RECAP:  Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 16 - The Rescue

Spoiler-Free Review:

This. Simply this:



I'm running out of superlatives to describe The Mandalorian. Part of the reason I grew to hate the sport of baseball is because of the baseball writers, and the eye roll inducing way they would over romanticize the game. It's a boring sport and not a religious experience. So I'm worried about falling into that same trap with The Mandalorian. I don't want to project my personal love of it onto the entire pop culture world. You know what all these prequalifications mean. I'm going to do exactly the thing against which I'm cautioning.

The Mandalorian is now the soul of Star Wars.

The most concise and impactful review of this episode comes from Randy (5POA is not okay) in our forums:

It feels so nice to be happy about Star Wars again.

One last anecdote I would make about the season 2 finale is this: I had more people reach out to me about the finale than I did when the Red Sox broke the Curse of the Bambino in 2004. If you knew what a singular obsession the Red Sox were in the Boston area at the time, that is quite the statement.

Spoiler Filled Recap:



The episode starts off with Slave I in pursuit of an Lamda-class Imperial Shuttle. It's Dr. Pershing's transport, and Boba Fett disables it with an ion blast. Mando boards and starts grilling Pershing about Grogu's status. He's alive. Cara "the Barber" Beefcake boards, and the pilot tinkles himself. He grabs Pershing realizing he's an invaluable intelligence source to the New Republic if Dune can capture him alive, and threatens to kill him. The co-pilot simply wants to surrender, and the pilot shoots that stunted slime for attempting to give up the ship. The pilot, recognizing Dune's Alliance Starbird tear tattoo, starts taunting her about Alderaan. He witnessed its destruction from the Death Star. Dune dishes back the taunts about how the Rebellion blew up Death Stars like it was picking daisies. The rhetoric escalates until Dune takes the headshot and kills the pilot with the blaster bolt whizzing past Dr. Pershing's ear.



Slave I next travels to a planet that is mostly plains dotted by repeated industrial buildings. It lands and we see the familiar Kom'rk-class fighter/transport, better known to fans of The Clone Wars as the Mandalorian bus. Inside a cantina, Din and Fett find Bo-Katan and Kasoka Reeves. Mando ask Katan for help in rescuing Grogu from Moff Gideon, but she quickly dismisses the effort as futile since they will never find him. Fett urges Mando to stop wasting time with the pair. His clone voice visibly gets the attention of the lady Mandos. Mando interjects that he has Gideon's coordinates, and now Katan is interested. He further offers that the Moff's light cruiser could aid her in recapturing Mandalore. Fett scoffs at the notion insisting the Empire turned Mandalore into a glass parking lot. For the second scene in a row, escalating rhetoric leads to violence as Fett and Reeves fight until the point of a flame-thrower stand off. Katan calls them off, and offers their help on two conditions. One, she gets to keep Gideon's cruiser. I feel like Mando already offered that, so it was the worst negotiating since Kramer accepted unlimited free refills. Two, she will kill Gideon and retake the Darksaber. Mando could care less about the spoils. He just wants his kid.



On board Slave I, Bo-Katan starts to formulate the battle plan which is based on the Imperial remnant cruiser operating on a skeleton crew. For some reason, Pershing volunteers that a garrison of Dark Troopers is on board. He further elaborates that these third-generation Dark Troopers are now droids instead of human troopers. It seems like withholding this information would have all but ensured the mission's failure, so it's odd that he offered it up. The scene plays out like he wants them to succeed. The battle plan is set. Fett will feign an attack on the commandeered Lamda-class shuttle, which will give justification for an emergency landing at which point the quartet of Bo-Katan, Reeve, Dune and Shand will engage in a diversionary blitzkrieg attack toward the bridge. Mando will slip in behind and stealthily head to the brig to rescue Grogu. Along the way, he will use Pershing's code cylinder to seal off the Dark Trooper bay before they can activate. READY...BREAK!



As Slave I and the shuttle are traveling in hyperspace to Gidoen's coordinates, Dune insists they capture him alive due to the invaluable intelligence he could provide as an ex-ISB operative. Bo-Katan agrees, but insists that Gideon surrender to her. Upon exiting hyperspace, the plan goes to pot almost immediately. Fett puts on a good show of trying to take down the shuttle. Bo-Katan requests emergency landing, but Gideon's Spider-Sense is up. Instead, he orders fighters to be launched, and the shuttle is commanded to stay clear of the launch tube. Bo-Katan improvises and insist the attack is too relentless. She crash lands in the landing bay. There's a clear metaphor playing out, but we'll leave it. Something about penetrating a launch tube. The plan gets back on track as Mando's Angels launch their shock attack laying waste to anyone in the landing bay. On cue, Gideon orders the Dark Troopers to be brought on line. They don't have solid state drives, so they'll take a tick or two to boot.



Mando's fire team has blazed such a wide path that he encounters next to no resistance on his stealth mission. That attack mission is great because each member of the team gets a moment to shine, but I feel Fennec Shand steals the show with her action sequence in the cargo bay. Mando arrives at the Dark Trooper bay just as the doors are opening. He manages to seal the doors, but not before one of them slips through and proceeds to jackhammer Mando into oblivion. The Dark Troopers are portrayed with the perfect amount of persistent terror and dread like a Terminator. They are not quick, but they are unstoppable. The classic "you can run, but you'll just die tired" menace. Seconds before the Dark Trooper is about to fuse Mando's skull into the hull, he manages to fire his flamethrower, which stuns the trooper and melts his neck seal. The Dark Trooper rag dolls Mando a good two or three times. It's barely slowed by the Whistling Birds. Mando jams his beskar spear in the droid's exposed neck, and it finally stops the juggernaut. Just as the remaining Dark Troopers are about to burst out of the sealed bay, Mando opens the outer doors, and they are all sucked out into the vacuum of space. He'd better hope they don't have rockets in their feet.



The fire team arrives at the bridge and quickly kills every Imperial they encounter to include the Comms Officer. CURSES! She was one of my favorite secondary character's this season. Bo-Katan quickly realizes "every Imperial" does not include Moff Gideon. He's not on the bridge. Mando arrives at the brig, and kills the two Stormtrooper guards, snapping the neck of one in graphic fashion. He opens the doors to reveal Gideon holding the Darksaber over Grogu's head. Gideon explains Bo-Katan's real mission is the saber since its control is tied to ruling Mandalore. As earlier, Mando could care less and just wants the kid. As a means to mutually end the assault, Gideon agrees to let Mando take Grogu since he already has what he needs from him: his blood. The Child's rare abilities have a chance to bring first order back to the galaxy. Predictably, the offer was a double cross. As soon as Mando's back is turned, Gideon pounces with the Darksaber. A duel ensues with Mando using his beskar spear. Eventually Mando disarms Gideon and takes him alive, which seems to sadistically please the Moff.



We return to the bridge and we quickly learn why Gideon was so delighted. Mando has earned the Darksaber. It can't be given or stolen. It must be won in combat. It's like the Little Brown Jug. The saber in and of itself is meaningless. The story or legend of the saber is what carries its weight. Mando tries to yield to Bo-Katan, but that won't satisfy the tradition. Esposito does a brilliant job of channeling Palpatine from Return of the Jedi and tries to goad Bo-Katan into attacking Mando right then and there. Hmmm. Return of the Jedi. I wonder if a Jedi will return soon. The tension is cut by alarms sounding. The ship is being boarded. The Dark Troopers who were sucked out into space have found their way back. Gideon once again revels in the proceedings, and Dune shove him to the deck. In doing so, he finds a lost blaster on the ground and conceals it. The Dark Troopers make their slow and steady march toward the bridge, and Reeves seals the blast doors. The droids begin to punch their way through as the assault team prepares for a futile last stand.



As the doors are about to be breached, and Gideon is licking his chops with glee, another alarm sounds. A lone X-Wing approaches. The chests of middle aged fan boys and girls across the globe tighten under the weight of daring to hope as tears well. Cara Dune sarcastically says, "we're saved" in response to the solitary rescue ship. You can stuff your sarcasm in a sack, sister, because you're gall-dern right you're saved. EVERYTHING IS SAVED! Grogu perks up. The Dark Troopers halt their assault. For the first time, Gideon grows visibly concerned. A cloaked figure appears on a monitor and confidentially strides down a hallway. Is it happening? The black and white monitor reveals the mysterious figure using a lightsaber to take down Dark Troopers with ease. Is it happening? Gideon's breath grows shallow and rapid. We cut to the figure and the saber is green. IS IT HAPPENING? The entire platoon of Dark Troopers barely slows the stranger on the way to the bridge as a combination of saber slashes and Force pushes makes quick work of them. Gideon uses the distraction to wield his concealed blaster and shoots Bo-Katan. He then attempts to kill Grogu, but Mando jumps in front of him and blocks the shots with his beskar. The rest of the team takes aim at Gideon, and he attempts to take his own life, but not before Dune knocks him out with the butt of her rifle. The stranger nearly reaches the bridge, and goes on a hallway rampage that mirrors Vader's at the end of Rogue One. The Dark Troopers are no more.



Despite the protests of the team, Mando opens the doors to the bridge. The stranger enters. He calmly shuts off his lightsaber and attaches it to his belt. He removes his hood to finally reveal his identity. IT'S LUKE MOTHER-LOVING SKYWALKER. IT'S LUKE. IT'S LUKE IT'S LUKE IT'S LUKE. IT'S HAPPENING. IT'S [EXPLETIVE] HAPPENING. THANK YOU, LORD, IT'S HAPPENING. I've written before that Star Wars and Christmas are inextricable to me. From 1978 through 1983, Christmas meant Star Wars and whichever big toy avoided me during the year. This year, Star Wars delivers the greatest Christmas present ever.



Luke beckons Grorgu to come to him. Grogu turns toward Mando with mournful eyes and a heartbreaking frown. Din says he doesn't want to go, but Luke says that he's seeking Mando's permission. Luke offers the Child protection, but he says he won't be fully safe until he's mastered his abilities. Mando picks up Grogu and tells him to go with Luke. The baby reaches out to touch his helmet, which he removes. In the simultaneously most heartwarming and heartbreaking scene in Star Wars history, Grogu caresses Din's face. This moment has been building for two seasons, and its impact could have easily been rushed over the course of the frenetic episode, sort of like the way Game of Thrones rushed the Night King's death. Instead the show lets this moment breathe, and if you don't find yourself moved by it, you're soulless. I have watched the episode four times at the time of this writing and I have cried at this scene every single time. I'm welling up now thinking about it. As Mando is crying watching Grogu go to Luke, R2 rolls in and warbles with glee at the sight of the Child. Luke takes Grogu, and offers one final phrase: May the Force be with you. As the elevator doors closes around Luke, R2 and the baby, the credits roll.



But it doesn't end there. Oh no, my friends. There is a post credit scene. We see the twin suns of Tatooine and the camera pans to reveal Jabba's palace. Inside it's revealed that a suddenly obese Bib Fortuna sits on the throne (apparently he's taking the rations away from the Gamorrean Guards who are now skinny). In a call back to Leia's arrival at the palace in Return of the Jedi, we hear a gun shot off camera and a corpse tumbles down the stairs. The intruder is Fennec Shand who systematically plunks off Fortuna's entire retinue which includes many familiar alien species. A recognizable shadow soon follows down the stairs. Fortuna nervously greets Fett, who raises his BlasTech EE-3 rifle and shoots the corpulent load where he sits. Boba then assumes the throne. The Book of Boba Fett is coming to Disney+, the single greatest value in streaming, in December of 2021. I feel like Cartman not being able to bear the wait for the Nintendo Wii to come out. I may go freeze myself.

Notes:

• The shuttle pilot looks too young to have been on the Death Star. It must have been his plebe summer.
• Bo-Katan calls out Boba Fett for not being a Mandalorian. He replies that he never claimed to be.
• Fett repeatedly refers to Bo-Katan as "princess", which is reminiscent of Solo's banter with Leia.
• For the second time, an RA-7 droid (a.k.a. Death Star Droid) makes an appearance in the series.
• Cara Dune's blaster rifle "jams". How does an energy weapon jam? Does a laser bolt stovepipe?
• Luke's X-Wing does not appear to have a callsign on the wings.
• Luke uses the Force to crush the final Dark Trooper
• Bib Fortuna is holding the staff that came with the vintage Kenner figure.
• Bib Fortuna says "maclunkey".
• Boba's ghost spurs can be heard as he approaches Bib.

The Mandalorian is currently streaming on the Disney+ Streaming Service

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