YMMV / The Mandalorian S2E5 "Chapter 13: The Jedi"

• Continuity Lockout: Not as bad as when Bo-Katan was introduced in Chapter 11, but there are quite a few allusions to The Clone Wars and Rebels that fans who haven't seen either series will miss. One example is when Ahsoka mentions how she has seen the most skilled Jedi fall to the Dark Side. She is specifically talking about her own master Anakin Skywalker, a fact that anyone who skipped the animated series would completely miss. Another example is Grand Admiral Thrawn, the person Ahsoka is looking for, who was a major antagonist in the last two seasons of Rebels. Viewers who either haven't seen the former show or read the Thrawn Trilogy probably won't understand why his name serves as a big deal. On the other hand, Anakin is probably the only fallen Jedi even the most casual Star Wars fan could name, with the circumstances especially clear if they have seen the Prequel Trilogy. However, anyone unfamiliar with the animated shows would still be unaware of Ahsoka's relationship to Anakin and how seeing Anakin's fall to the Dark Side (due to emotional attachment) greatly scarred her and miss her allusions to this trauma.
• Growing the Beard: Dave Filoni's two episodes in Season 1 were very often ranked among its weakest, with him showing some obvious growing pains transitioning to directing live-action after his legendary role in the animated side of the franchise. This episode shows tremendous improvement in the new medium, and indeed he even says outright in Disney+'s behind-the-scenes documentary on the show that he's well aware he has a lot of learning to do and is going to pay close attention to the show's other more experienced live-action directors.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: The episode just happened to be released on what would have been the 80th birthday of Diana Lee Inosanto's godfather Bruce Lee.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Filloni is obviously aware that a good portion of the viewership has been waiting for two episodes to see Ahsoka, so the episode spends no time building up the appearance at the start and just goes straight to her going to town on some Gas Mask Mooks.
• Questionable Casting:
  • A number of people were not happy that Ahsoka Tano was portrayed in live-action by Rosario Dawson instead of her original voice actress Ashley Eckstein. It's quite a jarring change for fans who followed both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, especially since Katee Sackhoff was able to reprise her role as Bo-Katan Kryze after voicing her in both aforementioned shows. (Note that Eckstein hasn't performed in live action outside of some Disney Channel sitcoms, whereas Sackhoff was a main cast member on Battlestar Galactica.) Eckstein herself was quick to assure fans she was perfectly fine with it, saying she was aware from the start that she likely wouldn't always be playing the character if she took off the way she did. In the end however, Dawson's performance in the actual episode received an overwhelmingly positive reaction, making fans much more comfortable with the possibility of a live-action series headlined by Dawson.
  • Surprisingly, Lauren Mary Kim, who provides stunt work for various female characters in the show and has been widely praised for her mocap work as Ahsoka in the Ahsoka vs. Maul fight in Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7, does not do the stunts for Ahsoka here. Instead, she’s the double for the Magistrate.
• Salvaged Story: This episode finally gives an explanation for why the Jedi don't like training people with potential for heading to the Dark Side (instead of taking them in and trying to rehabilitate them). Expertly wielding the Force requires discipline and training and, without any help, any abilities they have will never become dangerous, or even wither to uselessness over time. Therefore, it's safer to leave potential Dark Siders out in the cold rather than taking them in, making them even more powerful, and simply hoping for the best.
• Shocking Moments: Ahsoka is revealed to still be hunting Thrawn.
• Special Effect Failure: In a big sign of why the Togruta as a whole hardly ever appear in live-action, Ahsoka's lekku clearly are a foam prop^note to the point where you can clearly see cracks and wrinkles in certain areas, or, possibly, what are meant to be scars instead look like cracks and wrinkles. This may be the case, since the end-of-episode concept art shows very similar-looking wrinkles on Ahsoka's lekku., compared to how leathery and structured they are with Shaak Ti and Ashla in Attack of the Clones. Not only that, but they're too small and don't have the same pattern for how they're depicted in Rebels (seen here◊ vs here◊), causing them to look more like how they're depicted in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, when Ahsoka was thirty years younger. This is most likely a complication stemming from the actress and stunt doubles needing to move around a lot, especially compared to Shaak Ti and Ashla's very brief screentime — Shaak Ti's actress Orli Shoshan, who is trained in martial arts herself, has even stated it was difficult to move while wearing the lekku.

---