The Mandalorian recap: 'The Jedi'

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This week’s episode of The Mandalorian is written and directed by Dave Filoni, longtime protégé of Star Wars creator George Lucas. “Chapter 13: The Jedi” is heavy on guest stars—The Terminator’s Michael Biehn, Rosario Dawson, Diana Lee Inosanto—and even heavier on lore. Folks curious to know more about Boba Yoda will get plenty of answers here.

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What happens in this week’s episode?

Ahsoka Tano, former apprentice to Anakin Skywalker, is thinning out the mercenary presence in the city of Calodan in order to get to its magistrate. This Magistrate Elsbeth has intel on the whereabouts of Grand Admiral Thrawn, a character many fans know from books, video games, and Disney’s animated series Star Wars Rebels.

In the finale of that show, Thrawn vanished into the wilds of space, along with a young Jedi named Ezra Bridger. Several years later, it seems that Tano and her allies are still looking for Thrawn.

The Mandalorian intends to deliver the Child to Tano for training—so that he can be reunited with his kind, so to speak. So Mando enters the city and agrees to hunt down Ahsoka and kill her, if only to get Elsbeth to tell him where he can find the Jedi.

“My price is high,” he says.

“This target is priceless,” says the magistrate. She’s come into possession of a large staff made of pure Mandalorian beskar: his payment for killing Tano.

When Mando and the kid arrive at the Jedi’s last known coordinates, Ahsoka ambushes Djarin, both lightsabers flaring.

“Bo-Katan sent me,” he tells her. “We need to talk.”

“I hope it’s about him,” Ahsoka says, eyeing the Child.

Once a student at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the foundling’s true name, Tano says, is Grogu. “Many Masters trained him over the years,” she explains. After the Order fell, he spent decades lost and alone.

The next morning, Ahsoka puts Grogu’s abilities to the test with some basic exercises involving his command of the Force. In the process, she comes to realize that Grogu has become deeply attached to Mando. “I sense much fear in you,” she says, quoting Jedi Master Yoda.

She’s seen what even the greatest of the Jedi Knights can become when the fear of loss consumes them. So she refuses to train him further.

Djarin offers to aid Tano in freeing the village from the magistrate if she can promise that Grogu will be trained. A gun for hire called Lang (Biehn), armed guards, and a pair of HK-model assassins roids await them; she could use his help.

The pair comes up with a clever plan. Ahsoka will tell the magistrate she slew Mando, delivering a piece of his armor as proof. When Djarin drops in to back her up, it’ll take Elsbeth and her forces completely by surprise.

While Ahsoka confronts the magistrate, Mando draws his gun on Lang and kills him in self-defense. Elsbeth wields her staff of beskar well, however, holding her own against Tano. But not for long. Ahsoka gets Thrawn’s location from Elsbeth off-camera, presumably, and one of the newly freed villagers is appointed as the new magistrate.

“I believe this was your payment,” Tano says, handing Djarin the staff.

Though Ahsoka can’t train Grogu herself, she tells Mando of an ancient Jedi world called Tython, which might offer another possibility. “Place Grogu on the seeing stone at the top of the mountain,” she says. “If he reaches out through the Force, there’s a chance a Jedi may sense his presence and come searching for him.”

This presents a handful of potential directions for the series. Grogu could end up in the care of Ezra Bridger, perhaps, or Cal Kestis from the recent video game Jedi: Fallen Order. Maybe he’ll end up as the apprentice of some new character we’ve yet to meet.

For the kid’s sake—and that of the show itself—let’s hope he doesn’t wind up at Luke Skywalker’s ill-fated academy. Grogu has suffered enough already in his 50-year childhood.

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This article originally appeared on Reviewed.com: The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 5 Recap