By: Marc Millette
Synopsis
The episode opens with Boba Fett’s ship Slave I pursuing an Imperial Lambda shuttle. Dr. Pershing and two Imperial pilots are onboard. The pilots are arguing between themselves and with Dr. Pershing. Boba Fett hits them with an ion cannon and tells them to prepare to be boarded. Mando and Cara Dune get on board, one pilot tries to make a deal, the other shoots him and turns his gun on Dr. Pershing. The pilot instigates a conflict with Dune. He was on the Death Star when they blew up Alderaan. Cara asks “which one?” He yells that millions were killed in the Death Stars. Dune shoots him in the head and they grab Dr. Pershing.
Slave I flies towards another planet with many refineries, they land next to Bo-Katan’s ship. Mando and Boba Fett walk into a cantina and walk right over to Bo-Katan and Koska. Patrons look at them and run away. Mando asks Bo-Katan for help and she says not all Mandalorians are bounty hunters. Mando tells her that Moff Gideon took the child. Bo-Katan agrees to join their mission to secure her Dark Saber.
Dr. Pershing gives them info on a platoon of Dark Troopers that are no longer humans but droids. Cara, Fennec, Bo-Katan and Koska will go through the ship heading for the bridge and leave Mando alone to get to the brig where Grogu is and on the way stop the Dark Troopers from getting out of their pods.
The breach team is on the lambda shuttle being “chased” by Slave I. They request emergency landing but are denied as Moff Gideon says to launch the tie fighter squadron. After two ties get out they fly into the launch tube, almost crash, and come out shooting, taking out all the troopers and pilots. Mando comes out of the ship and sneaks to the pod and ends up having to fight one of the Dark Troopers, a hard-fought win. The rest of the team shoots their way to the bridge but Moff Gideon isn’t there.
Mando walks into Grogu’s cell and Moff Gideon is standing over the child holding the Dark Saber. Moff agrees to give Mando the child if he leaves his ship, Mando agrees but Moff attacks him leading to a short Dark Saber Vs. Beskar spear battle. Mando beats him but lets him live and brings him to the bridge in cuffs.Mando tries to give the Dark Saber to Bo-Katan and she refuses. Moff gideon is laughing in the background because if Bo-Katan wants it she’ll have to fight mando for it in ritual combat.
In the middle of the conversation, the alarm goes off showing the Dark Troopers are boarding the ship and coming for them. They start pounding the blast doors to the bridge. Suddenly an X-wing comes around and docks with the ship and all the droids stop and head for the dock. Moff Gideon looks scared for the first time. On the ship’s video screens we see a hooded figure in black with a Lightsaber dismantling the Dark Troopers with ease. Then a color scene, it’s a Green Lightsaber and the man has a glove on his right hand. Moff Gideon uses the distraction to grab a blaster, he knocks down Koska and aims for Grogu, but Mando dives in the way. Gideon tries to shoot himself but Cara knocks him out. Grogu stares at the screen and smiles at seeing a Jedi. The figure finishes off the Dark Troopers and Mando says to open the blast doors. The Jedi walks in and takes off his hood… it’s Luke Skywalker. Mando only asks if he’s a Jedi. Luke says he will watch over the child with his life and train him to use his powers so he can protect himself but the child wants Mando’s permission. Mando picks up Grogu and tells him he needs to go with his kind. Mando promises they will see each other again. Grogu touches his helmet and Mando removes it, Grogu touches his face for the first time. Mando tells him it’s time to go and to not be afraid as his eyes water. R2 D2 rolls up and seems to talk to Grogu, Luke picks up Grogu, says “May the force be with you”, and they walk to the elevator while Grogu is still staring at Mando.
And then if you waited through the credits.
We see Jabba’s palace with Bib Fortuna sitting in court, then shooting starts and Fennec comes down the stairs shooting all the guards. Boba walks down and Bib starts babbling to him saying he thought he was dead. Boba shoots him and pushes him out of the throne seat. The screen goes black then a sign that reads, “The Book of Boba Fett coming December 2021“
Pros
Mando’s quest is over
Luke Skywalker!!
Luke Skywalker’s Vader walk through
Mando and Grogu’s emotional goodbye scene
Great shoot out by the full female fire team
Cons
Another short episode
Disappointing fight with Moff Gideon.
10/10 Swirling Green Lightsabers
REVIEW
Luke freaking Skywalker! But let me start at the beginning. The opening comes out of nowhere but for me calls back to A New Hope, many parts of the episode call back to the movies. A spaceship with a “civilian” being chased, getting boarded, and the civilian being taken prisoner. I would have liked a scene here of them finding out where Bo-Katan was instead of magically knowing where to find her. But stop me if you’ve heard this before our heroes go to a cantina looking for help. I loved Boba Fett using princess as an insult talking to Bo-Katan, just like Han to Leia in A New Hope. Future romance with Boba and Bo-Katan? Just kidding, but who knows, if it happens you heard it here first.
The fire team boarding the cruiser and taking out everyone in their path was a great set of scenes. It was very impressive until Luke comes through and dismantles the Dark Troopers at the end. The dark trooper was scary fighting Mando, which ended up being a better fight than Gideon put up. That brings up the most disappointing part of the episode, season, series as a whole, the realization that Moff Gideon is nothing special. He’s just an intelligence officer that wears a suit like Darth Vader to feel intimidating. In the end, his big plan is to lose all of his troops and hope to be saved by his toy soldiers.
Luke’s timing couldn’t have been better, I have to believe the force handcuffs Grogu had on made it so Luke couldn’t find him until Mando took them off. Otherwise Luke would have been there long before and Mando and crew would have found an empty cruiser, which would have been a great cliffhanger ending on a different show. I would have given anything for Luke to say “I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you!” right when the door opened. His walk through the droids was reminiscent of Darth Vader. I didn’t think about this until then, the majority of Luke’s fighting style he probably learned fighting his own father. Obi-Wan taught him basics, Yoda taught him to do more with the force, but the person he saw fight most with a lightsaber was Darth Vader.
Taken as a whole there aren’t many complaints with this season. Mando grew from a bounty hunter with a conscience who only knew “the way” to a father, willing to do whatever is needed for his child. The child became Grogu, a fifty-year-old Jedi student who learned at the feet of the Jedi council of the Old Republic. All the characters grew just over this season. Cara Dune joins the New Republic, Miggs Mayfeld gets a little redemption, Bill Burr gets his own redemption, he was fairly boring in his first episode. Bringing back Boba Fett and Fennec. We grow the live-action universe with X-Wing pilots Trapper Wolf, Carson Teva, Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan and the name drop of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Where does that leave us for next season? Mando has the Darksaber. He will agree to help Bo-Katan since he’s slightly lost without his child. I think he will find his fellow Children of the Watch while gathering Mandalorians to help retake Mandalore. They will be happy he has the darksaber until they learn he has taken off his helmet. Grogu will come back mid to late season when he feels Mando in trouble through the force.
We know we are getting Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka shows. Thankfully they came out nearly right away to announce Boba Fett is getting his own show as well since they’ve announced Rangers and Ahsoka will combine with The Mandalorian.
