The Mandalorian – Season 2, Episode 5 Recap, “Chapter 13: The Jedi”

Baby Yoda has a name! And it is… wait for it… Grogu!

I’m not quite sure if that was an anti-climactic reveal. Then again, I don’t think any combination of syllables could possibly create a grand enough name to match the hype surrounding Baby Yoda. I suppose Grogu is as good a name as any.

So hello there Grogu. Welcome to the Star Wars universe.

I won’t lie. I was giddy with excitement by the time this episode ended. The Clone Wars, Master Yoda, and Grand Admiral Thrawn all get mentioned. And there’s even a passing reference to the fallen one who shall not be named. (*cough* Anakin Skywalker *cough*)

His attachment to you makes him more vulnerable to his fears… his anger. I’ve seen what those feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight.

Ahsoka Tano

We finally meet Ahsoka Tano in the flesh. There’s some great lightsaber action. And we even a good old-fashioned quick-draw shootout. Believe me when I tell you that Dave Filoni has managed to cram a lot into these 47 minutes.

He also wastes absolutely no time in getting to his beloved creation.

I, for one, couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to Ahsoka Tano. The episode opens with her stalking through a burnt out husk of a forrest, slowly taking out a group of armed guards, one by one. Wielding two white lightsabers, she appears from out of the night like a beacon of all that is good and holy.

The A-plot of this episode, and Ahsoka’s mission, involves a woman by the name of Morgan Elsbeth, the cruel, dictatorial Magistrate of Corvus, whom Ahsoka believes knows the whereabouts of Grand Admiral Thrawn. I assume that she’s still looking for her friend, Ezra Bridger, and believes that finding Thrawn is key to finding Bridger. (Both men were lost to space during the climactic final episode of Star Wars: Rebels, “Family Reunion – and Farewell.”)

The Ahsoka we meet here is far more world weary than we’ve ever seen in the past. Alone. Cautious. Even unsure of herself and the role of the Jedi. She’s afraid of Grogu’s potential and apprehensive about taking him on as a Padawan.

Mando, however, is insistent that she does and the pair strike a deal. If he helps Ahsoka take down the Magistrate, she’ll train Grogu.

A Mandalorian and a Jedi? They’ll never see it coming.

The Mandalorian

Admittedly, I was a little apprehensive about how a live-action version of this fan favourite character would turn out. But Rosario Dawson inhabits the role completely. She looks like her. She moves like her. Heck, she even sounds like her.

The biggest revelation in the episode, however, involves Baby Yoda. Besides discovering his name, we also learn that Grogu was trained by many masters at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but was hidden away once the Empire rose to power and Order 66 was issued. All Ahsoka can glean from the little guy is that someone kidnapped him from the temple at some point, as his memories go dark after that.

Given everything we saw in last week’s episode, it might be safe to assume that the person who kidnapped Grogu from the temple did so on Palpatine’s orders. Especially since he has an unprecedented, Anakin level, Midi-chlorian count.

At the end of the episode, following yet another tremendous pew-pew-zhoom-zhoom action sequence where the planet is saved and its people set free, we get a lovely quiet moment between our two heroes as Mando gets ready to say goodbye to his ward.

But despite Mando holding up his end of the bargain, Ahsoka remains unconvinced of her ability to train Grogu and sends the pair off on another quest. This time, it’s to the planet Tython which, according to legend (and the 2007 novel Darth Bane: Rule of Two, by Drew Karpyshyn), is the birthplace of the Jedi Order.

It is slowly becoming clear what this series is. While The Mandalorian is situating itself well within the greater Star Wars universe, with nods to everything that’s happened on both TV and at the movies, I don’t believe that its purpose is to fill in those blanks.

This is very much Mando and Grogu’s story. Ahsoka’s parting words to Mando, about Grogu finding his own path, echoes Luke’s sentiment from The Last Jedi. The Jedi, their religion, their order, grew to be arrogant, and broken, and disconnected from the reality around them. So much so that it lead to the the enslavement of the entire universe. There is a very good reason why Ahsoka is fearful.

We don’t know just how many Jedi remain. We know that Luke is out there and about to set up his little Jedi Academy. But your guess is as good as mine on who might answer Grogu’s call.

Calamari Flans

• Clocking in at 47 minutes, this is the second longest episode of the season so far.
• Who wants a live action Ahsoka Tano spin-off series? Me! This guy! That’s who.
• After last week’s unwanted Midi-chlorian mention, I was relieved that Ahsoka described the force in classic Obi-Wan style: “It is an energy field created by all living things.”
• It was great to see Johnny Ringo Michael Biehn face-off with Mando at the end. I was hoping he’d stick around a little longer.
• Grand Admiral Thrawn first appeared in Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy – Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command – which remain, the best Star Wars novels ever written. Fight me.
• HK-87 Assassin Droids are very cool. Not very smart. But cool.
• Using elements of “Yoda’s Theme” from The Empire Strikes Back is an emotionally manipulative cheat Ludwig!
• We’ve always believed the lightsaber to be the most powerful weapon in the universe. But it was thrilling to watch Ahsoka and Morgan go head-to-head and having the lightsaber meet its match in a Beskar spear.
• It’s important to note that Tython, where the duo are heading to next, is at the very core of the galaxy, and far away from the Outer Rim in which Mando prefers to operate.

The Mandalorian, Season 2, is now streaming on Disney+.