Good morning Blerders and Nerders! Still recovering from a great Christmas? I finally got some sleep which was needed after my 7 hour drive from Mississippi. This week’s episode is in contention for best episode of the season. Taika Waititi really put his foot in this finale and now I want more from him. Let’s get into this finale!
Stormtroopers really…the butt of their own jokes.
This episode picks up with the two Stormtroopers who killed Kuill (those asshats) and stole Baby Yoda. They make their way to the edge of town and wait for further orders. Have you guys watched the “Family Guy” Star Wars episodes and listened to some of the Stormtrooper dialogue they had? This beginning scene seems to draw directly from those specials. They are abusive to Baby Yoda when he makes a noise (strike 1) as they wait for next steps after capturing Baby Yoda. After some playful banter, one Stormtrooper tries their hand at target practice….missing horribly. The other Stormtrooper (Jason Sudeikis) tries his hand and of course doesn’t hit anything as well. This just perpetuates the “Stormtroopers can’t shoot for shit” stereotype…which seems to be accurate at this point. As they continue to shoot and miss, IG-11 arrives demanding the return of Baby Yoda. If you remember, IG-11 is a nurse droid now and the protection of Baby Yoda is his prime directive….which means he carries that strap to protect that baby. And protect he does as he kills the two troopers and speeds off to meet Mando and the crew.
The stand continues.
Mando and crew are still in a stand off with Moff Gideon and his soldiers which isn’t looking too good right now. Mando calls for Kuill again but gets IG-11 who is speeding their way. Moff has a dialogue with the three before setting up a repeater (type of stationary heavy gun) to take his time to kill them. But he seems to know just about everything about our crew. We know the full name of Cara Dune and that she was a shock trooper but we knew next to nothing about Greef Karga. We also learn Mando’s real name…Din Djarin. Like I suspected, Mando wasn’t born a Mandolorian, he was taken in. But according to Mando and Cara, Mandolorian isn’t a race…it’s a Creed…which is kind of a play on words with Carl Weathers who played the original Creed being there haha. After we see a flashback of how Din was saved by Mandolorians, we see IG-11 on the speeder coming to the rescue so the crew goes on the offensive. As stormtroopers are falling dead around him, Moff calmly walks towards Din and shoots the power block of the heavy blaster he is using. It blows Din back and injures him pretty bad. They make their way back inside the cantina to attempt to get underground to the other Mandolorians.
Din tells Greef and Cara to go ahead without him because of his injury. Din still refuses to take his helmet off to see the severity of his injury since Mandolorians “don’t remove their helmets for any living thing”…to which IG-11 reminds him that he is not a living thing. Din catches up with Greef and Cara and head to the Mandolorian’s lair only to find a pile of empty helmets and armor.
Great escape…and sacrifice.
The Armorer comes from the back to greet the crew. She tells them that after the Moff came, some took their helmets off to escape the planet (and the Code?). Din finally receives his signet, making him and Baby Yoda a clan of two and by the Creed, he is Baby Yoda’s father and he must be trained. The Armorer also gives him a jetpack like we’ve seen in the animated series (watch the Clone Wars!). A search party breaks up the happy little moment but the crew moves on after learning the way out of the tunnels. They arrive at the lava pits but come across an issue…stormtroopers are at the exit and they can’t take them all on. IG-11 then makes the decision to sacrifice himself to save the crew but primarily Baby Yoda. Din actually tries to talk him out of it (the one droid he likes, is about to basically kill himself.)
IG-11 succeeds in clearing the way (he’s a hero) and the crew makes it out. But Moff Gideon comes around in his Tie Fighter and seemingly corners them. Din dons the Mandolorian jet pack to take the fight to Moff mid-air. Din succeeds and causes Moff to crash away from Razor’s Crest. After all that has happened, Cara and Greef decide to stay and rebuild the Guild (after he gets Cara to actually join) while Din and Baby Yoda fly off to safety….for now.
Overall opinion: 10/10
This was the best episode of the season which makes me mad that it was the last episode of the season. Taika Waititi stuck his whole foot in this episode and it makes me thing that if there is a new trilogy, I wouldn’t mind if he directs at least one of the new movies. This episode gave us a little more info on Mando by revealing his real name and also how he became a Mandolorian. We also see how he developed his fear of droids or at least his mistrust of them. Moff is an interesting character. Throughout most of his interactions, he’s seen as cool, calm and very calculated, almost as if there are no wasted moves he makes. His confidence is something people should fear and respect. When Tie fighter crashed, he didn’t die…oh no. Homie popped up out of his cockpit with an item only seen in the animated series of “Rebels”…The Dark Saber.
I really want you guys to watch the animated Star Wars series (because they are very good) but let me give you a quick rundown of the Dark Saber. The Dark Saber is essentially light saber that was crafted by the only Mandolorian Jedi. Those who possess it are usually given the mantle of the ruler of Mandolore.
But what do you guys of the finale? Did you enjoy the first season? Tell us about it in the comments! I believe the next season comes in the fall of 2020 (Disney making sure we keep them after this free year haha). Until next year….Nerd out people!
P.S: Be on the lookout for us to be putting out a lot more content next year. If you have suggestions, feel free to hit us up on our Twitter at NoirNerdzone or our email address noirnerdzone@gmail.com.
