The Mandalorian season 2, episode 7 review: The Believer

“You’re not going alone. I’m going with you. But I won’t be showing my face.” Spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2, episode 7 follow.

With Grogu being kidnapped by Moff Gideon, Din Djarin must build a crew in order to find where the Moff is located, which won’t be easy – as we see in the next episode of Disney Plus‘ The Mandalorian season 2.

With Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, and Cara Dune’s help, there’s only one more member that they need in order to retrieve the information and it’s someone that isn’t all that trustworthy.

To get your kid back

What would you do to get your kid back? Or if you don’t have kids (like this writer), hypothetically, how far would you go in order to find who had taken them? Well, in the first episode of The Mandalorian to have no Grogu in it at all, that’s something that Din has to ask himself. And well, it doesn’t take long for him to answer that he would do whatever it takes, which is where this episode succeeds so well. We really get to dive deep into Din Djarin’s mindset.

Before getting into that though, first, the plot of the episode needs to be brought up because it’s the key to everything. Sometimes character driven episodes like this one have a very lackluster plot, but not this time. The plot of this episode is solid. It forces our Mandalorian team into a situation to bring back someone that is inherently untrustworthy, Mayfeld played by Bill Burr, which creates such a great dynamic when infiltrating an Imperial base.

It really may seem a bit reductive as there was already an episode where an Imperial base was infiltrated this season, but this episode manages to make itself distinct from the previous episode. The infiltration tactics are different. The cast is mostly different. And the climax is very different as well. This episode manages to use a plot seen quite often in Star Wars in quite a different way so that the old feels a bit new again.

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— The Mandalorian (@themandalorian) December 4, 2020

Without his armor

As mentioned above, the best part of this episode comes from really diving into Din’s mindset and the sacrifices that he is willing to make throughout. The season, and really the series as a whole, as constantly pushed the idea that Din and Grogu are father and son (Cara even calls Grogu “his kid” here) and we get to see truly how far Din is willing to go to get his son back here in this episode.

First, he dons the armor of a stormtrooper so that he can infiltrate the Imperial compound with Mayfeld. It’s very obvious that he’s not comfortable wearing this armor, thanks to Pedro Pascal’s excellent performance in this episode, but he’s willing to do it to even have a chance to get Grogu back. And, in a way, it’s not breaking his code of never taking his helmet off.

Here’s the thing though, that leads to the best part of this episode, when Mayfeld confronts Din about his code. This is such a great scene because it confronts the idea of what a code really means. Throughout the season, Din has accosted multiple people as “not being real Mandalorians” (aka, the “no true Scotsman” fallacy in a way) but when he comes to a crossroads, it’s okay for him to suddenly throw his code to the wayside? It’s a great analysis of Din, what his code actually means, and whether or not it truly means anything at all.

This all comes to a head (literally) when Din is forced to go one step further and remove his helmet in order to retrieve the coordinates for Moff Gideon. It’s a great non-verbal conclusion to what this season has been establishing with the different people wearing the Mandalorian armor, as well as the aforementioned deconstruction of Din’s code. Without saying a word, it’s clear to Din that his code means nothing if he can’t protect his own kid. At the end of the day, he still has his code, but it’s not as unshakeable as he thought it was.

Imperialism

Beyond the exploration of Din in this episode, there are a couple of great action scenes (and a great use of an ion bomb) that really help build out the Empire in this episode. Plus, there’s a really interesting feeling that this episode elicits that really has been done before with the Empire.

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So, to start off, when facing overwhelming odds, it’s nice to have backup and that’s exactly what Din and Mayfeld have in this episode. The catch though? The backup is Imperial. Normally, something like this would bring forth a feeling of terror while watching because you’d be terrified of Din and Mayfeld being caught. This eventually occurs, but it’s not as swift as it normally would happen. Instead, once Din and Mayfeld are saved from pirates by a couple of Tie Fighters and Stormtroopers, there’s this feeling of satisfaction and hope. The music swells and the excitement builds as Din and Mayfeld enter the Imperial facility. It almost feels like you’re watching the end of A New Hope again. It’s a great of showing the Empire through an interesting lens.

However, this quickly turns to terror, as one would normally expect as Din and Mayfeld are nearly caught by an Imperial officer. This scene takes the excitement from just a few minutes previous and sucks it out entirely, reminding you of how truly evil the Empire is. The fascism is on full display from the officer, especially when discussing Operation: Cinder, which gives Mayfeld his time to shine. He’s an obnoxious jerk for most of the episode, but here, we get to see him vulnerable and in pain as we learn why he left the Empire. It’s a great nuanced approach to tackling what the Empire stands for and is a welcome addition.

In an episode that balances character, plot, and action, The Mandalorian season 2 shines in all the ways expected of the series by now.

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What did you think of The Mandalorian season 2, episode 7? Have you been enjoying The Mandalorian season 2 thus far? Let us know in the comments below!

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