One of the things that Clone Wars has largely been lacking up until season three is what I would call "emotional potency". The show rarely tries to evoke strong emotions in the viewer and the characters themselves rarely feel strong emotions themselves. This episode begins to rectify that error. Asajj Ventress howls with rage as she fights Anakin and Obi Wan and their fight feels quicker and more desperate than past duels. Asajj's flashbacks display her Freudian excuse for being the way she is- she lost her old master and it caused her to want revenge against the universe. The fight with Dooku versus the Nightsisters is quite snappy too, even if it doesn't quite capture the brutality of the first lightsaber duel.
I rate this a 7, however, because Asajj still doesn't feel like a fully developed person. The episode laid the groundwork for potential character development, but she still is, even by the end of the episode, a revenge machine and little else. What does she think about the Separatist cause? What are her feelings about things not related to revenge? Why does she still have loyalty to the Nightsisters despite them giving her up a long time ago? I am not saying all of these questions needed to be answered in this episode, but that more needs to be done before she starts to feel truly three-dimensional.
I rate this a 7, however, because Asajj still doesn't feel like a fully developed person. The episode laid the groundwork for potential character development, but she still is, even by the end of the episode, a revenge machine and little else. What does she think about the Separatist cause? What are her feelings about things not related to revenge? Why does she still have loyalty to the Nightsisters despite them giving her up a long time ago? I am not saying all of these questions needed to be answered in this episode, but that more needs to be done before she starts to feel truly three-dimensional.