The Mandalore Plot

The soldiers of "Death Watch." They are dressed in Mandalorian armor,
which should remind you of Boba Fett.  Click to embiggen. Yes, this is
an actual screenshot from the Clone Wars and not a painting. The
animation is really THAT good. NOTE: this is not from the episode I'm
talking about. It's just a really cool screen grab. Dude on the throne is
Darth Maul (this is from season 5) Guy without a helmet in front of Maul
is the Governor of Concordia (moon of Mandalore).

"The Mandalore Plot" is the twelfth episode in Season Two of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, and I think, stands out as a pinnacle of good storytelling. Here's why in a nutshell:

1) Mandalore is a world behaving similar to the nation of Switzerland on Earth. It's neutral. It wants to stay out of the conflict going on between the Separatists (the droid armies and Count Dooku) and the galactic government.

2) Mandalorian armor is the stuff that Boba Fett wears. It's the really cool tight-fitting combat armor that you now see everywhere from G.I. Joe, to first-person shooters, to Iron-Man, to my own books, etc. Just think "athletic young guys wearing sexy battle armor" and you got the picture.

Duchess Satine. The headress she wears smacks of Queen Amidala
in episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Anyway, I really got to like her (more so
than Amidala). I think it had to do with the fact that her love to Obi-Wan
never seemed forced because let's face it, Lucas had to get Anakin and
Amidala together in like the screen time of two hours flat.

3) Mandalore is ruled by a woman by the name of Duchess Satine. Satine is beautiful, smart, bold, and a really charismatic character. And she becomes a staple in the series, appearing in many episodes because Obi-Wan Kenobi ends up falling in love with her. Yes, the Clone Wars cartoon series is the only place we actually see what Obi-Wan's life could have been because it's never revealed in the movies that he loved a woman.

4) "The Mandalore Plot" is a mystery/thriller that unfolds intricately and weaves its way into other storylines that pass from episode to episode. I like that. We also get a recurring villain in the Governor of Concordia (moon of Mandalore).

Here's a summary for you on what happens in the episode:

Obi-Wan arrives on Mandalore and meets Duchess Satine (of course he thinks she's pretty groovy looking). Satine tells Obi-Wan of a rogue group of Mandalorians called Death Watch who may be responsible for terrorist attacks on a Republic cruiser. They are criminals hiding out on the moon Concordia.

Death Watch launches a terrorist attack on Mandalore and both Obi-Wan and Satine chase down a man responsible who tries to jump to his death rather than be interrogated. A few seconds before he bites it, he whispers some last words to the Duchess in the dialect of Concordia.

Below is the short video clip wherein you see the explosion done by the terrorist group, Death Watch, and a conversation between Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine. Again, the animation is amazing.

So Satine and Obi-Wan pay a visit to Concordia. She goes to dinner with the Governor of the moon wearing a wire in her ear through which she can hear Obi-Wan (women are so duplicitous). Meanwhile he goes to investigate a "non-operational" mine. Obi-Wan gets captured by Death Watch, Satine hears it, and goes off to save him! It turns out that the Governor is the leader of Death Watch and he and Obi-Wan battle lightsaber vs. darksaber in a duel (of course Obi-Wan wins). The Governor escapes though and orders his Death Watch to kill them both. Obi-Wan and Satine escape Concordia to Mandalore safely, and despite the evidence that the Separatists are aiding Death Watch, Satine insists on Mandalore staying neutral.

Obi-Wan protecting his babe, Satine, who's hiding up on the rocks behind
him. He's facing off against the Governor wielding a darksaber pictured
below.

The Governor of Concordia. In his hands is the afore-mentioned darksaber.
I've no idea how it's different than a lightsaber. Maybe Andrew will stop
by and let us all know in a comment. I do kind of dig the Gov's mohawk.