The Mandalorian (Season 3), Episode 7: Let me just say this right away. This season of “The Mandalorian” has been pretty much a pale shadow of the last two so far. It has still worked, nonetheless, given the fact that The Mandalorian has a much superior craft compared to so many other shows. And, of course, it would be blasphemous on my part if I don’t give credit to Katee Sackhoff, aka Bo-katan.
With only two episodes left this season, the show needed to deliver a sense of urgency. And if the latest episode is any indication, then that urgency is clearly showing. As a result of that, we have got possibly the best episode of the season. Most importantly, we can all gear up for an explosive, cracking finale next week.
The Mandalorian (Season 3), Episode 7 Recap:
Chapter 23
Yes, Moff Gideon is alive, after all. And guess who is doing his shady work bits while he is lurking in the shadows, planning something sinister? None other than Elia Kane, still an Imperial at heart and easily fooling the new republic. Gideon’s plan is to take over control of The Galaxy and throw away The New Republic. Aiding him in this conspiracy are several former warlords from the time of the Empire, who are also hiding under the rags, like Gideon.
Together they all have formed “The Shadow Council.” The plan is in motion, but there is one hitch: The Mandalorians. After getting the news of Mandalorians helping the Nevarro people with the Pirate trouble, Gideon is further concerned and immediately makes taking care of the Mandalorians his priority. The other Warlords agree with him, and Gideon’s request for bombers, three Praetorian guards, and TIE Interceptor Squadron reinforcement is immediately granted.
Mandalorians, Assemble
Bo-katan, Din, and Grogu return to Nevarro with the Night Owls fleet. They introduce the “helmet remover” Mandalorians to the “Children of the Watch” covertly. After initial awkwardness between the two groups, a primary alliance is formed, for the sake of the bigger picture, i.e., taking back their home planet, Mandalore.
Now that everyone knows that their home planet is not toxic and the air is still breathable, thanks to Din’s redemption quest, the natural course of action is to go back and rebuild their world. The task is not an easy one as there are several dangerous creatures lurking around the planet, as we already know.
Bo-katan being the natural leader, suggests they take their fleet and wait in the upper atmosphere of the planet while a small group of people goes to the land to make sure it is safe enough for the rest of them. She asks for volunteers from both groups, and all our essential characters like Din and Grogu, Paz Vizsla, Axe Woves, Koska Reeves, and even The Armourer join in along with several other Mandalorians.
Meanwhile, High Magistrate Greef Karga presents his friend Din with a very expensive bottle of wine and (surprise, surprise) a much-improved version of IG-11, who is now called IG-12 and doesn’t intend to murder Grogu anymore. There is one catch, though, someone has to be strapped into it and control it, and who better than our little one to do so? Grogu jumps in swiftly, despite Din’s natural skepticism as the concerned father. This obviously follows Grogu doing cute little things and Din running behind him to ensure his child’s safety.
Return to the Mandalore, once again
We get back to the planet, and as per the plan, the scouting group lands on the planet in a small spaceship while the rest of them wait up top. Soon after landing, Din notices movement on the horizon, and the Mandalorians get ready with their blasters in hand. But it turns out to be a landslip with another group of surviving Mandalorians looking for food only. Upon knowing the presence of Lady Bo-katan of clan Kryze, the Captain of the new group, along with two others, immediately fly with jetpacks, and come down at her feet to show their allegiance.
The new group is welcomed and greeted with food by Bo-katan and all other Mandalorians. During the dinner, the Captain of the survivors explains how they survived despite several bombings in order to erase every living Mandalorians during the night of thousand tears. He tells Bo-katan how proud they are of her for not surrendering to Gideon. But Bo-katan corrects him and reveals that she did surrender and give away the dark saber in order to save the planet.
Unfortunately, Gideon betrayed her and went ahead with his rampage anyway. Bo-katan sighs about the fact that despite the Mandalorians being a strong, unbeatable tribe, the inner conflicts between them have always damaged them and made them vulnerable. Knowing this makes Din realizes that Bo-katan is anything but selfish. In fact, she is probably the biggest hope for the betterment of their kind. He privately tells her that it is not the dark saber or royalty for which he has sworn his loyalty to Bo-katan, it is actually the honor she carries as a person.
The next morning, Bo-katan suggests the Captain take the new groups to the remaining fleet in the atmosphere as they are weak and weary. But the Captain offers to take her and the rest of them to the Forge instead, to which she agrees. The Armourer decides to take the weak people to the fleet while the rest goes with Bo-katan.
During the journey, a fight breaks down between Paz Vizsla and Axe Woves while the two are playing a simple game of something that can be considered “Star Wars Chess.” Bo-katan stops Din from intervening, but Grogu, still strapped into IG-12, stops the fight, which really impresses Bo-katan. She congratulates Din for training his apprentice well, but Din responds that it’s all Grogu, not him, most likely hinting at Grogu’s Jedi influence.
The Mandalorian (Season 3), Episode 7 – Chapter 23 Ending, Explained:
It is not at all surprising for the Mandalorians to come across a gigantic beast-like creature. They all came prepared. However, when it finally happened, it still turned out to be quite a difficult job to handle. In fact, they all have to flee from the ship and take shelter in a cave nearby while the vicious beast destroys the land ship.
But inside the cave, the Mandalorians face a kind of trouble that they were not expecting at all. A group of Stormtroopers, and to make matters worse, they are wearing beskar steel armor. Seeing the imminent danger, Paz Vizsla covers for the Mandalorians while Axe Woves and a group of Mandalorians leave in order to bring further reinforcement.
However, thanks to Bo-katan and Din, the Stormtroopers are taken care of soon enough. Subsequently, the Mandalorians chase them to a (well, well) pretty much equipped Warehouse facility. It doesn’t take much time for Din to realize they have just walked into a trap. Nevertheless, a group of Stormtroopers captures him, while a shutter door falls down to differentiate Bo-katan and other Mandalorians from him, who also gets trapped and now can only helplessly look at Din from the other side.
Wearing pitch black, beautiful looking, extremely shiny armor, Moff Gideon appears, dripping with a “see how I have got the better of you” pride, understandably. That is sort of true, given he reveals that they got hold of the planet Mandalore and started forging beskar steel armor for them already, implying he has always been a step ahead.
Why did Paz Vizsla sacrifice himself?
Gideon orders his troopers to take Din’s weapons and take him away (for nothing good, I assume). Thanking Bo-katan for gathering all the Mandalorians in one place, he asks for the dark saber. But Bo-katan has had enough of this guy. While Paz Vizsla covers for them again by charging at the Stormtroopers, Bo-katan tries to create a hole in the door on the other side by using the dark saber. She successfully manages to do that and make way for all the Mandalorians to make a much-needed escape. But Paz Vizsla decides to stay behind to hold off the troopers and give his tribe some more time to retreat.
After all the Mandalorians escape, Vizsla continues to fight heroically and kills all the Stormtroopers thrown at him. However, when the red armor-wearing Praetorian guards arrive, Vizsla fails to win the battle against them due to a lack of proper weapons. These guards are obviously much superior to the troopers, and Gideon has brought them for the big guns. Vizsla dies a hero while saving his fellow Mandalorians.
