Warning: Spoilers for Episode 4 of Tales of the Jedi Ahead
The fourth episode of the Tales of the Jedi mini-series is my personal favorite episode of the bunch and a fantastic conclusion to Dooku’s arc. It really has this authentic Star Wars feel and blend of expert storytelling.
Learning that Dooku was present at the Jedi temple during the events of The Phantom Menace really helps connect us to the movie and his moment with Qui-Gon is both wonderful and bittersweet. It was amazing to see Qui-Gone voiced by Liam Neeson and this marks the second time he has returned to Star Wars in just the last year. The moment is made a little more tragic when we realize that this is the last time the two will ever speak and Dooku will meet Obi-Wan, but under very different circumstances than Qui-Gon would have hoped.
What also makes this episode exciting is that Yaddle finally gets her moment to shine. Speaking for the first time on screen, voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard, she has a strong impact on this episode. She provides the perfect foil to Dooku’s character and actions in this episode. There is a moment right at the beginning before the title card where Yaddle and Dooku begin to walk in opposite directions. Yaddle walks towards the sunlight while Dooku walks down a hallway in the shade. This is just some great foreshadowing for what’s to come.
The moment when Dooku is talking about Qui-Gon by the temple tree was just beautiful. I really love any scene that this tree is in. It’s such a physical symbol of what the force represents to the Jedi and watching Dooku spend what likely is his final moments at the temple beside the tree has a major impact. Qui-Gons death has shaken Dooku to his core and it was much more of a tipping point for his turn to the dark side than I expected.
The entire sequence between Dooku, Yaddle, and Palpatine at the works was also just fantastic. I had not expected Palpatine to be in any of these episodes, much less voiced by Ian McDiarmid. As always he provides a menacing character, having to do nothing more but stand to the side and speak for his presence to be felt. Yaddle really gets to jump into action here, having a great duel with Dooku. It felt very reminiscent of his duel with Yoda in Attack of the Clones. Yaddle puts on an impressive display of force ability, but in the end, it’s no match for Dooku who ends her life. And with that his fall to the dark side is complete.
These past three episodes have done a lot to make Dooku a more relatable and likable character in Star Wars. His downfall becomes far more tragic and you can’t help but think that he might have had good intentions, at least in the beginning before he was corrupted by Palpatine.
All six episodes of Tales of the Jedi are streaming now only on Disney+.