it is so clear: institutionalist versus idealist. The big moment here is seeing Dooku passed over for a spot on the Council because of his unorthodox approach. This isn’t Dooku’s “I’m going to become the Joker” moment, but rather him slipping another rung down the ladder, both in how the Jedi see him and how he sees his role in the Jedi.
4. The Sith Lord
This is a truly great episode of Star Wars animation. We see Dooku fully slip into Sith Lord here, as well as get a bunch of really fun Easter Eggs (the tree at the Jedi Temple that would be the cause of a Marvel miniseries, the deletion of Kamino from the Jedi archives). But this episode is really about Dooku and Yaddle. Yaddle was briefly seen on the Jedi Council in The Phantom Menace, and is a member of Yoda and Grogu’s species, and here is voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard.
This episode shows how distraught Dooku is over the loss of Qui-Gon, and how that is the final push that he needs to go full Sith. Again, I’d love more Dooku episodes, because we see him go from perturbed at missing a promotion to doing all sorts of diabolical shit here, and the turn seems a bit extreme. Also, I’d highly recommend anyone interested in Dooku to check out Dooku: Jedi Lost, an audiobook from a few years ago that is quite good.
Continued belowRegardless, seeing Dooku kill Yaddle in a pretty gruesome way was another surprisingly dark aspect of this series. Not that there are kind ways to kill your fellow Jedi, but Dooku slays a relatively helpless Yaddle in what appears to be a true turning point in his life.
5. Practice Makes Perfect
While this is an Ahsoka episode, “Practice Means Perfect” is really about Anakin’s attachments, and his forcing Ahsoka to train in the most extreme ways because of Anakin’s fear of losing her. This shows a side of Anakin that, perhaps, would’ve reared its head even if he hadn’t fallen in love in Padme. Anakin’s entire life is framed by his fear of loss, and we see how that extends to his padawan.
The episode takes a very, very dark turn where it flash forwards in its final moments to Order 66, where her training will become of the utmost import, as she must fight off troves of clones to escape her own death. And hey, we get a young Kanan cameo!
6. Resolve
The final episode, “Resolve,” shows Ahsoka’s return to the fight after some time away. This episode features a few key late-prequel/Rebels-era Star Wars moments: Padme’s funeral, an Inquisitor, a Bail Organa sighting, and some shithead local being an Imperial bootlicker. This was a fine episode, but all this, of all of the six, felt the least revelatory. It was an excuse to spend 15 minutes with a character we know and love, to see a few things we’ve read about before (like in the Ahsoka novel) and to bridge the gap between the end of The Clone Wars and the start of Rebels for folks who need everything very clearly spelled out.
Overall, the series was a success on almost every level. The brevity makes it go down smooth, the intense character focus makes it rewarding for longtime fans, and the animation has gotten so good that it truly sings on screen. Let’s hope that future installments can dive into other Jedi who haven’t had enough focus. Quin-Gon Jinn is clearly the obvious starting point, but let’s get some Plo Koon love. And hey, let’s learn more about Yaddle.
