– Spoiler Review –
The Mandalorian “Chapter 8 – Redemption” brings the first season of the first Star Wars live-action series to an end with an explosive blast of a finale, answering plenty of questions and offering great opportunities for the show’s upcoming second season.
Baby Yoda captured! Mandalorian, Greef Karga, and Cara Dune surrounded by Moff Gideon and his legion of troopers! Despite such a big cliffhanger, the episode doesn’t immediately open on any resolution to those storylines, instead opting for a quite hilarious beginning, which finds the two speeder bike troopers waiting on their orders, fighting with each other and their curiosity regarding the little squirming package they picked up. Considering everything that comes next, it was a nice reprieve before the episode jumped into the action and never really let up, while also answering some questions, leaving certain ones still open, and providing an intriguing path for the next season. The two troopers, one of which was punching Baby Yoda’s head through the bag he has it in, meet the Child’s nurse/protector IG-11and suffer an appropriate fate for their actions. As Moff Gideon offers terms for surrender, revealing he knows more than any of our heroes might like about them, IG-11 comes racing in on a speeder-bike horse and wrecks absolute havoc on the town’s infestation of Imperials and the blockade outside the bar. The push and pull of the resulting scenes are excellent shot and paced, as Mando, Carga, and Dune break out and begin dwindling the Moff’s forces, but he returns to the scene to set them back; a flame trooper comes in, Baby Yoda fights back (bless!); they get some important help in the sewers before having to lose another member; and the big, finale battle between Din Djarin and Moff Gideon. The episode has Taika Waititi written all over it, from the big set pieces to the often humorous interplay between characters, and ends up being my favorite of the season.
Some reveals dropped within the episode don’t offer much surprise, but I’m glad we’ve done away with the wondering by finally answering them: What’s the Mando’s real name? Din Djarin, as Pedro Pascal gave away in an interview released the same day as the season premiere, meaning he isn’t directly related to any helmeted Mando or character we’ve met before (unlike a certain recent movie dealt with); What does he look like under the helmet? Why, Pedro Pascal, of course (when not played by one of his doubles)! Considering we got flashbacks to a younger Din’s life, with the full scene played out this episode, it’s not a big surprise, but since they were teasing it one could wonder if maybe something happened to him between then and now, like a scarred face due to a compromised helmet on his many adventures, but no, he looks like a mostly un-blemished and very kind Pedro Pascal, a decision I enjoyed even more due to his status as Baby Yoda’s Daddy cemented within the show by the end of the episode; Who rescued little Din after his parents were killed in a Separatist raid? While I had some hopes it would be a recognizable Jedi (like Hayden coming back to play Anakin Skywalker), it’s been fairly obvious it would be a Mandalorian, but the clan it ended up being was a bit of a surprise, especially since it ties into a big reveal with Moff Gideon by the end of the episode; What happened to the Mandos who helped Din and Baby Yoda escape in “Chapter 3?” As one might guess from the large amount of Imperials, they were mostly killed, though the Armorer, the leader of Din’s covert, survived, toiling away beneath the city to make sure none of their sacrifices (and beskar) go to waste. I’m glad she got as much time as she did this episode, helping push Mando into a new role, giving him a jetpack (finally!), and restocking his wears, and after an awesome display of prowess, I’m really hoping she gets more time in season two regardless of its new thrust.
Ginacarlo Esposito brilliantly plays Moff Gideon, coming off as more confident but just a calm and collected Gus Fring, from his time in Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, and I’m very happy he’ll live to chase Din and Baby Yoda another day. Gideon mentions the Siege of Mandalore, something we’ve been hearing about for years now and will finally see on screen once The Clone Wars returns in February on Disney+, while some of things Din mentions give hints on what happened to Mandalore since we left it in Star Wars Rebels, as does the weapon Gideon’s seen wielding at the end of the episode. Din also offers some details on Gideon, who according to Cara Dune was executed for war crimes, which I’m very curious to learn more about (corrupt New Republic members letting him go? Something else?), as he tells his motley crew Gideon was an ISB agent on Mandalore, hence how he would know who Din was under the armor. After the awesome battle between Gideon in his TIE and Din with his jetpack, Gideon cuts his way out of his destroyed TIE, using the fabled Darksaber (which looked very good in live-action)! This blade has been around in Star Wars TV for years now, first seen in The Clone Wars, wielded by Pre Vizsla (voice by Jan Favreau, who created this show) before Darth Maul killed him and took it for himself. The blade remained with Maul for nearly two decades, until Star Wars Rebels, when Sabine Wren took it from him, trained with it in one of the show’s best episodes, and used it to help liberate her family, and later her people from Imperial control. She gave it to Bo-Katan (over the course of the two part premiere for season 4), the sister to Mandalore’s duchess during the Clone Wars, who united the clans under the blade. We haven’t seen it since, so the how and why it managed to get into Gideon’s hands, likely during this Great Purge, remains to be seen, but I hope this doesn’t mean Bo-Katan died, because it would be awesome to get Katee Sackhoff in live-action SW, among other things. Pre Viszla was the leader of Death Watch, a group of terrorists who didn’t agree with Mandalore’s pacifist ways during the Clone Wars, so I was very surprised when Din’s rescue flashback reveals it was actually Death Watch who saved him from the Separatists! Was this pre- or post-Maul intervention in the group? Was Din part of Death Watch then for a bit or did he just go into a foundling program and was adopted by the clan we see him with on Nevarro? So many answers come with so many exciting new questions!
After Kuiil’s death last episode, I was curious if we’d get anymore and we did: IG-11! After his rehabilitation, he’s still a killer machine, but his primary programming revolves around Baby Yoda, and his interactions with the group and how he goes about fulfilling his job led to some funny and awesome scenes; his sacrifice for Baby Yoda, and the group at large, was an excellent end to the character. Cara Dune manages to make it out alive, but for now she and Din are parting ways, with her potentially joining Karga’s Bounty Hunter’s Guild. I didn’t quite buy her frenzy over Din’s injuries, nor did I buy his injuries were as life threatening as he and everyone kept making them out to be, but I love Gina Carano’s earnest acting for Dune and hope we see more of her in season two. Karga I could take or leave, but I never sympathized with him more than when he begins taking shots at the bar as their standoff escalates; I also died laughing when he asks the Child to do the hand-wavy thing to take down Gideon’s TIE, to which the Child responds with a cheery wave. Of course the biggest hanging thread, never touched on here, is who came to visit Fennec’s body back in “Chapter 5,” making me hope she and her visitor will be seen again in season two.
There were three episodes this season that felt largely aimless to me, Chapters 4-6, as they seemed to be actively avoiding the main plot of the show by taking us on weekly adventures, which isn’t a bad thing by any means, but I was left disappointed. Now that Din’s job is to train, protect, and return Baby Yoda back to his people, the idea of weekly adventures has been built into the show’s narrative, so I’m less likely to mind episodes next season similar to those I did mind this season. The Armorer doesn’t have an answer as to where or who Baby Yoda’s people are, but she leaves it up to Din to figure out: does that mean he’ll end up finding Luke Skywalker and dropping little Baby Yoda off with the Jedi Master? Or with other Force users still around in the galaxy? Actually finding the Yoda/Yaddle species’ home planet? It’s an exciting and fun premise for the upcoming season and I can’t wait to see where the show will take us next.
Here are a few other things:
- Jon Favreau took to social media to reveal the show will return Fall 2020, but also tease what might be within, as he paired the news with the picture of particularly large and fit Gamorrean!
- Beyond my links to several Darksaber-centric episodes of Star Wars Rebels above, io9 has a great list of both TCW and Rebels episodes worth checking out to learn more about its history!
- Various states’ Department of Transportation freeway signs have been capitalizing on Baby Yoda fever! I’m hoping to see these around Milwaukee, as Wisconsin typically has some funny ones, even for May the 4th!
The Mandalorian “Chapter 8 – Redemption” is the series best episode yet and provides an overall excellent finale to Star Wars’ first foray into live-action TV.
+ Plenty of answers, but plenty of new questions
+ Humor and action throughout
+ Setting up for Season 2
+ Darksaber intrigue
+ Mando is now baby Yoda’s dad
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
THE MANDALORIAN REVIEWS
Season One: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 – The Child | Chapter 3 – The Sin | Chapter 4 – The Sanctuary | Chapter 5 – The Gunslinger | Chapter 6 – The Prisoner | Chapter 7 – The Reckoning