What to Watch Verdict
"The Siege" is an a-ok space shoot-em-up.
Pros
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🍪Baby Yoda got his cookies.
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🍪Plenty of action.
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🍪We get new hints regarding Giddeon's nefarious plans.
Cons
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🍪The Mandalorian's depiction of the Rebellion as space cops is strange.
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🍪Mando's just been running around this whole time thinking Giddeon was dead, which feels weird and out of left field.
This post contains spoilers for The Mandalorian.
Check out our last review here.
The Mandalorian returns this week with its most action-packed episode yet. When Mando (Pedro Pascal) realizes that his ship isn’t going to be able to limp to find Ahsoka Tano, he and Baby Yoda head back to Navarro for some repairs and a rendezvous with old friends. In classic The Mandalorian fashion, that’s not all he finds upon his visit to the once destitute planet.
Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) have successfully cleaned up the majority of the riff raff on Navarro, but the planet is still plagued by one last Empire base on the outskirts of their safe zone. While Mando waits for repairs on his ship, he agrees to help them destroy the base and any remaining Imperial troops that might be occupying it. But they end up finding much more than an abandoned base.
In addition to far more Storm Troopers than they bargained for, the small team discovers that the base was used for some kind of experiment that involved blood from Baby Yoda. While on board, we also discover that Mando had thought that Moff Giddeon (Giancarlo Esposito) had died after their last altercation? All the same, we’ve finally got some stakes as the bounty hunter and his child head off to find their unlikely Jedi ally.
Before things come to a close, we discover that the Empire had a spy on Navarro who plants a tracking device on Mando’s ship before he departs. This tracker doesn’t just mean that Giddeon will be catching up with Mando much sooner than he previous thought but that there’s a chance that we might get to see Ahsoka vs. the Empire in live action. There’s a lot of hope surrounding this particular Jedi.
Outside of the main plot, we get the chance to see plenty of cute Baby Yoda moments. The mean boy in the classroom won’t share his cookies, so the youngling simply takes them. Probably not the most appropriate course of action, but the kid was a butt so he kinda deserved it. There’s also a little bit of instant karma in the form of an upset tummy after their battle with the mini Imperial fleet. Oh, plus there’s some child electrocution early on.
“The Siege” is a good blast-em-up episode that will likely sit better in a binge setting than as a standalone, but it does a fair amount to progress The Mandalorian’s story all the same. The last two episodes have dragged the Empire out from the shadows, making them a bigger player in this season than they were in the last. Giddeon is still our primary threat, but he’s no longer the only one. We’re now getting a look at just how far his resources stretch, and how much of a presence the Empire was before they “re-appeared” in The Force Awakens.
Meanwhile, Season 2 of The Mandalorian seems intent on depicting the Rebellion as space cops and dweebs. Given that the show’s context takes place mostly on outer-rim planets and its characters are mostly of the vigilante type, I suppose the characterization makes sense. If the Empire weren’t so prevalent, this depiction wouldn’t be as jarring as it is. But they are very clearly still around and with plenty of fire power to boot, so the choice remains a little odd.
For those who are going insane wondering when in the heck we’re finally going to run into Ahsoka Tano, the official answer is “we’re not sure.” As for the unofficial answer – next week’s episode is directed by Dave Filoni who may or may not have one or two ties to the character, so you can probably expect the Togrutan to make her live-action debut in the next chapter.
