The Mandalorian - Chapter 22 - Review

When the previous episode ended with the cult opening their doors up to new members, I was always worried about how it would move forward from there. Bo-Katan accepting their ways, but still trying to bring in those who refuse them, together would always be a tricky challenge and it seems the show had no plans to address that. Instead this episode was more a mystery, with just a hint of growth.

Opening up with a Romeo and Juliet style romance between to formally waring species was interesting, if only because it gave us a way to meet the mercenary Mandalorians. From there we cut back to Din and Bo-Katan, who are on a mission to locate that same crew and convince them to join the cult on Navarro. It would seem that the flight towards their location was going to be a simple one, until the ship Bo-Katan was flying, was taken control of remotely and those on board were set off to meet the royals in charge. Royals in Star Wars have usually been a stuffy affair, with a few exceptions of course, so I wasn’t sure what to expect here, Jack Black was not anywhere in the realm of possibility though. Ok, so he was playing a role and that was former Imperial Captain Bombardier and his wife, the Duchess who was played by Lizzo.

The problem that the folks ruling Plazir-15 have is that a bunch of reprogrammed droids have started to behave erratically, but due to the laws in place, there can be no outside military force brought it to solve it. So the leaders make a deal, Din and Bo-Katan will be allowed to go about their business if they assist with this technological problem. This has the pair head down to visit the chief of security, Commissioner Helgait, who points them towards the Ugnaughts who live below the surface and are responsible for the droids. What we get could have been a fairly in-depth mystery, with people being difficult and such, but instead it was a brief chase after a rogue droid and then some confirmation and case closed. This was a disappointing outcome, not because I needed Din Djarin to wear a trench coat and start downing a fifth of whiskey, but rather it had the potential to be something fun, but it was over before it begun.

Of course, this meant that the pair could finally reach Axe Woves and the mercenary band of Mandalorians and after a brief fight between Axe and Bo-Katan, she was given control of the group, at least sort of. While Bo-Katan was victorious, Axe wouldn’t capitulate to her, as she didn’t have the Dark Sabre and they wouldn’t follow Din Djarin as he was not a born Mandalorian. This brought up the second weird aspect of the episode, Din just handed the Dark Sabre to Bo-Katan and she accepted it. The reasoning was that as Din was defeated on Mandalore and then Bo-Katan defeated the being that defeated him, so ownership passed to her. By that same logic, given Din got his butt whopped at the end of The Book of Boba Fett, the ownership should have passed on then. Even if you ignore that, Din knew the history of the blade and he didn’t pass it on at all, keeping it for himself.

The show seemed content to stick with the Star Wars rules, in order to provide a more character focused story but as we are now that we have dozens of characters to deal with, it seems to be picking and choosing, what to keep. Another aspect of the show being weird like that, is the B2 Battle Droid that Din and Bo-Katan chased after. In every single appearance that they have had, they have always walked in the same manner, even when under fire from the Clones or other Republic forces. For whatever reason here it didn’t do that, it just flat out sprinted and sure, you might be able to make the argument that it was due to the corrupted programming, but that would be a stretch. When the show is following the rules of Star Wars that everyone knows, it moves things along fine, but when it makes these random decisions that go against established conventions, it stands out as weird and I don’t think the show can carry that now.

Chapter 22 of The Mandalorian was different, whilst I can appreciate the mystery that was being shown off, it felt rushed, almost like the confrontation at the end. The show seemingly has no issues in picking and choosing when to follow the rules of Star Wars and this inconsistency is starting to become frustrating. While the show was packed with cameos, they never really felt out of place, even with Christopher Lloyd being the villain of the episode. I do have doubts that the ending, which is just around the corner, will actually be satisfying, more so for those who have not connected to Bo-Katan, given her presence this season. If each episode was longer and was able to keep the mystery of Moff Gideon going, then sure a break would have been nice, but the show hasn’t been able to stay focused long enough for this to feel like a treat, so it feels more like a trick.

The Score

7.5

The Pros

+A good collection of cameos and none of them felt out of place

+A good mystery is always welcome...

The Cons

-... but it felt like it was over way to quickly

-The show seems to throw out rules when it wants to do something and its frustrating