TV Review: THE MANDALORIAN: Season 2, Episode 5: The Jedi [Disney+]

The Mandalorian The Jedi Review

Disney+’s The Mandalorian: Season 2, Episode 5: The Jedi TV Show Review. From its inception, Star Wars has been a fascinating potpourri of media that heavily influenced creator George Lucas in his childhood and young adulthood: Flash Gordon serials, Western cowboys and Indians, comic books, and most relevant to this episode, Japanese samurai films, particularly those of filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. The Japanese influence can be seen everywhere in the original film, from the kabuto warrior-inspired helmet of Darth Vader, the desert robes of Obi-Wan (Lucas initially wanted Kurosawa mainstay Toshiro Mifune as the aged Jedi master), to telling the story from the lowliest characters of the droids C-3PO and R2D2 (in many ways, one could say that Star Wars is an adaptation of Kurosawa’s 1958 jidaigeki film The Hidden Fortress).

Therefore, its a testament to episode director Dave Filoni, (who also created the animated series  The Clone Wars and Rebels) that he takes that Japanese influence and runs with it spectacularly, crafting an excellent installment of The Mandalorian that is full of revelations, action, and visual nods to the culture, all while telling an engaging story.

Opening with an establishing shot of the ominous city of Calodan on the planet Corvus, a gong is sounded, bringing soldiers to the gates outside of the city to confront a threat hidden in the mist. That threat, which is announced via the familiar sound cue of a lightsaber being turned on, is the live-action debut of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), a fan-favorite character created by Filoni for The Clone Wars, who also happens to be Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan. Dawson immediately makes a strong, compelling first impression of the character, slashing her way through the wave of goons, disappearing then reappearing like a vengeful ghost or serial killer  in the mist, except that its actually a hero (or maybe the more apt comparison would be the xenomorph, considering the casting of Aliens actor Michael Biehn as Lang, the lieutenant of Calodan). After dispatching all of the soldiers, Ahsoka confronts Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), the evil ruler of the city, demanding that she give up some key information. In response, Elsbeth sneers “How many lives is the knowledge I possess worth to you? One? Ten? How about a hundred? The lives of these citizens means nothing to me. Now, because of you, these people will suffer.” “They already suffer under your rule” replies Ahsoka, and demands that she surrender, giving her a deadline of one day. This cold open is the strongest of the season, as not only is it refreshing to see a lightsaber battle after the repetitiveness of shootouts, it also clearly establishes a clear conflict of good versus evil, a lone ronin against a conquering tyrant.

After the Razorcrest lands on Corvus (which has been stripped bare of its forests, with strange, dinosaur-like creatures in the distance), Mando walks to the gates, and after a brief conversation with Lang, is allowed permission to walk in. Calodan is not a vibrant, colorful city, but instead an eerie, desolate, gray site of poverty, where soldiers patrol the street, the people tell Mando “Please, do not speak to any of us,” and there are prisoners entrapped in electric cages lining the entrance to the magistrate’s home. In contrast, when the gates close, her home has all the signifiers of East Asian wealth found in Kurosawa films: a koi pond of rippling water, bonsai trees, and hanging lanterns. The magistrate makes a deal with Mando: kill the Jedi plaguing her, and in exchange, she will gift him a beskar spear. After all, “The Jedi are the ancient enemy of Mandalore,” so he should know how to handle her.

After another beautiful establishing extreme long shot of the ruined forest  (cinematographer Baz Iodine really delivers throughout the episode), Mando walks through it, solo except for the Child, whom he decides to place on a rock for safety. Hearing the rumbling of creatures in the distance, Mando looks through the binoculars at them, relieved that it’s a “false alarm.” Cue the sound of Ahsoka’s lightsaber, as she ambushes him from behind, signaling a brief fight. Though only less than a minute, its a fun sequence in which Mando defends himself against Ahoska’s lightsabers, goes all out with his flamethrowers, then ties her up, only to nearly be hanged when she leaps over him, dragging him upwards. He finally stops it by drawing his blaster, telling her that Bo Katan sent him to her, and that they need to talk. “I hope it’s about him” she replies, cutting to The Child, sitting on a rock.

Transitioning to night, we see Ashoka and the Child sitting across from one another, illuminated only by a lantern, as Mando paces back and forth anxiously. Though its all in silence, Dawson’s smiling reactions to the Child’s gestures establish a warm side to the character, punctuated when she cradles the child, the medium shot against the full moon making a striking image. Mando asks if she can understand him, and after all this time, Ahsoka finally reveals his adoptive son’s name: Grogu. Immediately after he mentions it, Grogu looks up with a smile, a very tender moment. Ahsoka continues to give more exposition on Grogu’s backstory: born on Coruscant, he was raised in the Jedi Temple, and at the end of the Clone Wars, when the Galactic Empire rose, someone took him from the Temple and hid him. During that period, his memory became dark, and he seemed lost and alone. She then asks if he still has his Force powers, and when Mando claims that he does, she decides to test him the following morning.

The testing sequence is fun, as not only does it give Ahsoka a showcase to use her Force powers (passing a stone along to Grogu), but allows a further bonding moment between Mando and Grogu. Initially failing to get Grogu to give the stone back using the Force, Ahsoka invites Mando to replace her, and when the stone still doesn’t work, he uses a silver knob he had on the Razorcrest earlier, teasing him to “Take it!” When Grogu zips it into his tiny hands, Mando compliments him with a “Good job kid! I knew you could do it”, a father complimenting his son during a game of intergalactic catch. But because “He’s formed a strong attachment to you”,   Ahsoka  cannot train him, and when Mando asks why not, she explains “His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears. His anger.” She’s seen what happened to her former master, as he became Darth Vader, and she will “not start this child down that path. Better to let his abilities fade.” Mando counters that he still needs Grogu to be properly trained, and that in exchange, he will help Ahsoka take down the magistrate’s forces. “A Mandalorian and a Jedi? They’ll never see it coming.”

The following assault on Calodan by Mando and Ahsoka is a vast improvement over the boring, sterile, hallways of last episode. For one, the initial sight of Ahsoka singlehandedly cutting down soldiers instead of bland stormtroopers is a nice change of pace (she slices down a gong to stop alerting more forces from coming in), and she strides into the entrance of Elsbeth’s compound like an action hero, poised and confident, throwing a piece of Mando’s armor as a fake-out. But when Mando enters the fray (prompted by Elsbeth ordering her forces to kill the citizens anyway, betraying her promise), both of them deploy stealth tactics, not just straight out shooting or using lightsabers out in the open. Things come to a head when Mando confronts Lang, while Ahsoka infiltrates Elsbeth’s compound, engaging her in a battle of lightsaber vs beskar spear. Filoni brilliantly cuts between the Western-style shootout of Mando and Lang, the slow confrontation of when two opponents will draw, and the samurai battle Ahsoka has with Elsbeth, with fast motion, blocks, parries, the only sound being the women grunting. Eventually, despite losing a lightsaber in the pond, Ahsoka gets the better of Elsbeth, and asks her where her master Grand Admiral Thrawn is (a villain who appeared in the Rebels show, voiced by Lars Mikkelsen). We don’t hear that though, because simultaneously, Lang draws his gun, but Mando is faster, shooting him dead.

With the city now liberated, Mando prepares to leave Grogu in the care of Ahsoka, but once again, she reiterates “You’re like a father to him. I cannot train him.” But she offers a solution: get Grogu to the ruins of a Jedi temple on Tython, where he can commune with the Force and decide his destiny. Smiling as the Razorcrest lifts off, Ahsoka turns and walks into the forest.

Taken as a whole, The Jedi is undoubtedly the best episode of the season so far. It provides great action choreography, a simple samurai-inspired story, and further character development for both Mando and Grogu (It’s quite nice that he finally has a name!) Rosario Dawson is excellent as Ahsoka, and its no wonder that Disney recently announced that she will reprise the role in a series of the same name, which Filoni will be writing and executive producing. I certainly will be tuning in.

Leave your thoughts on this The Mandalorian The Jedi Review and this episode below in the comments section. Readers seeking more TV show reviews can visit our TV Show Review Page, our TV Show Review Twitter Page, and our TV Show Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, and Flipboard.