Warning: This article contains spoilers from Tales of the Jedi and the season 2 premiere of The Bad Batch.
Even though he is dead when The Bad Batch takes place, Count Dooku plays an important role in the 2-episode premiere of the animated show’s second season. Most of the premiere focuses on a mission where the Bad Batch travel to Dooku’s home planet of Serenno where they attempt to obtain the Sith Lord’s lucrative war chest.
Like many other elements in The Bad Batch, this storyline provides great connectivity to The Clone Wars and shows what happened to prequel-era characters and locations during the rise of the Empire. Thanks to the Dooku episodes in Tales of the Jedi, these connections are even richer than the usual Clone Wars connections, making Dooku’s legacy even more tragic.
Dooku’s episodes in Tales of the Jedi show him being outraged with political leaders neglecting their people and exploiting their planets for their own gain. He takes a firm stance against corruption, even saying “Corruptions like yours must be eradicated” as he Force-chokes and nearly kills Senator Dagonet.
Dooku’s growing frustration with the corruption in the Republic and the Jedi Order leads to him falling to the Dark Side and becoming a Sith Lord. Even while he does terrible things like murdering Yaddle, he justifies it by telling her “I want only to bring peace and order to the galaxy” as he is desperate to destroy corruption across the galaxy at any cost.
This makes it both tragic and ironic that Dooku’s legacy in The Bad Batch is being a corrupt leader who neglected and exploited his own people. When the Bad Batch first reach the war chest, Tech says, “It is safe to assume that the majority of Dooku’s fortune came from the many worlds he controlled and exploited. All in the name of his war effort,” followed by Echo saying, “That’s what corrupt people do.”
Romar Adell (the older man who helps the Bad Batch on Serenno) confirms this and reveals the truth is even worse: “You think Dooku funded his war effort by only stealing from outside worlds? No. He took from us, his own people. His quest for power is why our city is now buried in rubble.”
Dooku justified his actions by believing everything he was doing was rooting out corruption and ultimately making the galaxy a better place. Yet, his legacy in The Bad Batch proves that he became the same evil he swore to destroy, making him no better than the senators whose negligence, selfishness, and corruption enraged him in Tales of the Jedi.
Yaddle tried to make Dooku see that so many had already suffered for the so-called “order” he was seeking. He didn’t listen to her and now the effects of his quest for “order” are still being felt, with Romar and the people of Serreno continuing to suffer even after Dooku’s death.
The Bad Batch season 2 was originally supposed to be released before Tales of the Jedi. The release schedule that ended up happening is arguably better from a narrative perspective as it enriches the Dooku storyline in the season 2 premiere and makes his legacy and fall to the Dark Side even more tragic.
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