Stab me with money
Dear Disney+, “You have something I want. In a few moments it will be mine.” Something Star Wars fans were able to say twice in as many weeks. As Moff Gideon demands The Child, Star Wars fans demanded satisfactory closure to our newest pleasure in The Mandalorian, and our oldest pleasure in the Skywalker saga. I may have been too hasty in my initial review of The Rise of Skywalker as it was important to me to write without spoilers on opening night, but also because I wanted to remain as vague as possible when details regarding Episode 9 were still swirling, undigested. In the absence of new Skywalker trilogies, I expected to find a new definition of pain and suffering, as we are slowly digested over a thousand years. But with the closing that The Rise of Skywalker gave us, and with the ending The Mandalorian Chapter 8: Redemption gave us, I now see the promise for a sated fanbase that will keep us on the spice for the foreseeable future.
Chapter 8 delivered. What’s important to note is that somehow there were expectations that were subverted, yet there is little toxic backlash. That’s because of the sleight of hand trick Jon Favreau played on us. Star Wars was getting convoluted. The Mandalorian returns Star Wars to its roots: simple story, plenty of action, a dash of comedy, and characters you care about. With as little as we’ve known about the main characters in The Mandalorian, we fell in love. The reward of a few seemingly small revelations about Mando, Karga, Cara, The Child (Baby Yoda), and even Moff Gideon was enough to blast a hole big enough for the entire Star Wars universe to come waltzing through anytime season 2, and beyond, call for it. Our hopes for a live-action Sabine Wren, Ahsoka Tano, or Bo-Katan Kryze may be more easily realized in the followup to this groundbreaking season. It’s possible some holdouts may still even get their wish to revive the father of the Mandalorian craze. Rumor has it a Boba Fett series is back on the table. Just make sure Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau hold the reins on that ride.
We last saw Kuiil assassinated by scout troopers who kidnapped The Child while Mando and company were holed up and cornered by Moff Gideon and his garrisons of stormtroopers and death troopers. After some dull, yet entertaining, dialogue between the mean old scout troopers, IG-11 shows up like a reprogrammed T-1000 looking to protect his Yoda Connor. We’re happy to witness a few pathetic crunches of bones before he takes off with Baby Yoda, safe in his hands.
Meanwhile, the former Imps are setting up an E-Web heavy repeating blaster. This ordnance is a deadly team-fired canon that will vaporize its victims. Gideon makes a point to allow his cornered prey to understand he knows exactly who they are through some intimidatingly composed speech. The motivations of “Carasynthia Dune of Alderaan” are revealed in naming her origins. The “decommissioned Mandalorian Hunter, Din Djarin,” is named for the first time (though, that was previously leaked without a decidedly confirmed spelling), and more of the demise of Mandalore is divulged in a short description of the Siege of Mandalore and The Night of a Thousand Tears (please make this a novel or comic miniseries). And last, we learn Greef Karga’s career hasn’t always been under the table and among the underbelly of the galaxy. He’s a “disgraced Magistrate” who once enjoyed life on the right side of the law. At least that’s the first inference. Perhaps he was a Magistrate under the Empire, and his disgrace comes from rebelling in some way. There will surely be more of his past revealed to us in the future. What we learn about Din Djarin is that he was rescued as a child by Mandalorians, and brought up in its creed. We sort of knew that already, but it’s hammered home for general audiences.
The score tunes up with some high energy beats as IG-11 arrives at the location of the standoff to pop a few bucket heads. Props to the 501st Legion for their role in these scenes. An action-packed firefight ensues. We get our money’s worth with this episode. Mando wields the E-Web gun single-handedly, and mows down several troops before Gideon concusses him by blowing the battery. Din Djarin is down and severely injured. It would be an opportune time for Baby Yoda to Force-heal him, but he loses too much energy protecting himself and the group from a flametrooper’s inferno when Gideon calls the order to “burn them out.” Fans of Rebels most certainly were reminded of the death of Kanan Jarrus in this scene as The Child holds off a ball of fire using the Force. Mando will have to heal old school with a spritz of Bacta spray. For a moment, under the eyes of the non-living IG-11, we finally get to see Pedro Pascal’s face. I’m still wondering if it was a mistake to show his natural countenance for the first time while he was this vulnerable and injured. Maybe seeing him this way reiterates the point that he has more strength as a character with the helmet on. This indulgence lets us know the won’t see a lot of Pascal’s adorable mug in coming seasons unless it’s absolutely necessary.
The group escapes through the tunnels of the city on Navarro looking for the protection of the Mandalorian Covert, but they quickly find most of them have been massacred. The Armorer survived to attack, and fits Djarin with his deserved signet, one he can finally accept. His pauldron is now emblazoned with the skull of a mudhorn. Look for this tattoo on bare shoulders at your next Star Wars convention. The Armorer discloses to the viewer, a past of hostility between the Mandalorians and the Jedi, but deems The Child, by creed, to be part of Mando’s clan. He is to be as his father until he can be reunited with the “its kind.” We can likely look forward to an ilk of familiar tertiary Jedi next season. Can anyone say Ezra Bridger or Ahsoka Tano? The latter is more likely, and probably more welcome. Something to look forward to when The Mandalorian season 2 commences. After Mando receives the gift of a jet pack the group leaves The Armorer to her task. As they flee, her fate is left unanswered. We’re gratified by her early triumphs as she handles a few intruders, but more will come. Will she go the way of Syrio Forel, and have an off-screen death that we prefer not to witness, or will she appear in Mando’s future? Again, we probably all vote for the latter.
IG-11 makes the ultimate sacrifice playing his best T2 Arnold Schwarzenegger. He wades through a lava stream to ‘splode himself in order to protect The Child (and Mando’s group, who give The Child its best chance). Droid logic is reliable, if only that one thing. Rest in pieces, IG unit. We hardly knew ye.
Moff Gideon finds the group from above in his folding TIE fighter, and the action resumes. Mando gets to use his new toy, flying his jet pack to the hull of the ship, and planting a couple of detonators that down the TIE. As we learned from The Rise of Skywalker, they have really good seatbelts in those things. After the group goes their respective ways, Gideon cuts his way out of the wreckage. When the tip of the thing came through the hull a collective gasp could be heard around the world. Star Wars fans cried tears of joy as we got to see the Dark Saber in live-action for the first time! We’re left with questions that a dry January is not going to answer. Is Bo-Katan alive or dead? Will Sabine come looking for the Dark Saber? Will Gideon being in possession of the ancient saber lead to an alliance between a new order of Mandalorians and a new order of Jedi?
This month, we had to lay to rest the saga that started it all. With the closing of a first successful season of Star Wars television, the promise of a future rich in Star Wars is ahead. Baby Yoda is a metaphor for the things that are yet to come. Young, powerful, and full of promise, but still vulnerable and mysterious. Assuming Baby Yoda is “the light rising to meet” some unknown darkness that is to come, we can only wonder. By the time The Child is of age to fight for the light side of the force, the galaxy would be finishing Kylo Ren’s story. As Ben Solo and Leia Organa pass the torch to Rey, this is the other story that would have unfolded. Perhaps, the stories we’ll get to see from this new perspective with compliment the world we already know. We can only wait and speculate.
Bravo, Jon Favreau. Because of you, Star Wars lives to fight another day.
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Stab me with money
