'The Mandalorian' Recap: What's In a Name
0A review of this week’s The Mandalorian, “The Jedi,” coming up just as soon as I keep you around for luck… There are episodes of The Mandalorian where not a lot happens in terms of the series’ larger arcs, and the thrill of it rests solely in how well executed the action set pieces are. Fortunately, the show is really good at that kind of thing. Then there are ones like “The Jedi,” in which a bunch of things happen that are hugely important to the mythos of the show, or of Star Wars in general, while also offering several sequences that kick ass and take names. I have no beef with the alleged “filler” episodes, but installments like “The Jedi” feel extra-special. After last week’s detour to potentially set up a Cara Dune spin-off, Mando gets back to more pressing business by making his way to Corvus in search of Ahsoka Tano. “The Jedi” wastes no time both introducing her and establishing her bona fides as a figure worthy of all the excitement Clone Wars fans have been expressing since reports first came out that Rosario Dawson had been cast to play her. Dave Filoni, writing and directing this week, treats his old animated heroine as a ninja, moving through shadows and fog faster than should be possible, and cutting through the forces of Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) like they’re hardly a bother at all. It’s a fantastic intro, both for viewers who know the character well from the cartoons and those who’d never heard of her three weeks ago. And even when she puts her twin lightsabers away, Dawson carries herself with the relaxed confidence of someone who doesn’t need to prove just how powerful and dangerous she is. 'Mandalorian' Macarons Are an Actual Thing You Can Order Online 'The Mandalorian' Recap: Spin-off City Eddie Van Halen's 20 Greatest Solos Robin Williams: The Triumphant Life and Painful Final Days of a Comedic Genius The Magistrate, not realizing that Mando is searching for Ahsoka, tries pitting the two against each other. There’s an old tradition, especially in comic books, of heroes battling each other through a misunderstanding when they first meet, and Filoni surely could have gotten away with a much longer Mandalorian vs. Jedi fight. Instead, Mando is able to cool things down quickly so that Ahsoka can get to know Baby Yoda… … or, rather, Grogu, as she discovers he was named. The moniker is worth dwelling on for a moment, just because fans so quickly fell in love with the Baby Yoda nickname, while the show steadfastly insisted on calling him The Child. Bringing on Ahsoka, who knew the real Yoda, could have given the series a chance to make the nickname canon, with her saying something like, “My gosh, he looks just like a Baby Yoda!” Instead, after a bit of Force-enhanced communication, she identifies a completely different name — and not even one that starts with a Y. “Grogu” is a perfectly cute name in its own right (it sounds like baby talk), but will it stick with the fandom? After all, nobod