RECAP:  Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 14 - The Tragedy

Spoiler-Free Review:

I don't care if the final two episodes of season two reveal that Jaxxon has replaced Din Djarin under the helmet and Moff Gideon's master is Jar Jar Binks. Season two is now officially better than season one, and that is some mighty high praise. Great googily moogily, this was one heck of an episode, and it brought in another heavy hitter into the director's chair, Robert Rodriquez of From Dusk Till Dawn, El Mariachi and Sin City fame.

I hope I'm keeping this vague enough so as to not be a spoiler. This episode is a payoff that has been forty years in the making. It's glorious, and any Star Wars fatigue I may have been feeling over the course of the Sequel Trilogy has completely faded away. In fact, I feel this marks a Star Wars rebirth. My only complaint is both a big and familiar one: the Stormtroopers are continuing to slip into Battle Droid ineffectiveness. This needs to be fixed. Help us, Jon Favreau, you're our only hope.

Despite that critique, this is not only the best The Mandalorian episode to date, it's the best Star Wars anything since Disney took over the reins.



Spoiler Filled Recap:



We kick off the episode in the cockpit of the Razor Crest, which has clearly put its worst times behind it this season, and thank goodness for that. Mando is having fun with his new toy: the fact that Grogu responds to his own name. He then decides to get serious and do some Jedi practice with Grogu's favorite plaything, the gearshift knob. The foundling successfully Force Pulls the ball to himself, but it must have taken him too long because Mando gets mildly upset. The pair sets down on Tython and jetpacks it to The Seeing Stone on which Ahsoka instructed Mando to place Grogu. And...nothing happens. Grogu starts playing with butterflies like a bored teeball outfielder. Mando gets upset. I think the realization hits him that his kid is never going play centerfield for the San Diego Padres. Then the greatest thing in the history of the Star Wars happens. The flying street light goes buzzing past.



Mando turns back, and tells Grogu that it's time to go, but now the kid is in full-blown Jedi meditation. He's surrounded by a Force field. (Get it?) Mando tries to grab him, but the field sends him flying back like he stuck a fork in an electrical outlet. Realizing there's no way to break the kid out of his trance, Mando decides to buy some time by confronting the new arrival to the planet. As he's descending the mountain, Mando is stopped dead in his tracks by a blistering volley of blaster fire. A voice calls out to tell Mando that he's been tracked. We see it's the bedouin-looking character from Chapter 9. Mando demands that he state this business. Is he a Jedi or is he after the Child?



The stranger states that his business is neither. He's after his armor. Not Mando's armor, but his armor that Mando got from Cobb Vanth. It's mother-lovin' Boba Fett, y'all (not that we had much doubt). Din demands to know Boba's Mandalorian bonafides, but Boba informs him he's not the creed type. The tension rises as Mando insist the armor belongs to the Mandalorians and Boba insists it's his. Din suggests that dropping Boba where he stands would end this little impasse, but Boba informs him he has a sharpshooter trained on Grogu. The sharpshooter calls out and reminds Mando that she never misses. It's Fennec Shand, who was presumed dead at the conclusion of Chapter 5: The Gunslinger. This does little to encourage Mando to stand down as he engages his whistling birds. Boba Fett finally defuses the situation by suggesting they all put down their weapons and have a chat. Mando demands that Fennec put down her sniper rifle first, but Boba counters that Mando must put down his jetpack. This, unfortunately, feels like pure plot service. Nevertheless, Mando agrees and they all lay down their weapons, and Din also lays down his flying apparatus.



The sit down begins by Fennec explaining her miraculous survival. Boba Fett found her and gave her metal legs intestines. It was a risky procedure. Boba explains that the armor was given to his father by Mando's forebears, and in exchange for its return, he will guarantee the safety of Mando and The Child. As a sign of good faith, Fennec points out that the bounty on The Child could buy ten sets of beskar armor. The negotiations are interrupted by the sound of a Stormtrooper landing ship. Mando sprints back to Grogu's location, while Boba and Fennec run towards the intruders. Mando once again tries to grab The Child from his Force cone of silence, and for the second time he's sent rear end over tea kettle. There's no way he'll try that again. Fett and Fennec get into shooting positions, and for the umpteenth time this season, Stormtroopers charge directly at adversaries firing from cover (sigh). As Fennec plunks them off her sniper rifle, Fett starts going to town on the Stormtroopers with his gaffi stick. Fett proceeds with such aggression and fury that this feels more like a vendetta than combat.



Between deploying a Stormtrooper Grenadier and an E-Web repeating blaster, the fifty Stormtroopers actually manage to turn the tide on their two adversaries, one of whom is using a stick. That is of course until Fennec uses the ol' Indiana Jones maneuver and sends a boulder careening down the hillside toward the E-Web. At this point, Fett realizes that there is no one between him and the Razor Crest which houses his armor. Fennec continues taking out most of the remaining Stomtroopers when a second landing craft arrives. Surely the next fifty won't be as easy as the first fifty. Seeing the second landing ship, Mando tries to get Grogu out of his Force Field again. Spoiler alert: it doesn't work. This finally convinces Mando to give up on his "stick your hands into the impenetrable energy field" tactic and he leaves Grogu to hold off the attackers. In classic Murphy Law's fashion, as soon as Mando turns his back, Grogu breaks his meditation, which has left him exhausted. Mando joins Fennec and eventually (and finally) they are outnumbered. It looks grim when suddenly a grenade drops from the heavens. Boba Fett, with armor returned, comes to the rescue and the forty-year-old promise of the Swiss Army Knife Super Soldier is realized in the most glorious fashion. Fett unleashes the full capabilities of his armor to include the famous knee rockets, which finally convinces the Stormtroopers to call off their attack. It's a Michelin 3-star serving of fan service, and I couldn't be happier.



Boba Fett even becomes the rare "Rocket Firing Boba Fett" and takes out both retreating landing ships with his backpack rocket. At this point a massive laser bolt comes blasting down from above and completely vaporizes THE RAZOR CREST. KHAAAAAN! Mando scans the skies and sees Moff Gideon's Imperial cruiser. He and Fennec take off running back to Grogu's location. On board Gideon's cruiser, the Comms Officer confirms the direct hit and that the Dark Troopers are about to be deployed. A squad of four Dark Troopers rocket to Grogu's location and capture him. Boba Fett, piloting Slave I, moves to engage, but Mando calls him off out of concern for Grogu's safety. Fett does a "loose follow" and upon seeing the cruiser, declares mournfully that the Empire is back.



Mando sifts through the ashes of the Crest and finds Grogu's gearshift knob and the beskar spear he earned helping Ahsoka defeat the magistrate in Chapter 13. Boba Fett shows Mando his chain code proving his lineage and his father, Jango. Mando declares that Jango was a foundling, and Fett adds that he fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars. Mando declares the armor indeed belongs to Fett, and thus concludes their business. Boba pumps the breaks on the goodbye. Until The Child is returned safely to Mando, Fett and Fennec are in his service, as promised. The trio take Slave I back to Nevarro where Mando seeks out New Republic Marshall Cara Dune. He needs her help in finding Migs Mayfeld whom Mando hopes will help locate Moff Gideon's cruiser. The episode concludes on board that cruiser as it is traveling through hyperspace. Inside Grogu's cell, he's Force rag-dolling a pair of Stormtrooper which Gideon seems to find amusing. The effort leaves Grogu on the brink of exhaustion and Gideon gestures a Stomtrooper to stun him and place him in shackles. His final order is to inform Dr. Pershing that they have their donor.

Notes:

• Stormtrooper Grenadier figure immediately!
• Boba Fett makes a call back to Jango Fett's "simple man" line from Attack of the Clones.
• Temuera Morrison was perfect in this episode.
• Grogu uses some dark side Force powers in his cell against the Stormtroopers. I personally believe this is the meaning behind the title "The Tragedy."

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