We’ve now reached the halfway point of The Mandalorian Season 2 and interestingly this episode decides to return us to the planet where it all began. As we delve into this review, beware of spoilers.
The Razor Crest is in dire need of repairs and despite Mando (Pedro Pascal) wanting to find Ahsoka Tano he has to make a diversion so the ship can continue its journey. They stop in at Navarro, and meet up with Greef Carga (Carl Weathers) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) who have both managed to rid the planet of the remaining Imperial forces, all except a small base on the outskirts. Since the repairs will take time they recruit Mando to take out the base and the remaining troops. However they are not entirely prepared for the grim discoveries inside.
Weathers directs this episode titled ‘The Siege’ with series creator Jon Favreau behind the writing and screenplay. And despite some fluctuating tonal shifts the episode manages to deliver a crucial plot point. When Mando and co invade the Imperial base they discover a room with some floating bodies inside. Bodies that resemble Snoke and are clearly very deformed and dead. The return (via hologram) of Dr Pershing (Omid Abtahi) and him discussing the use of “the Child’s blood” on some failed experiments and that they would require more blood in order to continue; along with the addition of the bodies reveals a clue to Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) possible plans.
Speculating on this reveal, this could be Gideon knowingly or unknowingly being a part of the experiments to create Supreme Leader Snoke. Or it could also just be him wanting to create his own Force-powered soldiers. Either way this particular reveal in the episode makes it very clear what their intentions were from Season 1 and also helps to fill in some of the plot gaps from the new trilogy films (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker). There is also a secondary reveal at the end as we see Gideon inspecting a large number of what appear to be Dark Troopers. These enhanced battle droids are much harder to kill than your average stormtrooper, and with Gideon’s spy having placed a tracking beacon on the Razor Crest, will prove a large problem for Mando in the foreseeable future.
With such a momentous and disturbing reveal in this episode it does seem a little odd that we get the return of Season 1’s character of Mythrol (Horatio Sanz) who throws in the awkward comedic gags dotted throughout. Tonally it throws off the more dramatic or action driven scenes in the episode. He’s tolerable for a few moments but gets wearisome by the end.
And speaking of action, this episode manages to have one of the best action sequences in the series so far. Mixing hand to hand combat, blaster shoot-outs, and our heroes in a Trexler Marauder armoured vehicle being chased by troopers on speeder bikes or TIE fighters. It’s then closed out by a last minute save courtesy of a repaired Razor Crest and Mando and the Child doing some daring spinning to take out the TIEs.
We were also treated to some cute moments involving the Child, including him trying to sneak a peek under Mando’s helmet whilst they’re sipping on soup. And using the Force to steal a child’s space macarons. And no doubt there will be so many memes and GIFs of him puking up his biscuits too.
With next week’s episode being both directed and written by Dave Filoni we’re taking a guess that we will finally get to see Ahsoka Tano and Mando meet. Filoni was instrumental in driving Ahsoka’s story through both the Clone Wars and Rebels series, so it makes sense for him to bring her into this universe also. And despite ‘The Siege’ being another adventure-of-the-week feeling episode, the surprising reveal of the experiments makes it one that fuels more speculation and theories and leaves us asking more questions as to where the series is taking us.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The Mandalorian is currently streaming every Friday 7:00pm (AEDST) on Disney+
