Holy smokes. No time for preamble. This should go without saying, but massive spoiler alert for this.
1. Ahoksa!
This is not a surprise, but damn it was great to finally see Ahsoka, after the months of rumors. This Ahsoka is not terribly different from the one we see at the end of Rebels and, in fact, may be canonically before the final scene with her in Rebels (more on that in a bit). Unfortunately for us Ashley Eckstein stans, Ahsoka was played by Rosario Dawson, who did a fine job, but it feels unfair that Eckstein didn’t get the chance to play the character she gave life to for years and years.
I’m very interested in the title of this episode being “The Jedi.” In Rebels, Ahsoka specifically declines that title, and she technically left the Order before taking the trials and actually becoming a Jedi. Now, she never calls herself that, but multiple people call her Jedi to her face and she doesn’t argue it. Is this a change in her status? Or has she simply come to terms with who she is.
Anyway, Ahsoka is on the hunt for information, and she and Din conspire to get her what she wants, with a condition: she will train the Child. This turns out to be complicated for a few reasons, which take up the bulk of my thoughts about this episode.
2. Grogu!
First and foremost, the Child has a name: Grogu. He also has a backstory; he was raised in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and trained by ‘many Jedi masters.’ This is important for a few reasons, but perhaps the most interesting of which is that his species may not be as important as believed. It was thought that he was a natural Force user, but the fact that he had been trained puts that in doubt. Ahsoka said that she’s only known one other creature like him, Yoda, which means that either she never met Yaddle (a shame, really) or that Yaddle is no longer canon. I’d say either is likely.
As for that name, it’s fine I guess? It feels odd to say, as we’ve gotten so accustomed to the Child or Baby Yoda, but Grogu certainly passes the ‘does it sound like a Star Wars name’ test. The funniest part to me was seeing him respond to his name. It had a very Annyong feel to it.
3. Anakin!
Ahsoka doesn’t want to train Grogu, because of his attachment to Din. She specifically, though not by name, mentions Anakin and his attachments leading him to the Dark Side. This is interesting in light of the sequel trilogy, where some of those ideas are tested. Rey certainly has attachments, but those don’t hurt her. In some ways, her attachments are what saves her, and the galaxy, from the First Order.
So it’s hard to say if Ahsoka is just locked into an older understanding of Jedi training, or if she is continuing the idea of encouraging him to not fall so closely in line with any one belief system or school of thought. I actually wouldn’t be terribly surprised if this is the last time we see Grogu and Ahsoka interact. In fact, I think this may be the last time for some while that we see Ahsoka in live action.
4. Thrawn!
Part of the reason I think we’re not getting a ton more live action Ahsoka is that this episode seems like a pretty clear backdoor pilot for the rumored Ahsoka/Sabine Wren animated series. Ahsoka asking the Magistrate about Grand Admiral Thrawn’s location seems to place this before the Rebels epilogue, where we see Ahsoka and Sabine on their quest to get Ezra Bridger back. Ezra, presumably, is in the clutches of Thrawn, and that story seems far more like a Rebels sequel series than a live-action adventure for a bunch of reasons.
But one of the things that The Mandalorian does really well, far better than almost any other Star Wars media, is to give a real sense of interconnectivity across the Star Wars universe. It is only really here where we can see things like midichlorians, characters from the animated series, bits of original series miscellany, ties to the canon and Legends novels, and allusions to the sequels all intermingle in a way that feels organic. Shit, the pilot mentioned Life Day for crying out loud. This episode alone reintroduces Tython, a planet rife with Force energy, shows us a lothcat, Morai (Ahsoka’s owl-like companion), and shows us our first beskar in the wild. This is the melting pot of Star Wars, and that’s a really good thing.
Continued below5. Filoni!
I was not particularly impressed with last season’s Dave Filoni written/directed episode, “The Gunslinger,” but this episode absolutely worked as both an episode of The Mandalorian and as a continuation of everything Filoni has done so far in Star Wars. It does what the Filoni-helmed series always did, which was continue to draw from the same influences as what built up Star Wars, but added his own touches and a fair amount of self-referential fun, too. For instance, the fight between Ahsoka and the Magistrate was very clearly a samurai-inspired duel, but specifically it felt like the concluding battle of Kill Bill Vol. 1, which came out between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
Little touches like that allow the series to always feel fresh, even though so much of this episode is pretty by the books. I don’t mean that as an insult necessarily; some things are best when they’re formalist. Filoni crafts a pretty common story – student seeks mentor, mentor refuses to train them, student forges their own path – but does so with enough flair that it doesn’t feel reductive or redundant.
I have quite literally no idea where the show goes from here, but a confrontation with Moff Gideon seems not too far away, along with the trip to Tython that Ahsoka prescribes today. If they do go to Tython and reach out for a Jedi, who will answer the call? My group chat of Clone Wars pals have suggested everything from Force ghosts of Yoda, Obi-Wan, or Tarre Vizsla, Mace Windu, Ezra Bridger, Luke Skywalker, the kid from Jedi Fallen Order to a totally new character.
Whatever it is, I’m here for it.
