Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi / YMMV

Anti-Climax Boss: After an awesome buildup, the Inquisitor gets taken out in mere seconds by Ahsoka. While it's possible this may be justified—the Inquisitors are meant to hunt down ill-trained Padawans or low-level Jedi Knights, but are way out of their league against properly trained Force wielders, especially one of Ahsoka's caliber—it doesn't mean it's not underwhelming.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Ahsoka's last episode ends with one. After Ahsoka cuts off the Inqusitor's head, his mask deflates with no sign of a physical head falling out offscreen nor of one ever being there to begin with. While it is certainly possible that the Inquisitor here was simply some kind of alien species composed of gas and is wearing a pressure suit, which has been seen in Star Wars before, it can still be rather jarring to most general audiences for the seemingly humanoid Inquisitor to appear be air or gas in a suit without any explanation. The fact no one in the scene comments or elaborates on this makes it all the more weird.
Character Rerailment: Dooku's episodes are devoted to restoring his deeper, nuanced characterization from Legends and bringing his generically evil portrayal in The Clone Wars in line with said characterization, portraying him as a complex, sympathetic Tragic Villain and Well-Intentioned Extremist who falls to evil due to disgust with the Republic's corruption.
Continuity Lockout: The prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars are both required viewing prior to watching this show if you wish to understand anything that's happening. In fact, the series is meant to be a supplement to the larger canon, giving more insight on character motivations and backstory, so it is not intended to be viewed as a stand alone series in the first place.
Ensemble Dark Horse: The Inquisitor from "Resolve" only has a few minutes of screentime before abruptly being killed by Ahsoka, but has gained a following for his cool design and intimidating performance by Clancy Brown.
Harsher in Hindsight: Dooku is like an older, grimmer version of Kai Brightstar in a way: he wants to fight bad guys, while other Jedi just want to finish the mission and get away without fighting. Makes one wonder how Kai grew up, or what might have happened if a Sith Lord noticed him.
Heartwarming Moments:
- The birth of Ahsoka is met with joy and reverence, as is the realization that she is a Jedi. Her early life was spent in almost complete peace with a loving mother, father, and village around her.
- Dooku is shown to have loved Qui-Gon as a son, and deeply respects him for being able to pull back when he cannot. Even when Dooku is in his prime as a Jedi, he regards Qui-Gon as the wiser one, and it means a lot to his apprentice, who shares the same sentiment to his own padawan in the future.
- Dooku takes the time to tell the nascent Separatist that while he doesn't condone his violent methods, he understands and respects his cause. The man is surprised, but is genuinely grateful for the sentiment.
- Dooku fondly greets Qui-Gon in the fourth episode, warning him to be careful since he will likely meet Maul again. He wistfully comments to Yaddle how "they grow up so fast", even though his adoptive son is a grown man by now.
- Even when she sees the lows Dooku is falling to, Yaddle's compassion never waivers and she tells him it doesn't matter if he will stand by her side now to defeat Sidious. When it seems Dooku is saying he's afraid, she tries to comfort him. And even when they duel, she tries to get him to stand down by telling him she understands where he's coming from and recognized the hypocrisy of the council as well.
- While it's a bittersweet moment, Yaddle using the Force to shine the light on Palpatine and causing him to stagger is foreshadowing for how Luke will one day defeat him using the light and his compassion - and even later, how the galaxy itself will rise up against him to prevent his darkness from taking over once again. All spelling out that while the light will fade for now, it won't be forgotten, and Sidious's victory will one day be undone.
- Anakin rejects the training used by the council because he wants Ahsoka to be prepared for everything, and Rex and the 501st are easily convinced to help train her as Anakin wishes. The boys respect and love Ahsoka so much they regularly conduct the training even when Anakin isn't around, recognizing Anakin's wisdom, and Jesse is shown to be meekly apologetic when he is the first to stun her. As time goes on, Ahsoka gets better and better and forces the troopers to work for their victory with each round. Years of this training go by and everyone is pleased by the results - which will ultimately be key to how Ahsoka survives Order 66.
- When Ahsoka doesn't want to fight anymore after absorbing the bombshell of Padme's death, Bail reassures her that she can call him anytime and also subtly prods her to remind her they have a duty to the galaxy, especially in the wake of the Empire's rise.
- The sister is nothing but grateful to Ahsoka for her saving her life and tries to assure her she'll keep her secret safe. Tragically, her brother undoes it all with his fanaticism for the Empire.
He Really Can Act:
- Corey Burton gets to really flex his acting muscles moreso than he did in The Clone Wars as Dooku, as he gets to portray more parts of Dooku's personality before his fall. Burton also effortlessly lightens his voice to play a much younger Dooku than the roughly 80-something he was during the Prequel Trilogy, showing grief, love, and fear as well. And just for good measure, Dooku's final lines have Burton remind us just why he was chosen as Palpatine's new apprentice with his grave, evil Dooku voice returning as he executes Yaddle.
- Ian McDiarmid returns as Palpatine, but this time he's playing him pre-scarring and without the trademark rasp the character is mostly associated with as Darth Sidious, like how Ian Abercrombie played him during his tenure on The Clone Wars. McDiarmid manages to pay homage to Abercrombie by bringing the same calm, menacing tone of voice to pre-scarring Sidious, coming across as especially terrifying with how gentle and detached he is, not unlike his appearance in the Grand Finale of Rebels. McDiarmid brings all the more menace to a character who never raises a hand in combat towards anyone in this appearance, proving why the character was able to convince the galaxy to sign away its' freedom to him.
Jerkass Woobie: Count Dooku, to the extreme. Watching his idealism and good intentions be destroyed and warped by the Republic's corruption, Palpatine's manipulation, and the loss of his student/surrogate son figure Qui-Gon is deeply tragic.
Memetic Loser: The Inquisitors already had this bad enough, but the one in "Resolve" may be the worst case yet, thanks to being killed in less than ten seconds by Ahsoka, just after claiming that he would be rewarded for killing such a high-value target.
Moe: Baby Ahsoka from "Life and Death". In fact, many of her vocal effects are recycled from those of Grogu.
Moral Event Horizon: Dooku killing Yaddle, because she discovered his alliance with Darth Sidious to bring about the end of the Republic. Dooku had already shown flirtations with the Dark Side prior to this, but his killing of Yaddle despite her being his peer marks the point of no return for him and lays the foundation for him to become the man that engineered a war which cost untold billions of lives, only to be a mere stepping stone for someone more powerful.
Moment of Awesome: While it's also a sign of the growing darkness inside him, Dooku pulls an impressive move in "Justice" by Force-Choking the corrupt Senator Dagonet while using his lightsaber to block the blasterfire from his soldiers.
Narm: Palpatine hiding away from the light following Yaddle force lifting a door that almost crushed her looks quite humorous, mainly due to the gimmick of Palpatine of all characters displaying an extremely rare moment of weakness.
Salvaged Story: A lot of Legends fans took issue with Dooku's characterization in The Clone Wars, with him coming across as a card-carrying Saturday morning cartoon villain in contrast to his more subtle and complex behavior in the Legends continuity. This series brings him closer to his Legends counterpart by showing his past as a well-intentioned yet flawed Jedi who tragically falls to the dark side thanks to the Republic's corruption and Palatine's manipulation.
So Okay, It's Average: "Life and Death" sometimes gets this in comparison to the other episodes, seen as having added little of importance to Ahsoka's story.
Tearjerker:
- Dooku is shown silently observing the tree at the Jedi Temple as morose, mournful music plays. When Yaddle approaches him, Dooku recalls how as a boy, Qui-Gon loved the tree due to being so natural compared to the rest of Coruscant. Even on the eve of his turn, Dooku dearly loved Qui-Gon as his son.
- Yaddle fails to turn Dooku back to the light, despite giving him every chance to, and she ultimately falls when she is overexerted saving herself from the cargo bay door. This final act shines the light on Dooku one last time, but when Yaddle falls to the ground exhausted, Dooku is left in darkness again, and this time, he goes through with killing Yaddle.
- The scenes in "Practice Makes Perfect" of the other Jedi happily watching Ahsoka impress them with her training. Most of the people in the room either don't survive Order 66, as with Depa Billaba and Tera Sinube (whose fate had been confirmed by Obi-Wan Kenobi the previous summer) or end up falling victim to the Empire anyway (as with Caleb Dume and Obi-Wan).
- Ahsoka training with the 501st will give her the experience she needs to survive Order 66 - but unknowingly, her survival will one day come at the cost of many of the very same soldiers she is training with. Particular note goes to Jesse, who meekly apologizes for being the first to stun her, but later after suffering a Death of Personality, actively leads the last attempt on Ahsoka's life before the 501st goes down.
- Ahsoka is shown to have snuck in to attend Padme's funeral on Naboo. When Bail finds her, her voice breaks as she says she took the risk of attending because "she was [her] friend". This was just another gut punch Ahsoka had to absorb after the trauma of Order 66, her loyal men ultimately perishing in their attempt to kill her out of no free will of their own, and learning of the fall of the Jedi and the Republic - and the quite likely deaths of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and all her other friends. The worst part? She doesn’t realize it was Anakin who killed Padmé.
- Bail uses his conversation with the clone troopers to remind Ahsoka that they have a duty to uphold and that they must continue fighting the good fight when they're ready. These are kind words that before Order 66, the clones would've happily taken and agreed with. But these clones, who never show their faces, are so tightly wound after having received the order that they barely register what he's saying and insist he get back to a free zone.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Fans of the Ahsoka novel were displeased that "Resolve" did not retain the dialogue and characters of the book despite covering the same events. The most criticism was directed at the whitewashing of Kaeden Larte, who in the book was a black queer woman with a crush on Ahsoka, with hints that the former Jedi might return her feelings. But in the show she and her sister Miera are replaced with an unnamed white woman and her brother, and she and Ahsoka never show romantic affection.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- The Inquisitor gets taken out with very little fanfare. Many fans express disappointment that a character with such a cool design gets killed in his first appearance, with some hoping he somehow survived and will return later.
- Despite Yoda being Dooku's former Jedi Master and thus an integral part of his backstory, he's only a mere background character in all the episodes he appears in and has no impact on the story.
Unexpected Character: Few anticipated that Yaddle, of all characters, would be included as a significant part of Dooku's story arc across his episodes.

YMMV / Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi

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