The Mandalorian: Chapter 13--The Jedi

The Mandalorian: Chapter 13--The Jedi, written and directed by Dave Filoni

Well, Filoni certainly got to pull out his baby and experiment with her storyline in this episode. Of course I enjoyed it because Ahsoka was finally made live action which is just awesome! But, I have so many questions and a lingering fear about what is to come in this series.

On a gestalt level, this episode had a very Dune feel to it (that sound familiar?) as if the Magistrate was Baron Harkonnen and Ahsoka was Paul Atreides. It was super spooky and dark with the lightning, the environment, and the music...just like Arrakis in the 1980s film. I absolutely adore Dune, but I want my Dune to be separate from my Star Wars. I get derivatives being a thing, but "The Mandalorian" has now mirrored Dune in 2 of 5 episodes... 

As for the story itself, Din and The Child (who we now know as Grogu) make their way to the planet of Corvus and the city of Calodan (another Dune "look-alike" that keeps throwing me off--Caladan, the homeworld of Paul Atreides) which turns out to be the kingdom of Morgan Elsbeth, known to all she rules over as the Magistrate (see her below and one of her guards). She is cruel and brutal and while her people live in dusty, dark, squalor, she lives amongst ponds and trees and lush nature (see below). According to Ahsoka, her people were massacred in the Clone Wars and since then she's been helping the Empire build their war machine. At the end of the episode of course, we also discover that she works for Grand Admiral Thrawn of all people!!! What in the world does this even mean?!?! And who is she really?!?!

In regards to Ahsoka's encounter with Grogu, she's concerned and scared, feeling fear and anger in the young child. She says, "I've seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight...to the best of us." Ani!!!! *my heart* Again, according to Ahsoka, Grogu grew up in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and was trained by many different Jedi. When Order 66 happened, he was whisked away to safety in hiding. By who?? We don't know... I'm a little confused as to how Ahsoka never came across Grogu while she was training. Maybe because he couldn't speak, he was in a completely different group of training younglings? He had to have been at the Temple for about 20ish years before Order 66 so I can't believe the two never crossed paths... But Ahsoka says that the only other being of Grogu's species that she's ever met was Yoda. She was probably still a toddler when Yaddle was around so I get her having never met that Jedi Master. Of course there were thousands of Jedi at the time, so who knows.

Another question I have is the timeline of it all. And from what I've heard, Filoni has been super cagey about when this episode actually takes place in reference to the Coda that ended the "Rebels" animated show. At the end of that TV show, Ahsoka is wise and calm and draped in a white robe, holding a staff. She goes off with Sabine to locate the whereabouts of Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn. But the Ahsoka in this episode of "The Mandalorian" is wearing a gray robe and is brutal, vicious, and terrifying, killing all in her path (see below). I don't even recognize this Ahsoka to be perfectly honest. She's absolutely not the Ahsoka we left off of "The Clone Wars" with--sad, yet resigned to go into hiding until she reappears again in "Rebels" as the Rebel agent Fulcrum--wise and strong of character. In fact, the only time we ever see Ahsoka be brutal and unforgiving is with Separatist droids... She's always had a big heart and when she realizes her thinking about people is wrong, she quickly adapts and opens herself up to acceptance of even those she would think to be enemies. So what in the world happened to the Togruta to make her so incredibly angry and vicious?? Back to my original question at the beginning of this paragraph, has Ahsoka yet to leave off with Sabine to find Ezra and Thrawn?? Or have they already been found and Thrawn has done something beyond what we already know of that is making her so incredibly, terrifyingly angry??

And finally, my lingering fear is that this TV show will start to try and pull together those dangling threads from other media and will lose the intimacy of the Din and Grogu story that it's had from the very beginning. Bo-Katan's appearance was perfect because she is Mandalorian and so is Din, but Ahsoka's appearance doesn't fit as neatly into the overall story. And when Din takes Grogu to Tython, what Jedi is going to appear, answering the call?? Will it be one we already know, thus pulling together more outside threads into this once-intimate story?? Or will it be a new one, thus expanding upon the intimate story that made this TV show so crazy good in the first place?? I just don't know... I want the Thrawn/Ahsoka/Sabine/Ezra story to play out in its own thing and not mess with what "The Mandalorian" has had going. As stated above, I was overjoyed to see Ahsoka live action (even despite her lekku and montrals being entirely too short--I understand the reasoning, it just bugged me to have her look like a young Padawan again), but I don't want her side of the story to take over the story of Din and Grogu. I guess we'll just have to see how this all plays out...