Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I'll just cut right to the chase for this one: this episode ruled. Plain and simple. Now that the set up is out of the way, the most surprising thing is that the Mandalorian…actually learned a lesson from a major flaw from its earlier season. Way back in Season 2, a million year ago during the pandemic, we were graced with a rather obvious filler episode in which Mando, sorry Din, sorry Joel, sorry Pedro, sorry Mando (god Pedro Pascal’s everywhere nowadays) was tasked with transporting a mother frog and her eggs to a water planet. Along the way they were shot down by Republic fighters and crash landed on an ice planet where they proceeded to fend off giant ice spiders for an hour. It was a clear and obvious side quest plot filler in a season that only had eight episodes, something that Mandalorian fans both loved and hated about the show.

Now, however, the Mandalorian has done seemingly the impossible. It’s taken the similar structure, a creature feature, and incorporated it into the story in an actually cool way that actually (gasp) moves the story forward. And notice how I haven’t even mentioned the fact that we FINALLY get to see Mandalore. For the first time. In live action. We’ve become so spoiled as nerds over the last 15 years spending every waking minute on the internet that when something cool actually happens, it usually gets overlooked and nitpicked to death. I however, refuse to be amongst the masses there and fully acknowledge that the planet Mandalore, the setting for some of the greatest Star Wars moments ever that unfortunately were not well known to the masses because they only occurred in animation, has finally made its debut in live action. And for the first time since the Disney reboot, we actually get to be a little filled in on some of the majorly cool stuff that Disney so wisely decided to just entirely skip over for…some reason, as Bo-Katan fills in little Grogu on some of her history with the Jedi and how the Empire bombed Mandalore after their takeover to prevent any resistance. It’s all awesome stuff. The design of Mandalore is so cool, with the way Mando & Grogu proceed down the tunnels, being attacked by Morlock-esque creatures before finally reaching the titular waters. It’s the most surprising and refreshing part about this season, the fact that unlike the last two seasons, we got to the source of the mission in the second episode. I can only imagine what’s going to happen in the next six.

We should also talk about how this episode is directed by Rachel Morrison, the director of 2017’s “Mudbound” which was Netflix’s real first attempt at an awards push. It’s always so difficult to talk about directing capabilities when it comes to the corporate products we’re inundated with now, but I must say that the direction of this episode, particularly with the sequences on Mandalore really impressed me. The sequence that really comes to mind is when Bo-Katan pursues Din after he’s pulled into the waters by the gigantic Cthulhu-creature that serves as the inspiration for their sigil. It’s dark, it’s menacing, it’s pulse pounding and above all else, it’s just cool. This was a cool freaking episode. Bring on the next one.

Chapter 19: The Convert

We’re back with our weekly installment of “The Mandalorian” and for the first time in this show’s history, we have a title with a double meaning. No, not double as in it represents something both literal and metaphorical, that would be way too smart for this show. No, double as in it hits both the storylines presented, because another first for this show: we actually have two plots going on! There’s been a long standing tradition in TV that there are always two plotlines going on in each episode, an A plot and a B plot. Plot A is usually where the drama goes, and Plot B is usually a silly side plot meant to distract viewers and provide some much needed levity, especially during a particularly weighty episode. What we’re treated to in this episode doesn’t exactly meet those parameters, but it certainly does continue to do what I’m enjoying about this season, which is explore new ground in the show’s ever-tiring formula.

Unfortunately, the A plot does not concern the titular character, as after being rescued from the sacred waters, Din & Bo-Katan return to her home planet only to come under attack by Imperial Tie Fighters in a spectacular action sequence that once again demonstrates that when it comes to action (at least in Star Wars) Disney truly does it like no other. The way these areal dogfights are portrayed has only gotten better in the last 7 years, and the fact that they’re able to pull this off on television never ceases to amaze me. It ends with Bo-Katan’s home being bombed, forcing them to make a prompt exit before heading back to Kalevala, where Din is redeemed in the eyes of his creed for having fulfilled his mission, along with Bo, who surprisingly is welcomed as well since she technically bathed in the waters rescuing Din. It’s a rather odd moment of clarity for her character, one who’s lost so much in the long time that we’ve known her, so it does provide an interesting bit of character development, albeit unexpected.

But the real story of this episode concerns a location that Star Wars fans haven’t seen in live action in so long that one could almost be fooled into thinking it wasn’t once the epicenter of the literal universe: Coruscant. The gigantic, city covered capital of the Star Wars galaxy was such a heavy staple of the series back in the prequel series, and the fact that we never saw it again in live action form post-Revenge of the Sith is something that Star Wars fans have lamented, despite its heavy usage in the animated series. We follow Dr. Pershing, the hapless former Kaminoan cloner previously employed by Moff Gideon as he undergoes New Republic rehabilitation, only to be easily swayed by a fellow reformee (played by recent Quantumania co-star and new Disney family member Katy O’Brien) into attempting to reclaim some of his old research under the pretense of serving the New Republic, only to then backstab him and let his mind be fried as punishment. While this storyline is sure to garner criticism from people who will surely state that it is too boring, takes up too much time and barely accomplishes anything storywise,

I’m going to play devil’s advocate and say that this was surprisingly a refreshing change of pace from the typical Mando goes on mission of the week mold. Now that people are familiar with the show’s pace, Filoni & Favreau are finally getting into territory that fans of the animated shows like myself have been enjoying for years, in that they’re getting into the underbelly of the main plot to show the webs that tie together all these main plot threads that have seemed apparent for years. It’s this tedious and meticulous work tying these threads together that allowed for the Clone Wars to redeem the prequel movies, and it’s no coincidence that while Dr. Pershing and his research with the Kaminoan cloning techniques are a subject constantly revisited on this show, “The Bad Batch '' has been tackling a similar storyline with its usage of the Kaminoans during the building stages of the Empire. It all seems to be building towards something that, while not bigger, certainly is going to make a lot of the things we saw in the movies recently make a whole lot more sense, and I personally am all for it.

Recaps are provided by Dom of @movienerdreviews