On a broader scope, several pieces fell into place in this week's Mandalorian episode. We also have a basic view of the finish line and a charted path our newly assembled bounty hunter group needs to take to get there.
On a smaller scope, we watched some of the best action sequences of the entire series thus far, and we got closure to a loose end from Season 1.
And on a legacy scope, we finally got to see a long-time character return to his former glory, however contrived (yet awesome) this was. And he even quoted a couple of movie lines that surely made nerds like me a little giddy.
All in all, "The Tragedy" was maybe the best episode of the season thus far. Though it didn't advance the plot all that much, the story got a huge jolt of excitement. We got to see more cool tech stuff, and we also witnessed some of the best film editing and cinematography akin to classic spaghetti westerns that somehow harken back to the classic Star Wars days (that shootout wasn't overedited and actually gave the battle a sense of timing and progression).
Before all the lasers start firing, Din Djarin actually revealed an almost-vulnerable, intimate moment with Grogu. In a moment when he's mostly giving a recap of what he's about to do simply to remind the audience, Din actually gets a little choked up at the notion of giving up Grogu. Behind his tough exterior (and armor - okay, that was an easy one), it actually makes sense. He's taken pride in his parental instincts over Grogu, especially after the last episode when he realized how attached Grogu has become.
Din delivers Grogu to the seeing stone on Tython (though on the surface, it looks more like the planet Takodana we've seen in other places in Star Wars movies and lore). A mysterious, impenetrable portal envelops Grogu for the bulk of the episode. Although it may not have been exactly the same as this portal shield, I do believe we've seen some Jedi reach out and connect with the force in similar ways. It's very possible (this is me purely speculating) that Grogu was also in another realm that connects to various physical points in the universe. We see this realm a bit at the end of the Clone Wars and then again with Ezra and Ahsoka in Rebels. In this realm, the Force can reveal many things, including visions of the past and future, to Jedi. It's pretty cool stuff, but I'm okay if they don't dive head-first into this part of the lore too much just yet.
We knew the Empire would catch up with Din eventually since we learned they were tracking his ship in the final scene of the previous episode. What we didn't know for sure (though I'm sure most fans suspected) is that Boba Fett also tracked Din, though for how long raises some questions: why wouldn't he have confronted him in earlier episodes if he's been following him this long? Why travel through so many different systems? I'm assuming Boba wasn't actually using a tracker, but more or less using his sleuthing, bounty-hunter skills to track him down. It's also interesting that Boba somehow was able to track down Din across the galaxy, but he couldn't manage to retrieve the armor when he and the armor were on Tatooine for years. I hope more is afoot here for Boba than simply chasing down armor that doesn't fit anymore, anyway.
Still, it was amazing to see Boba flying in his Slave I ship once again. And Boba wasn't alone. He brought with him the still-alive sniper Fennec Shand whom we first met in Season 1's episode "the Gunslinger" as she was the target of a bounty. We catch a glimpse of someone (we only see his lower body) next to her unconscious body lying on the ground, presumed dead at the time. Well now we know that was Boba who saved her in the desert, and now they're joining forces to take down Din. Of course, they're willing to talk first, and later form an alliance. Might this be the makings of a new Bounty Hunter crew? It'd be great if Season 3 of Mandalorian was setting up a season of Mando and Boba taking on other scum and villainy throughout the galaxy (now that is a set-up I'd appreciate from Mandalorian, as opposed to something like a live-action Rebels sequel, though I'd still love to watch that).
Boba Fett is a hot topic for most Star Wars fans. Given the way he "died" in Episode VI, fans felt betrayed that such an awesome, deadly character was relegated to a goofy moment where Han Solo accidentally hits Boba's jetpack, sending him careening into Jabba's sail barge before rolling down the sand pit like a snowball (sandball?) to his seeming demise. After all these years, we finally see Boba Fett's true capabilities. He literally goes off on two squads of stormtroopers with no-look shooting and skilled melee combat. He must have taken lessons after his failure in Episode VI, huh? Seriously though, Boba was awesome.
Seeing the dark troopers emerge from the sky was also awesome! Moff Gideon's Iron Man-like droid troopers take to the sky when the Empire catches up to the action, and they abduct Grogu! Gideon explains how Grogu is the missing donor the Empire has been searching for to use in their science experiments (no doubt tying to Palpatine, Snoke, and maybe even characters like Plagueis, who was fleshed out in one of the Legends books, which I'm re-reading now, actually)). Gideon certainly made himself a villain to the audience for hurting our beloved Grogu, but it was fun watching the baby creature tossing around stormtroopers like toys.
Now we'll presumably see Din and company pursue the Empire for the last two episodes of the season, which is sure to have plenty of action. Hopefully the plot reveals aren't done, though. Everything seems kind of out in the open for now. The biggest mystery left pertains to Grogu's moment in the force portal. Did he contact someone? Will another Jedi make an appearance (such as Ezra?) and try to save Grogu? (I literally sound like a voiceover narrator at the end of a 50s TV show: "Tune in next week for more Mandalorian"). Meanwhile, Din is reaching out to Cara Dune, who apparently has gone straight as she takes pride in representing her badge as a new town marshal, to help recruit others to help find Grogu. They clearly aren't done with her character.
We don't see Ahsoka at all this week, nor do we see any of the other Mandalorians we've encountered to this point, so they are other potential wild cards who could join forces to save Grogu.
Notes:
-So why don't more people carry jetpacks around with them?!? Din isn't able to land his Razorcrest ship near the seeing stone, so what does he do? Why, he flies up there, of course, all while carrying Grogu with him. Jetpacks are innately awesome, so the more of them, the merrier.
-Speaking of the Razorcrest, I was kind of glad to see the Empire blow it to smithereens. That ship was running on a salvage title at this point. It makes sense that Din found the Beskar spear he earned in last week's episode. If he encounters Gideon with his darksaber, Din is going to need it.
-It hit the ear wrong when Boba recalled the line "I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the galaxy." The writers know full well the original line ended with "universe," so they decided to change one word so as not to completely copy it. Phew, they sure fooled me....
-It was cool to see a couple of the Stormtroopers wearing a red shoulder pad, signifying their captain status amongst the rest. We see that idea carried on in the sequel trilogy and throughout Clone Wars.
-We also got to see the yellow trooper launch a grenade during the skirmish, another callback.
-It was kind of weird to hear Boba say "The Empire is back." I mean, don't we already know that? In fact, did the Empire ever truly disappear? Yeah, the Death Star II was blown up and the Rebellion won the war, but the Empire was huge, and it isn't unreasonable to think that remnants of the Empire would still be around just a few years later.
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