– Spoiler Review –
The penultimate episode of The Mandalorian’s second season, “Chapter 15 – The Believer,” allows Din Djarin a chance to deal with the revelations facing him as he explores the galaxy, all from an unlikely, and criminal, place.
Here we are, 15 Chapters in, and this is the first time The Mandalorian hasn’t featured a single glance at the Child aka Grogu aka Baby Yoda (I don’t count the recaps). It was weird how I almost didn’t notice this little factoid until mulling over the episode, but I think it speaks to the strength of Chapter 15’s focus and pace, as things quickly escalate on the team’s way to finding an Imperial terminal to allow Migs Mayfeld a chance to help them find Moff Gideon. Not noticing Grogu also highlights the big, interesting (for the most part…) cast Din has assembled for his adventures, allowing them all a chance or moment to shine here. Could the absence of Grogu also be a way to prepare us for a time when he’s not featured on the show, despite Din’s rousing speech at the end telling us he won’t let the kid go quietly? It’s probably unlikely, but I feel like the world and potential characters/situations Din gets himself into would still be entertaining even without Grogu, as Chapter 15 suggests is possible, but I hope it doesn’t happen any time soon. However, maybe it’s something to prepare yourselves for, folks, just in case, especially if a Jedi truly comes calling after Grogu’s little meditation moment on Tython…
The return of Mayfeld is full of mixed feelings, as I wasn’t interested much in the character in “Chapter 6 – The Prisoner,” but he actually gets a great role here that helps Din begin to process the larger world he’s stepping into, however actor/comedian Bill Burr joins the show’s growing list of transphobic performers (we’ll get to that in a moment). It seems time in prison has given Mayfeld a lot of time to think about his life and his involvement with the Empire and criminal endeavors, and since he likes to talk a lot and Din doesn’t, having them paired together offers him the opportunity to tell us all about it. This would be annoying, and it starts off feeling that way, but Rick Famuyiwa’s script (and begrudgingly, Burr’s performance) really dives into Mayfeld and provides an interesting point-of-view on the galaxy that gives the silent Din much to consider. Mayfeld talks about his past and how he was simply doing what he did to survive, much like Din is now, seemingly breaking his rule about the helmet by taking it off to put on the Imperial trooper’s helmet. As far as Mayfeld sees it, of course everyone will have their own beliefs, there’s a galaxy-worth of planets full of their own thoughts on the galaxy itself, but in the end everyone’s a survivor and adapting, as Din has in this situation, which shows there’s no harm in forming your own path.
Mayfeld’s character arc doesn’t end there, as once Din pushes his own limits and takes his helmet off to gain access to the Imperial terminal, something Mayfeld didn’t want to do because his former commander was in the room, Mayfeld has to step in anyways since the always stoic Din is WAY out of his element when said officer approaches him. There was a great tenseness to following scenes, as just when they think they get out of Valin Hess’ clutches, he pulls them in for a drink, and the it only builds from there. Mayfeld and Valin (Richard Brake) begin to challenge one another, with Din trying to tell Mayfeld to stop, but he decides this is the moment to get his feelings about his involvement with, and Valin’s orders during, Operation Cinder. Cinder was ghastly final command from Emperor Palpatine, delivered after he passed away, testing the loyalty of his troops after his death and leaving the New Republic with a crisis across the galaxy as remaining Imperials raised planets indiscriminately; it’s been featured heavily in the post-Return of the Jedi book slate and video games, be it the Alphabet Squadron Trilogy or Battlefront II’s story mode, but this is its first mention in live-action. Valin’s final words, how people don’t want freedom, but really want order and they’ll come running back to the Empire if the New Republic can’t restore it, are enough for Mayfeld and he takes out the officer, leading them to escape the hard way, shooting through the garrison to get to the roof and be extracted by Boba Fett. That Mayfeld gets to confront the man, tell him he was wrong, and then blow up the rhydonium shipment they had to protect to get themselves inside, gives him a second chance at life in the galaxy.
Unfortunately, one of the better and interesting arcs for a character in the show goes to a character played by Bill Burr, who joins the ranks of Gina Carano and Rosario Dawson for transphobic performers. Burr is a comedian, yes, and making fun of others is part of many comedians’ shticks, but one look at his comments is enough to show how it isn’t comedy, rather punching down on others, especially those marginalized by society, with disgusting and bigoted ideas on the trans community. A simple Google search was all it took to reveal this, but it seems Lucasfilm hasn’t been bothered to even simply do that before hiring. Carano, adding to her long list, recently shared a falsehood about the election and vaccinations, and the less said about her the better, as she continues to taint Cara Dune’s appearances. We can only hope they do better with the giant slate of TV shows coming to Disney+, but we the fans can do better now by donating to this fan organized fundraiser for the Transgender Law Center; I think it’s time I gave again.
Now onto Din and what “The Believer” means for him. Hearing Mayfeld’s thoughts on the galaxy is forcing Din to face the revelations heaped on him now that he’s out of the protection of the covert. If Bo-Katan and the Nite Owls can be Mandalorians, and more to claim to the title than he to some extent, do little rules like keeping a helmet on actually change who and what he is? The show has avoided him really dwelling on this, but his willingness to take off his helmet in the Imperial Garrison to see the mission done to figure out where his little green kid is, shows he’s beginning to understand he might have been misled about what makes a Mandalorian a Mandalorian. It was honestly EXTREMELY weird to see Pedro Pascal’s face for as long as we did this episode, but since he’s very easy on the eyes, I wasn’t mad about it and hope we get more and more of Din helmet-less in the next season. Mayfeld was “kind” enough to kill everyone in the room, and return Din’s trooper helmet to him, to protect Din’s honor, but I imagine he won’t be as worried about his face uncovered, especially after his time with the reformed Mayfeld. Still, Mayfeld had a stronger, more pronounced moment here, and while I’ve been enjoying the subtleties of Din’s changes and adjustments, I wish they were more at the forefront going forward, especially if we’re going to be lucky enough to see Pascal’s face more often. Regardless, Din’s message to Gideon at the end, a mirror of Gideon’s own words to him in the first season’s penultimate episode, was such an excellent moment, Din’s fierceness and determination to retrieve Grogu, thanks to their expanded bond this season, shined right through.
The entire sequence with Din fighting the pirates on the Juggernaut tank was exceptional from both a technical standpoint and clarity for fans watching at home. The seamless shot of Din hanging out the window, shooting at pirates, heading back into the cockpit, up the hatch, and onto the roof seems minor, but blew my mind a bit, as it looked like they were really driving a tank on an alien planet but you know they weren’t, likely using the Volume technology to pull off such a convincing and seamless background effect. It was such a fun, thrilling scene, and I loved Din reluctance to give up, despite the overwhelming odds against him, only for TIE Fighters to swoop in and save the day; never been happier to see TIEs, that’s for sure. Likewise, the whole escape from the base is well laid out and executed, from the sniper fire from Fennec Shand and Dune, their scuttle out the window and onto the roof, to jumping onto Slave I’s ramp, Famuyiwa really captures the intensity and frantic feeling of the moment, all while keeping it clear what’s going on. As they jet away in Slave I, the TIEs reappear and it leads to a moment that brought me jumping out of my seat, hooting (silently, since the wife was still asleep): Boba drops a seismic charge!!! This was always my absolute favorite sound/visual effect in the prequels, Jango used them during Obi-Wan’s pursuit of the Fetts in Attack of the Clones, from how it drowns out all sound for exploding, the blue ring of death expanding ever so beautifully and deadly. A real big shout-out to Rick Famuyiwa for this episode, beyond just bringing back the seismic charges, his script had excellent, thrilling action, and deep, important character moments, finding a bit more heart than most episodes; “Chapter 11 – The Heiress” wins that award by a million parsecs with the reunion of the Frog Family. Otherwise, Bravo Rick!
Here are a few other things:
- This Twitter thread is worth a read as it explores how The Mandalorian is showing us, whether it means to or not, how the New Republic’s liberal democracy could easily lead to the rise of the fascism with the First Order again.
- Wow, Boba wasted no time cleaning up his armor, hey?! It looks fantastic, so I don’t blame him. And also, can we talk about how damn cool it was to see the Slave 1’s rotation from the inside…it’s another really small thing that immediately stood out to me, giving us the logical look at what being in the ship during its rotations means and it was rather mesmerizing.
- While Fennec didn’t get too much to do this episode, she did look like the badass sniper she is, so I was just glad for that. This episode had a lot of characters to juggle and it did it well, for the most part. And at the Disney Investor’s Day on 12/10, we learned we’ll see more of Fennec…in The Bad Batch animated series! Hopefully Ming-Na Wen will return to voice her, as she is familiar with voice acting after all, with you know, that one Disney film…Mulan!
- Speaking of which…a giant, overwhelming chunk of the future of Star Wars was unveiled, and it seems The Mandalorian is the anchor several of the new Disney+ shows coming out. Rangers of the New Republic, set during the timeline of Mandalorian, is supposed to tie into future events and culminate into a cinematic event, but what that all means might be easier to predict after we see what happens in the season finale of this show; I’m hoping it at least involves Carson Teva, the NR Captain hounding Din and the Razor Crest this season. Likewise, the Ahsoka show, starring Dawson and written by Dave Filoni, will also take place during Mandalorian’s timeline, so I’ll be curious to learn where this is all heading!
The Mandalorian’s “Chapter 15 – The Believer” is a great penultimate episode for a different, stronger season than the first, combining character moments with thrilling action, all while setting up Din’s big move against Gideon to get Grogu back!
+ Din coming to terms with revelations in his life
+ Hello, seismic charges!
+ Thrilling action sequences
+ Great character moments…
– …that comes from another transphopic performer, Bill Burr
– And more Gina Carano brings down the episode
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
THE MANDALORIAN REVIEWS
Season Two: Chapter 9 – The Marshal | Chapter 10 – The Passenger | Chapter 11 – The Heiress | Chapter 12 – The Siege | Chapter 13 – The Jedi | Chapter 14 – The Tragedy
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 | Chapter 8 – Redemption