After last week’s return to The Clone Wars, we return to the Original Trilogy, as well as the first season of this show, for “The Tragedy.” Major, major spoilers follow.
1. Bounty Hunters, and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Boba Fett
When I was a wee lad in the 1980s, Boba Fett was regarded as one of the coolest characters in Star Wars, due mainly to his armor and ship, which flew in an unusual way. The character appeared briefly in The Empire Strikes Back and then, presumably, met his demise in the derfiest way possible in Return of the Jedi. Through Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars, attempts were made, and mostly failed, to give Boba some depth or redemption. Aside from the look, which has been coopted and improved on by every subsequent Mandalorian, there remains, in the year of our Lord Vader 2020, very little to like about Boba Fett.
“The Tragedy” attempts to give us reason to care about Boba, by showing him both as a survivor – more on that in a minute – and as a man of his word. This is a 180 from how we’ve seen Boba in the past, which has, admittedly, been mostly as a petulant child. There are a lot of questions that his appearance raises, both in story and from a larger, meta perspective, but in making him an ally to Din, he instantly goes over better than you’d expect him to, given the proposition laid out bare.
Fett, noticeably changed, physically and emotionally, from his time in the belly of the Sarlac, transformed himself into a deadly fighter with his hooked staff, and is noticeably thicker around the waist than he was 9 years earlier, when heard Wilhelm-screaming to his (apparently not) demise. He looks like a man who has been through hell, and the optics alone help not hate him quite as much. But his desire to keep to his word, unless this is a swerve of some kind, is even more surprising. Perhaps it is the connection to the history of Mandalore, but this seems like a changed Boba. I still feel like the character would have been better unexplored after his death in Return of the Jedi, but at least he is doing some interesting things here.
Fett proclaims that he is “A simple man making his way through the galaxy like my father before me.” This is an obvious callback to Luke’s Return of the Jedi line: “I’m a Jedi, like my father before me.” This is an odd bit of ‘rhyming’ as George Lucas would call it, as both are the sons of people who failed at what their true calling was. Anakin could have been the greatest Jedi of all time, but he cost literally millions of creatures their lives and only succeeded at the end of his life due to his son. And Jango Fett was supposed to be this elite warrior who gets his head lopped off without too much trouble. Will Boba, like Luke, succeed in ways he father never could?
Also, since when is Boba a surgeon/cyborg magician? Did he go to Tatooine med school in the past 9 years?
Last random thought: is the title a reference to Grogu being kidnapped, or of Boba’s impossibly sad life?
2. Dave-Chappelle-As-Prince-Assemble-Your-Crew.gif
This episode sees a lot of the elements of the first season return. Whether it is the return of characters like Cara Dune and Fennec Shand, the second appearance of the Darksaber, or even the return of the first title we had for Grogu, the Asset, there were a lot of callbacks to the first eight episodes of the series. However, the destruction of the Razor Crest seems like the biggest sign yet that the show is looking to move on from those some constraints. Without his ship or Grogu, Din is reduced to his most primal form: Mandalorian warrior. Armed with his staff, his jetpack (maybe? I don’t think we saw him retrieve it), and his armor, beskar is all that he has left. It is time to rebuild.
The return of Fennec isn’t all that surprising, as it was teased at the end of her episode last season, and it’s nice to see Ming-Na Wen have more to do on this show, as she’s fantastic and was somewhat wasted in her first go-round. It’s a little more surprising to see Bill Burr’s Mayfield returning, not because he wasn’t a fun character, but he seems somewhat pedestrian compared to the other firepower that Din could likely assemble.
Continued belowIf I was a gambling man, next episode will see not just Mayfield, but messages sent to Ahsoka, Bo-Katan, and Greef Carga as well, to get the whole gang together to take on Moff Gideon and co. I know I’ve been saying that exact thing for a few weeks now, but this show, while wonderful, is formulaic. And with the Imperial firepower seemingly stronger than anyone expected, Fennec, Boba, and Din could use the help.
3. Action, courtesy of Rodriguez
Director Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk till Dawn, Desperado) is known for both his kinetic action sequences and his early embrace of digital filmmaking. So having him helm an episode of The Mandalorian makes a ton of sense, and he brought his action chops to the forefront. The encounter between Din, Fennec, Boba, and the array of Stormtroopers was one of the most satisfying in the series, managing to have some great moments for each of the three non-Imps, and was shot in such a way that it both seemed insane that they could take down all the troopers, but also seemed to show how, just maybe, they could pull it off. Rodriguez got the least number of Star Wars creatures of any director so far, but got to play with most of the actors, save the great and hallowed Carl Weathers, that you’d like to work with on the show.
Rodrgiuez, along with Favreau’s script, brought something back that was felt most notably in the first two Original Trilogy films, which is this feeling of the Empire’s inevitability. They seemed too big and powerful to be taken down by this ragtag group of rebels. And while Moff Gideon doesn’t have the same firepower behind him, he has more than Din does. This seems like a fight that is destined to go in the Empire’s favor.
A big part of that was the introduction of the Dark Troopers, seemingly new droids that combined the best parts of Stormtroopers (their size and maneuverability) with the best parts of droids (better aim and more durable). With technology like that, Gideon doesn’t need a full battalion behind him. And Din likely knows it.
4. Mission Accomplished?
So much happens in this episode that it is easy to forget that Grogu does manage to connect with the Force on Tython and reach out. It seems likely that this will be part of the Chapter 16 finale, with Din’s forces being bailed out by a Jedi who felt Grogu’s call. I can’t imagine the show would have them get to Tython, succeed in sending out a signal, and having it go nowhere.
There are only a few Jedi that we know of in the galaxy still, and some of them seem unlikely for this series (like Luke, sadly). This is going to be a fun revelation, however it works.
5. A premonition
While Bo-Katan is the rightful heir to the Darksaber at this moment, it seems like Grogu – trained as a Jedi and raised as a Mandalorian – will, one day, wield the Darksaber at one point himself. I don’t know why I never put that together before, but when Gideon engaged it in front of him, it seemed so obvious. I don’t know if it will be a temporary situation, or if it will reside with him going forward, but I feel pretty strongly about this.
But that illustrates one of the problems with setting a show in between the Original and Sequel trilogy: it seems hard to imagine that Grogu could’ve existed and known Ahsoka and never encounter Luke. If he did encounter Luke, it means that he was dead (perhaps slain by the Knights of Ren?) by the time of The Force Awakens. And while there are, of course, ways around that, our Star Wars world has been so built around the Skywalkers that it seems impossible.
