Stab me with money
Rah rah sis boom bah, Mando seven is upon ya! We’ve got spirit, yes we do, Mando’s team is gonna beat you! Go team Mando! Gimme an M! Gimme an A! Gimme an N! Good enough, we’ll start with that. MAN, that was good! flawed, but good. It was an ugly win, but we got the W. The Mandalorian Chapter 7 dropped early this week due to the imminent release of The Rise of Skywalker. Some believe it’s so we can enjoy both without making Sophie’s choice. Some think it’s simply to give the concluding episode of the Skywalker saga a clear road to make its first weekend of earnings a success. But if you’re watching carefully, and if you’ve been susceptible to certain rumors…spoiler alert…The Reckoning introduces us to an all new canon Force power. Baby Yoda tried to show it to us in The Mandalorian Chapter 2: The Child, but an injured Mando wasn’t ready. Perhaps, neither were we. Disney may have set a precedent in Force powers to prepare us for something else outside the narrative of The Mandalorian. Use your imagination. I get the impression someone in Episode 9 is a Force M.D.
Let’s get to it! The penultimate episode from season one delivers. Greef Karga contacts Mando to make a deal. The ex-Imperial warlords have increased their presence and are making life difficult for Karga’s Guild franchise. Bring the Child as bait to rid Karga of the nuisance and simultaneously free Mando from his own bounty. It’s a win-win. But can we trust Carl Weathers’ character? I lean toward a double-cross.
Mando recruits Gina Carano’s Cara Dune to assist in this playoff game. She’s reluctant at first, until she hears she can take out some ex-Imperials. Is that all it takes? Then why are you hiding out on krill world Cara? I like here character a lot, but she should be played more gritty. The MMA experience is a major plus for Carano, but Cara is still looking a bit happy to be there…working for Lucasfilm. Maybe the behind the eyes smile is just her natural beauty. I’d still like to see more scowling and grimacing from her character. Assuming Cara survives the final chapter of this season, I’m counting on Gina to work on her chops. Her action is her strength, though. We’re reminded of her skills as she earns her paycheck sparring with a Zabrak. Or was he a Dathomirian? It’s hard to tell the difference. In any case, he was a Darth Maul-esque dude who raided the Sons of Anarchy wardrobe. A bad-ass. Cara Dune is bad-asser. “Pay up, mudscuffers!” I love that new derogatory epithet. Moof-milker and Nerf herder were getting old. And the fact that it teeters on the verge of vulgarity makes me giggle.
Mando and Cara Dune pick up the next member of the scrappy team, adding our favorite Ugnaught, Kuiil. He brings his offensive line of blurrgs, as well. During an innocent arm wrestling competition between Dune and Mando, Baby Yoda gets protective of daddy-o and force chokes the MMA fighter. Is there some dark side in him? Time will tell. I just want to know why he did it now instead of when she had a gun pointing at Mando’s head. I guess that soup was really good. Or, the Child trusts that Beskar armor against mere blasters. All’s well that ends well, and Baby Yoda is forgiven. Just don’t look him in the eye, and my dog won’t bite you.
Little does the team know the star player is the Child. After meeting up with Greef Karga and his own security detail, the group is attacked by Rodan. Well, it was some kind of nocturnal winged creature. Maybe Q — The Winged Serpent. Eagerly awaiting the Wookieepedia entry to identify it. Karga is badly injured and Doctor Baby Yoda brings his skills to the table. Ready for it? That rumor about Force healing is true, and Baby Yoda has the power. He probably needs it to ward off infections with all those toads he handles. Karga offs his own crew to switch allegiance to team Mando for real this time. He admits to having planned a betrayal, now he can be trusted. Yeah, right. We’ll see. Keep an eye on him in Chapter 8, Mando.
The group, now on Nevarro, make their way to the Client’s stronghold, sending Kuiil back to the Razor Crest with the Child. Karga and Dune walk into the Client’s place with Mando in binders, a la Chewbacca on the Death Star deception. “Where are you taking this thing?” “Prisoner transfer from cell block 1138.” “I wasn’t notified. I’ll have to clear it.” Hm, that’s one docile Wookiee. Binders? They can’t hold a Wookiee. And how’d you capture him, anyway? That Death Star prison guard didn’t ask the right questions. Han was right. It was a “Boring conversation anyway.” Same doubt, different story. How does the Client think Mando was captured? Does he really believe Karga and Dune apprehended without injury? They didn’t bother removing his helmet or flame thrower? Everyone knows Mandalorians aren’t just armed with blasters. And, sure Dune covers her arm tattoo, but what about the rebel teardrop insignia on her cheek. No one questions it?
He’s distracted when the Client gets a FaceTime call from Moff Gideon, and the coolest villain of the series is shot in the back. I hope he has a Beskar shield under that cape because that’s a pretty lame way for Werner Herzog’s character to go. The team makes quick work of the troopers in the room, but they are soon surrounded by Death Troopers and a new garrison of traditional troopers. I’m wondering how Gideon knew the pram was empty, but the Client didn’t even suspect it. I guess that’s how we transition to a bigger, better baddie. Gideon is smarter than the Client. You have to show that they have more of what it takes.
The team is confronted by the manager at Los Pollos Hermanos who flies in on a new kick-ass TIE fighter that folds as it lands. I want to see this ship in action, tucking in through tight spaces as it chases a certain YT-1300 freighter through a canyon somewhere. Gideon, a former imperial Moff, now a warlord, has a costume resembling a helm-free Darth Vader. His imperturbable demeanor makes Giancarlo Esposito’s character feel sinister. He’s played differently than Gus Fring from Breaking Bad. He’s not hiding behind a Clark Kent disguise. Gideon wants you to know who he is. He’s a quiet savage. He’s a cold killer. His biker scouts intercept Mando’s communication to Kuiil, and a chase ensues. The Mandalorian presents its first main good guy kill and the credits roll. Sadness and powerlessness. That’s how you leave viewers in a penultimate episode. Mission accomplished, Jon Favreau and Deborah Chow. Taika Waititi will save us in the final chapter of the season.
I don’t want to believe our favorite Ugnaught is dead either, but we needed this weight in the series. It took some time to get there because we had to fall in love with Nick Nolte’s character. I’ll miss that little porker. This little piggy ran all the way back to the Razor Crest only to be gunned down by a couple of thugs. Now, Baby Yoda is in the hands of Gideon, Dr. Pershing is nowhere to be found, and team Mando is against the ropes. All this, and we have to wait over a week for the conclusion! The first piece of art during the credits give us a preview of a firefight that hasn’t happened yet. The Death Troopers still haven’t fired.
No worries, kiddos! We get a fun clip and more preview of The Rise of Skywalker to hold us over. Then, of course, we get the new movie itself. I’ll probably have seen Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker at least three times before the next episode of The Mandlorian drops. Feast, then famine. Let’s hope a surprise Star Wars series pops up on Disney+ soon. January is for dieting and booze breaks. No one said anything about going cold turkey on Star Wars. Do we really have to wait until February for the new season of The Clone Wars?
So, here’s to binging the entire season of The Mandalorian and seeing The Rise of Skywalker repeatedly throughout January. Let’s not go Donner Party on each other. Let’s celebrate like a team.
Related Article: 10 Possible Reasons ‘Episode IX’ is Titled ‘The Rise of Skywalker’
Stab me with money
