I feel like I can't even type a word of this without spoiling something.
So much happened in this episode and it's one of the shortest of the season. It started easily enough with some light-hearted interaction between Din Djarin and Baby Yoda (I just can't get myself to call him "Grogu"), but then we get to the title of the episode, which I won't share because it's kinda spoilery, but already tells you we're in for a RIDE.
I really can't say anything else without getting into spoiler land. Honest. Okay, we see some characters from past episodes and we get some furtherance of the Big Arc with Moff Gideon and there's a moment that's kinda like an Indiana Jones movie but that's it.
What I can tell you: my jaw was on the floor just about the whole time, and the kid in me who always thought [REDACTED] was really really really awesome could not have been happier.
This episode was a half-hour THRILL RIDE that never stopped once it hit the gas. The "whoa" moments just kept coming and coming and coming. It left a LOT of questions about where the story will go next, and really ramps up the tension heading into the last couple of episodes.
I wish I could say more, but like I said, it's all just too spoiler-y, so you'll have to wait until after the buffer and ellipses.
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Ready? HERE WE GO. SPOILERY GOODNESS FOLLOWS.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!? I KNEW from the moment they showed Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) in the recap we were up for some shenanigans. BUT I HAD NO IDEA!!! Okay, let's break this down.
- The Din/Child stuff at the beginning was just precious. So many people have been talking about how they melted when, in the last episode, Din would say "Grogu" and the Child would make an adorable noise and look at him. I WAS THE SAME. It's so adorable, and we got more of that. It was tempered by the wistful way in which Din talked about what Baby Yoda's future would be like if they contacted a Jedi: that he'd have to leave with the Jedi and not be with Din anymore, and you could just feel Din's sadness at the idea. They've become so attached to each other, it'd be heartbreaking if they ever parted ways.
Also, Din saying "Grogu" and chuckling/melting at the Child's response is literally all of us.
- I don't know what I expected with Tython but I didn't expect the Western U.S. I feel like my sisters in Utah could hike fifteen minutes from their homes and find the special mountaintop.
- It's perfect that when Baby Yoda sits on the rock at first, nothing happens. I was kinda expecting Din to find an "on switch" as he searched around, but I love how they did it instead: Din turns away to look at something, turns back, and Baby Yoda has made contact! Very curious about the Force barrier that kept Din from getting to the Child, not sure if we'll learn more about that or not.
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| Fan Art by Ben Zweifel |
- SLAVE FUTZING ONE!!! I can't repeat the words I said when I saw the iconic ship streak across the Tython sky. I thought, "Could it be? I mean we already saw him, so..." and sure enough...
- BOBA FUTZING FETT!!! Folks, I fanboyed HARD when we saw Boba at the very end of this season's first episode. There'd been talk Temuera Morrison had been cast for this season, but that could have meant any number of things. Since his Jango Fett was the model for the clones, he could have been any of the surviving clones from the Clone Wars (notably Rex, who worked with the rebel cell in "Rebels"). But, as many predicted, he ended up being Boba Fett, which ALSO makes sense since Boba Fett was the first time we saw anything "Mandalorian," and through which that whole segment of the Star Wars universe kicked off.
Like many others, I hardcore loved Boba Fett. Never mind we didn't know hardly anything about him for the longest time. It was only in the mid- to late nineties that books/comics really started to fill in stories around him, but like the rest of what would become the Expanded Universe/Legends material, it was only really as official as we let it be. Then, with "Attack of the Clones," we FINALLY got to see what a legit Boba Fett fight would look like, thanks to who we'd learn was Boba's "dad," Jango Fett. That's where Boba got the armor, the moves, the ship, all of it. Turns out he was a clone of Jango, but one who was the most like a normal kid (not sped up or genetically modified like the other clones). Even then, Jango dies before the end, so we only got one movie's worth of Fett kicka**ery.
UNTIL TODAY!! Y'all, I don't know what Tem Morrison's diet and exercise plan is but it WORKS. It was like watching Jason Bourne in a galaxy far, far away, seeing him mow through stormtroopers like they were stalks of corn. My favorite was his using the gaderffi (or gaffi) stick to just crush the troopers (did you see the flying bits of plastoid armor?) AND WHEN HE PUT ON HIS OLD ARMOR?!?! I almost wet the bed. It was what every single kid who ever had a Boba Fett action figure or who chose ONLY Boba Fett in video games had ever dreamed of. WHEN HE LOWERED THE TARGETING VIEWER AND SHOT THE ROCKET?!?! *drooooooool*
Look, there's been a section of Star Wars fandom for years who have said Boba Fett is lame, he just looks cool, we don't really know anything about him, he's not that interesting, etc. They have the right to their opinion. But I have been obsessed with Fett and the Slave I and all of it for years, and this kinda feels like vindication of how cool he is.
I'm seriously so stoked to have Tem Morrison on for more adventures - as he said, he and Fennec are now in debt to Din Djarin, so the awesomess is gonna continue. Speaking of which...
- FENNEC FUTZING SHAND!!! When we heard Ming-Na Wen was going to be in the show, we were all really excited to see her kick tail. And when she showed up, she was great, but not a lot of tail was kicked. And then she got shot, and we thought, "wait, is that it?" And then at the end of that episode (#5 in season 1) when someone approached her, we knew it probably wasn't it. AND IT WASN'T!! Shout out to those who predicted the boots approaching Fennec's body belong to Boba). Watching her take out trooper after trooper was EPIC, and I'm way excited we get more of her in the show as well.
- The callback to Jango Fett's "I'm just a simple man trying to make his way in the galaxy" was *chef's kiss.*
- Yup, they were Dark Troopers. Just like many predicted at the end of Chapter 12, Moff Gideon's been working on Dark Troopers, which were first introduced in the 1995 video game "Dark Forces." While I predicted they would be some sort of Force-infused super soldier, what Gideon deployed to Tython appear to be droids, which lines up with the story from the video game. So what does he really want with Baby Yoda, then?
- THEY STOLE BABY YODA!!!!! When Din went back to the battle and the Child's Force connection stopped, my stomach dropped because you knew he was vulnerable. Sure enough, the Dark Troopers took the Child with no problem, and now he's in Gideon's hands. Gideon's reaching out to Dr. Pershing (from season 1) hopefully means we'll learn more about what he plans for the Child.
- Okay, the kid being in jail is sad, but him throwing around stormtroopers was HILARIOUS. BUT THEN THEY SHOT BABY YODA and I'm not okay with that.
- Pour one out for the Razor Crest. I did NOT see it coming that Din would lose his ship!! I'm really sad about that - it was kind of a piece of junk but I'm really fond of it. However, that means more shooting around in the Slave I, one of my favorite ever Star Wars ship designs, and I'm cool with that.
I am out of breath after that episode, after watching it and recapping it and revisiting it. I'm gonna watch this one over and over and over. Whatever comes next, to quote Dr. Strange, "we're in the endgame now." I can't imagine
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