So, twelve years after meeting her in animated form, we were finally introduced to a live action Ahsoka Tano last night on the new episode of The Mandalorian. Played now by Rosario Dawson, one of the most gifted actresses of her generation, the episode features her in a relatively minor role, saving all its emotional impact for the Mandalorian himself and the baby Yoda who was given a name, finally, along with a bit of history. Cinematography was very nice on the episode. The writing wasn't especially great but it was unobtrusive, allowing the episode to centre more on visuals and performances.
Written and directed by Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni, the heart of the story is the recognition of a father/son relationship between Din (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu, a.k.a. "Baby Yoda". Considering the first Star Wars series Filoni created, Star Wars: Rebels, centred on a foster father and son relationship, this does seem to be Filoni's zone. Performances by Pascal and Dawson were nice and subtle in the scenes where Ahsoka tests Grogu. I like the moment where Din nods his head discreetly to reinforce a request Ahsoka makes for the kid to move a rock. The two really do have an attachment, which naturally leads Ahsoka to be concerned about the kid turning the Dark Side. Grogu's predilection for eggs established earlier in the season looks a bit more ominous in retrospect. This will add a nice bit of tension going forward and now there's something more interesting about Grogu beyond his intense cuteness.
Michael Biehn also guest starred as a gunslinger named Lang and he and Din have a nice showdown in a very spaghetti western moment. But the more memorable visuals in the episode look more like samurai films, including the nice shot of Ahsoka walking down a windy street that definitely looks like something from Yojimbo.
If only Ahsoka were as well written as Sanjuro. It really bugs me that Dave Filoni is asserting himself as the custodian of Ahsoka and fandom seems eager to go along with it. I looked at Ahsoka's Wikipedia entry to-day for the first time in a while and I noticed that Filoni's name was added to George Lucas' under the "created by" credit. This revision, with no cited source, was made on April 11, 2018 and looks like it was typed by a drunkard:
Edits to the article since then have done nothing to substantiate this credit, only neatening up the grammar and arrangement. This is despite the fact that the main body of the article only mentions George Lucas as coming up with the idea of a female padawan for Anakin and naming her Ahsoka. I've been looking for an interview this morning in which Filoni directly claims he created Ahsoka and I can't find one. The best I can find is a Vanity Fair article from earlier this year where he says he was drawing Ahsoka very early on when he came to work on Clone Wars. But he wasn't the only character designer on Clone Wars and if that were enough to establish him as a creator then all the concept artists for the Star Wars movies should be listed as co-creators. Certainly the concept artist for Shakti, the first togruta character, Ahsoka's species, would deserve as much credit as Dave Filoni. Somehow articles persistently ignore the fact that Filoni did almost none of the writing until after George Lucas was gone. Maybe this is all seen as a way to effectively promote the brand. But I would say better writing is the best promotion of all.
Anyway, I also liked the dead forest look of last night's episode. It reminded me of a fourth season episode of Farscape called "A Prefect Murder" shot in a recently burned forest. Now why don't they get some Farscape writers working on Star Wars shows?
The Mandalorian is available on Disney+.
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