In “The Mandalorian” recap, Mando reunites with some old friends to help bring down a still-standing Imperial base and they discover what Moff Gideon has been doing…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
You didn’t think we were going to meet Ahsoka Tano just yet, did you?
Following last week’s eye-popping episode of “The Mandalorian” that introduced a live action version of Bo Katan (played by Katee Sackhoff), the final few minutes dropped an Easter egg that had long time “Star Wars” fans frothing at the mouth.
In order to secure help from a Jedi, Bo Katan instructs Mando to seek out Ahsoka Tano — an iconic character from the “Star Wars” animated universe and a former apprentice of Anakin Skywalker. The rumor is Rosario Dawson will portray Ahsoka Tano in “The Mandalorian” and there’s a good chance her debut will come next week with Dave Filoni set to direct.
Filoni created Ahsoka Tano through the “Star Wars: Clone Wars” animated series so it would make sense that he would helm the episode that would introduce her in live action for the first time.
But that’s still a week away and there’s plenty to dissect from the latest episode.
With his ship falling apart, Mando is forced to divert his trip to Corvus in order to get some repairs, which then reunites him with old friends Greef Karga and Cara Dune on Nevarro. Of course, Mando can’t just hang out and get his ship fixed because Cara and Greef require his assistance as they seek to eradicate the last remnants of the Empire still lingering on their planet.
If that wasn’t enough, Mando and his friends discover what’s really going on at a base on the other side of Nevarro, which then begins to pull back the curtain on Moff Gideon’s true intentions.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of “The Mandalorian” titled “Chapter 12: The Siege”…
The Clone Wars
After leaving Trask — and his fellow Mandalorians behind — Mando flies away on the Razor Crest with his ship being held together by vines and fishing nets but obviously that’s not going to do the job long term, especially with a trip to a far off planet called Corvus where he’ll seek out Ahsoka Tano.
Despite his best efforts to have Baby Yoda assist him with repairs, Mando finally concedes that his ship isn’t going to make it much further without some extensive work. Thankfully, his old stomping ground in Nevarro isn’t far away and Mando could certainly use some friendly faces surrounding him after everything that’s unfolded lately.
Back on Nevarro, it seems former resistance fighter Cara Dune has taken up duties as the new Marshal in town as she stomps out some Aqualish bandits, who have been stealing and looting all around town.
Moments later, Mando arrives on Nevarro where his ship can barely land safely but soon he’s greeted by Greef Karga and Cara Dune, who are happy to see him and the Child. Mando asks for help with ship repairs and Greef Karga is more than happy to extend his team to fix up the Razor Crest.
In town, Mando discovers that Greef and Cara have really cleaned things up in the wake of their battle with Moff Gideon that closed out the first season of the show.
Families are living peacefully and Mando’s old friends even managed to convert the bar where they faced off with Moff Gideon into a school where younglings are being taught by a protocol droid. Greef Karga places Baby Yoda into one of the chairs while promising Mando that the kid will be safe while they attend to some other business.
Baby Yoda receives more than a few smiles and giggles from the school children — including one girl who has the same hairstyle as Rey — and he even manages to use the Force to steal some cookies away from another kid who doesn’t want to share.
Meanwhile, Mando arrives at Greef Karga’s place of business where he’s also reunited with Mythrol — the bounty he had frozen in carbonite during the very first episode of the series. It seems Mythrol was wanted for some “creative bookkeeping” and Greef Karga offered to let him work off his debt over the next 350 years.
As for the help needed, Cara Dune explains how she’s managed to largely eliminate any threats still existing on Nevarro except for a remote Imperial base on the other side of the planet. This is where Moff Gideon was stationed and that also explains how he had a battalion of troops with him when they engaged in a fire fight last season.
Cara believes the outpost is only manned by a skeleton crew and she wants Mando’s help to take out whatever remaining troops are still stationed there and destroy the base so Nevarro will be safe once and for all. Mando agrees to help with everybody jumping in a speeder bound for the Imperial base on the other side of the planet.
Once they arrive, Mando quickly dispatches some guards and the foursome makes their way inside much to the chagrin of Mythrol, who would have preferred to stay in his speeder. Once in the base, Mando, Greef, Cara and Mythrol discover that this isn’t a skeleton crew but rather a fully functioning station with a number of troops manning the building.
Mando and the crew make it into the bowels of the base where they discover a cooling tower that keeps the place functioning while operating on top of a volcano. Mythrol manages to cause the cooling tower to malfunction, which means in about 10 minutes the entire base will collapse upon itself in a blaze of fire and lava.
As they rush to escape before the place is destroyed, Mando and the team run across a pair of Imperial scientists trying to back up information from the computers before escaping. The two scientists are killed but then Mando, Greef, Cara and Mythrol find out that this wasn’t just any Imperial base stationed on Nevarro.
Instead it appears the Empire was conducting some kind of cloning experiment and this was a science base rather than a home for the Imperial military. Mythrol then unlocks a message from Dr. Pershing, who is speaking to Moff Gideon about the experiments they’ve been conducting.
Dr. Pershing explains that despite their best efforts, the candidates aren’t accepting a transfusion of blood that’s meant to stabilize them. He mentions that the blood they are using has the highest “M-count” they’ve ever found but it’s still not working and they’ve run out of the supply.
Now it would appear M-count means midi-chlorians — the bizarre explanation for Force sensitivity that was explained in the “Star Wars” prequels. The blood was gathered from Baby Yoda when the Empire was able to capture the child for a brief period of time before Mando took it back.
Mando believes this transition must be old because he believes Moff Gideon is dead but Mythrol explains that the video is only three days old. That means Moff Gideon is still very much alive and he’s still seeking Baby Yoda in order to harvest its blood for whatever cloning experiment he’s conducting.
Knowing that Moff Gideon is alive and Baby Yoda is all alone in town, Mando decides he needs to jetpack back to make sure the child is safe. Greef, Cara and Mythrol procure an Imperial vehicle in order to make it back but they are soon pursued by Stormtroopers on speeders.
Thankfully the guns on board are able to vanquish the speeders but then a cadre of TIE fighters take off for the base and the land vehicle doesn’t have much chance of surviving this onslaught. At that moment, the Razor Crest arrives, fully repaired and armed to the teeth, to take out the TIE fighters and save the day.
Mando thanks Greef Karga for the repairs but declines a return to the planet’s surface because after scooping up Baby Yoda, he wants to find Corvus in order to track down Ahosoka Tano.
Back in town, Captain Carson Teva — the X-wing pilot we met a couple of episodes ago — has arrived on Nevarro in order to get some details about this fight with the remnants of the Imperial forces. Greef isn’t too willing to just hand out information much less confirm that the Razor Crest was ever on the planet despite his transponders telling the New Republic officers something different.
Outside, Captain Teva talks with Cara Dune, who he knows came from Alderaan before the planet was destroyed by the Empire. Cara remarks how she lost everyone she loved that day but still has no interest in rejoining the New Republic now that the war has been won.
Captain Teva leaves behind a symbol of the New Republic — the same symbol that once recognized the rebel forces that brought down the Emperor. Cara stares down at it as Captain Teva tells her that the only way the New Republic can stamp out the Emprie once and for all is for help from everybody.
Meanwhile at an undisclosed point in space, an Imperial Star Destroyer is inching its way across the galaxy when a transmission is received from Nevarro. It seems once of Greef Karga’s repairmen is secretly a spy for the Empire and he reports back that a tracking device has been installed on the Razor Crest.
The Imperial officer promises that the spy will be rewarded handsomely for this deed.
She then leaves to tell Moff Gideon the good news that they are tracking the Razor Crest and Mando still has Baby Yoda in his possession. Gideon is pleased with that information as he continues to plot for a way to finally capture the Child once and for all.
As the officer leaves, Moff Gideon looks around where we find a number of empty Death Trooper uniforms just waiting to be filled.
Is Moff Gideon attempting to build a new army for the Empire with powers similar to those of the Emperor or Darth Vader? Is this the early attempts to clone the Emperor and bring him back to life as we eventually discover in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”?
These are all questions that still need to be answered but obviously Moff Gideon is up to something nefarious and now he’s one step closer to taking back Baby Yoda for his experiments. Thankfully it appears Mando may soon have some much needed backup from former Jedi Ahsoka Tano!
“The Mandalorian” returns with a brand new episode next Friday on Disney+
