It’s getting a little ridiculous for me to say this every week, but I think this is my favorite episode so far. There’s a number of reasons for it, but allow me to get to that after I bring you up to speed about what happened first.

This episode, Duel of the Droids, is a continuation of last weeks episode where Artoo had been captured by a Trandoshan scavenger after Anakin lost both Artoo and his ship in a battle with General Grievous. This episode starts with Obi-wan ordering Anakin to NOT go after Artoo (much to his disappointment) and find the Separatist listening post that is causing them problems. Predictably, when they intercept a scattered transmission from Artoo, Anakin disobeys orders and goes after his droid.

That’s basically when all the kick-ass stuff happens. Artoo leads them right to the listening post right before he is taken apart by the Trandoshan. Before they arrive, Obi-wan once again informs Anakin that he is, under no circumstance, to concern himself with rescuing Artoo. His only mission is to destroy the listening post. Even more predictably, Anakin tells Ahsoka to take care of the mission by herself with the aid of Rex and a handful of clones.

This led to all of my favorite parts of this episode and they all kick-ass. Basically, Anakin instills into Ahsoka the trust he wanted from Obi-wan and the Jedi Council and sends her on a suicide mission. He’s reckless in a way that makes so much sense for his character in his forbidden attachment to things, in this case Artoo. He’s willing to risk his men, his mission, and his padawan for something that has even the most tenuous of connections to Padme and it’s fascinating to watch. You can even see in his fighting style and hear in his voice a tinge of anger and hatred when he down’s Grievous’ Magna Droids when he takes Artoo back.

And the best part of the episode? The horror-film bits. Since Anakin foolishly abandoned his mission to rescue his droid, Ahsoka needs to command the clones to complete the mission while she has to distract Grievous by herself. In a scene reminiscent of the one in Jurassic Park (you know, the one in the kitchen with kids and the raptors?) Ahsoka is in a darkened storage room, dodging Grievous back and forth. It’s scary and Grievous has her dead to rights. As a member of the audience, I was terrified that Ahsoka’s moments were numbered. She’s obviously not in Revenge of the Sith and Anakin loses her somehow between now and then. The thought that she can go at any moment is exhilarating in much the same way you are concerned by acrobats performing at a circus without a net.

But the more I see of “Snips” (as she’s called by Anakin) the more I think she’s the perfect foil for him. And the direction the animators and directors have taken her is great. She has started adapting some of the types of movements and lightsabers techniques that we’ve seen Anakin use. In fact, there’s a moment where Grievous is about to cut Rex down and she jumps in and intercedes with her lightsaber in exactly the same way Anakin does on Obi-Wan’s behalf against Count Dooku at the end of Attack of the Clones…

I guess I’ve gone on far too long about this episode, but the long and short of it is that this episode worked for me on a lot of levels and quite a few more than the others have. It felt like this episode (even more than the others) was directed by a person who has as much love for Star Wars as I do and with an attention to detail that I would insist on if I were in charge of an episode in any creative capacity.

So, until next week, May the Force Be With You.

(Also: Next week is a Jar Jar episode, so if you’re going to watch, make sure you do it with the kids.  That is, if you’re one of those jerks who can’t get behind Jar Jar.  Jerk…)