2x21 R2 Come Home

I can't say I imagined that an episode where R2-D2 was the main character would be this good, but it turned out something like WALL-E by way of Star Wars and that was just right. The episode built perfectly, with the initial investigation by Mace and Anakin leading nicely to the major obstacle of the episode (the two of them being crushed under debris from a bomb set by Boba). Then, having R2 play Home Alone with the bounty hunters and Boba, not to mention battle it out with the gundarks, and earning the respect of Mace when he pilots a cruiser all the way back to the Jedi temple and gets help was superb, with impressive setpieces (the dogfight between R2 and Slave 1 in particular), and some nicely escalating stakes as the felled cruiser started to disintegrate around Mace and Anakin. The reveal of the bounty hunters and their internal dynamic was also very interesting, especially with Boba's anger, Craston's disdain, and Aurra's big sisterly vibe with Boba. Some of the exposition was clunky, and there wasn't much thematic going on (beyond hooray for R2!), but it was action-packed and well done storytelling, which goes a long way.