MANDALORIAN - CHAPTER 13 - THE [SPOILER] (Patreon)

For a split-second, I thought they said his name was Goku.

And reader, did I laugh.

But we’ll get to that subject later. For now, let’s talk about what stories look like “from the outside.” Because as I mentioned before, I didn’t watch Clone Wars or Rebels. Sure, there’s certain names and images of characters I know just from, like, internet exposure and stuff, but I have no real context for them. So when that opening scene happens and I saw this Jedi gleefully emerge like a phantom and start chopping down soldiers with a seeming smiling glee, to the point that it’s actually shot horror-movie style? I genially had the following thought:

“Oh, that’s a bad guy.”

This observation actually gets into a few problems. The first is the “Badass Jedi” dynamic where making these most noble and restrained characters into something all cool and indulgent (especially in their continual feats of literal murder) is troubling to say the least. Because, look, the Star Wars universe has enough indulgence problems as it is. And the more we keep feeding into the stories that cater to the feeling of I AM THE COOLEST / I HAVE THE POWER / I AM THE SPECIAL ONE without much thought, well, the more I worry about it. It’s literally the exact same problem I had with how they shot the lightsaber combat with Vader at the end of Rogue One. You know, the scene where Vader comes out and murders a bunch of good guy sand the audience hooted and hollered because finally they got to see Vader be COOL and UNLEASHED!!! Like he was Jason Vorhees or something. Given the original stories, this should be the opposite of the point. But for some people, that’s very much the point. Because this series is about indulgence for them… just as it was in this opening scene.

I’d honestly have less of a problem if there was actually some kind of real bait and switch being played in his episode, but going into the episode WE KNOW that Mando is looking for the Jedi. So theres no real drama being mind here. We know he’s not really taking the job. And they’re opening little scuffle is quick and fun and I love the reversals in the action, but, again, it’s just evidence of a show that never, ever knows how to plays actual drama. So the horror style shots weren’t being used to set up an adversary. Heck, they showed up in the end fight, too. Why? Because it’s cool and makes her the Jedi seem like a badass.

I know so many people don’t think this matters, but I think it’s all that matters. When you look over the great fights in the movies, the fact they happened to be cool looking was a happy part of it, but never once the point of the fight. But chasing cool is the death of purpose. Always. I know this makes me seem like some buzzkill. I know I’m being hard on the temperament and approach. But I’m just arguing for what I think really matters to these portrayals. I’m arguing for what I think made us fall in love with Star Wars in the first place. But I mean that emotionally and dramatically speaking, not in terms of a literal reference.

The same cannot be set for season two of The Mandalorian. In one way, you could worry that this show was turning into “Rebels 2: Electric Boogaloo.” But the weird thing is that’s not the worry, because it turns out these plot developments are only tangential to our own. I mean this is TWICE now where the main plot has featured a basically-conflict-less team-up with a character from those shows which end with that other character having a fight off to the side where they’re like “where’s [mcguffin or character from other show!!?!]” and then they promptly exit from this particular show. Like, literally they just did this Katee Sackhoff, and I’m genuinely worried they’re running out of rather-limited existing story moves.

But this is also the problem with easter egg-focused writing. It’s not that you can do easter eggs. They’re fun! And I’m glad they’re so much fun. But in terms of in-this-narrative effect, it’s *only* fun. Unless you can really steep it in meaning for our own main characters it’s just… lore management. Seriously, while I haven’t seen Rebels, I’ve watched every episode of *this show* and what should that count for? Should that not be enough to emotionally grok and get meaning from these side-plots? But I’m telling you, to the outside observer, I’m just watching these things show up that make fans a titter and I’m left to be like… What does this have to do with *our* story? Because at this point, The Mandalorian should have a stronger backbone. Because what the show does very well can only support this tangential teasing for so long.

Now, let’s talk about this episode did well.

Because my favorite part was when things slowed down and Ahsoka and Mando sat down and tried actually communicating with Baby Yoda. For one, I like that this finally addressed some of my ongoing questions about “what does he really understand?” But also, we’re seeing the genuine benefit of another character who can actually communicate with the wee lad. Getting to know that he was trained in the temple? Helps alleviate some of my “magic blood” type worries! Getting to know he’s been hiding his force instinctively and scared and worried? Also huge! And once again, we finally get that name. Which I thought was Goku for a second. But no, Baby Yoda’s name is Grogu. But so much of this part of the episode works because it very much reminds you of Puppy training. As such, it’s fucking adorable. And as we’ve learned, adorability will get you everywhere. It is the reason this audience cares week to week. But also, let’s circle around to that reveal again…

Because Baby Yoda’s name is Grogu. Is that good enough? Not cute enough? Just right enough of kind of cute? This is the weird problem of waiting A YEAR AND A HALF for a dang name reveal that we honestly never thought was even going to come. And I feel like Mando should have given a name to him? Or like found out in some kind of different way? It also feels like they’re giving him a name that won’t really stick because half responses I saw on twitter were more like “ok cool, Imma still name him Baby Yoda.”

Anyway, more important is the episode’s existential question of: “How and why is Mando going to stick by with this baby?” The simple answer is: “because that’s what the show is.” But how do you make that something really, truly motivated? Last season the conflict was more clear in that Mando was supposed to do his job and hand him over to the empire. Now it’s about discovering why he’s really doing it FOR HIM. But for that, we have to dig in. We can get all the meme-ready images we want of him being the proud papa, but they just can’t dig their heels in and get to starting it. Instead, they keep punting that internal choice. It’s another mcguffin, another destination, another caveat. Yeah, I get how this show features that this kind of adventure storytelling, but that means the real question is “how much can you make me genuinely care bout every adventure?” After all, in Lone Wolf and Cub, there’s no doubt that he loved his son and was raising him. He did for minute one. The joy was watching him throw his baby at someone anyway before chopping them with his sword. So when are we going to just embrace it in our bones? When is the show going to stop futzing with its core motive?

Probably when it learns to stop teasing. And speaking of which, let’s talk about that last bit, shall we? Because one of the big trending topics was of course Ahsoka asking: “where is Grand Admiral Thrawn?” And look, you’re talking to someone who made their mother take them to the bookstore when Heir to the Empire when it came out in 1991. I know why people like Thrawn. I get the world of Star Wars. I go back deep and hard in it. I get the long term appeal. But, again, I can’t help but wonder why it matters in *this show.* Because that’s what makes you care for years on end…

Not the reference.

RANDOM THOUGHTS!

-The show continues to be a casting coup to ludicrous degrees. Rosario Dawson! Michael Biehn! Hell, I wouldn’t be shocked if they cast my high school english teacher if they wanted to specifically mine my own personal history of glowing adoration. And yet, I always end up wishing I had just a little bit more meat on the proverbial bones (you know, to get a stew going). That being said, I love when you get to see those little flashes. Dawson can ooze charisma and be incredibly natural, which of course runs contrary to Jedi stoicism, but you still see the little glances where that fits. And with Michael Biehn I was worried they were wasting him, but then gives my two favorite lines in the episode: “who do you thinks gonna win? / “We’re both willing to lay our life down for the right cause… which this is not”.

-I’m kind of surprised we haven’t played more with the idea of a Jedi Baby being dangerous at this point.

-The landscape shot of the animals eating the destroyed trees was probably my favorite shot they had done in the while? But there’s a lot of that in the shot design of this episode, what with the use of silhouettes and shadows and contrast… It seems silly to mention, but I feel like it’s something the rest of the show forgets to do so often.

-When the big triumphant music swell comes in the credits, my Disney + always leaps out to The Gallery with Jon Favreau standing triumphantly, as if on cue, and it always makes me laugh.

-Speaking of Disney+, I have no almost no problems with other services, but this one is always skipping and stuttering and having problems frame rates. Anyone else?

-One fandom thing I actually enjoyed was people talking about is the “yaddle erasure” of Ahsoka saying she only knew of “one other being like this.” I think these kinds of things are fun. But actually doing the math to see if Ahsoka was too young and trying to explain it away with logic? That’s where it gets to serious again for me. I always want to be like, “Y’all, this is all made up stuff that people are doing under immense time pressure with only a minor concern for lore continuity.”

-I’ll admit, the glowing overall reception is one of those things that just gives me… pause? I mean, when I was checking credits I noticed it had a relatively-incredible 9.7 rating on IMDB. And I know that’s just heavy fandom chiming in, but I have to check in as to why this speaks so deeply to them. Because the narrative I kept seeing on twitter is that thing I always worry about, along the lines of: “seeing Ahsoka in live action gave me chills!” Why is it that people always want to see things they already love get put into live action? I worry not just because it seems to take away from incredible power of animation and somehow inherently rendering it inferior. It’s more the reason they want the person put into “real life.”

For the people who most desperately want this I worry, because, well, it’s that same thing that guides most of the decisions I worry about in the series: the lure of indulgence. Because it’s the people who want to imagine Star Wars as being real. To imagine themselves within it. To escape into that world. And it being real life action helps in that envisioning. On one level, escape in and of itself is fine. I really do understand. Just as I understand the fun of growing up and playing with lightsabers (again, this is the kid who dragged their parent to get the Thrawn book). It’s not that I am saying to put this feeling away, nor do I stop people from feeling the excitement of adventure. I’m just talking about mindfulness and thematic values and everything else I care about alongside it. I want people to realize that the real way to go on an adventure is through compelling, emotional stories that matter. And so to keep having people gravitate not toward self-expansion escapism, and more the kinds of self suppression - that is the kinds that give the feeling of being THE COOLEST BADASS LIGHTSABER WIELDER, etc. That’s what gives me pause.

To be clear, I’m not talking about the fandom that finally gets to have female characters *be* cool or badass or complex and things that spectrum of humanity that’s been denied for far too long. I am, of course, talking more about the toxic part of this fandom that we genuinely, truly know exists at this point. I’m talking about the way they use “Star Wars badass logic” itself to justify a way of thinking and behaving. And I’m talking how it all adds together with the indulgent framework of a given story. No, it’s not a one to one, nor is it ever. But there’s overlaps here. And given everything this universe has gone through in the last five years, I just always want the heart and morality of this series to stand against that capacity for hate and indulgence. Just as I want to remind of the simple notion that often, there’s a cavernous difference between things merely looking realistic…

And things feeling true.

<3HULK