Warning: This episode contains spoilers for season 2, episode 7 of ‘The Mandalorian’
“Star Wars” has entered into a new era of sorts, and so too has “The Mandalorian.” In one of its strongest cases to date, the show took a break from the heavy lore of the franchise’s past and the nerd-out moments to present a philosophical argument about the franchise — that those who live and die within the galaxy — need to be considered more than the leaders themselves.
The seventh episode of season 2 — “Chapter 15: The Believer” — showed us the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) teaming up with Cara Dune (Gina Carano), Fennec (Ming-Na Wen), Boba Fett (Temura Morrison) and Mayfield (Bill Burr), a former Empire soldier, to find the location of Moff Gideon. The crew rushes to an imperial compound on Morak. They help transport rhydonium for the Empire in their pursuit.
The episode is as close to “Solo: A Star Wars Story” that we’ve gotten on the show. Normally, “The Mandalorian” will pay homage to the prequel franchise, the original trilogy and, sometimes, the sequels. But this episode had some callbacks to “Solo” in that it featured pirates, smugglers and armored imperial vehicles. It was fun to jump back into a “Solo” story, even if the questions raised were a little bit broader.
More importantly, the show did what “The Last Jedi” tried to do at points — presented a philosophical argument that the New Republic and the Empire are more similar to each other than not, and it’s the people of the galaxy who suffer most in these wars.
Let’s jump into the episode a little bit more.
Cheering for the Empire?
I don’t remember a moment when I ever cheered on the Galactic Empire — except in an ironic way when Palpatine takes control. But this episode presented one of those moments. Mayfield and Mando are attacked by pirates while transporting the rhydonium. Swarms of pirates soar toward their vehicles and all hope looked lost. Then, in a heroic way akin to how the New Republic would save the day, TIE fighters come rushing in, destroying the pirates and rescuing Mando and Mayfield.
The duo then arrives at an imperial compound, where they are cheered and praised by Imperial soldiers. It’s the first time we really see a moment like this in a live-action show for “Star Wars.” The Empire cheers for the heroes, championing these two men for transporting the explosive material safely. It’s weird for a moment until you understand that this would happen to anyone.
Mayfield underlines this idea in the episode, too. He says the Empire comes in, takes over a place. Now, the New Republic is doing the same. The New Republic and the Empire lead over the galaxy. But it’s the people — normal, everyday citizens — who have to deal with the outcome all the time. They’re the ones who are ruled. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge.
Normally, we see the Empire as the bad guys and the New Republic as the good guys. This challenges that notion, suggesting that one side is good and another side is bad to different people.
Everyone wants to survive. Who rules them doesn’t always matter.
Sacrifice for the greater good.
“The Mandalorian” is packed with moments that talk about the greater good, and what sacrifice will mean for it.
One moment in the episode promotes the idea of sacrificing for the greater good, only not the greater good for a military tyrant like Emperor Palpatine. Rather, Mando decides to join Mayfield on his quest into the imperial compound. To do so, he takes off his Mandalorian armor and jumps into an Imperial suit. Mayfield later raises the question — did Mando break his beliefs by taking off his mask? Or did he stick true to his beliefs because he kept on a mask, even if it’s not the Mandalorian mask that Mando has sworn allegiance to?
Mayfield makes the point that people break the rules when they get desperate. He suggests that the Mandalorian, desperate to retrieve Grogu (Baby Yoda), would do anything. And the same can be said for those of the New Republic, the Empire and all the people within the galaxy. People will do what they have to do to find that greater good and to help them sleep at night.
It’s an interesting argument, one that expands beyond the “Star Wars” franchise. It’s a question that makes you wonder what you would do to help a family member in need.
Odds and ends
I’ve decided to add a new section to these reviews where I point out little easter eggs and fun moments that you might have missed. Here’s what I took away from the recent episode.
- TPS reports! That’s a funny way to exit a room.
- Shoutout to all my prequel fans when Boba Fett drops that bomb and it makes that sound. If you know, you know.
- Cara Dune has really come into her own as a hero of the Republic. I’ve enjoyed her in the last few episodes. She’s become a stable leader of this show, and may appear in a future project.
- Moff Gideon and Mando had a confrontation, and it definitely sets up an epic finale next week.