Last time on the penultimate episode
of The Mandalorian, said Mandalorian was “hired” by Greef Karga to help the
Bounty Guild get the ex-Imperials out of Navarro. Apparently, since Mando, the
Kid, and the hidden Mandalorian enclave left, his former Client has more or
less taken completely control of the volcanic world. Sensing a trap, Mando
assembled a crew of allies to back him up. Said crew consisted of Cara Dune,
Kuiil the Ugnaught, and a refurbished IG-11. After the Kid saved Karga’s life,
the Bounty Guild agent revealed that he’d planned to kill Mando and take the
Kid himself, but had a change of heart. Cara didn’t really trust him, but Mando
did. They slipped into Navarro’s main city by pretending Cara had “captured”
Mando and was going to turn him in for a reward. Meanwhile, Kuiil was ordered
to make for this ship and hold up until things cooled down with IG-11 and the
Kid. Unfortunately, the Client is gunned down by his own employer, a Moff named
Gideon, and Kuiil is killed by some Scout Troopers in route to the Razor Crest.
Not a great place for our heroes to be left in, let’s see if they can get out
of this one. Let’s get to it.
Chapter 8: Redemption
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| I think this is the longest Stormtrooper scene in the entire 40+ year history of Star Wars. |
We open on the two Scout Troopers
zooming away on their speeder bikes, the child in a knapsack. That’s no way to
carry a baby, dicks! They pause to get confirmation to make the final approach
to town, where their contact advises to make doubly sure they have the right “asset”
as Moff Gideon had killed a group of local troops minutes before. The troopers
kind of hang out for a couple of minutes while waiting for additional confirmation
from the boss. Their contact advises that they’ll probably have to wait a
while, as Gideon just killed an officer for interrupting them. The troopers
kind of goof off for a few minutes before IG-11 walks up and demands they hand
the Kid over. IG-11 beats them both to death when the refuse his request, and
steals one of their speeder bikes. It and the Kid ride off at high speed.
The heroes are still pinned down by
Gideon’s forces. Mando suggests that they beat a hasty retreat through the sewers,
as the hidden enclave of Mandalorians formally on the planet built several access
tunnels through them. Outside, the Stormtroopers prepare a plasma gattling gun
to light our heros up. Thankfully, Mando found the tunnel. Gideon takes a
moment to pontificate evilly. He mentions disturbing levels of detail about Carasynthia
Dune of Alderaan, disgraced Magistrate Greef Karga, and the decommissioned
Mandalorian Hunter, Din Djarin (WE HAVE A NAME PEOPLE) while trying to scare
the crap out of them. I hope no one minds that I’ll be referring to the
Mandalorian as Djarin from this point onward. Gideon is willing to deal, but is
clear that our heroes can’t particularly trust him unless their actions benefit
his self-interest. He gives them until nightfall to make their decision.
Karga wants to deal, Cara most
definitely doesn’t, and Djarin realizes who they’re dealing with. Apparently,
Moff Gideon was a scary as hell Imperial Moff that was supposedly execute for
his war crimes years ago. He knows that it’s Gideon in part because Gideon knew
his name, one that hadn’t been spoken aloud since he was a child. It’s here
where we get confirmation that, while Din Djarin is most definitely a Mandalorian
by upbringing and creed, he isn’t one by birth.
 |
| Yeah, this totally explains the Droid hate. |
We get a flashback to when Din
Djarin’s village was bombarded by droids when he was a child. We see dozens die
by blaster fire as Din’s parents rush him to a cellar. They lock him in for his
protection seconds before a massive explosion more than likely killed them. A Super
Battle Droid opens the cellar doors and was about to execute Din before a Mandalorian
warrior killed it and saved him. We then see a squad of Mandalorians fly in on
jetpacks and clear out the droid troopers as best they can. His savior flies
off with him, and after that inducted him into the ways of the Mandalorian. In the
present, Djarin explains that a newer aspect of that creed is that their
personal names are almost entirely purged, never spoken aloud and the only
record of it being in the records of Mandalor. Said records would have been
read by Gideon, who was an ISB officer during the Purge. Djarin believes that
the Kid escaped, as if Gideon had him, then the need to keep the group alive
would be gone.
Djarin tries to call Kuiil again,
but instead gets the Kid’s giggles followed by IG-11 explaining what happened.
IG-11 says that he’s fulfilling his base function. To Nurse and Protect. The battle
droid then flies through the city, killing Stormtroopers left and right as he
goes. He makes it to the square, creating an impressive distraction as he kills
troopers. The others join the fray, with the tide of battle pretty much turning
in their favor after Djarin knabs the Imps rail gun and starts killing them
with it.
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| Psst. Nobody tell him literally millions of people have seen him without his helmet now. He's having a rough enough week as is. |
Gideon stops his assault with two shots,
one to Djarin’s head to distract him, and the second to the rail gun’s ammo
canister. The blast sends Djarin flying, knocking him out. The others grab Djarin
and return to the Cantina. Cara tries to wake Djarin up as Karga asks IG-11 to
break the grate blocking their exit open. Gideon orders his troops to burn them
out. Djarin wakes up and tells them to go. Cara notices he’s bleeding, and
tries to take the helmet off to check his wounds but he refuses. He gives Cara
his Mandalorian medallion so the “Cohort” will recognize them as allies.
Outside, a flame trooper walks up and starts torching the building. I guess
they’re taking Gideon’s orders literally. The trooper walks in, and the child
calls upon the Force and pushes the flame back, killing him. IG-11 hands the Kid
over, orders she protect him, and swears that he’ll look after and bring the
Mandalorian. Djarin wants a quick death, saying that IG’s are all hunters. IG-11
refuses and tries to remove the helmet. Djarin threatens him with a blaster, saying
that no living thing has seen him without his helmet since he swore his creed
and he’d rather die than see that oath broken. IG-11 points out he’s not a living
thing and takes the helmet off. We have two firsts people, we have the name Din
Djarin, and what he looks like! Djarin looks really exhausted as well as beaten
up. IG-11 sprays him with Bacta spray, that should help him heal faster.
 |
| The signet alone probably made this whole headache worth it. The Jetpack is just gravy. |
In the sewers, IG-11 and a limping
Din Djarin catch up to the other three. They wander the tunnels, looking for
some way out. Djarin believes that they’ll need the other Mandalorians to escort
them back to the Razor Crest. They reach a point in the sewers that Djarin recognizes
and he leads them to the Cohort. They only find dozens of Mandalorian Helmets, most
clearly damaged. Djarin is clearly heartbroken to see all the death and demands
to know if Karga’s hunters did this. Karga claims to know nothing about it and
that the Mandalorian’s just vanished after Djarin and the Kid left. He almost
attacks Karga anyway before the Armorer reveals herself. She says that the
Imperials arrived after they revealed themselves. She hopes some got away, but
refuses to leave herself until she salvages the Beskar that the dead left
behind. She asks to see the child, the
one that was deemed worthy of such destruction. She claims that it looks helpless,
but Djarin informs her of the child’s ability to move objects with it’s mind.
She tells him of the Legendary Mandalor doing battle with sorcerers that had
such power, the Jedi. While the Jedi were the enemies of the Mandalorian, by
their custom, the Child is a foundling. She charges Din Djarin with protecting
the child, to raise it as his own and to see the Child back to his own people.
When he points out the insanity of asking him to search the galaxy for a tribe
of enemy sorcerers, she merely states that This is the Way. Djarin wants to
stay and help the Armorer but she refuses him. Instead, she gives him his
signet, the Mudhorn, and deems them a clan of two. I guess Karga and Cara are
chopped liver.
The Imperials track them down and
prepare to attack the Cohort. The Armorer has IG-11 to hold them off as she
hands over her last gift, a jetpack for Djarin. She’s full of free stuff, the Armorer.
She bids them farewell. The group walks off. A few minutes later, the Imperials find the Armorer
kneeling before her forge with tools in hand. When they demand to know where
they are and touch her helmet, she beats them to death with her tools, MELTING
one in her forge. That’s going to take forever to clean out.
The group finds an old ferry in the
river of lava that they can ride. They free it from the bank and climb aboard.
Only a few seconds after setting off, the ferry’s droid ferryman reactivates
and starts ferrying them down river. They come upon the entrance to the river
tunnel, but Djarin sees a crowd of Imperials waiting by the tunnel. IG-11 offers
to help them. He gives Djarin the child and his jetpack, and tells them that he’s
going to use his bomb to help them escape. Djarin is, somewhat shockingly, sad to
see IG-11 go. The droid marches down the river of lava into the crowd of Imperials
and blows them to smithereens.
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| The journey for one ends, but for another, it is just beginning. |
As they come out of the tunnel,
Moff Gideon starts strafing the boat from his TIE fighter. Karga tries to get
the Kid to use the “Magic Hand” thing to take it down, but the baby isn’t
getting it. Out of other options, Djarin
throws on his jetpack and takes off. He leaps over the TIE fighter and hits it
with his grappling hook. He gets on the ship while Gideon does his damnedest to
knock him off. Djarin gets some thermo charges on the TIE Fighter and blows it
out of the sky. He regroups with the others. They start celebrating, rather
prematurely I would think, about what to do next. Karga and Cara make plans to
stay on Navarro and rebuild the Guild there. They offer to let Djarin stay, but
he has more pressing concerns. He flies off with the Kid. After burying Kuiil
near where he fell, the two set off again. There’s a very cute moment where Djarin
sees the Kid is wearing his medallion, and tells him to hang onto it.
As they fly off, we cut over to
Gideon’s TIE Fighter. Jawas are already raiding it. They’re scared off by Gideon,
who uses a lightsaber to cut himself free. Not just any Lightsaber… the
Darksaber. Oh no.
Before my wrap up, here’s why that particular
lightsaber is a big deal. The Darksaber was the personal weapon of Tarre
Vizsla, the first Mandalorian in history to be inducted into the Jedi Order. By
all accounts, he was a gifted Jedi and powerful leader amongst his people.
After his death, the Jedi held his saber in a vault, until it was “liberated”
by other members of house Vizsla and has since been an immensely important
relic and status symbol to the Mandalorian people. For guy’s like Djarin, Gideon
having the saber is like seeing a Nazi holding Excalibur. Or at least I think
it’ll fill him with that level of fear and disgust when he finds out.
This was a spectacular finish to
the first season of The Mandalorian. We got to see heartfelt sacrifices, the
new lore of Star Wars expanded, to finally see our heroes face and hear his
name, and see new plots develop. The battle scenes were great, with IG-11 using
the Imperials as target practice and the others obliterating them with the
heavy cannons they stole. It was very interesting to hear how the Mandalorian’s
viewed the Jedi. Considering all three trilogies and most of the shows followed
Force Users, I for one at least take for granted how well known the powers and mythos
of the Jedi are in the Galaxy Far, Far away. Obviously, the laymen of the Star
Wars Galaxy, and more importantly the enemies of the Jedi wouldn’t know much of
the Force, it’s power, limitations and philosophy. Plus, we’re still at a point
where Jedi as a concept is more myth than fact to those not in the know. Moff Gideon,
while a late arrival to the show, was an excellent villain for the episode. He’s
confident, violent, and probably a high functioning sociopath, which is a very dangerous
mix. I liked how he was actually pretty upfront about being only as trustworthy
for as long as they had things that he wanted. And his careful take down of
Djarin was calculated and yet merciless. The fact that he has a historical
relic of the Mandalorian as important as the Darksaber as his personal weapon pretty
much guarantees he’ll be back with a vengeance. I do hope that the second
season drops sometime soon. I want to see more of the adventures of Din Djarin
and his foundling. And to know what the Heck happened with that mysterious figure
that picked up Fennec Shand’s corpse. More plot threads to unravel, I guess. We’ll
just have to wait and see. Have a goodnight, everybody.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/32739329
Twitter: @basicsSuperhero
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