The Mandalorian season 2, episode 6 review: The Tragedy

“You’re very special, kid. We’re going to find that place here you belong and they’re going to take real good care of you.” Spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2, episode 6 follow.

After finding Ahsoka Tano and learning more about Grogu’s past, the Mandalorian heads off in search of the place that may be able to lead them to a Jedi that can train Grogu in the latest episode of Disney Plus‘ The Mandalorian season 2

Once there though, they’re immediately interrupted by none other than the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Training of a youngling

After taking so much time last episode of giving some great father and son moments to Din and Grogu, one would think that The Mandalorian season 2 wouldn’t take time to do more here. Well, if you thought that, then you’d be wrong because the opening scene to this episode is genuinely one of the most heartwarming scenes of the season so far. It’s such a great opening scene for several reasons, but mainly because of Din’s arc throughout the scene.

So much of the opening scene revolves around Din having a bonding session with Grogu by doing a couple of simple things. Saying Grogu’s name and playing with the ball that Grogu loves. It’s such a simple, sweet scene that once again deftly establishes the found family bound that the two have with each other.

As the scene goes on though, and Din is telling Grogu the plan, there’s a subtle change to his attitude where it feels like he’s no longer convincing Grogu that this is the right thing to do. He’s convincing himself. It’s a great subtle shift that is only noticeable because of Pedro Pascal’s excellent performance. His subtle intonation shifts, volume of voice, and cadence really brings Din’s unsure nature to life toward the end of this scene.

Boba Fett returns

Once arriving at their destination and making it to the spot where they need to go though. Din and Grogu are rudely interrupted by none other than Boba Fett and, his special guest, Fennec Shand. Turns out that it was Boba Fett that we saw at the end of episode 5 of season 1. Immediately once they land though, instead of being able to run, Grogu does what he’s supposed to do and connects with the Force, much Din’s frustration. So, instead, he goes off to meet up with his would-be attackers.

Turns out, they’re not there to fight, Boba just wants his armor back. Honestly, it’s nice not to see Din and Boba fighting. It simply would’ve felt like the bad kind of fan service that would, in the end, serve nothing. Instead, it’s nice to see Din’s distrust of both Boba and Fennec without the three having to resort to a fire fight. It’s a nice change of pace, especially given how the rest of the episode goes.

Before getting to the bulk of the episode though, it should be noted that once Boba gets his armor back, there’s something very important that happens. A very important retcon at that. For so long in the Star Wars canon, it was all but explicitly stated that Jango and Boba Fett were not true Mandalorians. He was just a bounty hunter that somehow managed to acquire the armor. This episode retcons that to make it so that Jango was a foundling, just like Din, making Jango, and by extension, Boba, Mandalorians and not just pretenders. It’s something that is bound to make a lot of hardcore Boba Fett fans happy.

Imperials on the hunt

And now we get to the crux of the episode. We step away from the clunky dialogue that permeated the conversation between Din, Boba, and Fennec and jump right into the action. It’s always great seeing stormtroopers getting wrecked and that’s no exception here.

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So much of this episode revolves around Din, Fennec, and Boba fighting stormtroopers in order to protect Grogu and a lot of it is fantastic. There’s some really solid action from Fennec and Din (we’ll touch on Boba in a bit), even if it is a bit stiff choreography-wise toward the end of the episode. They both get some solid chances to shine. There are moments where the CGI is oddly bad for this series though, and it is definitely noticeable enough to pull you out of the episode for a couple of seconds.

As for Boba though, the Boba we see in this episode is the Boba that, for whatever reason, a lot of people seem to think was shown in the original trilogy. However, the Boba in this episode was definitely not on display and it’s truly his first moment of being genuinely incredible. He’s a brutal fighter and is able to take a squad of stormtroopers with just a staff, but once he gets his armor back, it’s like he’s unstoppable. It truly is the first time that Boba Fett has been awesome in live-action.

Despite the great fight scenes though, they fail in their mission, leaving Grogu to get kidnapped by Moff Gideon. Once this happens, it feels like your heart has been pulled right out of your chest, almost like we, as the audience, somehow failed in protecting him. It’s a testament to how integral to the show that Grogu is that his kidnapping, which also raises the stakes of the season significantly, can have that much of an emotional impact.

Despite some lackluster CGI and clunky dialogue, the latest episode of The Mandalorian season 2 has several great emotional moments and some great action.

Did you enjoy The Mandalorian season 2, episode 6? Let us know in the comments below!