Temura Morrison, stand-up special, when?

“The Tragedy” – ominous title card to see at the start of the latest chapter of The Mandalorian. But what did it mean?

While us fans were thrilled by last week’s Ahsoka appearance, it was a largely telegraphed treat. Bo-Katan had set us en route to the former Jedi, Dave Filoni was directing the episode and of course, the biggest signpost of all was the leak that Chapter 13 was called “The Jedi.” This week, I doubt anyone could have anticipated some of the twists in “The Tragedy.”

A mere 32 minutes in which Din’s world was turned upside down. Boba Fett arrived to reclaim his armour, the presumed dead Fennec Shand has been provided a new lease of life in Team Fett, the Razor Crest was destroyed by Imperial fire and those same Imperials seized Grogu.

Tragedy indeed.

Difficult to know where to start. We now know what the mission will be for the final two episodes of the season. Din seems to be assembling a team to recover ‘The Kid’ from Gideon’s clutches – and what a team we’re likely to watch.

Fett and Shand are in debt to Din. He allowed Boba to reclaim his armour and the deal was that both he and Shand would protect The Child. Since Grogu was captured, the honourable rouge’s have a mission to accomplish. Din has seemingly brought Cara Dune – now a New Republic Marshal – onto the rescue team, and seems intent on breaking Migs Mayfeld, (i.e. Bill Burr’s character from episode six), out of prison for the mission too.

So that’s Din, Fett, Shand, Dune (probably Karga) and Mayfeld at the very least about to hop aboard Slave I and take on Gideon’s forces in an attempt to save Grogu.

And Grogu’s stock continues to rise. Placed upon the Seeing Stone on Tython, Grogu connects to the force in rather emphatic fashion before his abduction. After being snatched, we end the episode with the little fella providing evidence for the theorists who ever-so-boldly claim he’s on a path to the dark side, as he defiantly throws two stormtroopers around his cell.

While much of Grogu’s history is cloudy, the past we know of has been filled with violence. He’s conditioned enough to hide whenever Din fires up the Whistling Birds. He attempted to force choke Cara Dune to break up an arm wrestle between friends. When Din is shaping to shoot Cobb Vanth in front of lil’ Grogu, Din even points to the fact that “[the kid’s] seen worse.”

After all that conditioning, it’s no surprise that Grogu is embracing a side of the force usually reserved for those on a dark path, and it’s fascinating to see where that narrative thread takes us.

But back to this week. I was part of the group who expected nothing more than a simple Boba Fett tease this season. Perhaps the Chapter 9 cameo was all we were going to get before an appearance in a later season. Would he become the lead villain further down the line?

Expectations blown out of the water when Slave I appears out of the clouds on Tython. In terms of canon chronology, the first time we’ve seen the ship since 1980, when Fett was seen flying away from Bespin with a carbonite enshrouded Han Solo in the glovebox during the final act of The Empire Strikes Back.

Director Robert Rodriguez had the honour of delivering the type of Boba Fett action that legend had foretold. After waiting four decades, Star Wars fans were today served a brutal Fett as he swung his Tuskan Raider Gaderffii stick to chop down stormtroopers, shattering their armour with each blow. That was BEFORE he got his hands on the famous armour and jumped in to save an increasingly overwhelmed Din and Shand.

And even a cold bounty hunter knows comedic timing. After shooting down one of the escaping troop transports, skittling it into the second retreating Imperial ship, Din’s “nice shot” was met with Fett’s admission; “I was aiming for the other one.”

Temura Morrison, stand-up special, when?

Ming-Na Wen also had time to shine as Fennec Shand. One of my biggest issues with Chapter 5 was that Shand was wasted as a character. We never had a chance to see her in action, despite the high praise and being signalled as an immovable adversary. Finally, a pay off for that big build-up and more importantly, new information which makes Chapter 5 a little more bareable.

Shand evading the heavy Imperial fire by skipping over the rockery was some well shot action, and her move to boulder the troopers in the canyon was a brilliant piece of bounty hunter ingenuity. That’s the Shand that was promised, and even though she might be partially cybernetic now, it still counts – (just ask Vader.)

Details of Shand’s resurrection are unknown, but no doubt a fascinating piece of Boba Fett lore that currently remains a mystery. Give me a one-shot comic book that picks up immediately where the final shot of Chapter 5 ends. Something else to add to the rich tapestry of The Mandalorian.

One character that Boba Fett can’t resurrect is the Razor Crest, and much like the Millennium Falcon, yes, the ship is a character. And what a tragedy it was when Din’s home was obliterated by an bullseye from Gideon’s cruiser.

A million voices cried out in horror, the most vocal being the Hasbro HasLab Razor Crest backers. What a huge moment in the context of the series. Beyond Din and Grogu, the Razor Crest was the only other ever-present fixture in the series. Now that changes.

I’m struggling to think of a more poignant ship destruction in Star Wars. The Falcon and Luke’s X-Wing survived the Skywalker Saga. The XJ-6 Airspeeder that Anakin “really liked” made it through the chase in Attack of the Clones.

Sure, Poe Dameron lost two X-Wing’s in the Sequel Trilogy. I have difficulty in calling either Death Star a ‘ship.’ You could argue the destruction of the Resistance’s Raddus Star Cruiser in The Last Jedi was a huge moment, but that was a willing and noble sacrifice from Vice Admiral Holdo. The Crest was simply and mercilessly destroyed.

So, yeah, the destruction of the Crest is the most poignant, seismic and certainly surprising ship destruction in Star Wars canon. And no, I’m not over it yet.

Chapter 14 has sent the dominoes flying.