Welcome back to the blog readers. I think by now it's safe to say that last week's episode of The Mandalorian was not a very good one. There were a few bright spots, like Bo-Katan finally getting the Darksaber (albeit less dramatic than I thought), and Grogu as always). But the weak parts were very weak. Jack Black and Lizzo felt out of place and the nonsensical plot was a mess.
Was this week's episode, titled "Chapter 23: The Spies," written by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, better than last week's? Or are we heading for a major tailspin, one that will leave us all deflated at a bad season? Stick around and I shall share my thoughts, with this note.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
Right off the bat, you know what I thought about last week's episode. I was really hoping too, since the episode was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and guest stars one of my favorite people in the world: Christopher Lloyd. Great Scott, that episode was poor. I'm sorry guys, I had to. So I was waiting with bated breath for this week's episode. I was getting kind of nervous, if I can be honest. And I can confidently say that even though we have a very bad boy, we also have a very good episode, possibly one of the best of the series.
I want to start my spoiler review by very hesitatingly punishing my baby. Grogu, you were a very bad boy this episode. It starts with us returning to Nevarro and Mando getting surprised with alcohol and a reworked IG-11 (now IG-12) by his friend Greef Karga. The big thing with the new droid is that is has to be manually operated now, and one of the funniest moments of the season happened when it is revealed an Anzellan (who I think is Babu Frik) is operating it. He gets out and literally tells Grogu "Bad baby, no squeeze me." Come on, that was good. Grogu gets in the droid and causes some trouble in Nevarro. Bab baby, indeed.
We also get the reveal that Elia Kane is in fact working for Moff Gideon still, and is responsible for the pirates that attacked Nevarro a few weeks ago. Looks like Captain Teva was right all along. And it seems the true villain behind all of this is the returning Grand Admiral Thrawn, who we just found out will be in Ahsoka played by Lars Mikkelsen. I would not be surprised at all if he shows up in next week's finale. And it seems like my theory was right: that this is all the buildup to the First Order that we will see in the sequels. The idea of a Shadow Council that is awaiting the return of Thrawn like he is some sort of messiah is fascinating to me. Maybe he is one of the driving forces behind the First Order.
Katee Sackhoff puts on possibly her best performance of the season as Bo-Katan, and the character finally puts herself in a position of leadership. Giving out orders and strategizing, this is the Bo-Katan that we have been waiting for. She brings such a fire to the performance this episode that she may be a dark horse contender for Best Actress in a Drama Series at the Emmys in my opinion. And we finally learn how Moff Gideon got the Darksaber in the first place. When the Empire began destroying Mandalore, Bo-Katan surrendered to Gideon thinking her people would be spared and was betrayed, having the blade taken and her planet wiped out. The emotion Sackhoff puts in here is award-worthy in my mind.
The fact that some Mandalorians survived the attack and remained loyal to Bo-Katan was a nice touch in all this. And knowing Gideon is aware of the Mandalorian plan only heightened the tension and created some moments of dread for me. And it all led to the ending of the episode. The Mandalorians are attacked by a giant creature that I believe is the Mythosaur and are forced to flee their vehicle. They arrive at their destination: the Great Forge, and are ambushed by Moff Gideon's forces and led right into a trap. All the Mandalorians and Grogu are able to escape with the exception of two. Mando is captured by Gideon and Paz Vizsla is killed.
No lie though, while Bo-Katan had the best performance of the episode, Paz was the real MVP of this episode. He put Axe Woves in his place mentally by beating him in Mandalorian chess or whatever the hell that game is that they were playing on the barge, and then literally by beating the crap out of him. And then his death scene was just so brutally emotional. He volunteers to stay behind and hold off Gideon's forces and takes out all of the stormtroopers, but is quickly taken down by three Praetorian Guards. It is such a somber ending for such a standout character. And his death has been possibly the most emotional moment of the series.
My review for the episode is over, but since we have one episode left before the finale, I wanted to introduce to you a new segment for the review that I like to call Theory Time. In this week's installment, I will be discussing the future of the series and how it may tie in to the sequel trilogy.
NOTE: Again, I will be using spoilers for my theories, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
When Moff Gideon is talking to the Shadow Council about the return of Thrawn, one of the officers asks him about Dr. Pershing's research. He replies that the research is lost for now. We know that he is an expert in cloning technology, so what if this tech getting into the Shadow Council's hands is what allows for the creation of Snoke and the resurrection of Palpatine? We know from The Rise of Skywalker that Snoke was not a being made from birth, but by physical creation, and that Palpatine was resurrected through ancient Sith magic, so what would stop them from doing something like this? The Empire has literally done far worse, like genocide for one.
My final theory has to do with Thrawn himself. We know that he is about to make his grand return to the Star Wars universe, played by Lars Mikkelsen, the same actor who voiced him in Star Wars: Rebels. I had alluded to my prediction in the review section that he could show up for next week's finale, and I honestly believe it. I also can believe that he is the mastermind behind all of the previous events of the series so far. Capturing Grogu to get his blood, that conveniently has the Force in it, so they can bring back our bro Sheev, and he may even be behind the Client from the first season.
Thank you all for reading this installment of Theory Time, and I will hopefully see you all for next week's finale.
This episode of The Mandalorian was possibly one of the best of the series, with some laughs, pure action and a whole lot of heart, with high as hell stakes heading into next week's finale. Thank you all so much for reading my review and I will see you all next week for my spoiler review of the finale and of the season as a whole.
Comments