1x04 The Sith Lord

[7.2/10] This was easily my least favorite of these so far, but it was still pretty good? So that counts for something.

What I like about it is the melancholic tone we get for much of it. Dooku is turning to the dark side but he’s not glad or gleeful about it. He’s full of sorrow, maybe even remorse, that it’s come to this. Nothing drives that home more than the death of Qui Gon, his padawan learner. The death of his former apprentice comes too soon, and comes in the face of a Jedi Council who refused to heed his warnings.

Some of this business plays like too much of a gesture toward what the audience already knows. We already know from Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars that Dooku was responsible for the business with Sifo Dyas and Kamino, so watching him actively erase the planet from the Jedi archives doesn’t add much. Likewise, him having a conversation with Qui Gon where he tells his former protege that he’s heard Qui Gon signing Obi-Wan’s praises and hopes to meet him someday plays like heavy-handed foreshadowing of their confrontation in Ep. II.

But there’s something about Dooku reacting to the events of The Phantom Menace with sadness and anger that has real power. He loses something real when Qui Gon dies, both a surrogate child and the last lingering thread of his faith in the council. We understand now, in a way that wasn’t as clear before, why he sided with Sidious. The idea of the Jedi as blind puppets of a corrupt Senate, and the need to break some eggs to make a new omlette, is intuitively comprehensible, making Dooku’s perspective more complex. But at the same time, he laments the costs that have led them to this point, Qui Gon especially.

The big problem is Yaddle. On a storytelling level, it’s not great that fighting her is what cements Dooku’s turn to the darkside for one simple reason -- she’s never received any character shading on-screen until now. This isn’t Anakin fighting Obi-Wan or Maul fighting Sidious. We’ve never seen any interactions between Dooku and Yaddle until now. So while Yaddle is meant to represent the good of the council and the side of the Jedi that’s sympathetic to Dooku’s criticisms and could buy into reform, it has no weight because she’s barely a character, and she and Dooku have no shared history, at least none that we’ve seen.

On a more textural level, there’s more that makes the confrontation carry less weight than it might. Bryce Dallas Howard is talented, but her Yaddle voice isn’t great, and seems obviously like a young person trying to sound old in a way that takes you out of the moment. The design’s also odd, looking like Yoda in a cheap wig, which doesn’t help the tone either. And as with Dooku and Yoda’s confrontation in AotC, there’s something silly about watching a grown man fight a muppet, and all the cool lighting and staging and scoring in the world can’t do much to change that.

So overall, I love this as a continuation of a character story, showing the conflict in Dooku, the legitimate principles that brought him into Palpatine’s grasp, and the personal connections and losses that embittered his heart. And I low-key loathe it as a major transition that hinges on a battle with a silly-looking figure who’s been more of an intriguing prop than a full-fledged character to this point. The good stuff is worth the bad though.

This is so dire yet so believable. I just love to see this side of Dooku. I didn't know I was interested in the backstory but the character is fleshed out so incredibly well. I see however a few to many similarities to Anakin.
I never thought of how Dooku might have reacted to losing his former Padawan but I believe his reaction as is shown here. He is definitively moved and yet this has to be secondary to his cause to him. His entire interaction, almost warmhearted attitude, towards Qui-Gon added so much depth and worked really well. It established their relationship in such a short moment. I would love to see more of that.

I also often wondered what had happened to Yadle (and many other replaced council members for that matter). Her being Dooku's sacrifice to commit to the dark side is a great choice because she is not too close to him for it to become incredibly emotional. Instead these all feel like rational choices. Dooku is not hotheaded he makes calculated decisions.
I am also surprised how little comical Sidious was depicted. Usually in the animated series he is a bit too over the top and cartoony for my taste but his manipulations, his menace and his dialogue were really subtle in this scene.
On a level of content this was a really well made insert into the known story. It makes a lot of sense that Dooku as an idealist with a cause would have originally only allied with Sidious to reach a common goal. Sidious then being the opportunist would only later use the chance to actually make him his (temporary) apprentice.