The Mandalorian: Season 2, Episode 5 Review

Dave Filoni just delivered a shot of pure Star Wars straight into our eyeballs, and damn, it felt good. Rosario Dawson’s debut as Ahsoka Tano came with a camtono full of mythology (including more deep cut references to the Old Republic legends like the planet Tython and the HK assassin droids), and the seeming confirmation that Filoni and Favreau intend to connect The Mandalorian with Star Wars Rebels, with Ahsoka still on the hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn (meaning Ezra Bridger can’t be far behind).One could make a few aesthetic nitpicks about Ahsoka’s live-action translation – her appearance seems more reminiscent of her early Clone Wars design than how she looked in Rebels, including her shortened montrals, which was a bit jarring (I assume the producers tested CGI montrals as well as practical effects and decided the latter would be more effective, but I can’t help but wish they were a little more dynamic), and considering how blistering her lightsaber skills were in the animated shows, her fight with Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth seemed a little lackluster in comparison (mostly because a heavy beskar staff is never going to be as easy to wield as a lightsaber) – but as a fan of the character, it was truly thrilling to see her in the flesh. And, unlike Boba Fett and Bo-Katan’s nebulous age, Ahsoka Tano should be around 45 in the time of The Mandalorian, which lines up pretty well with Dawson, who is 41.Check out Ahsoka Tano’s timeline from The Clone Wars to The Mandalorian in the video below: While Dawson will never be able to recreate Ashley Eckstein’s delivery, she easily embodies the grace and gravitas of the character. Her stealthy introduction – sneaking around in the woods to take down the Magistrate’s guards – helped build the tension and emphasize the skill and style of a character who trained under Anakin Skywalker and has been wielding the Force for decades at this point. Seeing her two lightsabers ignite through the mist was an evocative image, and Dawson easily sold Ahsoka’s creativity in battle, slashing chunks out of trees to throw at her enemies and leaping out of nowhere to strike with deadly accuracy. Naturally, Filoni also managed to sneak in Ahsoka’s trusty convor (aka owl) companion, Morai, as an easter egg when Mando was exploring the forest.

But it was Ahsoka’s quiet moments with Baby Yoda – whose real name is apparently Grogu (it’ll never catch on) – that really evoked the best of Star Wars (anyone else catch Yoda’s theme playing subtly in the background?), from Ahsoka’s wistful recollection of the Jedi Order’s history to the acknowledgment that the bond between Mando and Grogu is unbreakable – and potentially harmful, as far as Baby Yoda’s Jedi training is concerned.

We learned that the Child was raised in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant but hidden after Order 66, after which point his memory becomes conveniently “dark.” As with all good TV shows, these revelations raise more questions than answers: did Ahsoka know about Grogu at the Temple? If Ahsoka has only ever known one other being like Grogu, Yoda himself, does that confirm that Grogu is Yoda’s son? (RIP Yaddle, I guess?) Who took Grogu from the Temple and hid him for all these years, and how did he end up on Arvala-7 and on Gideon’s radar?

Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian Season 2

From a character standpoint, it’s also interesting that Ahsoka didn’t correct Mando or anyone else when they called her a Jedi, given that she left the Order a long time ago, but maybe she just didn’t want to be pedantic given how few surviving Jedi there are now. (She also didn’t correct his description of her lightsabers as “laser swords,” just giving him a knowing smile.) We’re unlikely to see Luke in the show given The Mandalorian’s timeline relative to Mark Hamill’s age, but Ezra Bridger, Cal Kestis, and Cere Junda are possibilities; although if Ahsoka is specifically hunting Thrawn, it stands to reason that she may be hoping that if Baby Yoda reaches out through the Force when he gets to Tython, it might be Ezra who responds to his call.

Ahsoka’s refusal to train Grogu makes sense in the context of Anakin’s fall, and it’s also possible that she’s sending Mando on a wild goose chase to Tython, knowing that it’s unlikely any Jedi will answer Grogu and reveal themselves if they’ve been hidden this long. The show has already toyed with Baby Yoda struggling with some dark impulses, like Force-choking Cara in defense of Mando, so it would be interesting if Favreau and Filoni wanted to explore the lure of the dark side with the child – but that seems unlikely, given that the kid still can’t articulate himself verbally, so he can’t exactly throw Anakin-style temper tantrums.

Every Actor and Character in The Mandalorian

Ever since Ahsoka left the Jedi Order, I’ve been hoping to see the idea of Gray Jedi explored in the films or shows; it seemed as if The Last Jedi could’ve taken Rey in that direction, but JJ Abrams ultimately decided not to follow that thread for The Rise of Skywalker. While I don’t think Ahsoka would ever dabble in the dark side after seeing what it did to Anakin, it would be interesting, after the fall of the Order and the destruction of the Jedi way, to see those ideas explored in some way – and Baby Yoda and Ahsoka could be a good conduit through which to explore what it truly means to be a Jedi, even with the Jedi Order gone.

Aesthetically, Filoni is paying homage to the samurai films of Kurosawa – another major Star Wars influence – in Chapter 13, giving us a break from the western-inspired desert locales that are the show’s bread and butter, although there’s still plenty of lone gunslinger imagery here, especially in Mando’s blaster showdown with Michael Biehn’s Lang, juxtaposed with the samurai-inspired saber and spear duel between Ahsoka and the Magistrate. Another useful bit of lore revealed this week: Beskar is resistant to the energy of a lightsaber, which is surely setting the stage for Mando’s eventual showdown with Moff Gideon (hopefully with an assist from Ahsoka). And there’s still the Chekov’s gun of Gideon’s tracking beacon on the Razor Crest, which will no doubt come into play within the next couple of episodes.