Anakin and Padme's relationship sometimes feels sitcom-y in that the conflict between them feels somewhat contrived. I could believe that Anakin, a sometimes narcissistic hot head, would feel jealous of Padme going on a mission where she has to pretend to have feelings for another senator. The problem is that their relationship having this kind of test is indicative of heteropessimistic tropes- that is, the idea that men and women in a long term relationship will always have petty strife with each other and will never seem to like or love each other at all. This show does not struggle with the latter but sometimes does with the former. It's not egregious but it feels like they could have executed Anakin's jealousy with more nuance.
My minor gripe aside, I liked quite a few things about this episode. I really like when the show does political scheming and it is refreshing to see an episode where a lightsaber doesn't have to get activated (I, of course, love a good lightsaber fight scene but this show sometimes feels oversaturated with them). I also like that Clovis, the antagonist of the episode, is not an out and out villain like some of the separatists are. He is a selfish man, but he seemed to genuinely love Padme and was willing to risk his life to save hers. We also see Anakin's pettiness at the idea that Clovis might die without the disk. The episode was not necessarily a character study but it had good character beats.
My minor gripe aside, I liked quite a few things about this episode. I really like when the show does political scheming and it is refreshing to see an episode where a lightsaber doesn't have to get activated (I, of course, love a good lightsaber fight scene but this show sometimes feels oversaturated with them). I also like that Clovis, the antagonist of the episode, is not an out and out villain like some of the separatists are. He is a selfish man, but he seemed to genuinely love Padme and was willing to risk his life to save hers. We also see Anakin's pettiness at the idea that Clovis might die without the disk. The episode was not necessarily a character study but it had good character beats.