We’re at the season’s penultimate episode—and after so many announcements about upcoming Star Wars media!—so take a deep breath and let’s get to chapter fifteen. Spoilers ahead.
Summary
Cara Dune uses her marshal status to retrieve Migs Mayfeld from his designated New Republic prison scrap yard. They offer Migs a shot at a nicer sentence if he helps them get Grogu back by aiding them in their search for Gideon—which they believe he can do as an ex-Imperial. Mayfeld claims that he can only get them Gideon’s location from an Imperial access terminal, but he helpfully does know where one is: Morak, home to a secret Imperial mining hub. Fett sets course in Slave I and once there, they scan the planet. The Empire mines rhydonium on Morak, a highly explosive substance.
In order to get into the Imperial base, they need to commandeer a vehicle driving a rhydonium shipment into the compound. The problem is, the base is run by ex-ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) officers, and if anyone gets scanned and has a record with the Empire, they’re toast. That leaves Cara, Fennec, and Boba out for the mission, meaning Din has to accompany Migs to make sure he doesn’t try to turn them in. They knock out two juggernaut troopers and steal their uniforms so that Din has a helmet, and begin the drive toward the compound. On the way, Migs insists that the locals of Morak think the New Republic and the Empire are all the same, and that he thinks they’re all the same too—the only thing that matters in his book is whether or not a person can sleep at night given what they’ve done. As they’re driving, other delivery vehicles get attacked by local crews trying to ignite the rhydonium. The two vehicles ahead of Din and Migs are blown to pieces, while Din has to fight off the crews to prevent a similar fate. He and Migs make it into the compound to cheers and celebration from the gathered officers.
The terminal they need is in the officer’s mess, but Migs panics when he peers in because his old commanding officer, Valin Hess (Richard Brake), is sitting there. He refuses to go get the data and wants to abort, so Din volunteers to do it. Migs insists he won’t be willing because you have to get a facial scan for the terminal to allow access. Din goes to the terminal, removes his helmet, and gets the data. While he’s there, Hess stalks over and demands his operating number. Migs arrives to bail Din out, insisting that his buddy “Brown Eyes” can’t hear very well. Hess is impressed by them—they were the only officers who managed to get their shipment of rhydonium delivered—and insists they sit and have a drink with him. When Hess goes for a toast, Migs suggests that they toast Operation: Cinder; apparently Hess was responsible for some decisions during that ordeal that cost the lives of thousands and devastated the world of Burnin Konn. Hess is unrepentant, insisting that people prefer order to freedom, and that the rhydonium they’re mining here will enable them to enact horrors that will make Burnin Konn look tame by comparison. So Migs kills him.
Din and Migs have a shootout in the compound, escaping out a window and heading onto the roof where Fennec and Cara can aid them by snipe-shooting the officers and cannons. Boba Fett comes to pick them up in Slave I, and once they’re on the ramp, Migs turns around and shoots the rhydonium shipment on the roof, destroying the base. Two TIE fighters pursue, but Fett dispatches them quickly. Once they land, Cara decides that she will list Migs dead in their operation against the base, and they leave him on Marok. Moff Gideon then receives a message from Din: He’s coming for the baby.
Commentary
I’m trying to decide if I can get over the absolute ridiculousness of a computer terminal that needs to scan someone’s face for apparently no reason whatsoever because it meant that we got to see Din’s face for like… five whole minutes. Super happy about seeing his face. Ecstatic, even. But still can’t get over the idea that this super special secure terminal needs to scan faces in order to work, but not the face of the person who is meant to be using the access key, so it can’t be for security reasons, so literally why would it need to scan a face unless the Empire finally employed maybe one single droid security measure, but even that’s a thin excuse for—
—you know what. I can let it go. We got to see Din’s beautiful face.
On the other hand, Mayfeld got to see it too, and he doesn’t deserve that, so I’m still salty about it.
Regardless, it’s a good warm up for Din in getting him used to the idea of a Mandalorian way that doesn’t require him to keep his helmet on every second in order for him to be Mandalorian. He’s gonna have to adopt it right quick, though. I have so much appreciation for how Pedro Pascal plays this: the choices he’s made to have Din seemingly unaware of how facial expressions work because he’s spent a good portion of his life under a helmet, living with other people under helmets, reading body language and vocal tone instead. He’s not even good at playing clueless to help Mayfeld out because he just doesn’t know how to people with his face. He either looks blank or he glares. It’s adorable.
I also have a lot of feelings about the fact that while they’re preparing to land on Morak, Mayfeld goes for a low-hanging joke about one of the women in their group (“lol she’s highly volatile and explosive, amirite???”) and Fett gives him a glare so withering that he promptly shuts his mouth and quits the cheap one-liners for the remainder of the episode. All I’m saying is, if other men would also like to employ this tactic on lazy sexist jokes, comedy might move forward for us as a species, by leaps and bounds. Just a suggestion.
So we all know there’s a mission here, but I gotta say… Din murders a lot of people who just want to stop the Empire from using rhydonium as far as we know, and that’s screwed up. We’ve seen a lot of that on this show, and while the narrative is often constructed to prevent us from paying too much attention to casualties, this section makes it pretty obvious. And it’s ironic because the overall narrative arc of the episode ends in a net-positive for the people who were attacking them; the base gets blown up and the Empire no longer has that rhydonium. The point is not that these choices are inherently wrong; Din Djarin is a bounty hunter who operates in what most people would term a morally gray area. But there’s a problem when it feels like the choices are ultimately being made for the sake of “the look”—he kills those men because we get a sharp action sequence out of it, and that’s clearly the only reason. I don’t know if I actually buy that he wouldn’t care about the lives he just took, but the story needs me to think that he doesn’t right now. It’s an example of how aesthetic can skew believability.
At the end of the day, giving a guy like Mayfeld a redemption-ish arc doesn’t sit great with me because he’s a jerk. (Less annoying without his goofy back-blaster set up, I suppose.) But I do have a lot of appreciation for the fact that the episode starts off with him insisting that the New Republic and the Empire are no different—an issue I was complaining about a couple episodes back—only to have him run headlong into a fierce and formidable reminder that he’s wrong. In fact, he’s so wrong that the only way to make amends is to blow up an Imperial base, mere minutes after being essentially welcomed back with cheers and praise. He is so wrong that he visibly undoes every word he has said, because he’s confronted again with the staggering loss of life that the Empire brings in its wake.
Mayfeld was present for Operation: Cinder, a step in Palpatine’s bullet-pointed list of instructions on “What You Do If I Happen to Be Dead”. No joke, this was a real thing, addressed in Star Wars: Aftermath and a few other media tie-ins as well. Emperor Palpatine had a plan called the Contingency, to be put into effect on the event of his apparent demise, with the basic premise of “If I go down, you’re all coming with me.” He didn’t want his enemies or even the Empire itself to outlive him if he wasn’t in charge. Operation: Cinder was a part of that plan, instructions to place satellites around certain planets to create a climate disruption array that would devastate the world below. Burnin Konn was one of the worlds targeted, which means that Mayfeld was likely on the ground to witness said climate disaster in action.
Hess’s insistence that people don’t want freedom but order certainly makes it sound like we’re looking at the turnover into the First Order. This would make sense because the parts of the Empire that continued after the Contingency were meant to go in that direction, leading to the eventual Palpatine resurrection that we’ll see in the sequel trilogy. But moreover, this is a reminder of what the Empire actually stands for and what the First Order’s rise will unleash—death. Even Migs Mayfeld isn’t okay with that route for the galaxy.
And then the episode ends with Din trying his very hardest to do a Taken impression, and you know, good on him for trying. Not really sure how the message got to Gideon, but I’ll take my grumpy dad declarations where I can get them. At least Gideon looks a little nervous for once…
Things and Asides:
- This is technically the first episode in the entire series to not feature Grogu in some way. Feels weird.
- This episode was also written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, which is a nice throughline because he also directed the first episode that Mayfeld appeared in last season, “The Prisoner”.
- I have waited nearly my whole life to watch the interior of the Slave I swivel like that. Not kidding, I have wondered about the internal makeup of that ship forever, and when I watched the seating area rotate as the ship took off, I full out screamed. Also Boba repainted his armor, presumably while Din was collecting Cara on Nevarro, and now he looks all fancy again, and I love this iteration of his costume a lot because it looks comfy.
- Boba’s comment that he can’t get scanned by ISB because he’ll definitely come up on their database is a reference to the fact that, well, you know, they cloned his dad to make an entire army for the Republic. It does seem to put the kibosh on the question of whether any clone troopers became stormtroopers after Order 66 and the dismantling of the Republic. Which I’m in favor of, honestly, because once those brain chips had been used, I can’t see how any of the clones left would want to join the Empire… and I’m not sure the Empire would have wanted them either.
- Random Office Space reference, of all things: Mayfeld tries to get them away from Hess by telling Din they should go fill out “those TPS reports”, which was an abbreviation in the 1999 film for “test procedure specification” reports, sort of a shorthand for mindless paperwork. (They are a thing in real life, too, though.) Looks like the Empire has that too.
- More lady sharp-shooter time, please; all I want is more of Fennec and Cara being competent and perfect right next to each other.
- Fett uses a seismic charge on those TIE fighters, just like the ones his dad used to flush Obi-Wan Kenobi out of an asteroid belt in Attack of the Clones.
Y’all, we have one more episode, and then we have to wait a whole year for season three. I’m not ready. But then, I never am.
Emmet Asher-Perrin is just gonna watch the swivel over and over and, no, now is not a good time to learn how to make high-qualify GIFs, but they really want to do it. You can bug them on Twitter, and read more of their work here and elsewhere.
Thanks for the review… fun episode. Boba Fett’s new armor and the way the interior of the ship moved were very satisfying… I get the feeling life has very little value in the star wars universe.
Thanks for the post. One quibble and one “Am I the only one?” question:
Quibble: Cara doesn’t promise Mayfeld a better sentence for helping. She says “You get a better view!” and gestures toward space. Meaning he gets to see the stars for a while and not be stuck in prison.
Question: Am I the only one who thought that when Fett said “Highly volatile and explosive.” and Mayfeld said “Yeah, kinda like this one huh?” he was referring to Din, not Cara? Cara was in the background of the shot when he said it, but he was staring right at Mando. He makes a gesture with his hand but I can’t tell if he had a thumb pointing at Cara or if he was just generally gesturing foward toward Mando. I took it as Mando, since a) that’s where he was facing and b) that would make sense given their history (whereas he doesn’t know much at all about Cara).
Pedro Pascal was doing the Ricky Bobby “I don’t know what to do with my hands” bit but with his face LOL.
I disagree that Mayfeld didn’t deserve his redemption arc. The guy was one of the few in the previous mission trying to keep things from escalating even if he was being a bit of an asshole during the whole job. In this episode we saw more of who he actually is, and though he’s still a jerk, he’s not an awful person who deserved to rot in prison more than Mando or Boba Fett themselves, to give a couple of examples. Good on them for letting him go after what he did in this episode, he showed who he really is.
Honestly can’t believe you didn’t quote Boba’s line about why he can’t go to the base. “Let’s just say they might recognize my face.” Which is just perfect given he is a clone himself. Easily the best line of the episode.
@3 – I also thought Mayfeld was referring to Din, but I wasn’t watching that scene super close, so I could be wrong.
Still not a fan of the name Grogu. Guess it’s the closest they could get to anagramming George Lucas.
“All I’m saying is, if other men would also like to employ this tactic on lazy sexist jokes, comedy might move forward for us as a species, by leaps and bounds. Just a suggestion.”
Total agreement. I’m not really a fan of Bill Burr, or any comedian that works crude, so it took me out of this episode a bit. Hess was a much bigger asshole though, so… comparative redemption?
Last couple episodes have left me a bit cold after the high point of the Ahsoka Tano one.
Is Gina Carano going to end up doing She-Hulk’s monster form? Or is she a lock for the new Marshalls of the New republic show?
I too thought he was referring to Din. But Fett still shut that down, which was great.
I liked how Fett repaired and polished his armor too. Goes to show how weird Din is for not decorating his in some way.
I assumed the aliens were natives(the humans were likely the remnant of an earlier colonial expansion crushed under the Imperials) who would rather destroy their planet’s resources than let the Imperials have it. But yeah it does suck that wasn’t clarified. Would have been a good part of their dialog with Hess to point that out. And it’s very unlike Din to not side with the more indigenous residents of the planets he visits, so to me it does indicate how much he is willing to compromise himself to save Grogu.
HIS BEAUTIFUL STUPID FACE
Sorry, it’s just I’ve loved Pascal since his turn as Oberyn. Wanted him to be Dr Strange very badly. So getting to see him in my fave geek stuff is just the best. And his face was just stupid and it was BRILLIANT
I’m very sad there was no Baby.
Dadalorian Coming.
I’d also like to add that I appreciated the growth Mayfeld demonstrated in the episode. He helped Din recognize that he’d already compromised his beliefs to go on this mission, enabling him to reveal his face when needed.(I also guess the face scan is just to record who accesses the files, not a face match). But Mayfeld himself walks back from his beliefs that to every day people, the Empire and the New Republic are the same.
The New Republic may ultimately do a poor job of balancing the needs of all people in galaxy. But the Empire are outright assholes who have no problem abandoning it’s citizens to genocide for it’s own purposes, and that is a distinction worth noting. And I liked that by the end of the episode, endless cynic Mayfeld recognizes that too.
The seismic charges might be my favorite thing about this episode :) When Slave I re-eappeared I had said to myself, “Now, what I really want to see – or hear – are those seismic charges”. I have a huge affection for the music/sfx of Star Wars so I always geek out a bit when those types of Easter Eggs make an appearance.
But yeah, this was intense. I do think the facial scan thing was so utterly ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than the complete lack of security in Star Wars in general; pretty much any droid with a socket can “hack” into any ship, terminal, etc. I do have to say they ARE starting to stretch things a little thin when it comes to things that are required by the narrative but have no logical bearing (seriously…why is there a facial scan if it doesn’t…recognize anything?)
I liked the conversation Mayfeld and Mando had for a different reason. First, I think it’s completely reasonable that the average person would view the New Republic with at least some suspicion. How are they to know that even if they aren’t the Empire now, they won’t be one. After all, some may still remember a similar war with the Separatists and Old Republic, and then the Old Republic became the Empire. And even more or less good governments still may overstep when it serves their own interests.
BUT, I also really enjoy his ribbing him about Mandalore because as much as I enjoy the lore around the Mandalorians, I have the general same criticism of them as I do other fan favorites like the Aiel, Klingons, etc – the whole ‘honor based warrior’ culture that is basically centered around how many people you can kill (but as long as you do it with ‘honor’). So, yeah, honestly, I don’t find them some pinnacle of moral enlightenment.
I wonder of Bad Batch will reveal a little more what happened with the clones/stormtroopers. In Traviss’s 501st book it did explore that a bit but that’s not canon anymore.
The whole arc with Mayfeld (and I’m not sure how much I buy his redemption given that before this he was basically a banding and…again, killing and robbing innocent people. Maybe he felt guilty about it and all and clearly was working through some stuff and obviously Star Wars is full of those types of redemptions so…I can’t complain too much) was a bit timely though since we’re watching Resistance and there’s also an ex Imperial who is jaded from his time in the Empire and what he did in its name and has some similar themes about order/freedom and the growth of the First Order. But clearly there are plenty of ex-Imperials who lean right into it and believe what they are saying about ruling and order, and people who will go along with it.
Ah, I meant to comment on a few other things but hit save too soon and can’t get back to my comment yet:
-I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the “heroic” stormtroopers (and the music was incredible) and how in some other movie they would be the heroes against the “pirates” (and I’m still not sure if they were actually pirates – which is also kind of in my head due to watching Resistance where there actually are pirates who raid ships – or if we’re supposed to eventually realize they’re basically rebels trying to free their home) or maybe even “terrorists”.
-Auralnauts has this really funny ongoing series about ‘existential troopers’ based on Mandalorian and the whole thing with the stormtroopers being able to hit their shots in this episode (for the sake of the heroes) actually plays right into that and I was cracking up.
-I find the whole conflict of deciding which principles you will violate and for what really compelling (especially as somebody as part of a religious tradition) and hope they explore that some more and its aftermath. Obviously Mayfield is kind of taking a cynical take on it when he’s ribbing him about it but I think it’s a worthy topic.
@Aeryl: I like the metallic finish. I wouldn’t paint over it if I had Beskar armor. If Din were to paint it, maybe he can go for some Nova colors: golden helmet; the rest blue, except for a red starburst on his chest.
They also shamelessly stole the best joke by Fett from the New Jedi Order series in this one, though it landed better in NJO because he said it to Han Solo.
“And then the episode ends with Din trying his very hardest to do a Taken impression, and you know, good on him for trying.”
Not just a Taken impression, it was literally throwing Moff Gideon’s words back in his face. Season 1, episode 7. The very same ultimatum delivered by the moff when he showed up outside the cantina to get Grogu.
Okay, I just rewatched and remembered that the “pirates” were trying to blow the rhydonium so obviously they weren’t after the material themselves, so….likely rebels (or terrorists depending on who is telling the story).
Which of course kind of leads in to what you are talking about – we cringe a little to see Mando killing “the good guys” (assuming their aims were pure and not just because THEY wanted to take over) but how much better is it when it’s the guys we want him to kill? What about the miners in the complex Mayfield blows. Were they all true believers? Collateral damage? Complicit? Just trying to feed their families or make the best of which ever group happens to be in charge? Obviously people have asked this about Star Wars since the Death Star but it’s still a question with no real answer.
I don’t actually care for Resistance (the animated show) all that much as the more childish tone is not my style but in some ways it goes into similar questions (including pirates who help out against the First Order but do not have pure motives at all and are just as happy to take over in their place, and one of the characters has a relative who kept his family fed working for the Empire, and so for them the Empire DID improve their lot). I guess it’s something I muse over a lot now, since not everybody is called to be in a literal rebellion – I’m just probably never going to find myself in a situation where I’m running around guns blazing – and yet somehow things need to be fought against, and at what point are average citizens complicit?
I thought Mayfeld’s snark directed at Cara was because of her being the only Rebel/New Republic member in the group. Anyway, it was a nice arc they had, from animosity to respect. I suspect if he returns again we’ll see a continued progress in his character. I hope so.
So here’s a hypothetical: Grogu is a Foundling; he’s been all but adopted by Din. What if the Kid becomes a Mandalorian? Just picture him in his lil’ helmet and beskar armor…
I don’t believe this episode’s action sequence was just eye candy. As a whole, this episode provides great juxtaposition of the different points of view in the galaxy. Mayfeld may prove that he has a conscience and no love of the Empire’s genocidal destruction but he makes a good point in saying that the New Republic can come off as invaders just as their predecessors. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that their efforts to police the galaxy are exactly what has blinded them to the growing remnants of the Empire that are sure to become the First Order.
As for the action sequence, much of its significance is shown towards its end. Just as Dinn’s position becomes untenable, shots from the sky provide salvation. It doesn’t come from X-wings or the Millenium Falcon like we’re used to though; it comes from Tie fighters. As they pull into the base, we see a throng of supporters cheering them on. This scene reminded me of Luke Skywalker returning to base after destroying the Death Star. While it doesn’t make one want to side with the Empire it does give a good reminder that despite what one might want to think, the Empire is made up of people, not just faceless entities.
“Din murders a lot of people who just want to stop the Empire from using rhydonium as far as we know, and that’s screwed up.”
Arguably that was self-defense. Yeah, if those guys were freedom-fighters trying to take back their planet from the Empire, they shouldn’t have been fighting them — but it’s kind of hard to explain that to someone who’s currently trying to blow you up.
“And then the episode ends with Din trying his very hardest to do a Taken impression, and you know, good on him for trying.”
I watched the episode with my housemate, and he brought up a good point: why would you warn the bad guy that you’re coming like that?
I also wonder how much use it is to get coordinates for a starship. You’d think they wouldn’t stay accurate for very long.
About the facial scanner: remember that we’re seeing the Empire (and that facility in particular) in shambles, and that the weakest point in any security system will always be the people.
In a properly-equipped, fully-functional base, the facial scanner would immediately access the holonet and check all available records to identify the user. If unable to do so, it would either sound an alarm or (more likely) flag the user as “Unknown” in its logs, for immediate review by the nearest administrative officer.
But now the Empire’s imploding and the holonet’s probably down, so the terminal can only access its local database (i.e., the files the ISB uploaded when they installed the terminal). It finds nothing, and again, the user gets flagged and an email gets automatically sent to the base admin. . . but there’ve been so many troop transfers, emergency conscriptions, and field promotions lately that at this point there are more “unknown users” than registered users, so nobody’s bothered checking that server in months.
(Also note that Imperial personnel tend to. . . have a certain look. Just confirming that the user is a human male is probably enough to avoid a lot of red flags.)
I may have to come back to this one on a computer as I have All The Thoughts.
I may have to come back to this one on a computer as I have All The Thoughts.
@7: I suspect “Grogu” is derived from “Daigoro”, the child in Lone Wolf and Cub.
@9: In our world, ATMs have cameras that record the faces of anyone who uses them, without checking them against anything. I can imagine the Imperials wanting a record of whoever used the terminal, and on a stormtrooper base making them take their mask off first would be essential. The security access comes with the code cylinder (the equivalent of anATM card and PIN), not the face.
Great episode. I loved the clever ties to continuity. Guilt over participation in Operation Cinder is central to the Alphabet Squadron books. And thanks for mentioning where that sonic explosive came from. I knew I recognized it from somewhere. I liked the redemption arc; the guy was a scumbag, but it wouldn’t be redemption if he was a nice guy. The face scan was dumb, but I loved the fact that Mando’s bond with Grogu is so strong that he was willing to turn away from lifelong beliefs to find him.
I don’t really see whatever Mayfield went through as redemptive; he’s just having to face the truth about what he is. All that talk about how the New Republic and the Empire are the same aren’t about how other people see things, and he’s not even trying to convince Mando; saying that stuff is how he convinces himself he can sleep at night. Din Djarin isn’t the only Believer in the title.
As for the First Order, what we see in the show seems in line with what we see in The Force Awakens. After twenty years of rule a galaxy-wide Empire was full of corruption and Imperials who were just going along to get along. People like Mayfield who did bad things, not out of any deep conviction but because it was the path of least resistance. But the First Order is going to be run by all the REAL believers–the fascist extremists, and the thralls they try to brainwash.
Pity that we missed out on any exploration of that in the sequel trilogies.
But the First Order is going to be run by all the REAL believers–the fascist extremists, and the thralls they try to brainwash.
So they’re the neo-nazis of the Star Wars Universe? maybe a smidge of Inceldom, too, at least from what I remeber of Kylo Ren in TFA
@20. Matthew: ” why would you warn the bad guy that you’re coming like that?”
Same reason Neeson did it. It’s a threat: I’m coming and if you hurt my kid, very bad things will happen to you.
Might serve as some protection for Grogu.
Inverse had a good article on this episode and the theme of what lines you will cross. https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/mandalorian-season-2-operation-cinder-themes
I had bad feelings about the fight with the pirates or rather freedom fighters? I guess it doesn’t matter what you believe,if someone is out to kill you then you fight back or die.
This episode had a lot of questions that people need to consider always. When is your belief meaningless symbolism vs. the reality of your world and is there ever a way to know how many deaths are “acceptable” in pursuit of your goals.
@20 – rather than location coordinates, presumably they’re getting some uniqueidentifier codes for the starship so they can track it – probably the equivalent of an IMEI plus Gideon’s phone number. It would make sense that any old imperial base would have a copy of the phone list and starship identification codes, and Gideon is flying around in a recognisably imperial cruiser. There has to be some kind of interstellar communications system that ships can access, and each access of that would leave a trace. I’m guessing Mando’s message was stored and forwarded to the ship, and probably also acted as a tracking mechanism.
@21 “About the facial scanner: remember that we’re seeing the Empire (and that facility in particular) in shambles, and that the weakest point in any security system will always be the people.
In a properly-equipped, fully-functional base, the facial scanner would immediately access the holonet and check all available records to identify the user. If unable to do so, it would either sound an alarm or (more likely) flag the user as “Unknown” in its logs, for immediate review by the nearest administrative officer.”
I think there’s a shocking amount of turnover at Imperial bases as well–no-one looked at an unhelmeted Mayfield when they arrived and said “My friend Bob was driving Tanker #5… WTF are you unfamiliar stranger?”
Maybe their holonet connection is unreliable, staff turnover is high, and HR paperwork is slow, so instead of checking against a massive (poorly maintained) whitelist and denying someone in an emergency, the facial scanner instead checks a smaller locally-cached blacklist of imperial enemies?
Can I confess to my slight problem with the name “Grogu”? Every time I see it, I think “Gorgo” the old monster movie they did on the new MST3K. Gorgo is a Godzilla like monster who is captured and put in a circus or zoo until his much bigger mama shows up, trashes a great deal of England, and takes him home.
Granted, except for the Godzilla size thing, there will probably be a lot of similarities, especially with the kind of destruction Mama–I mean Mando will cause Moff Gideon.
And maybe Yoda’s species normally does grow up to be Godzilla sized. It’s just that Yoda didn’t eat properly when he was young.
So, I’m just throwing this out there before next week, but what do we think will be in the season finale?
I’m wondering if, after whatever is in the big climax (for now I’m assuming they’ll get Grogu back…Bo-Katan will probably be involved, there will be some darksaber drama, etc), once all the ends seem tied up, the last shot will perhaps be that seeing stone on Tython, and then we’ll see some cloaked figure approach…maybe with some hint of the identity of the figure (a bionic hand, or a characteristic lightsaber) etc, but probably something to leave us speculating on for the next year ;)
Given the whole Ahsoka/Rangers shows being announced (and that they are going to be part of the same story – I get the impression there may be some crossover potential) I’m kind of wondering if (assuming anybody answers the call, but it seems like that big beam of Force light that shot into the sky is going to have SOME consequence) it will be Ezra. I’m kind of torn on if I want it to be Luke, but I won’t lie, that would probably excite me the most.
Ellynne: I also dislike his name, but for different reasons. “Grow goo?” THIS is what they came up with? It makes him sound like a literal Chia Pet (which of course by now he is on the Internet). I had a suspicion that his name was going to be kinda bad and sadly, I was right. (Doesn’t start with a Y either?) Then I feel like a total @@@@@$$h0le for not liking his name or wanting to call him by it, which is Not Acceptable in this day and age. But he deserves better than to be named…. that, sigh. There are a billion “alien” names they could have thought up that don’t sound like that.
@Lisamarie, I think it was announced that they intend a crossover event, so there is that.
I don’t know if we’re getting Bo-Katan though, just because I don’t feel there is enough time unless the finale is a lot longer. But I do think there will be some Darksaber action, and that is why Din has the beskar spear, and why it survived.
Re: the Title.
A friend of mine just pointed this out to me. Mayfeld saw Din’s face. Maybe now he’s a believer. Not a trace. Of doubt in his mind.
Grogu is GeORGe lUcas, anagrammed. Yeah, it doesn’t flow…
@36 I think the title is a cute play on words.
Obviously Hess is STILL a believer. It was obviously intended as an ominous foreshadowing, encouraging the viewer to believe that Mayfeld(there is no “I” in his name) WAS still an Imperial believer and a threat to the mission.
But ultimately, IMO the title refers to Din.
@34, The truth is there isn’t a name that the fandom would agree on as the “right” one. So it was best they did what they did, not worried one but about pleasing a fandom that can’t be satisifed.
@36KalvinKingsley, Mayfeld probably got too much pain for his trouble. Possibly he got too much rain & not enough sunshine?
Kato
Aeryl @35 – I was wondering the same thing regarding if there would be enough time for it, but I have noticed that when it needs to, the show seems fine in jumping to whatever plot development is next (eg, we didn’t stall on finding Tython or Ahsoka, etc).
So I could maybe see that halfway or maybe even 3/4 through the episode, Bo-Katan shows up since we know she’s also in the process of tracking Gideon, and so they might just end up converging.
But yeah, the spear is definitely important. I think the knob might also have a part to play as well (perhaps bringing Grogu back to himself, etc).
I’m fine with the name. I think it’s a littly silly sounding but who am I to judge some alien culture’s names? And actually, it’s become instinctual for me quicker than I expected.
@39 Lately, the only thing fandom seems to agree on is that anything and everything is flawed, unless it fits their preconceived notions to the n-th degree. We’re living in a golden age of science fiction, and everyone is whining about nits and details. :-(
@42, I hope to never be counted among their number. For all it’s flaws, I love TRoS as much as I love all the other movies.
But I feel I came to a healthy perspective with my love of Star Wars years ago.
I love Star Wars like most parents love their children. Which means that I can recognize that they do not necessarily meet my expectations, while still loving and appreciating what they do give me.
This is a perspective I have gained after a decade of mediocre school band performances in badly designed acoustic halls.
So it can suck in everyone else’s perception, but I can still love it.
I can recognize other people’s valid complaints, and I can still love it.
And I hope THAT never changes.
The early part of the episode, with Din and Mayfeld in the juggernaut, gave me a very strong ‘Wages of Fear’ vibe. A lot of Mandalorian episodes have referred to or riffed on classic movies, and that’s the one that immediately sprang to mind for this episode.
Maybe not the best place to bring this up but,
Whatever happened to all the leaks and breastbeating that season 2 was ruined? Disney was interfering, Pedro quit mid-season, etc. Supposedly there would be a huge tonal shift mid-season that would upset everyone and ruin the show and it was Disney’s interference or something.
Now Disney can do no wrong and we are all clamoring for 10 new Star Wars shows as if none of the sequel movies ever happened and ever rumor about Mando was bull excrement.
Seriously, what was up with that?
@Thomas: “Seriously, what was up with that?”
I’m usually plugged in to current genre news and I never heard any of that. Sounds like a tempest in a teapot. Maybe it was simple trolling on whatever forum you frequent.
@45/46 – I saw a little bit of it from YouTube video headlines (which I did not click, but my algorithm usually suggests stuff like react channels, etc, some of which I really enjoy, but I’m not interested in the saltier/conspiracy/ragey type of channels). So, yeah there were all sorts of rumors that Pedro was qutting because he was upset he couldn’t show his face (none of which I ever gave much credence to since he took the job knowing full well what the role was), plus a few off the supporting actors and actresses had various controversies associated with them so Disney was going to fire them all, etc. I hadn’t heard the Disney interfering stuff but honestly it kind of sounds like the ‘Abrams-cut’ theory about how Disney purposefully ‘sabotaged’ Rise of Skywalker because they wanted to screw Abrams over because he was going to work on a DC movie.
@43 – I have made that same analogy although to me it’s more like my crazy/quirky family (which I grew up in). There’s some stuff that’s annoying or cheesy or maybe even problematic but it’s still mine. It’s much more fun to find things I enjoy in all the movies and focus on that and the parts that bring me joy. I did a full rewatch of all 11 movies (it was part of a musical live blog I was doing) and they all have things I can criticize and things I enjoy. Even the OT has some downright silly/dumb parts for all they are worshipped.
Evenin TROS there are definitely times I was watching it thinking, “Man, this is a horrible movie” in terms of some of the plot decisions/plot holes but I was still grinning and enjoying it. In some ways it’s my favorite of the sequels because it hit a lot of beats I enjoyed (although I really love some of the thematic meat of TLJ and the cinematography is gorgeous). TFA is still the one I am probably the harshest on, but can still enjoy parts of it. Don’t get me wrong I can certainly rant about what I wish they had done differently (and like….I wouldn’t totally cry if they somehow got undone, but I also don’t think that is happening) but I also don’t enjoy the channels/forums that are nothing but dumping on them or gatekeeping the fandom.
There’s enough Star Wars to go around at any rate :) And I have a feeling that 20 years ago there will be a generation that starts defending the sequels the way a lot of the prequels are getting defended now, despite their flaws. There are still people who connected with and loved those movies (myself included lol).
@45: What was up with that is what’s always up with Star Wars rumors: most of them are wrong. The signal to noise ratio is so bad there’s no point listening to them, especially the Mandom Fenace YouTubers..
An idea I had this morning:
I’ve been wondering if the New Republic encounters this season were building to anything. We had two reps show up in Ep 2, chasing Din but eventually letting him off with a warning because extenuating circumstances. One of them shows up again to investigate after the raid on the Imperial base on Navarro; and he’s clearly not satisfied with the story he gets from Greef and Cara, that no one else was involved. You also had the Razor Crest coming out of nowhere to blast the TIE’s – IIRC that was close enough to town to have witnesses, and the people Greef had repairing the Crest can put two and two together. The New Republic officer probably knows Din was involved, even if the local authorities officially won’t comment.
Which brings us to this episode. Cara is able to get Mayfeld sprung, apparently legitimately. How? What reason could she give? Then at the end, she says she’ll mention that Mayfeld ‘died in the blast’ in her report. I’ve seen people discussing whether it was right/in character to let him go, but no one mentions the report. What report? What blast? Who is it going to and what is she putting in there?
My thought: Cara tipped off the New Republic to Gideon. She got permission to spring Mayfeld to investigate. The report she’s making is a mostly complete description of what happened. And because the New Republic guys have a pretty good idea about Din’s involvement in the Navarro base, they’re willing to go along.
So juuuuust maybe… when Din threw down the gauntlet, it got Gideon looking off in one direction. And here comes a New Republic fleet from a direction he wasn’t expecting and is totally unprepared for. ^_-
The last bit is pure speculation, but I look forward to seeing what they actually do tomorrow!