This episode was ok except for the gaping plot holes. For one, Kankuro's puppets were suddenly whole again after being obliterated in the previous episode. I guess they tried to explain this away by having Akamaru gather the puppet bits, but c'mon, you can't remake 2 complex puppets in a few minutes. Also, Rock Lee doesn't use chakra in his normal attacks as far as I know. His taijutsu is driven by pure stamina, I'm sure this was mentioned somewhere earlier. He should have been mopping the floor with that guy...

The other ridiculous aspect was the sand javelin that Gaara used to kill the chakra-absorbing guy. His armor can absorb chakra, so how can Gaara do anything to him using sand? It doesn't make any sense.

The defeat of the wind-user was pretty awesome, though. Finally some strategy in fillers, and we get to see Shikamaru and Temari in action together. Anyway, I am looking forward to the conclusion of this arc next week since Gaara is going to kick some ass.