Chapter 22: Guns for Hire

OH NO! JACK BLACK AND LIZZO ARE IN THE MANDALORIAN!!! STAR WARS IS RUUUUIIIIINNNNNNEEEDDDD! At least, that’s what so many people complained about in this latest installment of “the internet has turned an entire generation into spoiled babies who are incapable of seeing past themselves and actually critiquing the art for what it is rather than what they want it to be.” Yes, Jack Black & Lizzo cameoed in last week’s episode “Guns for Hire,” the latest edition to the Star Wars canon directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. Did it matter one whopping bit? Not really, because they’re exactly what they were cast as: plot pieces to move the story forward.

As far as what this episode actually is, another slight side quest to move the story forward towards the inevitably explosive conclusion, I must say that while it certainly doesn’t have the fire of the previous episode, it’s still pretty good. It’s a basic mystery thriller with a slightly unsatisfying resolution due to an iffy performance of a veteran actor, but other than that, it just moves the story forward. Which ties into what I think is the greatest strength of this season that so many people are deliberately choosing to overlook because of the very justified anti-Disney agenda. It just kills me because as anti-Disney as I am, I’m still going to critique the stuff I get from them as fairly as humanly possible, because a lot of it is still good and entertaining. And while this season certainly has not had the pop culture impact that the first two seasons did, for my money, this has been a very enjoyable and action packed season that has progressed the story forward nicely in a way I was not expecting.

Now, for the plot. Din & Bo arrive on Plazir-15 to recruit Bo’s former troops, who’ve reformed as a mercenary group led by her former #2 Axe Woves after abandoning her. Before they can do this, they must meet with the planet’s new royalty, who are led by former Imperials who have reformed as an independent system (insert above cameos here) who state that if they help them figure out why their reformed separatist battle droids are starting to go haywire, they will be granted an audience with the Mandalorians. This leads them down a wild goose chase (literally) until they discover the perpetrator to be none other than…Christopher Lloyd, who’s character Commissioner Helgait, the chief of security, is revealed to be a former separatist who idolized Count Dooku. The biggest critique I can deliver against the episode is that this one is probably the most guilty of being “filler” and the resolution to the main conflict is rather lazy and quite laughably ridiculous, Lloyd is getting up there in age and the episode seems to just be making a mockery of him, particularly in that reveal scene. But it’s all fodder to get us to the real ending, which is Bo bringing her soldiers back under her command with Din surrendering the dark saber to her using loose logistical threads (Bo saving him from the Mines), but still, it accomplishes what it needs to in order to set us up for what surely is a gangbusters final two episodes.

Chapter 23: The Spies

This show has officially hit a new level. After 6 weeks of speculation, wheel spinning, theorizing, or rather lack thereof, and dealing with a lot of complaining, The Mandalorian has arguably hit an apex that it took two seasons of build up and a whole lot of extra stuff to get to, but it has finally reached it. My hope now is that everyone who’s been so tirelessly complaining about this show will finally understand why the animated Star Wars stuff is as good as it is: because this stuff takes time to build up to, sometimes even years, because when they hit moments like these, god damn are they satisfying and emotionally impactful. All the stuff that Star Wars is supposed to be.

We hit the ground running immediately, verifying that Elia Kane is indeed a plant still working for and relaying information to Moff Gideon, who has been operating out of a secret location ever since his escape from the New Republic. Not only that, but he’s also got a whole cabal of former Imperials whom he is working for/with, operating from the shadows under the nose of the New Republic attempting to rebuild and continue their work. What’s interesting about this movement is they don’t mention Palpatine’s name once. It is often interesting to me how, despite the dark lord of the Sith engineering the Jedi’s downfall and the age of the Empire, that most of the other imperials outside of Vader often don’t reference him as the supreme leader, if at all. It seems as though once Vader chucked him down the energy shaft, that was it, at least until Rise of Skywalker brought him back from the dead in one last failed attempt to jump start any life the movies had. One name is consistently brought up over and over again however: Grand Admiral Thrawn. It’s timed well once again, as original Thrawn voice actor Lars Mikkelson was just confirmed to be reprising his role in the forthcoming Ahsoka series. But in Mando verse, Gideon is getting tired of his fellow Imperials throwing around Thrawn’s name, seeing it as nothing but an excuse to delay their efforts, as he wants to move ahead with his plans to create a new army to take back the galaxy. A tired effort, we know, but a fruitful one for Disney, as despite being forced to lose Pershing to the new republic, he still has his research, and plans to mix his resourceful knowledge about Clones, Jedi & Mandalorians to create the ultimate fighting force. Only one thing stands in his way: the Mandalorians are reuniting and planning on taking back their home world, which would prove a dire threat to him.

Which brings us back to Navarro, as Bo & Din arrive back with Bo’s troops to reunite with the Convert, showing us for the first time probably since Rebels the Mandalorians in full fighting force. They’re ready to take back Mandalore and start settling it, despite some old rivalries that may pop up. But it’s as Bo says: when Mandalorians are united, no power in the universe could fight against them or keep them down, not even the Jedi, but it’s their constant divisions that keep them divided and weak. But now, armed with the Dark Saber and finally having a force powerful enough, they head to Mandalore and begin settling it, but not before Greef Karga gives Mando the rebuilt IG-11, now IG-12, but reformatted as a battle armor for Grogu to operate, almost like a mini-Jaeger bot. Upon reaching Mandalore, they rendezvous with several Mandalorian refugees who were left there after the great purge, which forces Bo to reveal what really happened: during the purge, she attempted to make a deal with Gideon to allow for her fellow Mandalorians to evacuate the planet by surrendering the Dark Saber to him, only for Gideon to turn back around and destroy it anyways. It all pays off in an awe inspiring final battle and twist, with Gideon & his new troops, outfitted with Beskar armor, ambushing the Mandalorians and trapping them, capturing Din and revealing that Mandalore has been his base of operations since his escape. Bo is able to use the Dark Saber to get them to safety, but not before Paz Vizla, who’s silently been becoming a power player this season, sacrifices himself against Gideon’s Praetorian guards to buy them time to escape. It’s an action packed episode, and a perfect penultimate, leaving the door wide open for what will hopefully be an explosive season finale.

Recaps are provided by Dom of @movienerdreviews