The second episode of Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi immediately steers away from Ahsoka Tano and shifts focus to Jedi Master Dooku (prior to him leaving the Jedi Order and reclaiming the title of Count of Serenno) and his Padawan learner, Qui-Gon Jinn.
In this installment, Dooku is voiced by Corey Burton (reprising his role from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series and still doing a pretty decent imitation of Christopher Lee), while young Qui-Gon is portrayed by Micheál Richardson (of Made in Italy fame), the real-life son of actor Liam Neeson.
Tales of the Jedi episode two, entitled “Justice,” sees Dooku and Qui-Gon arrive at a small, run-down village on an unnamed planet (where very Earth-like dogs seem to exist) to search for the kidnapped son of a senator. Inside the local cantina, they inquire about the location of the child and meet an Elder (Vanessa Marshall, best known as Hera Syndulla from Star Wars Rebels) who tells the two Jedi about how the senator’s policies have affected the planet. After revealing that just about everyone in the village was involved in the kidnapping, the Elder shows Qui-Gon and Dooku the dilapidated barn where the senator’s son (Josh Keaton from Disney’s Hercules) is being held. The youngster has some alien guards and a hulking droid watching over him, but he’s not bothered by being in captivity. Instead, he has come to feel empathy for the villagers’ cause. He tells the Jedi about his sheltered life in the capital city and on Coruscant, where he was unaware of the plight of the common people. Then Senator Dagonet (The Shawshank Redemption’s Mark Rolston) shows up with a small army and all hell begins to break loose. The Jedi attempt a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, but the senator attacks anyway, demanding the release of his son.
In the ensuing battle, Dooku loses his cool and unleashes a dark-side Force choke on Dagonet, with Qui-Gon unable to calm him down except by releasing the senator’s son. Several of the villagers perish in the conflagration, and we begin to see the seeds of Dooku’s dissatisfaction with the Republic being planted. “Corruption like yours must be eradicated,” he says just before he snaps out of his rage-fueled trance and releases his Force hold on the senator. The son vows that he won’t allow the villagers’ suffering to continue, and Dooku and Qui-Gon both admit that they’ve learned a little lesson from each other. Here director Saul Ruiz (also from Star Wars Rebels) has delivered a somber and sobering entry into Tales of the Jedi, especially considering that much of the audience will know where both of these Jedi characters will end up later on in the timeline. Would it have been possible for Qui-Gon to interfere further in his Master’s life at this point and potentially prevent him from traveling down a dark path? It’s a question I think we’re meant to be asking, but the real point here is to begin to see things from Dooku’s skewed perspective as he is exposed to the lives of those who are not quite thriving under Republic rule. For those reasons, “Justice” is an atmospheric and effective chapter of Tales of the Jedi.
All six episodes of Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi are now available to stream, exclusively via Disney+.