An attempt to put all this behind him may lead to a lot of dead bodies.
What They Say:
An old rival extends an invitation for The Mandalorian to make peace.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As we get into the first half of the two-part finale, this one coming a few days early since Rise of Skywalker is out on Friday, there’s a lot to like. For me, it’s the return of Deborah Chow directing as I really enjoyed her take on the third episode, which is still my favorite of the season so far. She puts in another strong installment here in orchestrating everything and delivers well. The other reason I enjoyed this episode a lot is that it tugs on events from before to bring in a few characters like Kuiil and Cara, which for some reason people expected to not see again. This is doing some minor worldbuilding and with a bounty hunter, contacts are ket as you never know when you’ll need something they can bring to the table. And the Mandalorian definitely keeps all options available if he can.
With Greef contacting the Mandalorian on the chance he’s still alive, he’s put together a new deal with the Client that will give everyone what they want. The basics make a lot sense in that the Client has beefed up the Imperial presence in the town since what went down with the Mandalorians before and that’s killing Guild business. So Greef wants to bring the Mandalorian in on a job that will use him as bait to bring out the Client so that they can kill him. That’ll wipe clean the Mandalorian’s slate and he can keep the kid while Greef gets the Guild moving again in the area. It’s not a bad deal but it’s also obviously the worst deal because you can see how Greef will take advantage of it completely once he has hands on the Mandalorian. Still, there’s some truth to what Greef is talking about as the place, when they do get there later in the episode, is nothing but white helmets.
Realizing that he can run only so much, especially after that prison break mission that went as bad as it did, the Mandalorian does make the logical choice to accept the job but brings his own conditions into it upon arrival. Grabbing Kuiil is helpful since he wants him to watch the child while also beefing up his carrier. Kuiil, for his part, insists on bringing the blurgs, which helps a bit, and a rebuilt IG-11 that’s now totally his servant and without the bounty hunter side. Not that the Mandalorian believes him as his hate of droids runs deep and wide, even if he does agree to bring him along. The other aspect is bringing Cara into it, which she’s not exactly keen on until he mentions there’ll be Imperials to kill. She’s enjoying her time on that backwater where he saw her last, running the rubes for some money and drink, but the chance to deal with people like this gets her into mission mode.
Though it’s a bit unnecessary overall, there’s a fun little diversion along the way during an overnight encampment that fits in with the whole Western theme. It whittles the numbers down a bit, shows some of the dangers that exist out in the worlds, and lets a pretty fun action sequence play out that’s just not like most of what we’ve seen before. But it’s the calm before the storm of what happens in the city where there are so many troopers, far more than Greef had lead on about, and a real sense of dread growing about it. We do get some decent time with the Client, which allows Herzon to opine so wonderfully a little more about things like the child or the Beskar and how it’s being used now, and that really paints him in an interesting light compared to most of the film Imperials.
But when we see things shake down in such a bad way that the bodies are stacked and our “side” is now facing off against an impressive number of Stormtroopers and what I think are Death Troopers? Oh, the stakes have most assuredly changed and it ends on that terrible cliffhanger that will have people biting fingernails for the next ten days. For me, I was delighted to see a TIE Fighter land in such a creative way as it definitely adds some neat design elements. I also was absolutely delighted to see the Imperial Troop Transport used as that was one of the best toys I had as a kid playing with all of this stuff. The introduction of Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon has all the right power and command here and I’m hopeful in the brief time that we have in the finale there it touches upon some of how the post-Imperial structure is working. We’ve had some of it in the Aftermath novels but I’d love to get a bit more here from someone of this level directly. Esposito definitely fills out the uniform well and comes in with all the authority I’d expect from a Moff.
In Summary:
There’s a lot going on in this episode and that’s without talking about the two times the child uses Force abilities here. They’re definitely interesting moments that expands on things and shows the “innocence of youth” that I hope we get cleared up at some point when it comes to what the child is actually all about. I definitely liked Cara seeing the Mandalorian’s ship and setup and some of the dialogue between the two and the slow growth of the group. The big Imperial moment is definitely a win for the show in stroking the nostalgia but this was a powerful force that kept order in so many systems for decades that even after the fall it would end up in broken hands that would try to use it. I’m eager to see what this Moff brings to the table and just how much might be under his command as we explore more of the post-Return of the Jedi state of things.
Grade: A-
