The Mandalorian Season 2

[Peelee]

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Pellaeon may not be a stereotypical vilain, but the dude still wears the Imperial uniform after the countless genocides and atrocities it commited, was perfectly willing to hand over infants to a madman so they could be raised as weapons, looks down on non-human species like the noghri and is space fascist. He doesn't get a pass just because there happens to be worst people around him.

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The Empire notoriously propagandized itself away from its own atrocities, so we are not fully aware of what extent Pellaeon knew about its evil. I would completely reject your other characterizations though - he objects to C'Baoth constantly and only obeys under direct orders from his superior officer (and specifically, he has served under Thrawn enough to trust that Thrawn is capable of seeing things that Pellaeon cannot), did not look down on non-humans (he disliked the Noghri because he was disturbed at their skills and at their presence outside of the military command structure), actively lobbied for non-human presence in Galactic Alliance, and championed decidedly non-fascist ideals as Grand Admiral and Supreme Commander in the Galactic Alliance.

He doesn't get condemned just because the Emperor was a genocidal madman. Far be it from me to be an apologist, but when Pellaeon was in command, he went the opposite direction of the Emperor and the evils of the Empire. There is little to be gained by demonizing every and all people associated with the Empire.

[Fyraltari]

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The Empire notoriously propagandized itself away from its own atrocities, so we are not fully aware of what extent Pellaeon knew about its evil.

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Alderaan. In the new cannon I can buy Pellaeon not knowing about Alderaan because he was most likely isolated from the Galactic Community when it happened, but the Legends version has no excuse.

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I would completely reject your other characterizations though - he objects to C'Baoth constantly and only obeys under direct orders from his superior officer (and specifically, he has served under Thrawn enough to trust that Thrawn is capable of seeing things that Pellaeon cannot)

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He does not trust C'Baoth, I garee. He never objects to stealing babies from their parents and handing them over to the man he deems a homicidal lunatic. He just doesn't think he's reliable.

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did not look down on non-humans (he disliked the Noghri because he was disturbed at their skills and at their presence outside of the military command structure)

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His narration repeatedly calls Rukh's appearance "nightmarish" and he is perfectly fine with the way Thrawn keeps them enslaved.

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actively lobbied for non-human presence in Galactic Alliance, and championed decidedly non-fascist ideals as Grand Admiral and Supreme Commander in the Galactic Alliance.

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I haven't read that far into the Old EU so I can't say, but did he ever step down as military dictator of the Imperial remnants and start a democratic transition?

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He doesn't get condemned just because the Emperor was a genocidal madman. Far be it from me to be an apologist, but when Pellaeon was in command, he went the opposite direction of the Emperor and the evils of the Empire.

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No, he doesn't get condemned for the Emperor's actions. He gets condammned for keeping figthing the Emperor's war while flying the Emperor's colors. He wasn't raised into the Empire. But he kept fighting for it against the people trying to better the galaxy until it was undeniable that the war couldn't be won. At least until the Hand of Thrawn he still believed that the Empire was the best-suited government for the galaxy. Because he's a fascist.

If in 1945 a german admiral retreated to a couple of islands in the Atlantic, kept fighting the Allies' navies until 1957 were he signed a peace treaty and then kept on ruling these islands while having no elections, his soldiers still dressed in nazi uniforms and saluting the nazi flag every morning, we wouldn't go "well this man didn't know about the death camps, he's just a soldier, maybe a fine man. We would go "that's a ****ing nazi."

Edited to add:

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I'm not trying to demonize Pellaeon, he's leagues over any other Imperials, including his dear Grand Admiral. He's brave, he cares about his men, he isn't power-hungry, he genuinely does what he thinks is best. But he is a space-nazi.

[Peelee]

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Alderaan. In the new cannon I can buy Pellaeon not knowing about Alderaan because he was most likely isolated from the Galactic Community when it happened, but the Legends version has no excuse.

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Imperial geologists and investigators who supposedly examined the remains of Alderaan submitted early reports which implied that a series of superweapons had been under construction deep underground on the planet, and it was theorized that one or more of the hypothetical Alderaanian superweapons had misfired and ruptured the planet's crust. All reports were classified by the Imperial Navy. Emperor Palpatine briefly appeared at the Imperial Palace to publicly comment on the destruction of Alderaan, claiming to be distressed by the world's passing and inviting any surviving off-world Alderaanians to his own private resort world.[19]

Although an official explanation for Alderaan's demise had yet to be provided by the time Imperial HoloVision reported on the planet's destruction in the week after the incident occurred, their headline stated that the world had been destroyed by one of its own superweapons.[19] Holotapes of Alderaan's destruction, as well as transband communcations between Alderaan and Delaya regarding the appearance of the Death Star, were eventually distributed to NewsNets that were affiliated with the Rebel Alliance, and the 35:8:4 GrS inaugural broadcast of the Alderaan Expatriate Network asserted that all reports that Alderaan was responsible for its own destruction were false.[18] Later that month, on 35:8:22 GrS, the Imperial Navy finally acknowledged the Death Star's role in Alderaan's destruction;[20] Admiral Kemel Trowe claimed that the Empire had acquired irrefutable evidence that the world had been pursuing an aggressive biological warfare program that was apparently on the verge of a major breakthrough, and that the Emperor had ordered Alderaan's destruction in an effort to prevent the export of dangerous biowar product to off-world Rebel cells.[21]

Soon, the destruction of Alderaan turned out to be a major embarrassment for the Empire, causing several high-ranking Imperials to portray Grand Moff Tarkin as a rogue agent who destroyed the planet without official authorization.

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He does not trust C'Baoth, I garee. He never objects to stealing babies from their parents and handing them over to the man he deems a homicidal lunatic. He just doesn't think he's reliable.

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His narration repeatedly calls Rukh's appearance "nightmarish" and he is perfectly fine with the way Thrawn keeps them enslaved.

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I would call the alien from Alien nightmarish. Does this mean that I am species-ist and only pro-human? Further, there is no indication that Pellaeon knows about how they are enslaved; only Vader and Thrawn are known to have direct knowledge about that.

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I haven't read that far into the Old EU so I can't say, but did he ever step down as military dictator of the Imperial remnants and start a democratic transition?

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As military leader (not dictator - while he could overrule the council of Moffs, he only did so on one specific occasion where he informed them that he was seeking a formal confirmation for appearances), he succefully lobbied for peace with the New Republic, served as Grand Admiral of the military (but not the civilian government) after the peace treaty was ratified, was instrumental in forming the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances (and dismantled the Imperial Remnant to do so), was unanimously elected as Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance federal republic (commander in chief of the military, not the head of state of the government), and considered himself subservient to the democratically elected Chief of State, despite having near-universal support and being arguably the single most respected and trusted public figure in the galaxy at that point.

So, to answer your (loaded) question, yes. Yes he did.

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No, he doesn't get condemned for the Emperor's actions. He gets condammned for keeping figthing the Emperor's war while flying the Emperor's colors. He wasn't raised into the Empire. But he kept fighting for it against the people trying to better the galaxy until it was undeniable that the war couldn't be won. At least until the Hand of Thrawn he still believed that the Empire was the best-suited government for the galaxy. Because he's a fascist.

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Hard disagree - he is the frog in the water slowly being brought to a boil. Except he was able to gain control over the temperature settings and brought it back down.

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I'm not trying to demonize Pellaeon, he's leagues over any other Imperials, including his dear Grand Admiral. He's brave, he cares about his men, he isn't power-hungry, he genuinely does what he thinks is best. But he is a space-nazi.

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Again, I'm not being an apologist for his fighting for the Empire. But at the end, despite being a high-level commander in the Imperial military for the entire span of the Galactic Empire, he was trusted and respected by all peoples throughout the galaxy and was the single most responsible figure for ending the Galactic Civil War, forging and maintaining peaceful relations with the New Republic, reforging the Imperial Remnant into a more representative and non-oppressive government (part of the treaty was that member worlds of either government were free to choose under which banner they would be governed, to put it very simply), and ultimately reuniting the entire galaxy into a single, peaceful, representative and non-oppressive government.

Yes, he was an Imperial and in being so helped perpetuate the Empire's evil. But he was also so much more. And reducing it to simply that does him a great disservice.

[Rakaydos]

He never said " he could save others... at a cost."

And Obiwan never said Darth Vader was Luke's father... not while alive, anyway.

Palpatine is making a pitch here- abandon the jedi, and get in on this forbidden knowelge action. Knowing the true cost would only weaken Anakin's allegiance.

[Sapphire Guard]

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Anakin went to Palpatine to learn how to stop people from dying. If he was already taught that skill as a youngling, Palps doesn't have leverage.

Yodaling (sorry, I'm set in my ways) is puzzling. He has the mannerisms of a toddler, but the force powers of someone that can defend themselves. Toddlers have the mannerisms of toddlers because they have parents to defend them, but Yodaling doesn't seem to need that. He can get the things he wants just fine for himself.

You need 'training and discipline' to use the Force, but Yodaling has no discipline at all, he grabs shiny things and food whenever he likes. He trained in Force powers, but not any other skills necessary to navigate the galaxy? Maybe he just is incapable of speech until he gets older, but if he can manage Jedi training, you'd expect him to be a bit less toddlery. Assuming he can sense emotions might help, but he confuses an arm wrestle for a fight but had no reaction to when Cara and Mando were actually trying to kill each other. It's strange.

[Hopeless]

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Very puzzling.

I assumed he wasn't on Coruscant during the events of Order 66.

Given where he was hidden and who was guarding him I assumed the Hutts was protecting him.

They have a similarly long life span perhaps Yaddle earned their aid and promised to protect and guard him.

However word leaked out about Baby Yoda perhaps someone got close enough to get the details for that fob to work on him and it also included evidence of his M count?

Going dark?

Perhaps his mother told him to hide himself and that's why Ashoka didn't say anything.

She still shouldn't have attacked Din like she did.

Someone's been mixing up superhero tropes with science fiction badly!

Personally she should have had a padawan of her own and was training them on Corvus thus explaining why she can't take on another student.

She really didn't need the help taking down the Magistrate, if she was aware of the threat to the locals she shouldn't have revealed herself like that until the Magistrate is alone.

The story felt off, but Rosario was fine as Ashoka I understand why her lekku was shorter than it should be that I'm okay with and wasn't as annoyed about her fighting style.

The Dave Filino worship however... sorry I wish him well with his new tv series, but this is the Mandalorian.

The one plus I can think of is why send them to Tython unless she knows there ARE Jedi there?

Don't agree with the name drop, would have been better to go with Moff Gideon instead after all unless the Magistrate is a Moff why would she answer to someone higher than Gideon?

Wish they didn't kill off the gunslinger, would have preferred he waited to see who won then walked away when Ahsoka won thus have a recurring nemesis (and I would have loved a reveal that HE was the Magistrate's contact with Thrawn maybe making him her first nemesis in her own tv series!)

Until next week.

[Peelee]

[spoiler]Very puzzling.

I assumed he wasn't on Coruscant during the events of Order 66.

Given where he was hidden and who was guarding him I assumed the Hutts was protecting him.

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No way the Hutts were protecting him. If they were involved, it was probably a deal to sell to the Imperials and they wanted too high a price, prompting the Imps to hire bounty hunters to take him.

[spoiler]Going dark?

Perhaps his mother told him to hide himself and that's why Ashoka didn't say anything.

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His mother wouldn't be involved at all by the time he got to the Jedi temple.

[spoiler]She still shouldn't have attacked Din like she did.

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Why not? It's a Mandalorian who is clearly looking for her. That practically screams "bounty hunter hunting the Jedi." Which, conveniently enough, is exactly what the Magistrate tired to do.

[spoiler]Personally she should have had a padawan of her own and was training them on Corvus thus explaining why she can't take on another student.

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....but she's not a Jedi. Why would she want to train a Jedi when she has no interest in being a Jedi? She can't take on a student because she doesn't want to take on a student. Simple as that.

[spoiler]She really didn't need the help taking down the Magistrate, if she was aware of the threat to the locals she shouldn't have revealed herself like that until the Magistrate is alone.

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Except she did need help taking down the Magistrate and did reveal herself. Maybe the Magistrate was never alone before? We don't know, but I'm not going to assume "well if circumstances were different she would have acted differently so this is wrong."

[spoiler]The one plus I can think of is why send them to Tython unless she knows there ARE Jedi there?

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She explicitly said this was an attempt to try to get a Jedi to come to them on Tython. She has no idea if there are Jedi there.

[spoiler]Don't agree with the name drop, would have been better to go with Moff Gideon instead after all unless the Magistrate is a Moff why would she answer to someone higher than Gideon?

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First off, why would someone answer to a higher-ranked person? Like, I honestly do not understand that question. Of course everyone would answer to the highest-ranked person ultimately.

Secondly, I believe she doesn't care about Gideon at all, and only tangentially cares about Thrawn. If Thrawn is around, that means that Thrawn survived, which means Ezra proabbly survived, and Ahsoka does care about Ezra. Finding out what happened to Thrawn helps her find out what happened to Ezra.

Why would Ahsoka care about Gideon at all?

[dancrilis]

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His mother wouldn't be involved at all by the time he got to the Jedi temple.

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I think that bit was meant to indicate the possibility that Yaddle was the mother.

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....but she's not a Jedi. Why would she want to train a Jedi when she has no interest in being a Jedi?

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Within the context of the Mandalorian she is a Jedi - the show cannot assume that everyone watches and reads all other material.
Her stated reason for not wanting to train him was because she sensed fear in him - not that she was not a member of the order.

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Secondly, I believe she doesn't care about Gideon at all, and only tangentially cares about Thrawn. If Thrawn is around, that means that Thrawn survived, which means Ezra proabbly survived, and Ahsoka does care about Ezra. Finding out what happened to Thrawn helps her find out what happened to Ezra.

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Except in the context of The Mandalorian they have now introduced some guy named 'Grand Admiral Thrawn' as some bad guy who some Jedi called Ahsoka Tano is hunting - and have given no context for any of it, it is not unreasonable for people who are watching this show to expect to get an understanding of what is going on in this show.

Which I believe was a consideration you had on reintroducing Darth Maul to Solo with no context or explanation and the answer of 'people should go watch these cartoons' you considered insufficent - unless I am misremembering (which is possible).

[Petrocorus]

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Which I believe was a consideration you had on reintroducing Darth Maul to Solo with no context or explanation and the answer of 'people should go watch these cartoons' you considered insufficent - unless I am misremembering (which is possible).

To paraphrase and build on an aforementioned Cracked video, if the audience need to look for additional material to understand your movie, you made a bad movie.

[Peelee]

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I think that bit was meant to indicate the possibility that Yaddle was the mother.

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Ah. Then I can just dismiss that as baseless speculation. Might as well speculate that Shaak Ti is Ahsoka's mother, or Qui-Gon Jinn was Obi-Wan Kenobi's father.

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Within the context of the Mandalorian she is a Jedi - the show cannot assume that everyone watches and reads all other material.
Her stated reason for not wanting to train him was because she sensed fear in him - not that she was not a member of the order.

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"within the context of The Mandalorian" is meaningless; the show exists as a part of a larger universe. That some people have not seen parts of that larger universe have no bearing on the fact that it canonically exists and influences the show. It does not need to refer to the fact that things exist in that universe for them to exist. For example, you could claim that the Sith do not exist within the context of The Mandalorian, since they have not been mentioned yet. This would be patently false, of course, since The Mandalorian exists within an established universe thagt includes Sith.

The show does not have to explicitly mention something for that thing to exist.

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Except in the context of The Mandalorian they have now introduced some guy named 'Grand Admiral Thrawn' as some bad guy who some Jedi called Ahsoka Tano is hunting - and have given no context for any of it, it is not unreasonable for people who are watching this show to expect to get an understanding of what is going on in this show.

Which I believe was a consideration you had on reintroducing Darth Maul to Solo with no context or explanation and the answer of 'people should go watch these cartoons' you considered insufficent - unless I am misremembering (which is possible).

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My issue with Darth Maul in Solo was that Solo was clearly intended to be a standalone movie, in which Maul appeared suddenly at the very end. Both of these factor into my complaint; if Maul had appeared in the beginning of the movie, that would be establishing that he lived and was an ongoing character. Putting him at the end was a cheap attempt at a dramatic reveal with no payoff behind it for anyone who didn't know. He exists as nothing more than a teaser for a future movie, which tend to not be well-received (I do not know how the MCU gets away with it, but I don't know why people like the MCU in general to begin with, so I'm content to write that off as an exception). This is especially cheap in what is supposed to be a standalone movie - those are supposed to be able to stand on their on merits, which suddenly pulling Maul out ten seconds before the end credits roll undercuts.

None of this compares in any way to information being revealed mid-season of an ongoing TV show. A movie reliant on seeing a TV show is not a good movie, but a TV show does not share this detriment nearly as much (though a TV show reliant on reading a book would). Similarity of medium is important here, and even a viewer lacking knowledge does not mean that the situation does not exist. If you never saw Cheers but enjoyed Frasier and Sam Malone came to visit Seattle, then it doesn't matter that you don't know about Cliff; he still exists as a Boston-area USPS employee and speculation about him is fair game.

A story in a medium requiring a story from a different medium to make sense is unreasonable. Two stories in the same medium requiring each other to make sense is significantly less so.

To paraphrase and build on an aforementioned Cracked video, if the audience need to look for additional material to understand your movie, you made a bad movie.

Indeed. And, as a tl;dr to my last point there, movie-making and tv-making are very different creatures and have different methods and rules.

[Petrocorus]

Indeed. And, as a tl;dr to my last point there, movie-making and tv-making are very different creatures and have different methods and rules.

Indeed.
I remember someone, i think it was on the Actor's Studio tv show, that the theatre was the expression of an actor, cinema was the expression of a director, and tv was the expression of a producer.

Concerning the specific point of Maul, you can expect the movie audience to have seen most of the other SW movie (most, not all), but you cannot expect them to have seen all of the TCW and Rebels shows. As far as the main audience was concerned, Maul died in TPM and is inexplicably alive in Solo.

Not to mention that Maul's resurrection was not that well explained in TCW.

[Dire_Flumph]

Concerning the specific point of Maul, you can expect the movie audience to have seen most of the other SW movie (most, not all), but you cannot expect them to have seen all of the TCW and Rebels shows. As far as the main audience was concerned, Maul died in TPM and is inexplicably alive in Solo.

I felt the same way after seeing Solo, but polling friends of mine who aren't *quite* as much into following Star Wars as I am, they all came away in one of two categories:

1. They didn't connect the figure at the end of the movie to Maul and assumed it was a new villain to setup for a sequel

or

2. They just assumed he survived somehow at the end of the Phantom Menace and didn't care about the how.

After that I just figured I may have been inventing a problem where none existed. It's likely a potential Solo sequel would have explained his survival anyhow. Since Ray Park is persona non grata at Lucasfilm now anyway the point may be moot.

[Petrocorus]

Since Ray Park is persona non grata at Lucasfilm now anyway the point may be moot.

I never understood why? I remember he was not even credited in the first release of the DVD.
What did he do to be outcast as such?

[Dire_Flumph]

I never understood why? I remember he was not even credited in the first release of the DVD.
What did he do to be outcast as such?

It's recent (Park did mocap for TCW final season), and bad. Spousal and child abuse allegations and he posted some rather explicit stuff of his wife on his Instagram.

Edit: To clarify, he posted a sex video that was quickly taken down and may or may not have been him or his wife. He has been accused of spousal and child abuse, but to cover both sides his wife has denied the allegations.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Petrocorus
Not to mention that Maul's resurrection was not that well explained in TCW.

As Dark Side resurrections go, it was much better-explained than some others we could mention.

Originally Posted by dancrilis

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Her stated reason for not wanting to train him was because she sensed fear in him - not that she was not a member of the order.

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Indeed. I just watched the episode again and Ahsoka is quite clear that her refusal is based on the fear and anger she senses in Grogu, and her own fear that attempting to train him will send him down the same path as Anakin.

Ahsoka won’t risk creating another fallen Jedi, and especially not one with the potential to be even more powerful than Anakin. It’s a principled decision on her part.

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…right at 19:57, they interwove the Yoda leitmotif into the music when Ahsoka mentions “a wise Jedi master named Yoda.” Subtle and very nicely done.

[Peelee]

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Indeed. I just watched the episode again and Ahsoka is quite clear that her refusal is based on the fear and anger she senses in Grogu, and her own fear that attempting to train him will send him down the same path as Anakin.

Ahsoka won’t risk creating another fallen Jedi, and especially not one with the potential to be even more powerful than Anakin. It’s a principled decision on her part.

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That's what she claimed, yes. I don't believe she would have ever trained him, because she's not a Jedi. And, rather notably, she never agreed to train him.

If she was really that afraid of Grogu being trained, she wouldn't have agreed to what she did and helped at the end. She is afraid of what could happen, yes, and she wanted to convey that warning. But it was a convenient excuse to the Mando why she wouldn't train him.

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…right at 19:57, they interwove the Yoda leitmotif into the music when Ahsoka mentions “a wise Jedi master named Yoda.” Subtle and very nicely done.

I wouldn't call it subtle, since it was pretty obvious. But yes, I liked it.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Peelee
That's agar she claimed, yes.

Ahsoka said something about growth medium?

[Peelee]

Ahsoka said something about growth medium?

That's her character growth!

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Peelee

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If she was really that afraid of Grogu being trained, she wouldn't have agreed to what she did and helped at the end. She is afraid of what could happen, yes, and she wanted to convey that warning. But it was a convenient excuse to the Mando why she wouldn't train him.

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Ahsoka's advice to Mando was to let Grogu choose his own path. That seems like the best possible balance between not training him herself while allowing him the option to reach his full potential. That's a wise decision on Ahsoka's part, not an excuse.

[Sapphire Guard]

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Ahsoka's got things to do, training Grogu is a very long term commitment. Does he even need more training anyway? He probably trained for longer than she did. There are no issues of control or aggression so far.

How does Ahsoka know what happened to Anakin anyway? As far as she knows, he vanished, then turned up as a cyborg, she has no way to know why or how.

I wonder what their endgame is. The show won't want to take him away from Mando. If he does get training, Luke's academy will just be massacred, but if he trains somewhere else, we lose the impact of that massacre. Maybe he'll just be a Mandalorian?

[Peelee]

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Ahsoka's advice to Mando was to let Grogu choose his own path. That seems like the best possible balance between not training him herself while allowing him the option to reach his full potential. That's a wise decision on Ahsoka's part, not an excuse.

I used "excuse" as to mean "stated reason that is not the whole truth". I stand by that.

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Ahsoka's got things to do, training Grogu is a very long term commitment. Does he even need more training anyway? He probably trained for longer than she did. There are no issues of control or aggression so far.

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Choking out Cara when she was arm wrestling Mando isn't aggression?

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How does Ahsoka know what happened to Anakin anyway? As far as she knows, he vanished, then turned up as a cyborg, she has no way to know why or how.

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Clone Wars and Rebels heavily implied that she suspected where Vader came from and Rebels all but confirmed she figured it out completely and knew for a fact.

[Fyraltari]

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If he does get training, Luke's academy will just be massacred, but if he trains somewhere else, we lose the impact of that massacre.

Well, it's not like that was very impactful to begin with.

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Maybe he'll just be a Mandalorian?

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That was my guess since season 1 and I'm still riding on it. Ain't nobody gonna show up on Tython.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5coCUFByYQ
Then again the ears would be a problem.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Peelee

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Clone Wars and Rebels heavily implied that she suspected where Vader came from and Rebels all but confirmed she figured it out completely and knew for a fact.

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Rebels completely confirmed it, since she broke away part of Vader’s mask during their final duel, allowing her to see his face. As I recall, she called him “Master,” and told him she wouldn’t leave him, trying to save him even as he tried to kill her.

[Sapphire Guard]

Ahsoka knew who he was, but did she know why he fell?

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He mistook her for an attacker (weirdly doing nothing when she actually was an attacker in episode 4) He doesn't have dangerous tantrums or lose control of his powers or anything.

Well, it's not like that was very impactful to begin with.

It's the principle. Weasel out of the stakes too much, and your audience doesn't buy it the next time you present them with stakes.

[Dire_Flumph]

Ahsoka knew who he was, but did she know why he fell?

No, not specifically.

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Maul told her that Sidious had been grooming Anakin to be his new apprentice in order that he would destroy the Jedi, but it's clear she didn't want to believe it.

She was implied to know in the series about Anakin's secret marriage (and this was confirmed by Filoni later), but she wouldn't have known about Anakin looking for Sith knowledge of immortality.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard
Ahsoka knew who he was, but did she know why he fell?

Originally Posted by Dire_Flumph

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She was implied to know in the series about Anakin's secret marriage (and this was confirmed by Filoni later), but she wouldn't have known about Anakin looking for Sith knowledge of immortality.

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It was very clear that she knew about Anakin and Padme, and that she’d kept their secret out of devotion to Anakin.

But yes, she wouldn’t have known about Anakin’s obsession with finding a way to “save” Padme, since that happened right at the end of Clone Wars, well after she’d left the Jedi.

Originally Posted by Dire_Flumph

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Maul told her that Sidious had been grooming Anakin to be his new apprentice in order that he would destroy the Jedi, but it's clear she didn't want to believe it.

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At the time, yes, she resisted believing it, but it's been twenty-five years since then, so she may have pieced together more of the story.

Not to mention she may well have visited Obi-Wan on Tatooine at some point, and he could have filled her in on everything.

[Petrocorus]

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Ahsoka's advice to Mando was to let Grogu choose his own path. That seems like the best possible balance between not training him herself while allowing him the option to reach his full potential. That's a wise decision on Ahsoka's part, not an excuse.

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I'm pretty sure she's sending him to be tested, just as Kanan tested Ezra in the Lothal temple.

Well, it's not like that was very impactful to begin with.

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That was my guess since season 1 and I'm still riding on it. Ain't nobody gonna show up on Tython.

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Then again the ears would be a problem.

Video link seems not to work. I had to copy-paste in a new tab to watch it.

No, not specifically.

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Maul told her that Sidious had been grooming Anakin to be his new apprentice in order that he would destroy the Jedi, but it's clear she didn't want to believe it.

She was implied to know in the series about Anakin's secret marriage (and this was confirmed by Filoni later), but she wouldn't have known about Anakin looking for Sith knowledge of immortality.

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A scene in TCW season 7 imply that Obi-Wan had doubts too, or at least had doubts the relation between Anakin and Padmé was more than friendly.

[dancrilis]

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My issue with Darth Maul in Solo was that Solo was clearly intended to be a standalone movie, in which Maul appeared suddenly at the very end. Both of these factor into my complaint; if Maul had appeared in the beginning of the movie, that would be establishing that he lived and was an ongoing character. Putting him at the end was a cheap attempt at a dramatic reveal with no payoff behind it for anyone who didn't know.

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Which is what I would consider they did with Thrawn.

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He exists as nothing more than a teaser for a future movie, which tend to not be well-received (I do not know how the MCU gets away with it, but I don't know why people like the MCU in general to begin with, so I'm content to write that off as an exception). This is especially cheap in what is supposed to be a standalone movie - those are supposed to be able to stand on their on merits, which suddenly pulling Maul out ten seconds before the end credits roll undercuts.

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Again Thrawn feels like a teaser in this episode.

I don't know if you ever watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and it has been decades for me so I may be misremembering) - but the big bad of season 3 never appeared but was mentioned in season 2 a few times, this was foreshadowing a future conflict.
That feels much more like what they are doing here with Thrawn - if so fine, but I am not sure that it is the best fit for The Mandalorian.

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None of this compares in any way to information being revealed mid-season of an ongoing TV show. A movie reliant on seeing a TV show is not a good movie, but a TV show does not share this detriment nearly as much (though a TV show reliant on reading a book would).

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I would regard live action and a cartoon as sufficently different in the same way I would a book and a comic.

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A story in a medium requiring a story from a different medium to make sense is unreasonable. Two stories in the same medium requiring each other to make sense is significantly less so.

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If Maul had not been brought back in Solo (and hadn't seemingly died in Rebels - and even then he bounced back before) and instead Ahsoka had asked 'Where is Maul?' would you have considered that reasonable?

His death in The Phantom Menace and in Rebels both seem less certain then Thrawn getting eaten by a hyperspace octopus without even a window protecting him from the being exposed to space (and hyperspace).

[Clertar]

The ideal solution, plot wise and character wise, I think would be to add Ahsoka as a series regular and have her and Mando raise Groggu together. Din as the parent figure, and Ahsoka as the mentor. I think that would send Groggu on an good path for a compelling adult version of the character: a young armoured Yoda who can use the Force, with a hardboiled "this is the way" (or "the way this is") Mandalorian attitude. A child of both the Mandalorian and Jedi worlds, a little bit of both but neither completely.

But I don't think they'll do that, for external reasons (TV production reasons). On the one hand, there's the conflict and falling out that Disney and Lucasfilm have had with Pedro Pascal, which can or could compromise the long term future of The Mandalorian as this space fantasy Lone Wolf and Cub we're getting. On the other hand, they want to have Ahsoka as the protagonist of her own series, a continuation of the plot lines in the Filoni cartoons separate from The Mandalorian. That is is the main reason why she refused to train Groggu: he has to stay with Mando, and they need to keep both Mando and Ahsoka apart as protagonists of their respective series.

Edit:

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So I fear that what they'll do is have Mando killed sooner than later, and then Groggu will end up being raised by a Jedi.

[Peelee]

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Which is what I would consider they did with Thrawn.

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Except it's mid-season in the show, not the end of the season.