Kumonin, you’re right that the Ventress stuff doesn’t really drive the plot forward. Right now I’m favouring its inclusion for two reasons:

(1) Because we do lean on Ventress quite a lot this season and it’s a better introduction for her than the later ones. Especially with the implication that she’s behind the trickery here and might be a strategic threat. She essentially becomes the main villain of the first “season” of the restructured show.

(2) Because it’s a decent bit of bro time for Obi-Wan and Anakin, and coming out of Attack of the Clones it re-establishes them as quite a brotherly duo.

The Bail stuff is included not because of the value of him saving lives we don’t care about, but because the scenes put him (who we do care about) in more jeopardy and so we get to see our existing characters act on his behalf, thus building their relationships.

Or I suppose, both are included because I think they’ll both pay off well later, and I’m trying to refocus the series as a whole, rather than just treat this as a series of episode edits.