The Mandalorian Chapter 13: The Jedi Review

With rumors of Ahsoka Tano finally being added to The Mandalorian cast and a portrayal of the infamous Star Wars character that goes way beyond the animations of Clone Wars and Rebels, this episode has definitely been anticipated by the whole Star Wars fandom!

Personally, I think Chapter 13: The Jedi was one of the best Mandalorian episodes to date - and for many good reasons!

*As always, there will be spoilers for Chapter 13*

Recap

On the planet Corvus, warning bells are ringing and residents hurry to hide in their homes. As the Magistrate, Morgan looks beyond the gate of Calodin, she is stunned by two white lightsaber beams: it's Ahsoka Tano.

Ahsoka tells the Magistrate she's looking for something, however, the Magistrate tells her she has nothing to offer. She then brings out a prisoner and asks Ahsoka how many lives is the information she needs, worth.

The Mandalorian, however, then arrives on Corvus with The Child and asks a man called Lang, who works for the Magistrate if he can stop by for a layover. Lang keeping in mind the Mandalorian's armor lets them in.

Morgan requests to talk to the Mandalorian, knowing that he can do a task for her in exchange for something, she asks him to kill Ahsoka in exchange for a Beskar Staff. The Mandalorian decides to look for Ahsoka in the forests or Corvus, but not exactly for what Morgan requests.

Eventually finding the Jedi, Ahsoka, she and The Child have a conversation using the force and she finds out that The Child's name is actually Grogu who was raised at the Jedi Temple in Courscant, eventually being hidden during Order 66 - guess you missed a youngling, Anakin.

Ahsoka realizes that Grogu is very talented and strong with the force, however, hid his connection to the force to survive over the years. Because of this, Grogu gets very tired when he uses his abilities for a long period of time.

The next day, Ahsoka tests Grogu's force sensitivity but ultimately didn't connect with him as well as the Mandalorian, ultimately refusing to train Grogu due to his strong connection to his father figure; The Mandalorian.

The Mandalorian then tells Ahsoka that he was offered a Beskar Staff from Morgan if he kills Ahsoka but instead offers to help Ahsoka find out the information she needs, as long as she trains Grogu.

Ahsoka and The Mandalorian override the guards and our Jedi has a one-on-one battle with the Magistrate, asking her where Thrawn is. Assuming she received the information she needed, the town of Calodan rejoices for justice and Ahsoka hands The Mandalorian the Beskar Staff.

Still refusing to train Grogu, she tells The Mandalorian to take Grogu to the planet Tython where he can meditate on a rock and will see whether he has a future as a Jedi or a Sith. Ultimately, if another Jedi hears his calls, they will look for him.

My Thoughts

The rumors of Ahsoka Tano's live-action portrayal was never officially announced as to when she would show up, let alone, her character was only rumored to be a part of The Mandalorian.

Seeing her in live-action was probably something that I was looking forward to and think they executed pretty well. I do wish they made her headpiece a little longer and her shorter white lightsaber smaller than it was.

Otherwise, I was just happy to see Ahsoka in the flesh, and seeing her character bond with not only Grogu but The Mandalorian as well.

The prequel movies (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith) are a hit or miss for the Star Wars fandom; I think they're becoming more of a hit since the sequel movies (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Rise of the Skywalker) were released. The prequels are probably my favorite - mainly because my husband decided to introduce me to the Star Wars universe by volumes instead of by release date, and Ahsoka making a couple of references to the Clone Wars made my prequel-favored heart happy!

Ahsoka is more prominently known for her animated character in The Clone Wars, a TV show which takes place, you guessed it, around the Clone Wars - which is basically between the movies Attack of the Clones (Episode II) and my favorite Revenge of the Sith (Episode III).

During this show, it shows a lot more of Ahsoka's upbringing; she was very close to Anakin Skywalker, as she was his Padawan (a Jedi apprentice) before he turned to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader.

Something I really liked about The Mandalorian; this episode especially, compared to the sequels, is that everything within the Star Wars universe is consistent; which I'll dive more into in another post.

Because Ahsoka was Anakin's padawan, especially within the time frame of him transitioning to the dark side, Ahsoka has seen his downfall. She makes this clear with The Mandalorian as she senses a lot of fear in Grogu, that she has also sensed and witnessed within Anakin.

"I sense a lot of fear in you."

I really also loved how she tells Grogu this, as young Anakin was told the same line by Yoda in The Phantom Menace.

Speaking of name-dropping, I was very excited to see that Ahsoka also mentions a couple of Star Wars favorites: Yoda, who was a staple character throughout Episodes I - Episode VI and is the same species as Grogu, giving him the alternative name: Baby Yoda.

Ahsoka also mentions Grand Admiral Thrawn, who is more so well-known through other formats of the EU (Expanded Universe) such as the animated series, like Ahsoka, but also comics and books throughout the EU.

Also for those unfamiliar, during The Clone Wars, Thrawn asks Anakin for assistance on The Clone Wars in exchange for helping Anakin find Padmé and eventually linking back up with Darth Vader in the future.

I was incredibly excited to see Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni add characters from the EU into The Mandalorian, and have it all still make sense!

It was also really nice to get more information on The Child; for 12 whole episodes, we didn't really know much about Grogu, other than he was just a really powerful, force-sensitive, Yoda-mistaken, man-baby, who is the star of memes every episode, until The Jedi. It's really nice to be able to finally call him by name instead of, The Child or Baby Yoda.

With everyone's theories of Grogu possibly becoming a Sith like Anakin, instead of the expected Jedi, I can see how the story is reeling towards that way!

I also really loved seeing all the moments between Ahsoka and The Mandalorian. Ahsoka is my favorite Star Wars character of all-time, and The Mandalorian is pretty up there as well. It was nice to see them both act like parental figures for Grogu, for that short period of time, anyway. Not to mention how great their fight scenes were together; two badass characters in the same scenes have been pretty great to watch!

Overall, I'm really happy the writers are bringing out more characters from the EU; from Bo-Katan and Ahsoka, and now hopefully seeing Thrawn, and possibly Cal Kestis from the Star Wars game Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order, in flesh. I'm also very hopeful we get more of Ahsoka in the future as well! Possibly near the end of the season? Who knows!