This episode picks up where the last leaves off, with Anakin and Obi-wan trapped in a jail cell, tied with energy cables and cuffs to Count Dooku.

The three of them need to work together in order to escape. Dooku needs to escape so he doesn’t end up in the hands of the Republic and Obi-wan and Anakin need to escape to save face. Neither wants to be rescued by Jar Jar. At all.

The major subplot of this episode is that a mutinous band of pirates, working from the inside, are trying to steal the spice ransom for themselves but Jar Jar’s bumbling saves the day and foils the plot of the scheming pirate.

It ends, quite predictably, with Dooku escaping on his own terms, killing a guard with a garrote and force choking another one in mid-air. Obi-wan and Anakin are tortured (which was a really cool scene) but free themselves and take hostages on their way out and just walk away.

I’m going to be honest, I liked this episode, but I think it was my least favorite so far. That doesn’t mean I thought it was bad, but it’s not one I’m worried about seeing over and over again.

Having said that, there were a lot of great moments in this episode. For each of the first two segments, Dooku and Obi-wan each break the trio out of their cell and end back up in the same place. This Dooku was much more evil than the Dooku in Attack of the Clones and almost twice as arrogant as the Dooku in Revenge of the Sith. He really is in a transition stage that’s interesting to see. He no longer has to put on the facade of a former Jedi-statesman and is quite blatantly embracing the dark side.

And, like it was pointed out to me on the Geekshow Podcast Forum, moments like Obi-wan and Dooku both using lines like, “Most impressive,” in front of Anakin, tying him to their personalities later in the films was great.

It’s just good times.

One note of dislike in this episode? Jar Jar’s voice. I like Jar Jar. I like Ahmed Best Jar Jar. According to IMDb, it was Ahmed Best, but there was just something waaaaaay off about it. Anybody know anything about that?

I’ll see you guys next week with “Jedi Crash”. The preview for that episode looks like everything in the show I’ve been jonesing for.