The Jedi
The hunt for Ahsoka Tano is on, as episode 5 of The Mandalorian Season 2 begins with the familiar sound of a lightsaber humming in the foggy morning light. Ahsoka, wielding two blades, picks off a series of soldiers one by on with relative ease. Standing before the walls of an impregnable fortress, she speaks to a woman called The Magistrate, wanting answers but giving them 24 hours before striking. Meanwhile, Mando and The Child follow a beacon down to the forest planet where Ahsoka happens to be. With the skeletal remains of trees sticking out like gnarly gravestones, Mando heads into town and begins asking the locals for clues. Soldiers eventually show and guide Mando to The Magistrate who wants to talk. On the way, he uncovers people strung up and electrified on makeshift crucifixes; a stark contrast of class appears too as he steps through the doors to find a much more beautiful building lying beyond. The Magistrate there gives him a new mission – find and kill The Jedi. It’s an ironic quest, given what Mando’s there to do, but one that’s given with the promise of new armour which certainly piques his interest. Out in the woods, Mando comes across Ahsoka who gives him a pretty rude awakening. After an impromptu fight, Ahsoka and The Child talk – or Grogu as she calls it. He was raised in the Jedi Temple in Coruscant too. Although he was trained early on, during the Clone Wars he was hidden and unfortunately his mind turned dark. Despite the Jedi Order falling years back, Mando asks Ahsoka to take on Grogu. Before that though it’s training time, where she senses fear in him. Given he’s hidden his abilities over the years, Ahsoka instead decides to try and help Grogu and Mando connect. Unfortunately that fear and anger causes Ahsoka to decide against training him for the time being. Eventually Mando admits the truth about why he’s there – but he’s not going to kill her. Instead, he’s going to help her restore balance and order in the city. That plan sees Ahsoka show with a piece of Mando’s armour and asking to see The Magistrate’s boss. She refuses though, deciding instead to kill the prisoners. Mando works with her to free the prisoners strung up while Ahsoka takes out the rest of the guards. Eventually she thwarts the threat and asks The Magistrate outright where Grand Admiral Thrawn is. The city is liberated and brought back from the brink, Ahsoka hands over a new weapon for Mando to play with. As he heads back to the ship, Grogu happens to be asleep. With Ahsoka unwilling to take on the challenge of training The Child, she instead tasks Mando with visiting the Planet Tython. Ahsoka walks back to the town as this exciting episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
With a solid episode of action, The Mandalorian comes out all guns blazing after a relatively tepid start to this follow-up season. Seeing more of the Jedi is always good and Rosario Dawson does a wonderful job bringing Ahsoka to life too. The make-up and costuming is absolutely perfects for this prolific character in the Star Wars universe and the scenes featuring the lightsaber battles were great. The fog effects and moody atmosphere consuming large parts of this episode really help bring this one to life as well and overall the episode kicks The Mandalorian into another gear. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come but for now, this episode is easily the highlight of season 2.
