By: Marc Millette
The episode opens in a prison salvage yard. A serious walk-through towards a particular prisoner. Inmate 34667, Mayfeld(Burr), is told to come down and be reassigned. Marshal Dune takes him into her custody and says she has a job for him. Mayfeld continually asks what’s going on as they walk through the yard and Dune stays silent. As they walk up to Slave I Mayfeld gets a bit startled, he starts telling Fett he thought he was someone else. Then Mando walks down the ramp. Mayfeld thinks they are there to kill him, Dune tells him she pulled a lot of strings to get him because he’s an Imperial.
They take off and tell Mayfeld they need Moff Gideon’s coordinates. At first Mayfeld says no, but changes his mind when they tell him Gideon has Mando’s kid, “the little green guy”. He says he needs a terminal, there’s a remnant imperial base on Morak, it’s a secret Imperial mining hub. They are refining Rhydonium, highly volatile and explosive, no foreshadowing there.
The security is too tight so they decide to sneak in, there are cargo transports running to the base, they decide to hijack one. Because of the security, Dune, Fennec, and Fett hang back and leave infiltration to Mayfeld and Mando. They knock out the drivers and swap suits. Mayfeld has a field day making fun of Mando in Imperial armor. The conversation during the drive turns philosophical from Mayfeld, “everybody has their lines they don’t cross until things get messy. As far as I’m concerned if you can make it through your day and still sleep at night you are doing better than most.” After that, they hear over the radio car three is getting attacked and needing to reroute. The see car four blow up, then car three blows up as well. Some pirates pull up on the side and start attacking the transport. Mando leans out to shoot them. He gets one but had to get on top to shoot the other one, while he’s placing a thermal detonator. The detonator explodes, blowing up the speeder platform with more pirates.
Another speeder of pirates comes through the explosion. They all have staff weapons and Mando has to fight them hand-to-hand because his Imperial blaster stops working. Mando fights off two speeders this way and then five more come into view, all carrying thermal detonators. Mando sighs and gets ready when two TIE fighters come through shooting alongside and behind the transport. As Mayfeld starts over the bridge Stormtroopers jump behind to shoot the rest of the pirates. Stormtroopers and officers are cheering Mando and Mayfeld as they pull into the refinery.
Mayfeld says the terminal is probably in the officer’s mess, he pokes his head in and sees it then starts into the room, sees someone, and turns around. Valin Hess is there, Mayfeld’s former commander. He can’t go in. Mando says he will go in, Mayfeld says the terminal has to scan your face, it won’t work. Mando goes in, takes off his helmet to scan, and gets the coordinates for Gideon. When he’s done Hess comes over to talk to Mando. Mayfeld hops in and saves Mando from questions he can’t answer. Hess invited them to have a drink and asks what to toast to, Mayfeld says Operation Cinder. Mayfeld was part of the operation in Burning Konn. Hess says they all died heroes of the Empire, the New Republic is floundering and everyone will come back to them because they want order. Mayfeld pulls his blaster and shoots Hess. There is a slight pause and then Stormtroopers start attacking. Mando and Mayfeld bust out the window and head to the roof. Dune and Fennec snipe troopers while Mando and Mayfeld climb. Boba Fett comes in to pick them up, as they are pulling up Mayfeld asks for the cycler rifle, he aims for one of the transports of Rhydonium and blows up the base. He turns to Mando and says”We all need to sleep at night.”
Two TIE Fighters follow the Slave I, Fett drops a seismic charge and blows them up mid-air. Back on the ground together, Cara Dune tells Mando it’s too bad Mayfeld didn’t make it out alive, giving Mayfeld an out for helping them. Mayfeld walks off to live his life.
On Moff Gideon’s ship, he gets a transmission from Mando, echoing what Gideon said about Grogu in Season 1, Episode 7. Warning he is coming and Grogu means more to Mando than Gideon knows.
Pros
Burr’s comedy.
Burr getting no reaction from these silent, serious characters.
Exciting, fast paced episode. No dull points.
Mando takes his mask off.
Cons
Another short episode
Mayfeld left so his comedy will be sorely missed.
No Grogu this episode
Took the whole episode to get this info and no other plans made for the rescue.
9/10 blown-up Rhydonium transports
I loved this episode. Where there wasn’t action there was comedy. Burr trying so hard to get a laugh and getting nothing. Then a bit of payback for Mayfeld as a character, gotta be able to sleep at night. Mando and Mayfeld reflect the lives of many occupants in the vast galaxy (or galaxies) of Star Wars: they do what they must to survive but aren’t always happy about it. Mayfeld tells Mando (and viewers that he shouldn’t be so judgmental because everyone is forced to wear masks of their own at times yet not everyone has the luxury of always hiding behind them. This episode was about redemption and a major build-up to Grogu’s liberation from the clutches of the evil Moff Gideon. Sometimes decent guys have to do bad things in the universe to get by, Migs Mayfeld is one of those guys. Moff Gideon on the other hand is a different story entirely.
Despite some great moments, it was still a short episode and left far too much to happen in the season finale. The four of them cannot take on an Imperial Cruiser with Slave I. So either a lot of coordination is happening off-screen or we have a jam-packed finale. Gathering help and attacking. Who will Mando recruit next for help freeing his little buddy?
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