The Mandalorian Episode 7 Review

Oh man! There’s only 2 episodes left in the Baby Okra the Yodling show…I mean The Mandalorian. Up to this point, it’s been mostly an adventure-of-the-week series, with a few installments being part of the bigger story arc. As we drop out of hyperspace and settle in for the penultimate episode of season 1 of The Mandalorian we realize that things are building to an explosive finish! Let’s get to that review/recap of the episode titled “The Reckoning.”

Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!!! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

After what we can only assume is at least a couple of months on the run and trying to find “hunter work” that wasn't associated with the Guild, Mando and Okra receive a holo-message from Action Jackson, oh, I mean Greef Karga. He explains that things have changed on Nevarro since his showdown with Mando and his Mandalorian brethren. The Client (Werner Herzog) has cracked down on the inhabitants, bringing in more former Imperial stormtroopers, severely impeding the Guild’s activities. Karga wants to hire Mando to take out the Client. In return, it will clear Mando’s name with the Guild and would ensure one less group with him in their crosshairs. With the potential of that freedom comes the knowledge that Karga could be setting Mando up. You could say….he has a bad feeling about this. I’m sorry, please stay for the rest of the article.

Mando sets course for somewhere in the galaxy and hits hyperspace. The Razor Crest sets down on the forest planet of Sorgan from episode 4 and I’m sure most who have been watching The Mandalorian knew why Mando was here: to get some more of those delicious blue shrimp things! He needs some backup if he’s heading to Nevarro so he goes to one of the few people in the galaxy he can trust: Cara Dune. After she mops the floor with a Dathomirian in a “straw hut” fight, Mando and Cara sit down and discuss his plan.

“say it! SAY IT!”
”Jar Jar Binks wasn’t that bad!”

It doesn’t take long for Mando to convince Cara that she should join him on his quest, all he had to do was mention that his target is a former Imperial commander and she states, “I’m in.”

As the trio of Mando, Cara and baby Okra make their way through space, the discussion of a babysitter comes up after the Yodling gets mischievous and starts playing with the ship’s controls while Mando and Cara look at weapon loadouts. Who in the galaxy could possibly watch this rambunctious, Force-wielding toddler? Amy Sedaris’ Peli Motto? Omera, the beautiful widow back on Sorgan? Her daughter loved baby Okra! Perfect fit, right? No. Instead we get a pleasant surprise.

Team Mando lands on Arvala-7, the same planet that Mando found the Yodling and fought the Mudhorn after the Jawas stole all this stuff. He arrives in search of the Ugnaught who helped him (we find out his name is Kuiil).

We find out that some time has passed since they last saw each other. It’s not clear exactly how much time but a few key indicators are Kuiil’s comments that “the child hasn’t aged at all.” Mando mentions that he thinks Okra might be a clone (strand-cast as he calls him) but Kuiil shoots that down as he says Okra is “too ugly to be a clone.” RUDE! But another indicator is we see Kuiil’s new assistant/butler walk into the hut to serve tea.

When I found out that Taika Waititi was the voice of IG-11, it only made his return that much more enjoyable

Mando and Cara immediately jump up, blasters drawn because of the murder-droid’s presence. Kuiil explains that after Mando aggressively wiped IG-11’s memory with his blaster in the 2nd episode, he was a blank slate. Kuiil repaired him and installed new programming. There’s a montage of the droid re-learning how to walk, hold a cup, do simple tasks, etc so this must have been weeks if not months of re-training. Mando voices his concerns, that this particular droid is the same one that was programmed to eliminate the Yodling and that IG-11 is inherently evil. Kuiil reminds him that droids are merely programmed with a task, they cannot be good or evil, but Mando is still leery. Team Mando sets off for Nevarro, now with Kuiil, IG-11 and 3 blurrgs in tow.

On the Razor Crest, as they are traveling to Nevarro and killing time, Mando and Cara are arm wrestling. We see our little Okra get concerned because he thinks his Mando is being hurt and he goes…well…a little Vader on Cara.

we go from “oh no, she’s hurting my Mando!” to a Force-choke out of anger and then he looks almost happy that Mando picked him up.

The Yodling Force chokes Cara, seemingly defending his Mando, like he did with the Mudhorn in the 2nd episode. Mando immediately yells at the child, telling him that Cara is a friend. Kuiil talks about how he’s heard of things like this happening before. It’s interesting that the galaxy doesn’t know a lot about the Force, Jedis, Sith, or any of the lore that goes with them. They eventually arrive on Nevarro and meet Greef Karga and his crew.

While they’re camping for the night and going over the plan for the next day, they are attacked by dragon-like creatures. They take out 2 blurrgs, one of Karga’s henchmen, and give Greef a nasty gash along his arm. Their talons are poisonous and the medpacs that Cara has will not be enough to save him. Karga seems resigned to his fate when little baby Okra toddles over to him.

We knew the little dude was something special, but he can heal people at will? It’s easy to understand why the Imperial remnant would want their hands on a child that is THIS powerful already.

They awaken the next morning and make their way to the outskirts of town. As team Mando prepares to set up their trap for the Client, Greef Karga guns down his remaining muscle, informing Mando, Cara and Kuiil that the plan was to kill them and take baby Okra. After seeing how special the Yodling truly is, Karga had a change of heart. They agree on a plan: Kuiil will take Okra back to the Razor Crest for safety and they’ll take the empty hover-pram with them. Mando will be their prisoner, Karga and Cara will be the ones bringing him in. Once they’re with the Client, they’ll discreetly release Mando’s restraints and he’ll gun down the Client and they’ll take out the stormtroopers guarding him, assuming that there will only be a handful of them. As they walk into town, they realize the ex-Imperial forces are much larger than anticipated.

The town is full of former Imperial stormtroopers, which is immediately setting off alarms for Mando and Cara. As they get into the cantina to meet the Client, he is surprisingly not angry at Mando. In fact, he marvels at the beauty of Mando’s beskar armor and asks “can I offer you a libation to celebrate the closing of our shared narrative?” Damn, that’s like Lando-level smooth! He manages to take this class and decorum and blow it to hell as he talks about how much better things were under Imperial rule. You can tell that Mando and Cara and biting their tongues as they don’t want to blow their plan.

“Would you like something to drink and some tone-deaf political conversation?”

Right as things are about to hit the fan, the Client gets a holo-call that he must answer. It’s from the previously unseen Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito, Breaking Bad). He asks about “the asset” to which the Client replies he’s in the cantina as they speak. Gideon’s response of “think again,” is followed by a volley of blaster fire that kills the Client, the bartender droid and all of the Client’s stormtrooper squad. Mando, Cara and Karga take cover and immediately contact Kuiil to tell him to hurry for the Razor Crest with Okra. The Imperials intercept the message and send 2 speeder bike troopers to grab “the asset.”

Things look bleak as Moff Gideon lands a dope, specially modified TIE fighter with foldable wings right in front of the cantina. He is flanked by a squad of stormtroopers and the frightening Death Troopers. He speaks directly to team Mando

You have something I want. You may think you have some idea of what you're in possession of, but you do not. In a few moments ... it will be mine.

Kuiil is trying to make it to the relative safety Razor Crest with Okra before those speeder bikes cut him off, but the episode ends with the scout troopers riding away with the Yodling in hand and our friend Kuiil laying on the ground with Mando screaming into the comm link asking if he made it safe.

Things don’t look good for our friends as the finale of season 1 is set for next week. What is so special about Okra that Moff Gideon is talking about? Is it just his incredible abilities with the Force or is there more to it? He certainly looks it, but is Kuiil dead? Did Karga sell them out? It seems awfully convenient that they intercepted Mando’s comms when he would normally ensure such communications were encrypted. How are our heroes going to get out of this one? The Mandalorian will close out season 1 this upcoming Friday!

Before we wrap up this recap/review let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Okra’s Force usage. We had seen Okra use his powers before, but only in the Light Side capacity. The Force choke is a Dark Side power. This scene was definitely an eye-opener and I’m sure will cause a ripple effect of fan speculation but if you think about it logically in context, is it really all that surprising? A Force user that is as young as baby Okra, with no direction, no Jedi (or Sith) to point them in the right direction is going to use their incredible gift instinctually. It makes sense now why the Jedi Council wanted their students to start at such a young age. What was very interesting was seeing Okra climb out of his carrier and attend to Greef Karga’s wounds and save his life. It just further reinforces my point that this toddler is unaware that his powers are something extraordinary, they’re just part of life, which makes a ton of sense. For Okra, there is no dark and light, right or wrong, just the Force. You hurt Mando, Okra’s gonna get mad. You hurt your arm? Okra’s here to make you feel better. This whole “he’s a Sith now!” thing is kinda silly when you realize that he’s a toddler at this point.

However, an important point needs to be made here: Kuiil called this. When he was discussing the nature of IG-11 after his reprogramming with Mando, he specifically said “Droids are not good or bad. They are neutral reflections of those who imprint them.” This is true for poor little baby Okra. He’s an incredibly powerful child, and without proper nurturing, he could be problematic. It’s the classic nature vs nurture argument. No one thing is inherently good or bad: it’s all on how they’re taught/programmed. The foreshadowing was not lost on me.

Prepare yourself, nerf herders! Episode 8, the finale of season 1 of The Mandalorian releases Friday December 27th.