With only two episodes left this season of The Mandalorian, time is running out to save Grogu from the clutches of Moff Gideon and the Empire. Mando and his new team, with Boba Fett in tow, turn to an old friend for answers to where Grogu was taken. One very unique thing about this episode is that it was the first episode to not have Grogu in it at all. It was also refreshing to see Bill Burr return as Migs Mayfeld from Chapter 6; an ex-Imperial sharpshooter, who leads Mando to an Imperial refinery on Morak. What happened leading up to next week's finale episode? Let's dive right in. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
1) MAYFELD RETURNS
As Mando and Mayfeld infiltrate the Imperial refinery on Morak, after dealing with some pirates of course, viewers really get a sense of how Mayfeld views the Empire. He talks about how the Empire and the New Republic are really two sides of the same coin: invaders on others' land. While Mando really doesn't respond that much, Burr adds a lot of depth to his character. He also gives Mando a lot of flak about his helmet and commitment to the creed of Mandalore, even when Mando has to change into an Imperial uniform with a different helmet.
Even later, when Mando and Mayfeld cross paths with Mayfeld's old commanding officer Valin Hess, Mayfeld dives into his tragic past with the Empire and makes it clear to Hess that he felt what they did during Operation: Cinder (where countless of soldiers and civilians were killed). When taking down Hess with a point-blank blaster shot, it was really shown what a tortured soul Mayfeld is. Sure he's a mercenary but unlike the Empire he used to serve he does have morals. It was great to see him get his revenge against the Empire after years of suffering. Also in this scene, Mayfeld was the first character to witness something unique about Mando in the show...
2) MANDO'S FATHERLY DUTY?
In order to get the coordinates of Moff Gideon's ship, the Imperial terminal Mayfeld needed to get into required a facial scan. While being spooked by his former superior officer, Mando volunteers to remove his helmet. Now if there is one thing that this show has made clear, its that Mando never removes his helmet. He had it removed once in the season one finale by the droid IG-11 who saved his life, but Mando himself never removes it. After heavily alluding to it numerous times during the episode, Mando finally removes his helmet for the facial scan and is helmet-less for another scene after that. Who would have thought Mayfeld would be the first character on the show to see Mando without his helmet? The importance of the helmet removing is that to me it shows how far Mando is willing to go to save Grogu. He has made it very clear that no one has ever seen him without his helmet on and follows the creed of Mandalore, but this really shows the impact Grogu has had on our hero.
Also at the end of the episode, Mando sends a hologram message to Moff Gideon threatening him and telling him he will rescue Grogu. It was very Liam Neeson/Taken-esque to me, and showed that Mando has changed over the course of the show. He is used to doing random jobs as a bounty hunter but now has more meaning that he has ever had in his life thanks to Grogu. Could this season even end with Mando rejecting the creed of Mandalore like Bo-Katan in Chapter 11? Will we see Pedro Pascal's face more often in the show going forward? It's certainly possible but I'm not entirely convinced just yet. It will be interesting to see how the finale pulls this off next week. Which leads me to...
3) WILL THE NARRATIVE BE SOLVED NEXT WEEK?
A lot of moving parts for getting Grogu back really begs the question: will he be saved next week? Giancarlo Esposito has previously stated that he feels he will have a big role in season 3, which is premiering Christmas Day 2021. I do think that Mando and Moff Gideon will have a huge duel next week, Mando using his beskar staff and Gideon using the Dark Saber. Maybe Grogu will even jump in to help Mando out to fully display his powers after seeing his "dad" in trouble. Expect lots of action and lots of Dark Troopers doing their best to protect Gideon and stop Mando and his team from getting to Grogu.
I'm also hoping that there will be a surprise guest who heard Grogu's calls through the Force from Chapter 14 on the setting stone on Tython. My gut is telling me it would be Ashoka Tano who's had a change of heart about helping out Grogu, but I still feel there could be a surprise guest in play. Hopefully Boba Fett takes a bigger role in the finale as well, as his activity in this episode was extremely limited after his badass introduction last week. Regardless, I think we're in for loads of action and lots of surprises in next week's finale.
What did you think of this week's episode? Are you hoping to see Mando's face more often? What are you most excited for in next week's season finale? Let me know in the comments below and look for my recap on the season finale later this week!
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