Choices
Episode 3 of Tales of the Jedi switches perspective to Count Dooku and Mace Windu. They have instructions to return Master Katri’s body to the Jedi temple so she can have a proper burial. Dooku believes they should do more to honour her, but Windu is firm in his beliefs that the rules are there for a reason. The pair touch down on Raxus Secundus, where they’re greeted by an official. The pair are there to see Senator Larik. Apparently he was there with Katri at the time of his death. They head off together to meet an informant, and that’s where they were ambushed. Larik is cagey and something about his story is a bit fishy. Windu believes as much and wants to take this info to the Jedi. As for Dooku, he’s more interested in following this lead himself. So naturally, they follow the latter’s plan and touch down at the meeting spot. Examining the crime scene, the pair believe there were more than one attacker and even worse, there’s no bullet marks on the ship. Larik immediately turns and admits that the guards killed Katri, and he’s shot dead for uttering the truth. Dooku and Windu are also ambushed by the guards, but they get the better of the men. In fact, Dooku kills one of them outright, much to the disdain of Windu. The final man, Semage, down on his knees, admits that they killed Katri because he’s operating within part of a group who learned Larik was using a Senate seat to become rich at the expense of their planet. They were industrializing the planet and selling it off piece by piece. The reason they kept Larik alive was to make him enact their own rules at the next Senate hearing meeting to reverse the damage done. Semage points out that the Jedi claim peace but believes they’re just lapdogs to the Senate. The pair eventually throws Semage in lockup, but Dooku does understand the way this man thinks and tells him not to lose heart. After solving Katri’s murder, Dooku and Windu bring her body back to the Council, where she’s honoured and buried. As for Mace Windu, he’s offered Master Katri’s council seat following the good work. Dooku isn’t exactly happy, and as he turns to face the skyline, the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
The interesting ideologies thrown around in this episode help to really trace a path between the light and dark side of the force, especially when you consider where Dooku and Mace Windu both end up in the Star Wars universe. Although the chapter doesn’t really do anything particularly new or exciting, it is a nice way of showing the effects of the Empire, which is a consistent thread running through this anthology.
