The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 7: “The Rescue” Review
“The Rescue” was a fitting finale to the second season of The Mandalorian. After putting Moff Gideon on notice at the end of the last episode, Mando put a crew together with the sole goal of rescuing Grogu. Naturally, nothing is ever quite that simple.
This episode gave fans exactly what they wanted, what they feared and what they knew in their hearts was inevitable. But after the credits, this episode also gave them something extra, that was more than they expected and set up something big down the road.
Chapter 16. Now Streaming. #TheMandalorian #DisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/UY8qS24D7y
— The Mandalorian (@themandalorian) December 18, 2020
All in all, “The Rescue” was a superb season finale. While it didn’t lay everything out, it gave fans enough to work out that Season 3 might be a very big change for the series. But the first part of the story is done. It’s time to move on to the next one.
The Rescue (Spoilers)
By the end of the previous episode, Djarin had the location of Gideon’s ship and a good start on a crew. Boba Fett, Fennec Shand and Cara Dune had all agreed to help him. But taking on an Imperial light cruiser needs more firepower, more people with blasters who know how use them.
Fortunately, Bo-Katan Kryze and Koska Reeves were willing to lend a hand in exchange for a shot at Gideon, the Darksaber and getting to keep his light cruiser. The recruitment scene led to Sasha Banks fighting Boba Fett. That easily could have been a WrestleMania main event.
With a plan to infiltrate the ship and handle the Dark Troopers in place, the team went to work. Cara Dune, Fennec Shand, Reeves and Kryze wreaked havoc across the ship, absolutely slaughtering the Stormtroopers on board it. Mando took charge of rescuing Grogu from the brig.
After barely containing the Dark Troopers, he found Gideon waiting for him. This led to a fight pitting the Darksaber against the Beskar spear. Mando might have won the battle but Gideon put up one hell of a fight. With the spoils of his victory in hand, Djarin headed to the bridge.
The situation became immediately complicated by Mando having the Darksaber. Mandalorian tradition dictates it must be won in combat. That’s kind of odd considering Bo-Katan didn’t have to beat Sabine Wren in a fight on Rebels to take it from her. That seems like a bit of plot hole. Just a bit.
That being said, Mando took of his helmet for the second episode in a row. Various Mandalorian traditions seem to be going out the window left and right. This whole Darksaber thing might be another one they can choose to move past.
The rescue within a rescue (Spoilers)
Since the Dark Troopers are droids that can fly, dumping them into space was a temporary distraction at best. They returned to the ship, prepared to take it back in the name of the Empire. As formidable as Mando and company are, they wouldn’t enough to defeat them.
That’s when a familiar X-Wing landed on the light cruiser. The lone pilot emerged and dismantled the Dark Troopers. This was the Jedi who answered Grogu’s call, Luke Skywalker with R2-D2 in tow. And as many fans predicted, he has come to train The Child. Though they couldn’t have predicted how cute R2 and Grogu meeting would be.
Others bet on Ezra Bridger, Cal Ketis or even Mace Windu showing up. As is often the case, the most obvious answer is usually the right one. The younger CGI Luke was a little off-putting but at least Mark Hamill voiced the uncanny valley version of himself.
In the end, Luke saving the day and taking Grogu to be trained was the most logical end to this story. And make no mistake that this is the end of the story told over the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. Djarin has saved The Child and returned him to the Jedi. He has completed his mission.
Season 3 will be something different (Spoilers)
With Grogu now in the care of Luke Skywalker, Mando has a lot of free time on his Beskar-clad hands. When he met Bo-Katan Kryze earlier in Season 2, she asked him to help her retake Mandalore from the Empire. She re-iterated that offer in “The Rescue.”
Keeping in mind that Bo-Katan and Djarin still have to sort out the Darksaber issue, it’s quite likely that Season 3 could feature him teaming up with her to free Mandalore. That would be a massive battle, one that would require calling in a few favors and a large army of jetpack jockeys.
Whatever Season 3 looks like, fans need to prepare themselves for the possibility of Grogu being much less of a presence. At the very least, Djarin and Grogu are on different paths for the time being. It’s hard to say what that will lead to in the upcoming seasons, and if they will reconnect.
The Book of Boba Fett (Spoilers)
When Disney announced the massive slate of new Star Wars series coming to Disney+, fans were a combination of excited and overwhelmed. It was a lot to take in. Well, for those who wanted more, “The Rescue” threw one more log on that raging bonfire of content.
For the first time, The Mandalorian had a post-credits scene. It featured Fennec Shand and Boba Fett returning to Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine. They confronted Jabba’s old second in command, Bib Fortuna. He had assumed control of the throne and put on a lot of weight.
After killing Fortuna, Boba sat down on the throne with Shand at his side. Then a title card announcing the debut of The Book of Boba Fett debuting in December 2021 appeared. Details are sparse but this already looks like it could be good. Plus, no one is going to complain about more Boba Fett and Fennec Shand.
