The most recent episode of The Mandalorian was what fans of the animated shows had been waiting for. The long wait was over to see the reveal of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano.

This is your last warning if you haven’t seen the latest episode of The Mandalorian….

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Chapter 12 The Jedi was something different that what we have witnessed on The Mandalorian. This episode was written and directed by Dave Filoni who played a pivotal part in the storyline for both animated Star Wars series, The Clone Wars and Rebels.  This episode was a continuation of Ahsoka’s story when we last saw her on Rebels.

What had been teased two weeks ago finally came to fruition when Din Djarin made it to Corvus in search of Ahsoka Tano.  The mission that Din was appointed at the end of first season in search of a Jedi seemed that this episode would be the end to that story arc.  What we learn is Ahsoka is still suffering emotional distress from learning that her master, Anakin Skywalker, was the one responsible for taking down the Jedi Order.  She also is on her own path searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn which makes her hesitant to take on The Child as her apprentice.

The biggest surprise beside the debut of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano was the reveal of The Childs name.  After 13 episodes of calling the alien either The Child or Baby Yoda we now know his name is Grogu. While finally know the name of the child was special it was interesting to learn was that he was being trained on Coruscant at the Jedi Temple during the Purge of the Jedi. This now brings theories of who was his master and who helped him escape the Jedi Temple?

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Rosario Dawson did an amazing job bringing the beloved animated character to life. This version of Ahsoka was worn down and not the snippy little Padawan we grew to love on The Clone Wars. She had been through so much and you could tell from her movements and the way she talked.  Even though the episode was titled as The Jedi and she was referenced by other characters as a Jedi, Ahsoka is no Jedi.  The way she stalked her enemies, the refusal to use the Force to make a fight easier, her refusal to take Grogu showed us that this Ahsoka is no longer a follower of the Jedi Order. The one connection we did get to see was her objective of finding Grand Admiral Thrawn.  With the epilogue of Rebels setting up Ahsoka and Sabine on a quest to find their friend Ezra it lets us know what she has been up too since the end of the series.

The mystery location of Grand Admiral Thrawn seems to be the direction Ahsoka is taking to find Ezra Bridger. What appears to be Ahsoka fractured or broken from the Force tells us that finding Ezra won’t be that easy.  If she was still attached to the Force it would be safe to say that she would just be able to sense where Ezra was using the Force.  But since that doesn’t seem likely, finding Ezra through Thrawn seems to be her only choice.  This has led Ahsoka to search for Thrawn by going after old Imperial officers that served under the Grand Admiral at one point.  Just like the other characters that we have been introduced too this season Ahsoka is more focused on her mission than what Din Djarin or Grogu are after.

What seemed to be the endgame for Grogu, The Child, is just another chapter in the journey. It seems to be the theme this season as we are more than halfway through this season and not much has really changed. There have been glimpses of what Moff Gideon is trying to achieve but beside learning Grogu’s name the main storyline has not moved that far.  It seems that Grogu and Din will be together for quite some time as this season continues to set up the “Filoni Verse” of Star Wars characters and their spinoff shows.

Reaction

Overall this episode was terrific for so many different reasons. Dave Filoni had his touch all over this episode and it was very different than all the previous episodes of the series.  The tone and style Filoni used was from the his time studying Akira Kurosawa filmmaking. The movements and tone used during the action scenes are reminiscent of Kurosawa’s films of the Ronin Samurai. If this is what the Ahsoka spinoff show will look like in the future it will be another homerun for the Disney+ service.

The overall story did very little for Din Djarin as he continues to be tasked with these side missions each episode. This was the first episode that we really got to see Din’s emotions regarding Grogu. What had been a character that had shown very little emotion so far, showed us that he truly does care about the youngling.  With Ahsoka opting not to take Grogu with her the responsibility continues to fall on Din with his next objective is to get to the Jedi Temple on Tython.  With the previous episode showing that the Razor Crest is being tracked by Moff Gideon something tells me that it won’t be so easy for Din to get there.

Overall Score: A+ as an individual story (B in regards to the storyline of Din Djarin)

What do you think about the last episode? Were you excited as I was to see Ahsoka?

The Mandalorian Season 2 is currently streaming on Disney+.

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