The Mandalorian Season 1 Finale Review

by Mike Lunsford, Editor-In-Chief of the Great Geek Refuge

Warning: So many spoilers. Like, even the spoiler alert is probably a spoiler. Don’t read further if you want to be surprised by any of this.

Things don’t look good for our friends as we start the final episode of season 1 of The Mandalorian. Baby Okra was snatched by those speeder bike troopers, Kuiil got gunned down, Mando, Cara and Hurricane Smith…crap, I mean Greef Karga are pinned down by Moff Gideon and about 30 stormtroopers and a handful of death troopers. How are our heroes going to get out of this one? This is going to be one exciting finish! Let’s get in to the recap and review for this action-packed episode titled “The Redemption.”

We open up the episode with those 2 scout troopers sitting on their rides outside of the city limits, waiting for their orders to bring in “the asset.” They’re typical stormtroopers, too: total jerks. The one who is holding Okra hits him! TWICE! The other trooper wants to see it to see what the fuss is about and promptly gets his finger bit. This scene, while it surely raises the anger of every single person on the internet because stormtroopers were harming their precious baby Okra, was hilarious. The troopers were douche-y rejects (played by Jason Sudeikis of Saturday Night Live and Adam Pally from The Mindy Project), trying to shoot some junk on the lava field with their blasters…and missing. Classic stormtroopers. Their douchebaggery is interrupted when IG-11 shows up stating

I am this child’s nurse droid. You will remand it to me, immediately

The scout troopers scoff and laugh at him, stating that IG’s are always hunters and refuse to comply. IG-11 takes matters into his own hands and breaks the arm of one trooper and use a cool Judo flip to knock him down and then proceeds to bash the other trooper’s head into his speeder repeatedly. He then hops onto the undamaged speeder bike, riding off with the Yodling in his able care.

IG-11 then says to Okra “That was unpleasant. I’m sorry you had to see that.” I LOVE this droid.

With that bit of the story resolved for the time being, we cut to our trio of Mando, Cara, and Greef. They’re looking at a pretty grim situation: Moff Gideon has his platoon of stormtroopers and death troopers with their weapons trained on the blaster-riddled cantina. Our heroes need a plan, and fast. Mando uses his thermal imaging and sees that there is a sewer grate in the cantina. The sewer system should connect with the underground network of tunnels where the Mandalorian “covert” was located. From there, they should be able to find a way out of this jam. The sewer grate is not easy to remove, so Cara uses her heavy blaster to try and blast it open, but to no avail.

To make matters worse, the Imps bring in a E-web heavy repeating blaster, the tripod mounted gatling gun of the Star Wars universe. Gideon starts a psychological warfare campaign to entice the trio’s surrender. He reveals that he knows all of the heroes intimately. Carasynthia Dune, Cara’s full name, is from Alderaan! He states that she has seen many of her comrades gunned down by weapons similar to the e-web. Greef Karga was once a magistrate before his life in the Guild. Mando is a “decommissioned Mandalorian hunter” who has “certainly heard the songs of his people” that reference the Night of a Thousand Tears, an event involving fields of Mandalorian recruits being gunned down by weapons similar to the e-web. He also reveals Mando’s real name is Din Djarin. Holy. Crap. This guy is no joke. He gives them an ultimatum: surrender by nightfall, or face the e-web.

Through these revelations, Mando realizes who they’re dealing with. The only place his real name was stored was in the records on Mandalore, records only Moff Gideon could have accessed as he was an Imperial officer during “the Purge.” Cara heard that Gideon was executed for war crimes, but Mando is sure it’s him. The trio discuss Mando’s past, that he was not born on Mandalore, but is a Mandalorian. This establishes that Mandalorian is not a race, it’s a creed (no Carl Weathers pun here, I swear). We see, through a full flashback, that young Din Djarin was rescued during that Separatist raid that killed his parents by a squad of Mandalorians. They adopted him as a foundling and he chose to follow “the Way.”

The trio try to determine where they stand: Baby Okra must be alive, otherwise Gideon would have already gunned them down. He needs them. Mando tries to raise Kuiil on the comms, hoping that he is still alive, somehow. IG-11 responds informing them that Kuiil has been terminated and that he is executing his primary function: nurse and protect. The Yodling seems to approve of this course of action as IG-11 rockets into town on the speeder bike.

As IG-11 speeds into town, we get one of the best action scenes of the first season. The nursery droid picks off at least a dozen stormtroopers as he zips through the town, eventually jumping off the bike, allowing it to crash into the platoon currently pinning down our trio of heroes. He goes into full battle mode, dual-wielding blasters and taking out Imps quickly. This is the diversion our crew needs as Greef and Mando emerge from the cantina as Cara provides cover fire. Another tip of the cap to the production team as this fight scene is frenetic and well crafted.

The Imps seem to be on the ropes as Mando gets his hands on the e-web and is gunning down stormtroopers. Moff Gideon has had enough of this non-sense though, and proceeds to calmly walk towards Mando and starts taking shots at him, hitting him in the helmet, momentarily distracting him. Mando tries to turn the e-web on Gideon, but before he can open fire, Gideon blow up the weapon’s attached power generator, causing an explosion that knocks Mando out of commission. Cara sees this and drags him back into the cantina as our crew falls back. Gideon orders the remaining death troopers to “burn them out.” Oh snap…

Their situation unfortunately has not improved after their counter-attack, but now with IG-11 and the Yodling, they have everyone together. Mando is in bad shape as Cara tries to tend to his wounds. Mando knows that his wounds are serious and tells Cara to leave him and take care of Okra. The emotion in this scene is palpable as you can hear Mando’s voice cracking as he knows that he may not make it to take care of “the foundling” any longer. Cara is also emotional as she refuses to leave him behind. “You just got your bell rung,” she says as she fights back tears. IG-11 uses his blowtorch attachment to cut through the sewer grate so team Mando can make their escape, but things get more dire as this frightening motherfu**er shows up.

Moff Gideon is a man of his word as the Flame Trooper shows up to smoke out team Mando. The team is frantically trying to get to the sewer tunnels and escape as the cantina starts to burn. Mando and Cara are still having their emotional conversation about her taking care of Okra as the team is surrounded by flames. The trooper walks into the cantina and takes aim at the team, but the Yodling steps between the trooper and his crew. Once again, we see how truly special the Child is as he stands up to certain death to protect team Mando.

Okra saves the day by using the Force to deflect the fire and throw it back at the Flame Trooper, blowing him out of the cantina. Team Mando makes their way into the sewer grate with IG-11 handing the Yodling to Cara to protect. She makes IG promise that he’ll bring Mando with him. He complies and Greef, Cara and Okra drop into the sewers. When the 2 are alone, Mando assumes that IG is going to kill him, telling him to make it quick. The droid reminds him that he’s been reprogramed and he’s no longer an assassin droid, that he stayed to help Mando with his injuries. As IG-11 goes to remove his helmet, Mando draws his blaster. He states “no living thing has seen me without my helmet since I took the Creed.” IG reminds him that he is not a living thing. Mando is hurting, bad and you can tell that he doesn’t want to trust the droid but allows him to remove his helmet to treat his injuries. This is the first time we get to see Mando’s face.

IG-11 uses a Bacta spray, the medicinal spray that 9 out of 10 doctors in a galaxy far, far, away recommend, to heal Mando’s head injury. He comments that Mando’s “central processing unit” has been damaged. Mando scoffs and says “you mean my brain?” IG-11 responds with “that was a joke meant to put you at ease.” This monotone droid manages to have some great lines and personality and it’s only made the last 2 episodes better with his inclusion.

IG-11 and Mando join the rest of the team in the sewers as they search for the covert. Things take a dark turn when they find a pile of discarded Mandalorian armor, much of it looking damaged from battle. Mando immediately turns to Greef and accuses him of selling his people out. In steps the Armorer, last seen in episode 3 who informs the team that it was the Imperials who attacked the Mandalorians. Mando asks her to join them, but she flatly refuses as she needs to stay and salvage what remains. As they enter her workshop, she asks to see “the one whose safety deemed such destruction.” She is astounded as she comments on how helpless it looks. Mando informs her of its ability to move objects with its mind. She states that she’s heard of this before:

The songs of eons past tell of great battles between Mandalore the Great and an order of sorcerers called Jedi who fought with such powers…

By Creed until it is of age or until it is reunited with its own kind, you are as its father. This is the Way.

Since the Yodling is too young and weak to withstand the training required to be a Mandalorian, Mando must find a way to return baby Okra to its kind. The Armorer assigns Mando a signet, deeming him and Okra a “clan of two.”

As they prepare to leave for the lava river to make their escape, the Armorer offers Mando one final parting gift: the Rising Phoenix, or as us non-Mandalorians would call it, a jet pack. Mando replenishes his munitions and Team Mando leaves. The Armorer again states she cannot leave until everything that can be salvaged is saved. She sits down in front of her smelting furnace, in a meditative position. A squad of stormtroopers come up to the seated Mandalorian and asks her where team Mando is. The only response she gives is an ass-whooping few have ever seen. Using only her hammer and tongs, she destroys the 5 man fire team, even smashing one of the Imp’s helmets right in front of his mouth, in a truly grisly moment.

daaaaaaaaaamn

Team Mando makes it to the river of lava that will lead them to the flats, where the Razor Crest is still parked. They find a boat that they can take down the river and meet a really cool modified R2 unit who is their Charon, or whatever you call this galaxy’s equivalent to a ferryman for a boat that travels down a river of fire.

“do you even lift souls to the afterlife, bro?”

As they get near the mouth of the tunnel, Mando’s thermal imaging shows there is a whole squad of stormtroopers waiting for them. It’s a trap that they cannot shoot their way out of, as they have to pass through this choke point. IG-11 volunteers to give up his nursery/protection programming for his original factory settings: a self-destruct mode. The only way they can override his new programming, nurse and protect, is for him to be sure that someone else will ensure the Yodling’s safety. There is another fantastic emotional moment as Mando pleads with IG to try and find another way. They both know this is the only solution as IG-11 wades into the river of lava and walks towards the entrance. As he is pelted with blaster fire, he engages his self-destruct mode and takes out the entire squad of troopers, allowing the rest of team Mando to carry out his primary function: protect the child.

great way to finish his story. RIP IG-11

Mando, Cara, Greef and Okra make it out of the tunnel unscathed and are ready to make their way to the Razor Crest when they are buzzed by a TIE fighter. There’s Gideon. The crew know that they have no chance against the TIE with their blasters, but Mando has a new weapon that can take down the Moff’s dope, modified TIE: the Rising Phoenix. Mando takes off in hot pursuit of the TIE fighter, using his grappling hook to get himself closer. Gideon tries to shake Mando repeatedly but eventually, he plants an explosive on the wing and disengages his grappler. The bomb goes off and Gideon’s TIE crashes on the lava fields. The good guys won!!!

As our team makes their way back to the Razor Crest, we find out where everyone is headed. Greef is going to stay on Navarro to rebuild the Guild and Cara will stay with him as some muscle. They say their goodbyes and Mando ensures that he gives Kuiil a respectful burial. Mando and Okra load the Razor Crest and shoot off into the galaxy to find the Yodling’s people. All is right! This is the Way!

As any fan of film knows, a villain isn’t dead unless we see them die. The same is true with our friend, Moff Gideon. We see some Jawas picking scrap off of the downed TIE fighter when we see a weapon of pure energy rip through the hull of the damaged ship. For those who are only casual Star Wars fans, it’s just some cool lightsaber-like weapon. But for those of us in the know, that’s no knockoff imitator: it’s the godd**ned Darksaber!!

So that does it for the first season of The Mandalorian. It is safe to say that this show exceeded expectations for the first Star Wars live-action series. This could have been a shallow show, full of shoot-outs, space battles, a few one-liners for the sake of nostalgia and you would have plenty of people who would have been happy with this. However, the writing team that featured Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa and Christopher Yost created a series that was incredibly deep. It took the existing Star Wars universe and gave us more nuance and layers of grit without taking away from the soul of what Star Wars is. Plus, you got the shoot-outs, space battles and one-liners, too!

You could tell that the directors they chose knew where this series was supposed to go, featuring the aforementioned Dave Filoni and Rick Famuyiwa along with Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi. The cohesiveness was evident and made for a much better series. On top of that, the series is stunning to watch, the scenery, the shots used, all of it makes for a beautiful show. In fact, the usage of imagery to show importance of certain moments is artfully done as well. For example, when young Din Djarin is rescued by the Mandalorians and when Mando picks up Okra to leave with him, the shots are almost identical.

The Mandalorian also did an amazing job of making you fall in love with the characters through excellent performances from the actors. Gina Carano as Cara Dune, Werner Hezog as the Client, and Carl Weathers as Greef Karga were great characters with more than meets the eye. Moff Gideon played by veteran actor Giancarlo Esposito, makes an incredible first impression and proves that he is no man to trifle with. He is imposing and menacing throughout the 2 episodes he inhabits. And how the hell did he get the Darksaber?????

What needs to be stressed is how impressive it was to get emotion from characters whose face you never see. Emily Swallow as the Armorer, Nick Nolte as Kuiil, Taika Waititi as IG-11 and of course, the star of the series, Pedro Pascal as the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin did amazing jobs of being able to emote with their voices, subtle head movements and body language. You could feel their performances and that’s no easy feat.

Now that we are at the end of season 1, I can give this series an overall rating. I give The Mandalorian Season 1 9.5 out of 10 Mandalorian signets. What an impressive first season and what a great introduction to what the live action Star Wars universe can be.

As I’ve done with several of the other recaps, here is some more of the awesome concept art.