WARNING: SPOILERS LIE AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 14 OF THE MANDALORIAN, IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE EPISODE, GO BACK AND WATCH IT!
This is the way.
Because of course Robert Rodriguez directed that episode. The one that felt the most like Mariachi and other action classics, was because it was made by a master of action. Trying to live up to the absolute smash-fantastic feel of Chapter 13 was never going to be possible. But damn, did this episode really get your pulse going. From the opening salvo, and the title “The Tragedy”, you knew something was going to go awry. We just had to hope it wasn’t the death of Grogu or any of our main characters.
It turns out that we lost a lot more in this episode than we thought. The Razor Crest is no more, Grogu is in the clutches of the Empire, and it seems like all is lost. This might have been the Empire Strikes Back of episodes. We got to see Boba Fett in full action. Let me go on a quick tangent about him first.
I Never Ever Want To See Some Nerd Complain On The Internet About Boba Fett Ever Again
Temuera Morrison absolutely knocked this out of the park. If you were expecting Boba Fett to be the basically emotionless bounty hunter of the original trilogy, you’re probably disappointed. Otherwise, this was one of the best showings for a new version of an old character. All the scenes involving Fett were stolen, and I mean, STOLEN by Morrison. The long-standing fan-theory that Fennec was saved on Tatooine by Fett, was true.
This episode showed just how you can take an old character and bring them up to modern Star Wars speed. The action scenes with Fett decimating Stormtroopers were fantastic and reminded me of the action involving Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One. They were brutal, but oh so satisfying. So if you’re going to complain that The Mandalorian is all just fan service, just stop. This show just gave Boba Fett more dimensions as a character than George Lucas ever did.
This wasn’t just to sell action figures, it was to help flesh out a character that was one dimensional in the Original Trilogy. So for that, and many other things, we thank Jon Favreau.
Back To The Main Action Of “The Tragedy”
This was the second shortest episode of the series so far. It didn’t need to rival the forty-five minute epic of the last episode. We know relatively who Boba Fett is, we know who Fennec is, so we didn’t need to learn about them. Fett did get more character development, particularly showing that he’s not just some bounty hunter scum, at the end of the episode. It looks like we’re hurtling toward a prison break and an all-out war to save the child in our last two episodes here.
The length of the episode was no problem to me, and it really had stakes for the overall story. It’ll be interesting to see where we go from here though. It looks pretty dire for Mando and Grogu.
Dark Troopers Make Their Appearance
The Dark Troopers were a bit on the disappointing side. We didn’t see any of their capabilities, besides jet engines. So I guess we’ll have to wait until the likely season finale for them to stretch out and show what they’ve got. That was really the only anti-climactic moment of the episode. Everything else really got a payoff, but it seemed like Mando and Fennec were running in sand to get to Grogu.
Obviously that’s a storyline and screenwriting technique to build up tension, and really, they definitely weren’t blowing the first showing of the Dark Troopers by just blowing away Mando. Grogu also hopefully reached out to the Jedi in the Galaxy. We still don’t know who it is, and I didn’t see any indications of who it could be. So we’re still in the dark. Some of the normal suggestions are Cal Kestis from Jedi Fallen Order and Ezra Bridger from Rebels. Some more far out ones would be Mace Windu or even Luke Skywalker. Luke being far-out because it would take heavy CGI or a recast. Windu because of obvious, he died in Revenge of the Sith reasons.
So who knows, no one really does, and we won’t until we do. For now, we just have a season of The Mandalorian that is quickly ramping up into serious action. In my mind, after a slightly slow start that felt like revving in neutral, we’ve really got going with the last four episodes.
Not As Good As “The Jedi” But A Damn Fine Episode
“The Tragedy” might end up looking like Empire Strikes Back and other “middle section” films. They look pretty damn good on face value, but after you see the whole story, they look even better. We got character development for a much-loved character. Finally, we got fast and furious action from one of the best directors in the business to do it. I can’t really ask much more out of an episode of The Mandalorian.
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