The Mandalorian season 1, episode 8 review – Chapter Eight: Redemption

“Mandalorian isn’t a race. It’s a creed.” Spoilers for The Mandalorian season 1, episode 8 follow.

Cornered with nowhere to run, the Mandalorian, Cara Dune, and Greef Karga make a last-ditch effort to fight back against Moff Gideon and his Imperial forces.

And with Kuiil dead, IG-11 continues his goal of protecting “Baby Yoda” after his reprogramming by Kuiil.

Din Djarin

After an entire season of referring to the main character as simply “the Mandalorian,” there’s finally a name to put with the emotionless helmet: Din Djarin. It’s nothing spectacular in the terms of a name, as most names aren’t. But finally having a name for the character brings full circle the humanity that the season has been building in him. Starting from the moment he saves baby Yoda the first time to his name reveal, the Mandalorian has grown immensely as a character while keeping the hallmarks of why he’s an interesting character in the first place. This season finale does an excellent job of using the groundwork that’s been established to fully finish the character’s arc for the season.

That is most evident in the fact that this is the first time the Mandalorian’s face is shown. Obviously, anyone who has seen Pedro Pascal in anything knows what he looks like, but it’s an important moment for the character. It manages to do two things. It truly cements the humanity the character has earned throughout the season and allow him to overcome his fear of droids. While the first aspect, as mentioned, is done incredibly well, the second part seems a bit out of the blue. It works well enough because of Pascal’s performance, but it’s a complete heel-turn to how the Mandalorian felt about droids at the start of the episode. It was relatively sitcom quick in his turnaround and doesn’t work as well as intended.

The other thing regarding the Mandalorian that does work well in this episode though is the full reveal of how he became a foundling, as well as the establishment of his future going forward. As a massive fan of Mandalorian culture in the Star Wars universe, it’s always wonderful to see them as the honorable warriors they are, even if they actually turned out to be Death Watch. This hasn’t been completely confirmed, as the signet only looks like the Death Watch signet, but it would make sense given the time period. This then leads into Din finding his purpose beyond simply being a bounty hunter: finding a home for baby Yoda. He has no clue where to start, as none of the characters understand that the child’s species and the Jedi are not the same, which is pretty funny. But hey, just as he will learn, we will learn as the audience, and that’s exciting.

The Empire lives

One of the most intriguing things about this episode is its use of the Empire. If you’ve read any supplemental material, you know the Empire is still relatively strong at this point in the timeline, but, on The Mandalorian so far, it’s been mostly dilapidated echoes of the Empire that have been shown. Here, we really get to see how large Imperial forces still are, even years after the “death” of the Emperor. These aren’t just remnants but full battalions who won’t beat anyone in skill but in sheer numbers.

The problem with how the Imperials are portrayed in this episode, especially the Stormtroopers, are inconsistent, though. They’re mostly portrayed as both extremely competent but, in the first scene of the episode, a pair of them are shown to be inept. It’s a good in-joke, but it doesn’t fit the portrayal of the rest of the battalion and definitely felt more like director Taika Waititi throwing in a joke for the sake of a joke. This sets a bad precedent of taking the other Stormtroopers seriously for the rest of the episode.

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The best part of the Imperial forces in this episode, however, is Moff Gideon. He doesn’t do much, but what he does is awesome. Whether it’s monologuing to show his knowledge of his prey or going into battle himself, Gideon brings an amount of gravitas that is a mix of Grand Moff Tarkin and Director Krennic. And then there’s the final scene, where he cuts his way out of his crashed Tie Fighter with the Darksaber. It’s a genuinely surprising moment that makes sense given that he was an ISB officer on Mandalore, as well as adding more fuel to the story of the Mandalorian purge that has yet to be seen. In the Star Wars timeline, the last person who is known to have wielded the Darksaber is Bo-Katan, and this was before the Battle of Yavin. There’s so much story to be told just in that one shot, and it’s great.

The crew, together

It took eight episodes, but we finally get to see the crew the Mandalorian has put together actually work as a unit. Minus Kuiil that is. He’s gone to join the Force. Still, other than him being gone, the rest of the crew works well together. Each of the characters has great chemistry with each other, especially Cara and the Mandalorian. This has been established before and continues to be so here.

Because they work so well together, the action throughout is thoroughly enjoyable. There are a couple of parts that have some wonky CG and some effects simply aren’t there, such as blaster scarring on Stormtrooper armor, but most of the time it’s not that noticeable. There are several awesome moments throughout the episode with at least one occurring from each character.

The Mandalorian ends its first season on a high note and sets up its second season with a clear goal in mind.