«The Mandalorian», Season 2: «Chapter 13: The Jedi»

First off: this discussion of the episode includes spoilers! So watch «The Mandalorian – Chapter 13: The Jedi» before you read on.

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It’s half-time. Din Djarin, the Mandalorian, is still travelling across the galaxy to bring the Child a.k.a. Baby Yoda back to the Jedi. But so far, he’s only managed to find Boba Fett's armour on Tatooine, Bo-Katan Kryze on Trask and a mysterious (clone?) lab on Nevarro. His next stop: the forest planet Corvus. If he’s lucky, that’s where he’ll find Ahsoka Tano – a Jedi.

And lucky he shall be. These are the episode's best WTF moments and Easter eggs.

Ahsoka motherf*cking Tano!

Dank farrik! As you probably know, I was hoping to finally see Ahsoka Tano in the flesh. How was I expecting it to happen? Near the end of the episode, in true cliffhanger style. Kind of like Boba Fett in «Chapter 9: The Marshal»; a short kick of happiness for us fans, and then we have to wait an entire week to get the full story.

Not this time.

Scene 1. Setting: Calodan, a town on Corvus. A mixture of feudal Japan and industrialised Birmingham from the 1920s. It’s awesome. A wall surrounds the city. Protecting it from what? I have no clue.

On the outside of the wall, there’s a burnt forest. The ashes are still raining down. It’s nighttime. Dark. Flashes of red imply an active laser battle. But between the hazy wafts of mist, we can make out another colour. Two stripes of it. White? Or silver?

Cue the close-up.

My eyes widen. I can barely hold back my squeal of excitement at the sight of the Jedi slaughtering her way through enemy hordes, carrying two silvery-white lightsabers just like in the animated series «Star Wars Rebels». She’s as graceful and acrobatic as ever. Be still, my heart!

The scene ends. It turns into a verbal battle. An ultimatum is given. And we find out who the wall is meant to protect. Not the people. Its rulers – a government that doesn't care about the lives of its citizens, but apparently has a secret the Jedi now wants to reveal.

Ahsoka Tano is the issuer of the ultimatum.

Story time: who’s Ahsoka Tano?

You don't know who Ahsoka Tano is? Then it’s high time you get to know Anakin Skywalker’s former student.

Her story begins in the animated series, «The Clone Wars». Ahsoka, a female Togruta, was discovered by Jedi Master Plo Koon back in the day for her extraordinary Force sensitivity. During the Clone Wars, then 14-year-old Ahsoka is assigned to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker as his Padawan.

Ahsoka is wild, rebellious, and wears her heart on her sleeve. But war is merciless. And it goes on for three whole years. Thanks to the deep friendship that develops between Anakin and Ahsoka, master and student, she survives it; up until the Jedi Temple bombing. That made Ahsoka’s world come crashing down.

Ahsoka is blamed for the attack.

Now a Jedi Knight, Ahsoka is devastated. She had devoted her entire life to the Jedi Order. Not only are they questioning her loyalty, they go do far as to cut her out of the Order completely. Even her former master, Anakin, is momentarily swayed. But, fuelled by his own doubts about the Council’s wisdom, he investigates the matter and proves Ahsoka’s innocence in the end.

And thanks to him, Ahsoka would be free to return to the Jedi Order. But her trust in the Order is so shaken that she refuses. She decides to go her own way from then on. Or possibly the way of the Grey Jedi.

Years have passed. A small crew of five is fighting the Galactic Empire on Lothal. Among them are Sabine Wren, Mandalorian, as well as ex-Jedi Knight, Kanan Jarrus, and his Padawan, Ezra Bridger. Without knowing it, they actually form a small cell of a much larger, galaxy-wide rebellion. At the head of the Rebellion’s secret service is the mysterious figure Fulcrum. Only once Fulcrum's true identity is revealed does the small Rebel cell realize that they’re fighting for a much greater cause than they could have ever imagined.

Ahsoka Tano is Fulcrum.

Ahsoka may have left the Jedi Order, but she never gave up the battle for good. Instead, she joined the Rebel Alliance, founded by Bail Organa, who was Leia’s adoptive father.

Ahsoka's battle leads her, Kanan, and Ezra to Malachor, an ancient Sith planet. There, Ahsoka meets Darth Vader: the galaxy’s infamous dark and probably most feared figure who’s been hunting the Jedi for years.

What she only learns now is that Vader is Anakin. Her former master.

A fight breaks out, and Ahsoka is dead. At least for now. Because, some time later, Ezra manages to open the gate to the World between Worlds, a mysterious dimension within the Force that serves as a collection of doors and paths connecting time and space. Through one such a door, Ezra manages to free Ahsoka from Vader's clutches and rescues her.

Meanwhile, the Galactic Empire, led by the Emperor, is at the height of its power. The military, however, is in the hands of tactical genius Grand Admiral Thrawn. In an act of self-sacrifice, Ezra manages to catapult himself and Thrawn into hyperspace. They both disappear without a trace. Five years later, when the Empire seems to have fallen and the galaxy seems to be safe and sound, Ahsoka and Sabine Wren set out in search of Ezra Bridger.

There you have it: Ahsoka Tanos' story. Up to this point.

Baby Yoda now has a name!

Grogu. That’s the Child’s name. Technically speaking, he’s actually 50 years old and, aside from Yoda, is the only really known figure of the same, nameless species.

Alright.

Because Ahsoka and Grogu – am I really supposed to call Baby Yoda «Grogu» now? – sense each other's thoughts, we get to find out a bit about his past. Grogu – wince – was trained in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during the Clone Wars. But a Jedi saved him before Order 66 could be carried out. Since then, Grogu has had to hide his abilities in order to survive.

Until Din Djarin came along.

Tython, the next target

The deal was that Din Djarin would help Ahsoka Tano defeat Calodan's guards and get the information in a certain Morgan Elsbeth’s possession. In return, Ahsoka Tano was supposed to take Baby Yoda – I just can't call the sweet little thing Grogu – under her wing. At the end of the episode, we found out that the information Ahsoka’s trying to get is the current whereabouts of Admiral Thrawn.

Thrawn.

Is it really possible that we «Rebels» fans might get to see Thrawn in addition to Ahsoka Tano in «The Mandalorian»? Let's just keep rolling with it. For all we know, Thrawn is where Ezra Bridger also is.

So, is Ahsoka Tano really still trying to find him? And where’d Sabine Wren go?

I’m freaking out!

In any case, Ahsoka refuses to hold up her end of the deal. She sees fear in Baby Yoda; far too much fear. And Ahsoka claims to have seen what fear does to a trained Jedi – even «to the best of us». Instead, she sends Mando on another journey. This time, to Tython. According to the MMORPG «The Old Republic», it’s the planet on which the Jedi Order was founded.

There, Mando is supposed to place Baby Yoda on «the seeing stone», so that another Jedi might sense his presence. Which Jedi could she have in mind?

Thoughts on the setting

Why do the creators always come up world designs like that of Calodan? Why a kind of feudal industrialised Japan, of all things? It could be pure chance. A director’s whim. Or the screenwriter’s.

Or it’s been purposely done. An homage to what George Lucas' «Star Wars» was supposed to be, as he had once imagined it in the early 1970s. When it comes the Jedi, for example, Akira Kurosawa's samurai movies served as inspiration. To Lucas, Jedi are basically space samurais. Modest warriors dressed in simple pieces of cloth with the infamous long blades, usually held with both hands.

I could imagine someone going, «Hey, if it's the first time we're showing a Jedi on this show, why don’t we do it with the old samurai movies that inspired George Lucas as the background?»

And voilà, we already have Ahsoka Tano, dressed in loose cloth and striking heroic poses typical of samurai movies. This actually wouldn't be the first time a director has paid homage to George Lucas' source of inspiration for the Jedi.

Do you still remember «The Last Jedi»? Luke's epic final performance; a one-man army taking on the entire First Order?

Oh yes. There’s the samurai pose again.

Conclusion: the best episode yet

Boy, did I get goose bumps when Ahsoka Tano's leitmotif, originally crafted by Kevin Kiner, started playing. A wonderful nod from Icelandic composer Ludwig Göransson, who wrote the score for «The Mandalorian».

The whole episode is just perfect in every way. Ahsoka Tano, as played by Rosario Dawson, is just as warm as she is skilled. Just like the Ahsoka we fans have come to know and love over the years in «Clone Wars» and «Rebels». Her poses. Her moves. They’re all based on the animated series. Even the words Ahsoka speaks really come across as authentic.

And it’s no wonder: for once, it wasn't Jon Favereau, creator of «The Mandalorian», who wrote the script for this episode. It was written and directed by Dave Filoni, creator of «Clone Wars» and «Rebels». That was a good choice.

Now I'm curious to see what happens next. Will Thrawn make an appearance? Or Sabine? What about Ezra? And Moff Gideon must somehow have something to do with everything, given his genetically modified Sith troops and Darksaber.

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What did you think of this episode? Are there any more Easter eggs I've missed? Let me know in the comments! See you next Friday for the «Chapter 14» episode discussion.