The Mandalorian has been expanding its own world into the broader Star Wars mythology this season, and this episode was the biggest entry into that world yet. We returned to some familiar characters, appearing for the first time in live-action, and got some hints as to where the story will be leading.
The rest of the review is going to be broken up into both spoiler and non-spoiler sections, so be sure to stop reading before the spoiler warning if you do not want key details of the episode ruined for you.
Non-Spoiler Review
The episode continues where the last one left off, delivering the Frog Lady to her husband, which then gives our main Mandalorian his first real hint at others of his kind, as well as pointing him towards finding a home for The Child.
The fight scenes are more intense in this episode, once again leaning into original trilogy nostalgia, with new allies and foes to fight against. These fights are adequate but not as visually impressive as others from the series.
This episode lives by its gradual reveals of the current state of the Mandalorians, and the current whereabouts of the Jedi Order, setting up story threads to be followed through the rest of the season and possibly in subsequent seasons.
In a way, this episode almost felt like it was setting up for a spin-off, with Mando just along for the ride as an extra fighter and Baby Yoda (ok, The Child) nowhere to be found.
By no means a bad episode, it was just not the strongest of the series as it spends more time setting up for what is still to come.
Spoiler Warning
The episode begins with the reuniting of Frog Lady and her husband (Frog Gentleman? Frog Man?).
He then proceeds to point him towards finding more of his kind, with an unidentified cloaked figure in the crowd looking on. The titular Mandalorian then finds passage across the new planet's sea toward the location of the other Mandalorians.
This journey leads him to be betrayed while stranded in the ocean, watching as The Child is eaten alive by a sea creature before he himself is trapped with it.
It is that point where a new clan of three Mandalorians is introduced, saving Mando and The Child.
At this point we are given some of their backstory, as well as that of Mandalorians in the time following the Seige of Mandalore.
One of the new clan and the one that is given the most screen time, is Bo-Katan. She was the last ruler of Mandalore before the rise of the Empire and has been featured in both Star Wars The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. If you have not watched these, you may want to start catching up, as rumors are that these are not the last characters showing up from them in this season.
It is in this she reveals that our main Mandalorian has been a part of a group of extremist Mandalorians known as the Watch, assumed to be an evolution of the Death Watch terrorist group featured throughout The Clone Wars. Bo-Katan had once been a part of this organization, although mainly was concerned with embracing the Mandalorian's militant history, not some of its more extreme ideals.
She enlists Mando's help to take control of a ship controlled by what remains of the Empire as she attempts to locate the Darksaber.
We previously saw in season one that the Darksaber is in the possession of Moff Gideon. It is a Mandalorian weapon dating back generations having been held by characters from Sabine Wren to even Bo-Katan herself. She suspects it is in his possession but seeks confirmation from imperial officers.
The new clan decides to go off in further search of the Darksaber, but not before sending Mando to find a remnant of the Jedi Order. They tell him of the current location of Ahsoka Tano, another familiar animated Star Wars face, on Corvus, and the episode ends with The Mandalorian and The Child heading off in their much-damaged ship to find her.
Once again this episode falls further into Star Wars lore, this time mostly taking from the multiple recent animated Star Wars TV series. With the expected introduction of Ahsoka in upcoming episodes, this trend will only continue.
It is exciting to see the lore of the Mandalorians explored further, looking at what happened to the multiple clans of the world and how they are scattered across the galaxy in the aftermath of the Empire. This also gives us our first glimpse at clans wanting to take back the homeworld, something that could certainly be explored further in the future, although that is not clear in this episode.
There is a whole web of competing groups around our titular character that all seem to be intersecting at an exponential rate, and a larger conflict increasingly seems inevitable.
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