**This review contains heavy spoilers through Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian**
Ok, let me get a couple of things out of the way quickly here. Firstly, if you’ve been reading and following me over the past few weeks, you know one of the things I got really passionate about was the possibility that the mystery character at the end of Chapter 9 could be Commander Rex.
Boy, do I love it when I’m wrong sometimes. Proving many of the swirling fan theories right, Chapter 14 officially re-introduced us to the one and only Boba Fett – yes, that badass bounty hunter who met a much-derided and often-lamented fate in the Sarlaac pit in Return of the Jedi. Played by Temuera Morrison, Boba returned in full force here and was absolutely the highlight of the episode – which says a lot considering how much the super short episode contained.
Morrison, who of course played Jango Fett (Boba’s clone-father) in Attack of the Clones, returned to Star Wars amidst the furious action stylings of director Robert Rodriguez (more on him later). This action gave us the Boba we had been hoping for – even though we got to see Jango in action, and had 13 episodes of Mando in the books, it’s worth remembering that Boba Fett was the original bounty hunter badass, the original Star Wars man of mystery, the original Mandalorian warrior who fans obsessed over endlessly. Even friends of mine who haven’t seen Star Wars can identify Boba Fett when I wear my classic Boba Fett t-shirt (as I did today, for the record), making him part of the unofficial and totally not-at-all researched top 3 Star Wars characters that non-Star Wars fans can identify (Darth Vader and Yoda being the other two).
BUT, in a surprise twist, Boba isn’t the only presumed-dead Star Wars character brought back in this episode: Fennec Shand is back! The bounty hunter who we thought had been killed on Tatooine was apparently rescued by Boba and now goes around as his sniper sidekick. The dynamic duo becomes even MORE badass once Boba gets his armour back from Mando, and subsequently take out basically one and a half transports full of stormtroopers (with a little help from Mando) using their super combat skills. Boba’s wielding of his Gaffi stick is some of the best hand-to-hand (non-lightsaber) combat in the history of Star Wars, and then once he gets his armour – woah. THIS is the Boba we’ve always wanted, and it is spectacular.
Rodriguez’s direction here maintains his classic action style, inserted and adapted perfectly into the world of Star Wars. About halfway through the big fight sequence, I found myself thinking that this has to be the episode that Rodriguez directed, and once the credits started to roll it was no surprise that his name popped up. From the in-close one-on-one combat scenes, to the El Mariachi-style spinning and shooting that Fennec and Mando teamed up for, this episode absolutely had Rodriguez written all over it.
In terms of action, this episode really delivered with a sledgehammer Gaffi stick to the face, but it also brought along some very big and important plot points. We saw the Dark Troopers in action – sort of – and Moff Gideon got Baby Yoda Grogu Baby Yoda back! This is a massive development for a variety of reasons, mainly we know exactly what the final two episodes of the season will entail (more on that soon), and Moff Gideon is now even closer to achieving whatever laboratorial goal he is trying to accomplish. We could also be closer to seeing the birth of Snoke within the coming episodes, either this season or next.
Gideon’s confrontation with Baby Yoda at the end of the episode was equal parts scary and fun – watching the little guy toss around a couple of hapless Stormtroopers like they were the top of the joystick from the Razor Crest was hilarious and kind of ominous too. We know Baby Yoda might have some dark tendencies, and there was something musical in that scene which I didn’t notice at first, but when I saw a tweet from Around the Galaxy my curiosity was peaked, and holy crap Ludwig Goransson did it again! The theme of the First Order playing over that scene definitely makes me think we might see some overtly dark Baby Yoda (Darth Grogu???) sometime in the future. It could also be another reference to Baby Yoda’s possible connection to the creation of Snoke – I expect we might find out more about that in the next two episodes.
Moff Gideon then threatening Baby Yoda was also frightening for those of us who deeply care for the Child, and I can only imagine what Mando’s rage will be like once he finds Gideon and attempts to free Baby Yoda. As a sidenote, hearing Mando’s giggle at the start of the episode when he is calling out to Grogu was AMAZING, giving us a glimpse at an emotion we had not seen from Mando yet. Baby Yoda also becoming exhausted after using his Force powers could also be a glimpse into his eventual yet apparently inevitable demise, seeing how it would be damn hard to try to tie him into the sequel trilogy other than as a Snoke Force donor.
The other big plot piece and likely hint at next week’s episode included Mando returning to Navarro to get info from Cara Dune, now a New Republic Marshal, about Mayfeld, the now-imprisoned sharpshooter from season 1. Mando appears to be assembling a crack crew to get Baby Yoda back from Gideon, and with Boba and Fennec firmly at his side now (which is exciting because Boba for more episodes = yay!) he is seeking more help. I expect next week will see Mando freeing Mayfeld and possibly the rest of his crew, with the season finale likely (hopefully) featuring a showdown between Mando’s splinter army and Gideon’s Imperial holdovers. Could we also see Ahsoka and Cobb Vanth return as well? I mean, Mando did help them with their own missions, it only seems fair they return the favour?
Some thoughts about the title have been swirling in my head for a few hours now – my first thought, as I know some of you thought as well (judging by Twitter anyway) was a possible reference to the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, the story then-Chancellor Palpatine told to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. Then, I got super worried about Baby Yoda surviving the episode, which he obviously did. Perhaps it has to do with Mando’s beloved “Razor Crest” being destroyed in an instant by Moff Gideon.
The title could be an extremely subtle reference to the story but bear with me, I know it’s a reach. The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis is about a Sith lord who was able to stop people from dying – and in this episode, as I said earlier, we get two characters who had been believed to be killed in the past. You still with me? Well get ready for more reaching.
Last week I saw a fan theory saying that Mace Windu is maybe still alive and out there somewhere in the galaxy. I dismissed it at first, but upon the re-introduction of Boba Fett I couldn’t help but think about how freaking great it would be to see Mace Windu as the Jedi who answers Baby Yoda’s call from the temple-top…mountain-top…mountain-temple-top. The friction between Mace and Boba would be ELECTRIC! Boba would undoubtedly still want vengeance for Jango’s beheading on Geonosis, but would that throw a wrench into the mission to retrieve Baby Yoda?
Jon Favreau has done an incredible job of keeping secrets on the show before, and with the knowledge that there’s probably an epic holy sh*t moment coming up to conclude the season (like the Darksaber reveal last season), maybe the reveal of Mace Windu is that moment? Who knows. Time will tell, but I do feel like the concluding shot of the season will reveal who the Jedi answering the call is – whether it is a living being (Mace Windu or Luke Skywalker) or a Force Ghost (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn…) remains to be seen but there has to be some kind of payoff to Baby Yoda’s Force call from the temple-mountain-top this season, right?
In the meantime, I’m excited to watch Boba and Fennec help Mando spring Mayfeld and crew from prison and gear up for a large-scale assault to try and get Baby Yoda back from the clutches of Gideon. I know this episode’s run time was very short, but I’d be surprised if Chapters 15 and 16 were as short – it almost seems like the next two episodes would have to be much closer to an hour each in order to fully get us to a satisfying conclusion to the season, giving us action, plot and hopefully some more wow moments.
Chapter 15 of The Mandalorian streams exclusively on Disney+ on Friday, December 11.
Talking Films 