After a season, more or less, totally removed from the larger Star Wars narrative, this season of The Mandalorian is cozying up to novels and animated fare left and right. This episode goes the furthest in that direction thus far, and teases even more. Let’s dig in.
1. Let’s not bury the lede
While there are lots of other things to discuss in this episode, by far the biggest news is Katee Sackoff playing Bo-Katan Kryze. Sackoff was the voice of Bo-Katan in both The Clone Wars and Rebels, and so this was a perfect moment, and one that has been teased for quite some time. Bo-Katan is a complicated character in Star Wars, but specifically in all things Mandalore. She has history with Death Watch, is considered the rightful heir of Mandalore and, at one time, wielded the Darksaber.
She is used here as the first sign that the Mandlorians that Din Djardin has been associated with are not the only Mandalorians, a fact that he, himself, seemed unaware of before meeting Bo-Katan. If you’ve watched and read a lot of Star Wars stuff, you likely knew that, but for folks who are just jumping in here, this is the first revelation that maybe Mandalorian is a much broader term than we had realized.
Bo-Katan is flanked by Koska Reeves (played by WWE wrestler Sasha Banks, aka Mercedes Varnado) and Axe Woves (played by Simon Kassianides), and the three of them offer a stark difference to Din’s upbringing. All three unmask without question and have a much different tone that the Mandalorians that hide in shadows. Their beskar is painted instead of buffed, and they are looking to take back their ‘cursed’ planet.
Bo-Katan also mentions that Din was raised by “The Watch,” which we can only assume is Death Watch, the organization that Bo-Katan was once a member of, as well as the group taken over by Maul, and generally considered the most radicalized of Mandalorians. This makes a certain amount of sense, but also offers up a lot of questions about just what Mandlore has gone through in the ten-ish years since we last saw Bo-Kattan in Rebels.
2. Like father, like daughter
Before I saw that this episode was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, I wrote in my notes “Apollo 13 opening.” The landing of the Razor Crest very much felt like the climactic moment in her father’s classic NASA film, Apollo 13, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. Much like that film, you know that the crew of the ship is going to survive, but quality filmmaking makes you doubt your instincts, and this opening, along with last week’s absolute wrecking of the ship by ice spiders, put a lot of doubt into the survivability of the landing.
3. To the sea!
In so many ways, Star Wars uses space as the stand in for the ocean; we’ve heard about the Empire’s Navy, for instance. But this is the first time that I can recall we have ever seen characters on a seafaring vessel. For this harbor setting, the show also brought in a few of their more amphibian species, specifically the Mon Calamari and Quarren, in addition to the frog-ish woman from last episode.
We also see said frog reunite with her partner, and it is a tender scene. I get the impression that now we have seen the last of them, as they are raising a child in relative safety, but last season, almost every character we spent any time with came back in the end, so who knows?
4. Connecting the dots
Although multiple planets have been visited in this series, the story has been more or less a straight line. While there have been characters that have split off in side quests, for the most part, Din’s story has been the focus. We’re now seeing that change a little bit. Bo-Katan seems on a collision path with Moff Gideon, who is also on a collision path with Din for the Child. The Darksaber was a fun prop last season, but now it seems like it may be a truly important piece if the battle for Mandalore becomes what the season is actually going to be about.
Continued belowOn one hand, I’ve liked the isolation of the series thus far, where we are following one story across the galaxy. But there have been lots of examples in this season, already almost half over, somehow, that the story is spreading, like a spider-webbing crack in a windshield, and that we will be seeing much more of a galactic tale in the future. These characters, along with Boba Fett (possibly) from the first episode, are really giving voice to all the different factions of Mandalorians, including imposters like the Fetts.
We also now have a better sense of who Moff Gideon, the Client, and now the imperial played by Titus Wellever, are. While it was always clear that they were some sort of holdovers from the Empire, we now see them as a more organized group, with a clear agenda. This is interesting because it is another connection, in a way, to the Aftermath Trilogy. Although this takes place approximately five years later, this continues the idea of there being warring factions of the Empire still out there, fighting for both supremacy among the scraps, and also an attempt to rebuild. This clearly is not the group who retreated to the Unknown Regions with Rae Sloane (although I would love to see her come into this show at some point), but is another remnant, seemingly not long for this galaxy.
5. The name spoken
Bo-Katan is true to her word, and gives Din a name to find: Ahsoka Tano. We’ve all heard the rumors, but it is wild to know that, shortly, we will be seeing a live-action Ahsoka, rumored to be played by Rosario Dawson. I’m holding out hope for Ashley Eckstein, the original voice-actor, to either dub in her voice or actually play the part, though I sincerely doubt either will happen. But this is the clearest decision yet that the Dave Filoni-run animated shows are going to be paramount in this setting. While it always made sense to tie The Mandalorian to these series, especially Rebels, actually seeing it happen is something else.
My prediction is that Ahsoka will wait at least a week, and we’ll see Mando attempt up to upgrade/fix his ship first, but I could be wrong. Either way, I’m very excited to see where this goes.
