‘The Mandalorian’ S2E5 Recap: Call Baby Yoda By His Actual Name
We finally meet a Jedi and learn where Baby Yoda comes from.
"The Mandalorian" season two is streaming now, only on Disney+
And just like that, we find out the Child’s real name but, just like Mando, we’re going to struggle using it instead of all of his nicknames, like buddy or kid.
This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2, episode 5, so please be careful if you haven’t seen it yet!
After lots of detours and side quests, this week Mando arrives on Corvus, where a Jedi awaits with knowledge of not just Baby Yoda’s name, but a whole lot more.
We learn a lot in this episode and, just like that, The Mandalorian becomes a whole lot bigger than one bounty hunter’s quest to complete a mission. Let’s get into it.
Lightsaber? I Hardly Even Know Her
Bo-Katan told Mando that Corvus is a forest planet, but there’s no lush greenery to be found: trees are stripped bare and a constant grey fog lingers.
It’s a dark place, and we soon learn why — Corvus is home to the walled city Calodan, where an Imperial Magistrate has imprisoned the locals. But there’s hope: in a stunning opening sequence, a shadowy figure makes light work of the city’s guards with two white lightsabers.
Star Wars fans are super excited about this character’s return: and if you’ve seen the Clone Wars animated series, you will be too.
Best to not spoil it completely, but she’s not to be messed with — best yet, she’s played in The Mandalorian by Rosario Dawson, a welcome addition to any show. This Jedi tells the Magistrate she’ll return in a day, and will hunt her down for information on the Imperials.
Enter Mando and the Child, who touch down and head straight into the city, where the Magistrate offers a deal: she’ll hand over a sacred Beskar spear if he can take care of the Jedi.
Can we just take a second to appreciate how pretty this shot is?
Out in the foggy forest, Mando and the Jedi meet, and after a quick fight, Mando explains he’s not here to kill her, but to give her the Child. Turns out she’s seen one of his kind before, a powerful Jedi who you’ve probably heard of: Yoda.
It’s looking like this is the way, as the Jedi can communicate telepathically with the Child. That’s how we learn his name, and his backstory: the Child was raised at the Jedi temple on Coruscant, but was hidden at the end of the Clone Wars for protection, after which his memory gets hazy.
That look when your father figure/babysitter/bounty hunter adopted dad finally calls you by your name.
He was trained in using the Force but his powers are weak because he’s had to hide them for so long. And, bad news: it looks like the Jedi can’t really help him get them back.
They try testing his abilities, but it’s only when Mando steps in that the Child responds to commands, prompting the Jedi to say that the pair has a great emotional bond. It’s all very sweet, but it’s trouble: his feelings for Mando make him vulnerable.
Lots of late night D&Ms in this episode.
The Jedi won’t teach him, as a Jedi with strong feelings can be tempted into terrible things — even the most casual Star Wars watcher (me) knows that’s a shout out to Anakin Skywalker. Could Baby Yoda, the world’s cutest being, really become the next Darth Vader?
Never Gonna Give You Up
Mando twists the Jedi’s arm with a deal: she says she’ll take the Child if he helps her overthrow the Magistrate. The two storm the city by surprise given that Mandalorians and Jedi are sworn enemies.
There are plenty of amazingly choreographed fight scenes in this show, but the Jedi’s showdown with the Magistrate is easily among the best.
Turns out Beskar is pretty good against a lightsaber or two.
The episode’s director, Dave Filoni, is the show’s executive producer and directed the Clone Wars animated series, which is to say he knows how to make Star Wars shine — the circling camera work makes this a real nail-biter.
The Jedi wins out, liberates the city, and gets the info she needs — but that means she backs out of her promise to take the Child. She explains that since Baby Yoda views Mando “like a father” (my heart!), he is too emotionally attached to responsibly wield the Force.
But she does have an idea, and sends the father-and-son duo to the planet Tython. There, on a seeing stone in an old Jedi temple, the Child can choose his own path by using his powers to send out a beacon to other Jedis — or not, and stay with daddy Din. As Mando sets off once again, it looks like the Child has some growing up to do.
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The Mandalorian streams every Friday night on Disney+ and Junkee will be recapping every episode.
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(Images courtesy of Disney+)