Anyone who’s watched any sort of episodic television series could tell you that the setup for the most recent episode of “Star Wars: The Mandalorian” meant that the main character was due for trouble.

The setup: In the episode, Mando arrives on a desolate space station where he meets with some old associates from his past. He agrees to pull a heist job for them — rescuing a prisoner from a New Republic space station.

  • His crew include an argumentative leader Mayfield (Bill Burr), a bruiser in Burg (Clancy Brown), a wise-cracking droid named Zero (Richard Ayoade) and a sarcastic but boring Xi’an (Natalia), who hints at a previous romantic relationship with Mando.
  • There’s instant contention between the pack of rescuers and Mando. So anyone could make the assumption that this is going to be a struggle. The pack will turn on him and try to steal his bounty. We see the setup coming from the beginning.
  • Mando decides to give the job a shot. He doesn’t dive into his instinct to turn away. He doesn’t follow instant certainty. He decides to trust... even if it means it may lead to more problems and his death.

What happens: In the second half of the episode, we see the contention between Mando and the pack unravel. We see Mayfield turn on Mando. Burg and Mando battle in their own little fight. Zero attempts to steal Baby Yoda. Everything goes wrong, just as you imagine it would.

But still: The episode has a lesson for us about instant certainty. Mando could have seen everything that happened to him from a parsec away. He could have realized that these fellow bounty hunters were going to turn on him. Previous episodes of the show indicate that bounty hunters are ruthless and willing to take him down for the promise of fortune.

  • He didn’t fall right into that belief and combat the bounty hunters. He decided to trust his fellow shipmates so he could complete his job. Yes, things turned out wrong for him. He did almost die on multiple occasions and he was locked away in a prison cell. But Mando still believed in the possibility of something greater.
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The bottom line: That’s the whole point of any Star Wars show, isn’t it? Hope. The entire franchise kicked off with Princess Leia asking Obi-Wan Kenobi to help her. He was her only hope. Luke Skywalker became her hope, too. A new hope. We’re constantly looking for hope in the Star Wars franchise. You can’t find hope if you make your mind up instantly. Sometimes you need to open up and trust a little bit to find it.

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