Season 2 – Episode 6 of 8
Disney+
Air date: December 4, 2020
Run time: 34 minutes
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Chapter 14 – “The Tragedy”
Mando and Grogu AKA Baby Yoda AKA The Child are kicking it in the Razor Crest on the way to a planet with a seeing stone, unaware that Moff Gideon has placed a tracking beacon on the ship. Mando can’t find a suitable landing spot, so he sets the ship in hover mode and he jetpacks Grogu to the ground. He places Grogu on the seeing stone in the middle of the circle and asks him to do his Jedi thing.
Mando notices they’ve been followed and tries to get Grogu to leave, but the creature is in full on meditation mode on the stone with a powerful force field surrounding him. Mando comes face to face with a man who claims to be Boba Fett’s son (UPDATE: actually, that’s how it appears at first, but it’s really Jenga’s armor the character is talking about — and you’ll have to watch to see who Jenga is, if you don’t know the lore), and he wants the armor back that Mando claimed in an earlier episode this season. He has a sharpshooter trained on Grogu if Mando doesn’t comply. But a new enemy for both of them emerges when an imperial ship arrives complete with a bunch of Stormtroopers and Moff Gideon. They are there to take Grogu.
Will Boba Fett’s son join Mando in a fight against the Imperial forces? Does Boba Fett himself appear? Does Grogu summon a powerful Jedi to train him? What sort of evil plan is Moff Gideon up to?
You’ll have to watch the episode to learn the answers to these questions, but it’s definitely the meaty episode we’ve been waiting for. There are thrills aplenty including several shock moments.
Summary
This is the fastest paced episode of any in the series. It feels almost like one extended action scene. That’s both good and not so good. The subplot with Boba Fett’s armor being returned is the secondary subplot, but once again the protection of the Child named Grogu, becomes Mando’s primary mission. The title of the episode portends that this might not end well.
Always good seeing Stormtroopers getting blasted. Mando learning Boba Fett is the rightful owner of the armor is a fun nod to the past but we don’t learn how Fett survived the Sarlac Pit (maybe in the future?).
The action is very good and, despite Robert Rodriguez directing, this isn’t Star Wars meets Machete, it’s not grindhouse or Spy Kids in the slightest. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, executive producers, along with Rodriguez in the director’s chair make sure we’re getting the same consistent style for the show.
Too short, that’s my main criticism. It’s still very good — I mean, it’s The Mandalorian and one of the best shows around right now — easily a recommended episode, but it just feels like we were treated to an incomplete story. Intentionally leaving us hanging. Bad guys want The Child, we’ve seen this plot before and we already knew a bigger threat from Moff Gideon and his Imperial forces were coming, but this episode feels somewhat incomplete. Too much left for next week.
That said, it was all exciting and fun to watch.
This is episode 6 of 8, so it’s setting up a three part finale for Season 2. I suppose that’s kind of how this had to go down, but we’re left wanting more, feeling like the episode was cut too short, like we didn’t get a complete mission. Just a few too many unanswered questions. It’s like it wanted to be like The Empire Strikes Back, but there’s no Luke and Darth Vader with a stunning revelation about who Luke’s father is, there is a curious reveal involving the existence of Boba Fett, through a child seeking his armor. The ending, without spoilers, is total cliffhanger.
Guessing for some this will be a 5-star episode, because it sets up an exciting final two parts, but I’d rather have just seen all three episodes as one movie-length episode. Perhaps greedy, but honest. At the end of the day, I’m riveted by this series and it always leaves me wanting to see what’s up next week. That’s the highest compliment possible, so keep my (very) minor complaints in perspective.
S2:E6 Chapter 14 “The Tragedy” rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
… you’ve been warned, SPOILERS ahead …
Reviews by Others
After seeing the episode, I was curious what others thought. Here’s a few reviews I read from others. There are many, many more out there. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, watch it and judge for yourself first because spoilers abound in many reviews.
- Jacob Mahady / The Sandcrawler Blog: “This episode was a lot shorter than I had originally hoped for. This might be one of the shortest ones yet and it felt like it. This episode blew by, as it set up for next week. Seeing Shand again was welcomed, too. She has a great assassin personality and fits in very well.”
- Paul Wilkinson / We’ve Got (Back) Issues: “I don’t know if it nostalgia, the lack of other entertainment at the moment, or if the show is really that good. It’s probably a bit of all these factors but this show is unmissable. The only thing missing was a Danny Trejo cameo.”
- Ready Steady Cut / Jonathon Wilson: “With several major developments, a lot of fun stuff for long-time Star Wars fans and a good deal of connective tissue with the first season, this isn’t the biggest, showiest episode, but it’s an extremely competent middle chapter designed to shift things around for the back half of the season.”
- Small Screen / Edward Lauder: “The other thing I love about Chapter 14 is that it sets up something truly exciting. It sets up Din Djarin finally building his team of misfits and rogues. This is something I cannot wait to see moving forward.”
- X-Geeks: “Robert Rodriguez did a good job with the episode, especially with some of the action sequences. This was a nice episode for him to be involved with, although it did go by very quickly, don’t you think?”
(UPDATE 12/4/2020 7:30am PT: Since we’re in the spoilers area, I should confess that I misunderstood that Boba Fett was claiming to be his son. That’s how I interpreted it on the first watch. Boba Fett explains at 25:00 in the run time that the father he spoke about was his own father, Jenga Fett. There is no Boba Fett’s son that exists, because the mysterious stranger *IS* Boba Fett (how did he survive the Sarlac Pit, I guess that continues to fuel my confusion), and it might seem like “how could anybody ever miss that?” but, yes, I did. Leave it to an insult from a stranger on Twitter to correct my bone-headed error above — quickly — once this was originally posted. I left the review text above as written with a minor update for better clarification. Go ahead, make fun of my mistake if you will. I wake up, watch these episodes usually only once and then immediately write my thoughts. I’m also trying to make the review SPOILER-FREE. A major part of this episode is Boba Fett returning to fight alongside The Mandalorian and reclaiming his armor along with Moff Gideon’s scheme to take Grogu back. By reading my original review you wouldn’t have that spoiled at all, which is what I’m trying to do here each week, but I shouldn’t erroneously point to characters that don’t exist in the story recap portion. Sometimes I can, do and will make mistakes. I’m owning this one, because it is somewhat funny and, yes, dumb. Sorry. 😉
What did you think of Chapter 14: “The Tragedy”? We welcome your comments — good, bad or indifferent — below.
Movies, Movies, Movies 