The Mandalorian: Season 2, Episode 6 Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out This review contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2, episode 6, titled "Chapter 14 - The Tragedy." Here's our Mandalorian Season 2, episode 5 review to refresh your memory of where we left off. For more from The Mandalorian, Giancarlo Esposito explains why Moff Gideon's armor is so Darth Vader-esque, and find out how old Boba Fett and Ahsoka Tano are in The Mandalorian's timeline. [poilib element="accentDivider"] After the adrenaline rush of Ahsoka Tano's debut in Chapter 13, I'll admit I was expecting The Mandalorian Chapter 14 to be another side quest that would delay Mando and Grogu's arrival on Tython until the penultimate episode of the season, but dank farrik, am I glad to be wrong. Just as "The Jedi" delivered deep-cut lore, intriguing backstory, and thrilling action, "The Tragedy" doubled down on that formula and turned things up to 11, aided by the dynamic direction of Robert Rodriguez - who's no stranger to helming epic western gunfights fought beside unlikely allies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/27/the-mandalorian-season-2-episode-5-the-truth-behind-the-jedi-and-her-secret-mission-star-wars-canon-fodder"] Even if the episode had settled for simply being a team-up between Mando, Boba Fett, and the resurrected Fennec Shand (now sporting some cybernetic innards to make up for being shot by that punk Toro Calican, who we will never speak of again), it still would've been pretty badass, since the entire sequence delivered the most creative and well-executed action we've seen on The Mandalorian so far. The glorious moment when Boba Fett returned in his iconic - if battered - armor to take out basically an entire squad of stormtroopers was worth the price of admission alone, enough to redeem the bounty hunter's ignominious exit in Return of the Jedi. (Wrist rockets! Knee darts! Those no-look kill shots! How he swung that gaffi stick! We're not worthy.) The whole endeavor was so deeply nerdy that I'm even willing to forgive the slight logic gap that Boba Fett would've allowed the far less threatening Cobb Vanth to hold on to his armor all this time, and instead chose to wait until a clearly deadly Mandalorian took it halfway across the galaxy before he and Fennec tried to get it back - Star Wars has plenty of those kinds of plot contrivances that can be handwaved away for the sake of a cool moment, after all. This single episode did more to cement Boba Fett's lethal reputation than any of the movies, and still managed to find time to offer some official, canonical backstory for Boba and Jango Fett, establishing Jango as a Mandalorian foundling, just like Din Djarin; one who even fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars. (Will this finally settle the endless debates about whether Boba Fett and Jango are really Mandalorian? This is Star Wars fandom, so probably not, but I'd say the show has made its stance perfectly clear.) [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=boba-fett-lives-how-the-bounty-hunters-story-continued-after-return-of-the-jedi&captions=true"] The script from Jon Favreau (although we can also feel Dave Filoni's influence here) managed to echo two iconic Star Wars quotes in Boba's introduction - Jango Fett's "I’m just a simple man, trying to make my way in the universe," from Attack of the Clones, and Luke Skywalker's "I'm a Jedi, like my father before me" from Return of the Jedi, effortlessly evoking the spirit of the franchise and encapsulating the character in one simple line. Despite being mercenaries, it's refreshing that the episode also went out of its way to emphasize that Boba Fett and Fennec Shand are ultimately honorable warriors even when it comes at the expense of their own safety, which goes back to something that Filoni explored with a young Boba way back in The Clone Wars (go watch the final three episodes of Season 2 for a refresher), when Hondo Ohnaka encouraged him to act honorably because it was what his father would've done. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2010/04/05/star-wars-the-clone-wars-tv-clip-boba-fett-debut-trailer"] Considering Chapter 14 was less than 30 minutes long once you subtract the recap and credits, Favreau's script was surprisingly dense, covering plenty of narrative and geographical ground: introducing Tython and Baby Yoda's impressive attempt to contact another Jedi; spotlighting Mando, Boba Fett, and Fennec Shand's alliance (after a typically western standoff) and trooper takedown; showing Moff Gideon's Dark Troopers in intimidating action; bringing Mando back to Nevarro to ask newly-minted New Republic Marshal Cara Dune to locate his old pal Mayfeld (Bill Burr, last seen in Chapter 6) to help him track Gideon's cruiser; and ending with a bang by showing Gideon's Tarkin-esque faceoff with Grogu, who laid the smackdown on some stormtroopers with serious panache. And the episode still found time for some adorable Mando and Baby Yoda bonding time early on, with Mando going full dad mode over being able to use Grogu's real name and play Force-catch with his surrogate son. The prospect of Mando, Boba, and Fennec teaming up to rescue Baby Yoda for the final two episodes is a tantalizing one after the firepower on display here, especially with Mayfeld also in the mix, and if the show can keep up the momentum established by episodes 5 and 6, we're in for a truly epic Season 2 finale - particularly if Grogu actually did manage to reach another Jedi who might be willing to help him while he was communing with the Force on Tython. One final note: RIP Razor Crest, now your watch has ended. The bucket of bolts withstood a lot over two short seasons, but even Kuiil couldn't fix that damage. Still, seeing the epic return of Boba's Slave I almost made up for it. 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