Never Trust a Quarren
Was it the greatest Twitter slip-catch of all time, or is Friday really Katee Sackhoff’s cheat day?
Ever since Moff Gideon carved his way out of his trashed TIE-fighter with the Darksaber in hand to create the now famous final shot of The Mandalorian season one, we knew that we were likely to see Bo-Katan Kryze in the series’ second season. The Darksaber – famous weapon of Mandalorian leaders – is Bo-Katan’s weapon, and she was bound to want it back.
So, this little tweet from Katee Sackhoff in the hours leading up to the release of The Mandalorian chapter 11 sent the internet into a frenzy of irresponsible speculation.
Could this be the day that Bo-Katan made her highly anticipated leap into live action? Sackhoff later poured cold water on the rampant speculation, with a slip-catch in the form of;
This is all a little tongue-in-cheek from me really. Whether this was a veiled tease or not, Chapter 11 was in fact the moment in which Bo-Katan would land on our screens in her live action debut and it made for one of the best episodes of the series so far. The 35-minute Bryce Dallas Howard directed third episode of season two easily a match for the superbly action-packed Deborah Chow led Chapter 3 and the Krayt Dragon adventure serial of Chapter 9 – my prior favourites.
Sackhoff’s tweets aside, the joy of this episode wasn’t even really propelled by elements of surprise. In fairness, the events were quite predictable.
Bo-Katan’s appearance was forecast early on. The season recap segment starts with the Armourer asking Din if he’s ever removed his helmet. Of course, he hasn’t, because this is undisputedly “the way.” We already know from The Clone Wars that Bo-Katan doesn’t follow the view of Din’s covert, with her helmet on and off like the Falcon’s hyperdrive. That was always likely to cause tension at their first meeting and right on queue, Din attempts to argue that Bo-Katan and friends aren’t real Mandalorians.
Hilarious. That’s like Yarael Poof telling Yoda he’s not a real Jedi.
Her introduction is right up there with some of the best Star Wars character introductions too. Din has found himself on a Quarren fishing barge, with it’s captain supposedly taking him to meet some Mandalorians, but he’s instead baited into trouble. The Child is pushed into the water and eaten by a decidedly-galactic shark (I’ll be checking Wookiepedia later). Mando dives in to save him but is in turn trapped under the ship. That is until Bo-Katan and her crew drop in to deal some retribution on the Quarren – who need I remind you are never to be trusted – as well as saving both Din and The Child.
It’s a brilliant action sequence in isolation, which I only managed to fully appreciate on the rewatch, having spent most of the premiere screening pointing DiCaprio-style at the screen, shouting Bo-Katan’s name. The Battle of Sorgan in episode one demonstrated that Bryce Dallas Howard has an eye for directing action and it’s cemented here.
Din teams up with Bo-Katan’s crew and storms an Imperial cargo ship. Which not only plays host to some bad-ass Mandalorian shooting-down-a-corridor action, but also another addition to the pantheon of terrible Imperial blunders.
Joining Admiral Ozzel’s decision to emerge from hyperspace too early above Hoth, and Captain Needa losing the Falcon from right under his Star Destroyer’s nose, is this plucky Imperial Deck Officer (played by Kevin Dorff) who, while standing in the cargo bay, decided to trap the Mandalorian insurgents in the cargo control area. Confirmed as a certified clanger when the bay doors open and anything not bolted down is swiftly ejected into the Trask atmosphere.
Situation dire for the Imperials, the ship’s captain requests immediate support from none other than Moff Gideon, as Giancarlo Esposito makes his first on-screen appearance of the season, albeit in hologram form.
We know that in the time after the Galactic Civil War, the remnant Imperial forms scattered in the outer rim were decidedly brutal – their leaders uncompromising. Just ask Rae Sloane. This reasserted Gideon’s cold-bloodedness, as instead of sending support, he instructs the captain to take the ship down in order to stop Bo-Katan from capturing it.
Of course, our heroes storm the bridge just in time. Bo-Katan tries and fails to ascertain the location of the Darksaber but, if she didn’t realise already, now knows that her quest to regain the saber will see her tangle with Gideon. The mention of the Darksaber prompted my second cheer of the episode – the third swiftly followed, as Bo-Katan instructed Din to seek out Ahsoka Tano, who will supposedly be found in the city of Calodan on the forest planet of Corvus.
A new planet in Star Wars, but a familiar face. Ahsoka effectively confirmed to appear in season two – perhaps even as early as next week – to make her live-action debut. A likely first foray in the Star Wars galaxy for actress Rosario Dawson.
We knew that Bo-Katan would be hunting the Darksaber. We knew that a Bo-Katan appearance would likely lead to Ahoska, on account of the pair’s rich history having fought alongside each other at the Siege of Mandalore. An example of where execution can count for just as much as surprise twists and turns in defining the quality of entertainment. Once again, fan service delivered through pitch-perfect storytelling – a mark of The Mandalorian so far.
Despite the plentiful action in a short runtime – the second shortest episode to date – there was still plenty of opportunity for humour.
Highlights included Din’s arrival on Trask. Brilliantly slowing the ship down after a manual entry into the planet’s atmosphere – something rarely seen in Star Wars – it looks like he’s about to make a controlled landing before one of the Crest’s damaged engines sputters and tips the ship into the water. The Crest knows comedic timing.
Another element of the landing sequence that resonated with me, a superfan of The Last Jedi, was Din mentioning the Crest’s low fuel reserves. At last, another case study to defend the honour of TLJ’s fuel-limited space chase.
And in one of The Child’s funniest scenes to date, a Mon Cala squid leaps out of his broth and goes full face-hugger. Daddy then tells him not to “play with his food.” Child must have been as salty as the squid after that attack – for once it wasn’t even his fault.
Chapter 11 really did have a bit of everything and delivered some delightful teases of what’s to come. The Ahsoka tease is the headline, but with Bo-Katan and Din sharing a common enemy in Gideon you can bet that their paths will cross again before the end of the series and I can’t wait for it.
Talos More 