The Mandalorian: Chapter 13–The Jedi

So we’ve finally seen Ahsoka make her live-action debut, and I have to say it was pretty amazing!

Rosario Dawson did an excellent job with the character (though if I’m being nitpicky, something about her montrals and lekku just weren’t right…but I’m not gonna be that person). I’m glad the show began with her right away, rather than a slow build-up where we’re left saying, where’s Ahsoka already????

The Mandalorian: Season 2/ Episode 5 "Chapter 13: The Jedi" – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers) — Our first glimpse of the incomparable Ahsoka.

I loved the look of her twin white lightsabers against the fog and gloom of the planet, and honestly, it was just fantastic seeing lightsabers at all. I love The Mandalorian for being its own thing, but NOW it really feels like Star Wars.

There’s so many things to unpack here, I won’t do a plot summary, just a running commentary on what I thought was interesting, exciting, and just plain cool in this episode.

The planet Corvus is a lot drearier and gloomier than I thought it would be, considering Bo-Katan named it as a “forest planet.” But clearly the environment has been ruined by the plundering the evil Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth (such a normal, non-Star Warsy name!) has wreaked on the planet. And the natives are suffering; it seems like a natural place for Ahsoka to be, to fight injustice and cruelty.

Baby Yoda's name revealed & more - The Mandalorian Chapter 13 review — Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn?

But the real reason she’s there is that she seeks information from Elsbeth: the location of her “master”, who I assumed was Moff Gideon. When it was revealed at the end that she was looking for Grand Admiral Thrawn, I merely said, “Hmmm, interesting,” to my husband (a casual Star Wars fan, though a big fan of the Mandalorian–he had no idea who Thrawn was, but I try not to lecture him with Star Wars 101 unless he asks); while the hard-core fan in me was doing jumping jacks of joy. Thrawn! So she is still looking for Ezra. I assumed Sabine was off following another lead, but maybe we’ll see her soon, too.

Baby Yoda's Real Name and Backstory Revealed in The Mandalorian Chapter 13 — “I hope it’s about him.”

Anyway, I thought the best part of the show were the Ahsoka and Child scenes. I’ve read in other places that Ahsoka knew Grogu (our Baby’s name!) at the Temple, but I don’t think so. They were there at the same time, but he was a youngling, an infant, really, and she wouldn’t have crossed paths with him in all probability. And she had to get his story from Grogu himself. I think he’s a delightful surprise to her, which you can see on her face, along with the fond remembering of Yoda. She’s gentle and respectful of him, but he’s also an enigma.

I’m not surprised she refused to train him. Clearly, Grogu is deeply attached to Din, and is full of fear. Fear of the others who seek him, but also fear of losing Din, the closest thing to a father he’s ever had. I think when he refused to use the Force during Ahsoka’s test, it wasn’t because he was being stubborn, as Din claimed. I think he didn’t want to show his powers, knowing it might mean he’d have to stay with Ahsoka. He didn’t want to leave Din. I don’t think he ever will.

And Ahsoka sensed this, and knew that it was too late to train him, remembering what happened to Anakin. She wasn’t even going to go there. Her recommendation to bring him to Tython caused all kinds of speculation on what Jedi may answer Grogu’s call. Luke? Ezra? Someone we don’t even know? But there’s another possibility: a dark Force user. A possibility I fervently hope doesn’t come to pass.

Five Thoughts on The Mandalorian's “Chapter 13: The Jedi” – Multiversity Comics — Battle of the Warrior Women

The battles between Ahsoka and Elsbeth, and Din and Lang (Michael Biehn, who I didn’t immediately recognize), were very cool. Ahsoka and Din win the day, and the town is free once again.

I found it interesting that we don’t know if Ahsoka actually killed Elsbeth, or got the information she wanted. I guess we have to wait to find that out.

Oh, and one thing I saw that made me ridiculously happy was a brief glimpse of Ahsoka’s owl, Morai. It almost blended in with the forest, but it was sitting up on a high branch while Din and Baby were looking for Ahsoka. Anyone else see it?

So off to Tython, but I have a feeling the next episode will be a side-track sort of show, maybe a run-in with some baddies, with the last two shows being a two-parter finale on Tython. Just my guess.

Loving this show more and more, and can’t wait to see what’s in store!

The Mandalorian: Chapter 12–The Siege

Mandalorian Spoilers Ahead!!!!!

So Din makes a stop at Nevarro for some much-needed ship repair, and reunites with Cara Dune and Greef Karga. They’re delighted to see him–and the Child, of course–but, like everyone else on this show, they need his help for something.

Cara and Greef have turned the town around, and would like to mop up any remaining Imperial presence. There’s a bunker or headquarters in the lava canyons outside of town, and they’d like his help in blowing it up.

So Din reluctantly leaves the Child in a classroom (where the old cantina used to be) and sets off with Cara and Greef, along with the blue Mythrol we saw in Chapter One. He’s working off a debt to Greef, and naturally would rather be elsewhere.

Turns out, the bunker isn’t as abandoned as they thought it was, and they have to take out some stormtroopers. They manage to set the reactor to blow, but on the way out they make a weird discovery–the place is actually a lab and–ew, are those Snokes???

We see a hologram of Dr. Pershing (he of the big round glasses) and find out what they want with the Child: his blood, which is “high in M-count” (midi-chlorians), to infuse into the test subjects.

So, let’s just stop right here for a moment. If you’re more than a casual Star Wars fan (and if you’re actually reading this, that’s probably the case), alarm bells should be ringing right about now. To me, it seems that the Imperials are working on the “dead” Emperor’s contingency plan: creating a viable, Force-sensitive body for his evil marbles to inhabit. (I just thought of something: where, exactly, ARE his marbles? Question for another day). I’ve heard other theories, but this just seems the simplest and most obvious answer as to what’s going on. But I could be completely wrong.

Anyway, the clock is ticking to detonation and Din, having learned that Moff Gideon is still alive and a threat to the Child, takes off on his jetpack to get the kid, while the others make a run for it in some old ship they find (yeah, “some old ship.” I’m not good with ships and that sort of thing. I think it was called a marauder).

A wild chase through the lava canyons ensues, as they’re pursued by troopers on speederbikes and some TIES. They make it back to the town with the help of Din and the new-and-improved Razor Crest. He takes off from there to head to Corvus to find Ahsoka (yay!).

Back on Nevarro, Greef evades the questions of the New Republic X-wing pilot, Captain Carson Teva, who we saw in Chapter 10; said pilot then has a little talk with Cara Dune. He tells her that the New Republic needs soldiers like her, but she turns down the invitation. He notices on his data pad that she’s from Alderaan, and asks what I consider to be a silly question:

“Did you lose anyone?”

Um, the whole planet was destroyed. What do you think? Anyway, she replies she lost everyone. He leaves her a medal of some sort (New Republic or Rebellion), perhaps as a reminder or a permanent invitation.

And, it turns out that the Mimbanese who fixed the Razor Crest is an informant for Moff Gideon and planted a tracker on board (I thought that little look he gave before fixing the ship was suspicious), so Din will be followed to Corvus. Do I see a confrontation on the horizon between Ahsoka and Gideon? We’ll see. The last shot is of Gideon on board his ship looking over a room full of black armor, which may possibly be Death Troopers. Or Shadow troopers, or Dark Troopers, or who knows what. Either way, it doesn’t look good for our heroes.

Shout-out to the Child for another consistently adorable performance. Despite the whole egg controversy (which I thought eye-rollingly silly), I believe this sweet baby can do no wrong. Even when he vomits blue cookies.

The Mandalorian May Explain an Unsolved Mystery from Rise of Skywalker | Vanity Fair — Are those macarons?

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The Mandalorian: Chapter 11–The Heiress

Mandalorian Season Two Spoilers Ahead!

The latest Mandalorian episode, Chapter 11: The Heiress, packs a punch in its 36 minutes.

Din has to make an emergency landing on Trask because of the pitiful state of the Razor Crest, and has to be fished out of the water by a really cool walker-crane. He throws some credits to a Mon Calamari wearing a warm-looking cable-knit sweater and suspenders to fix it the best he can.

Frog Lady reunites with her hubby, who directs Din to an inn where he can find info on Mandalorians. A Mon Calamari there directs him to some Quarren who will take him on their boat to the other Mandos. But guess what?

The Quarren just want to steal his beskar, and they push the Child (in his egg-stroller–wink, wink, poetic justice) into the mouth of a monster. Din jumps in but becomes trapped; it doesn’t look good until three Mandalorians show up, take out the Quarren and rescue the Child from the jaws of the monster.

So this is when it gets real interesting and kind of flip-out exciting.

Of course, Bo-Katan (!!!) is immediately recognizable with her distinctive armor; she’s showed up with two others of her group (who I’ve since learned are called Nite Owls–never knew this). When they take off their helmets, Din naturally thinks they’re not real Mandalorians, and demands to know where they got their armor.

The Mandalorian' Chapter 11 Exposes a Dark Truth About Our Hero — Katie Sackhoff, who voiced Bo-Katan in the Clone Wars, plays her live-action counterpart in The Mandalorian.

This is where Bo-Katan sets things straight for Din. She tells him the armor has been in her family for three generations, she was born on Mandalore, and is the rightful ruler. And she recognizes him as one of “The Watch,” a cult of religious Mandos who seek to go back to the old ways (which I believe is a remnant and evolution of Death Watch, as Din was saved and taken in by them–you can see their sigil if you look carefully in Episode 8 of Season One).

So now we understand the whole helmet thing.

And I don’t think Din knows how to feel about all this, either. His motto is “This is the Way,” but it’s not the only way, and he never knew this. He leaves them abruptly, apparently having no use for them. The fact that they just saved his ass and he just abandons them tells me his whole life perspective has just changed and he needs some time to digest this.

They meet up again in an alleyway where they save him again from some Quarren looking for revenge. He agrees to talk with them over a drink, and he tells them he’s looking for Jedi to bring the Child back to its own kind. Bo-Katan replies she knows a Jedi (and we know who she’s talking about–more flip-out excitement!). She can tell him where to go if he helps them with their mission: to steal some weapons from an Imperial ship to help them in their quest to take back Mandalore.

He drops off the Child at Frog Lady’s house for her to watch over him (and gives him stern daddy-orders to behave), and off he goes with the other Mandalorians. They jet-pack onto the Imperial ship, break in, and cause all hell to break loose. When it’s clear to the captain his ship is lost, he contacts–guess who?–Grand Moff Gideon. Gideon basically orders the guy to kill themselves to prevent the weapons from getting into the hands of the “pirates.” And he does it. But not before the Mandos get into the cockpit. Bo-Katan is looking for the Dark Saber–which, of course, Gideon possesses. The captain kills himself before she can find out where Gideon is. They manage to save the ship and and the weapons. She invites Din to help them retake Mandalore, but he has his mission and reminds her of the location of the Jedi she promised. She tells him the name of a planet, Corvus, and then she says it:

Ahsoka-freaking-Tano! Not like that, of course. But that’s what we hear, and we’re over the moon about it.

So Din retrieves the Child from Frog Lady’s house (no pollywogs were eaten), and off he goes, limping away into space again.

Whew! That’s a lot to take in in 36 minutes. But what an amazing episode. I’m sure all of us would love to see Ahsoka in the next episode, but again, I think they’re going to make us wait. I’m betting Din’s going to Navarro to recruit Cara Dune and Greef Kargo to help him first, and then maybe we’ll see our favorite Togruta after that.

She’s worth waiting for.

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The Mandalorian: S2 Chapter 9–The Passenger

Mandalorian Season 2 Spoilers Ahead!

If you’re a parent, the second episode of Season 2 of the Mandalorian might have struck a chord with you.

First you’ve got Din Djarin, trying his best to parent the Child, who clearly is in his terrible two’s stage despite being 50 years old. Din keeps telling the little devil to stop eating Frog Lady’s eggs, and guess what? He doesn’t listen. Sound familiar, Mom and Dad? Clearly Mando isn’t feeding his little one enough to get him through his growth spurt. Lots to learn.

Then you’ve got Frog Lady herself, who is trying to get her eggs back to her husband on the planet Trask to be fertilized. They’re not quite children yet, but they’re the potential of her future pollywogs, and so she’ll trust this Mandalorian she doesn’t even know to get her where she needs to go. She figures out the little green rascal is eating them, and so clutches them protectively at the end of the episode.

And then we have the big spider mama herself, coming out in full force to protect her horrible little creepy crawlies, because, once again, the Child is eating other creatures’ babies. But because we hate spiders, we don’t care if those babies get disintegrated or squashed; in fact, we feel a deep need for them to be destroyed.

Anyway, as a Mom I just kind of noticed these parent/children dilemmas and parallels in this episode, and thought it was interesting.

I’ve heard a lot of people complaining that this episode disappointed them, was “boring,” or was just filler, compared to the first episode. And maybe that’s true–from a certain point of view, of course. We’ve gotten so used to extraordinarily good content that we expect it all the time. Or we were just so pysched about Boba Fett, we wanted them to follow up with him immediately. I get it. I do, too. And I’m chomping at the bit to see Jedi. Any Jedi. And who knows if we’ll even see them this season at all? As any Jedi master will tell you, we need to utilize patience, young Padawans.

Personally, I thought The Passenger was anything but boring. The fight with the scavengers/bounty hunters at the beginning, the chase with the X-Wings, and the frantic escape from the spiders–how can any of that be boring? I was on the edge of my seat with the spider thing, I can tell you, because for me, spiders are the stuff of nightmares. Anyway, I thought it was quite entertaining, and the humor–a big part of Star Wars–was abundant and wonderful in this episode. Seeing Dave Filoni as Trapper Wolf again was a nice touch, and a good reminder that the New Republic is out there doing its thing, and don’t you forget it! Also, I think my favorite new alien is Dr. Mandible.

So I’m just going to file this one under “creature-feature” fun and move on, anxiously awaiting next week’s episode. Maybe then we’ll get the answers we’re hoping for.

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Thoughts on The Mandalorian S2: Chapter 9-The Marshal

Mandalorian Spoilers Ahead!!!

So it finally arrived, and Star Wars fans are ecstatic about the first episode of Season Two of The Mandalorian. With good reason–as young Anakin would say, it was “wizard”, “rugged”, and “savage”! High praise, indeed.

Where to begin? Well, I love this show because it appeals to so many people, even those who aren’t uber-fans of Star Wars. My husband is a casual fan of Star Wars (he’ll go see the movies with me and enjoys them, but pretty much forgets them after that!), but he LOVES this show. And one doesn’t need to know everything about Star Wars to enjoy it.

Having said that, if you ARE an uber-fan, then this show provides delightful easter eggs that are so fun to pluck! With this episode in particular, there were a few:

Cobb Vanth. This is a character who appears in the Aftermath trilogy of books by Chuck Wendig. I’m going to go ahead and admit that I didn’t know that, as I haven’t read the books–yet. I learned about him after I watched the show. Still, it’s awesome that F&F (Favreau and Filoni) are mining some of the EU content out there and making fans happy by doing it. And I just have to mention that Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) has the most perfect teeth I ever saw.
Anakin’s podracer. Again, I didn’t notice this right away, but on first seeing it, I thought, that thing looks awfully familiar! And when I learned it HAD been Anakin’s, I just got happy-fan goosebumps!
The Krayt Dragon. Not what I expected, but very cool. I’d heard of krayt dragons on Tatooine, mostly from the Kenobi novel by John Jackson Miller, and the descriptions in that book do not match up to this krayt dragon. No matter, it’s not canon anyway. This krayt dragon is quite impressive, and definitely gave me some Dune-like vibes. I also didn’t know that they had pearls inside them. Those Jawas are going to be styling!
And of course, Boba Fett’s armor, and possibly (and very probably), the man himself. I never understood the fascination with Boba Fett, but I have no objections to him being in the show (if that was indeed him at the end–and let’s face it, who else could it be? Rex? Some random clone? Doubt it). My theory is that Boba will go after Mando for his armor, and Mando will trade the armor for information on the Jedi. Possibly, if Boba can prove he’s a Mandalorian (which opens another can of worms: is he a Mandalorian? Let the fan arguments begin!) But Boba must know something of the Jedi, I would think. Anyway, that’s my theory. Can’t wait to see how it plays out.

And of course, there’s still holdover questions from Season 1: What is Moff Gideon’s game? How did he get the Darksaber? Will Bo-Katan make an appearance, as she’s the last Mandalorian (that we know of) who was in possession of it? How will Greef Karga and Cara Dune play a part in this season? Who else might show up?

And the tantalizing tidbits from the S2 trailer: who was that hooded woman? Is that snowy planet Ilum, where the Jedi went to get their kyber crystals? Will Mando actually meet Jedi? Ahsoka? Ezra? Luke? So many cameo rumors, but we’ll just have to be patient and wait to see what happens.

Fridays can’t come fast enough!

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Mandalorian Fever

I haven’t written any posts on the Mandalorian here, mainly because I watched it before I began this blog. It doesn’t mean I don’t LOVE it.

Like everyone else, I’ve been patiently waiting for Season Two, and we’re finally on the home stretch. I’ve watched the long-awaited trailer, and it re-ignited my excitement for this fantastic Star Wars show.

I’m not one to microscopically break down a two-minute trailer, but what I saw did bring out the goosebumps. I especially loved the voice of the Armorer telling our Mando that he must bring the Child back to his own kind, and the way to do that is to find the long, lost Jedi. As a huge Jedi fan, I can’t begin to tell you how excited that made me.

There have been some rumors that perhaps Mando’s journey will bring him to Luke Skywalker. Personally, I doubt it–I think Disney is pretty much done with Skywalkers–but if I’m wrong, that’s just fine. I’d love to see Luke again. I’d love to see ANY Jedi again, even a new one we haven’t met.

There’s also been a lot of speculation about who the mysterious woman in the cloak is. Some say Sabine, some say an Inquisitor. Again, I wouldn’t be averse to seeing Sabine–but I also don’t want Season Two to devolve into Cameoland. I’ve heard Ahsoka will be there, possibly Bo-Katan, Boba Fett, and on and on and on. I love these characters, but The Mandalorian is its own thing–it proved that in Season One–so it doesn’t necessarily need all these known characters from Star Wars. I get it that the Dark Saber brings many associations with it, including important characters related to its history. But maybe it’s simply on to the next phase of its existence, and doesn’t need anyone from the past.

Having said that, I’ll take whatever they throw at us. Because I know that no matter what, it will be great.

The Mandalorian S1.2 “The Child” matures quickly...

Do you have any theories about Season Two of The Mandalorian? Comment below and we’ll talk about it!

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And by the way, this is my 66th post on Star Wars: My Point of View.