The Mandalorian - Chapter Thirteen - The Jedi

ctg

weaver of the unseen
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The Mandalorian and the Child continue their journey through a dangerous galaxy.

Note, this episode is directed by Dave Filoni and it's 45 minutes long.
 
Bo-Katan said, "Take foundling to the forest planet of Corvus," but she forgot to fill in the detail that there's no forest left. Not really it's all gone and the air is murky green instead of the planet being green. I guess that is the way.

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Ashoka has changed. The mercenaries didn't really had a chance against the veteran of multiple wars, including the Clone Wars. I also would like to apologise to use term Grey, but in my eyes, Ashoka has adapted the line between the dark and the light.

She has no problems on taking a life, if it is needed or using the Force powers to make her superior. Her fighting style has also slightly changed to more aggressive side. I know that they called her Jedi, while technically it's untrue the Grey are called Grey Jedi's and I truly acknowledge that it is not a major line that you take, when you advance in the ways.

The Old Man Luke spoke about studying the Force, ultimately acquiring the knowledge from the old handwritten manuscripts rather than using an iconic holocron. Some of you might not have heard of such things, but essentially they are the ultimate package for the Force related content.

Ashoka learned all she needed from Anakin and Kenobi, later on she learned the Sith side from Ventress and Maul, and then she was left the Jedi to adapt things on her own. We know that she had her hand on guiding Kanan and ultimate Ezra.

The reason why I'm mentioning all of those is so that you know that she walked a very narrow line between the dark and the light to become what she is in today in the small screen. Her way is the right way, even if the result is a few extra bodies here and there.

The magistrate of the colony, Morgan Elsbeth, didn't really know what she was facing when she told Ashoka to sod off. She had no idea of how much over her head she really was, not only for calling her Jedi, but for making ultimatums.

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This is the Way. There is nothing to stop the Child from his treasures, being it frog eggs or Mando's ball. It will his, one way or another. Note that back in the day when Anakin was small, he didn't had the same level of capability, but he had the faith that the Force would be with him. Always.

Yodaling, totally different matter. Imagine that whenever he grows up, if he doesn't up feeding the Emperor and his clones, he would choose the Grey path instead of Sith or the Jedi. Thing is, he already has shown that he has no qualms on doing things, if he needs them happening. Yoda, back when he was alive, had huge moral issues with all sorts of things.

Mando is kind of his old man, and he is teaching the foundling the way that is not straight or ultimately a good one. The bounty hunters aren't chivalrous knights on a mission of good. They do what they need to do, That is the Way.

He also carries around the ironic disruptor rifle that is banned weapon in the galaxy. Nobody had used those since they were used in the Mandalorian wars. You have to use the black market to get them, because nobody else dares to sell them. So finding one is as rare as finding a light sabre, if not rarer.

But in the light of yodaling, what he is learning is the Grey way. The way to balance things. Sometimes you have to step in the shadows to get in the light. And for being a guild member, Mando does things that aren't nice, from a moral perspective.

The art of lying is morally on the dark side of things. But for Mando it's a way of getting around things like explaining to clients of why he is a guardian. It is not the information that they need, but if the Child could speak in common language, it would be the stuff that he would be learning, even if Ashoka would take her in.

To Jedi it was a practice that was rarely used.

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This is the way. I remember in the Rebels, the fighting style against the Jedi showed them using all the tools, including the lassoing the target and burning them with the flame thrower. It was amazing to see Mando fighting against Ashoka.

Now you have to remember that Ashoka faced Vader, damaged his armour and made him to limb out in rage, while she withdrew deeper into the Sith temple. We have not seen any that has been able to save themselves from her barrage.

If they had continued the fight, my money would have been on her.

I find it curious that she didn't sense the Child before they had the fight.

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I'm with you Mando. Grogu? And then they dropped the bomb. He lived through the Clone Wars and was thought by many Jedi masters, before he was hidden when the Emperor executed the infamous Order 66.

Man and he's still a child. I kind of start to get why Yoda was so old, when at the end he was over nine hundred years old. If we are to believe the canon.

Ashoka also referred with the Jedi Knight going dark, if she'd choose to train the Child. She stayed true to her cause on not teaching the ways of Jedi. She also didn't really teach Kanan or Ezra in her role as Fulcrum.

She was too angry, too much in pain to deal with those sort of things. In a way it was her way of coping with things and with Grogu having chosen Mando as his Daddy, the Child has to learn the hard way.

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I love those HK series assassin droids. They are so iconic. So menacing. One look at them and you know that they mean business. Against Mando and Ashoka they had no chance. Maybe they should have paid attention to the rumours.

What amazed me was the the fight that the Magistrate threw at Ashoka. She even disarmed her from one of sabre, not that it has ever mattered to the trained Force users as how to fetch you sabre is one of the first things you'll learn.

The Mando against the Merc setup weren't as intriguing as it bowed to the Western traditions than Ashoka clashing with hers in Oriental style. Too bad that the Merc didn't walk away, when he laid down his shotty. I didn't even notice him carrying a sidearm before hand.

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I should have guessed it, but I didn't. I had no idea that Thrawn had trained the magistrate, but it makes so much sense now. But since the Grand Admiral is thrown in the game, we can expect all sorts of force related things to follow.

Starting with Ashoka handing the Beskar fighting spear to its traditional wielder, the Mandalorian. But that all also leads back to the old ways, the Mandalorian ways of not removing the helmet, and being able to fight the Force users without using their weapons or their powers.

If he learns properly to use it, then he is going to be able to take that Sabre from Gideon's hands, even if he has been trained by Thrawn and his people. Maybe he'll learn the way to utilise in that Jedi temple.

Anyway, amazing episode! Thank you Dave, Jon and Disney! Well done!
 
Grogu! The name disappoints me, and I don't know why.
Anyway, Din Djarin must be as attached to Grogu as the kid is to him. Otherwise, the Mandalorian would have put up more of an argument when Ahsoka declines delivery and passes the buck to an ancient Jedi temple on yet another planet.
Take him there and wait for another Jedi to sense his presence? And, oh, yeah, there aren't many of us left, so don't expect much.
The Mandalorian had been charged with taking Gogru to a Jedi, and he had gone to considerable effort to fulfill that quest. Mission accomplished.
My guess is that a Jedi will show up at the temple, but he or she will also see Mando as Grogu's best foster father option.
I don't know how well the show would do if this dynamic duo were separated. Maybe that beskar spear can be transformed into a miniature set of Mandalorian armor.
 
My guess is that a Jedi will show up at the temple, but he or she will also see Mando as Grogu's best foster father option.

If it starts with the Temple Guardians then we are in for a treat.

Maybe that beskar spear can be transformed into a miniature set of Mandalorian armor.

LOL and I'd love that. A mini set of mandalorian armour.
 
Grogu! The name disappoints me, and I don't know why.
Me too! And I also don't know why. It has two syllables like Yoda, but it just doesn't seem Yoda-ish enough.
Anyway, Din Djarin must be as attached to Grogu as the kid is to him. Otherwise, the Mandalorian would have put up more of an argument when Ahsoka declines delivery and passes the buck to an ancient Jedi temple on yet another planet.
Mando is kind of his old man, and he is teaching the foundling the way that is not straight or ultimately a good one. The bounty hunters aren't chivalrous knights on a mission of good. They do what they need to do, That is the Way.
He lived through the Clone Wars and was thought by many Jedi masters, before he was hidden when the Emperor executed the infamous Order 66.
I agree with all of the above, but Ashoka said that she couldn't teach Grogu because of his "fear" (as in his fear turning to the Dark side). So, although young, Grogu must have been well aware of the threat (and the current threats) to his life. I expect the "blood-sucking" machine was pretty scary too. So, I think he feels safe with Din Djarin; protected, and I think the love is mutual. Din Djarin has been given a noble purpose that does not just mean that he is a hired hand.

Still, if Ashoka cannot train him, why would a real, actual Jedi?
If it starts with the Temple Guardians then we are in for a treat.
So, are you expecting that that will be next week?

Because so far they have strung this story out with a magical mystery tour and wild goose chase all over the galaxy, without very much being achieved. We've learned a lot of back-story on the way, but no nearer to delivering Grogu to safety. I'd expect this to continue (rather like The Invaders or The Fugitive or The Planet of the Apes TV series did) where we have adventures every week but get no nearer to the McGuffin that we were promised.
 
Because so far they have strung this story out with a magical mystery tour and wild goose chase all over the galaxy, without very much being achieved. We've learned a lot of back-story on the way, but no nearer to delivering Grogu to safety. I'd expect this to continue (rather like The Invaders or The Fugitive or The Planet of the Apes TV series did) where we have adventures every week but get no nearer to the McGuffin that we were promised.

I agree with that. Without Grogu, Djarin becomes just a bounty hunter/mercenary so the show will like contrive to keep them together.
 
So, are you expecting that that will be next week?

Not at all, because if they show up we are soon arriving in the Force land that the Live Action viewers has never seen before. I like the way that we are slowly treading into that water and not bringing all things out in one big crash-bang-wallop.
 
If you look Ventress fighting style, it's more like what Ashoka shows in the small screen


When you look this legendary fight, she shows very different style, more of what she used during the Rebels and in the Clone Wars

So when I speculate that Ventress is alive, I mean it as Ashoka's partner in crime. She might not publically admit it, but it's likely that the girls has been keeping together and sparring together over the time.

Here's the episode fight

In it she clearly shows the evolution and getting better. The thing is the opponent was Thrawn trained and the Grand Admiral is super oppressed with all things Force related, including how to fight the Force users.

He even sought out creatures that cancels Force field around them, thus levelling the arena to be equivalent to both parties. Meaning that the fighters have to only user their skills and Force users has to abandon their normal tactics/strategies.

It is also kind of strange that in the movie fights, we never see them using Force Push/Pulls, only jumps and sometimes moving super fast, until they pull something massive out of their arsenal, like for example Dooku pulling a pillar on Obi-One and Yoda comes to rescue.

If in that fight, Ashoka would have used her powers, and I assume she's well versed on using them, she could have bested the Magistrate in no time. But she didn't, instead it was a fair match until the end. It also proved that the Magistrate had some enormous balls, solid brass ones for going against the one that matched Vader in skill.

Here's my absolute favourite fight in all of Star Wars canon material.

 
So when I speculate that Ventress is alive, I mean it as Ashoka's partner in crime. She might not publically admit it, but it's likely that the girls has been keeping together and sparring together over the time.

Ventress is dead according to a book that is currently considered canon though I'm sure they can change it if they want to.
 
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Ventress is dead according to a book that is currently considered canon though I'm sure they can change it if they want to.

It's such a shame. I was keeping up the hope. It's just Ashoka's style has changed so, so much.
 
Really enjoyed this episode, especially because:

1. The growing relationship between the Child and Mando
2. No long Mando fighting sequence - nice to have a breather. :)

Btw, did anyone else notice the evil woman's head man was played by Michael Biehn, from Terminator and Aliens? Good to see him again. :)

EDIT: Also, the Thrawn mention - one of the few characters I'm aware of from the SW novels. I remember fans saying he'd have made a great bad-guy for the new trilogy.
 
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I watched this episode recently (yes, I am behind with absolutely everything). Being a SF/Fantasy nerd who is also a music nerd, there was one detail of the score I loved. The Mandolorain theme tune features a distorted bass recorder at the begining, which has led to much interest in the instrument in the last couple of years. Well, towards the end of this episode, after the town has been liberated, there's an entire scene scored for a quartet of recorders. It's rather good.
 

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