The Siege brought some quality high stakes stellar Star Wars action while seemingly providing the backdoor pilot for a Greef Karga/Cara Dune spinoff.
It wasn’t exactly a subtle audition with Mando gone for long stretches, a supporting cast seemingly being established, a plot concept set up and Carl Weathers directing the episode.
I “signed up” for that spinoff last season and this episode only sold me further on the idea that this would make for a fun expansion of the Star Wars TV universe.
With The Razorcrest in Millennium Falcon-like shape, Mando has to visit Nevarro and hope Greef Karga and Cara Dune can help out with repairs.
You can say a lot about the Star Wars universe, but a cool thread is how black guys running towns and colonies tend to improve it for the better. Like Lando with Cloud City, Greef has gotten Nevarro in great shape as a thriving area complete with a school.
The Child isn’t here for the lesson, but is here for blue cookies! Too bad his classmate isn’t in the sharing mood. That’s not a problem though since The Child just uses The Force to snatch them. This is how Homelander started…
Baby Groot might have some competition as an engineer as The Child got called in to handle some emergency wire work. This didn’t turn out so well.
Cara Dune is the new marshal — hopefully she didn’t have to contest the election results on Twitter for this new gig.
Greef has his best crew working to repair the Razorcrest although I can’t believe he trusted them. These repair crews always add a bonus tracking device feature like they work for Apple or something (kidding or am I?)
With some time to kill, Greef and Cara convince Mando to help them raid and destroy an old Imperial base. And to add in a little comic relief, Mando’s old mark, Mythrol (Horatio Sanz), is back as Greef’s accountant.
The visual style of The Mandalorian always evokes that classic Star Wars vibe. Weathers did an excellent job balancing the humor through Mythrol, the swagger with Cara and the calm assurance of Greef Karga. This was an easy dynamic to enjoy and with Imperials actually operating on their planet, the battle for control practically writes itself as the spin-off’s premise.
Weathers used some clever overhead angles to instill a fear of heights. His best shot— and one of the best so far in the series — was during the great escape from the Imperial base when the scout troopers rode their speeder bikes down the mountain. That was an amazing shot.
Mando and crew learned Moff Gideon is still alive and hunting for The Child courtesy of a retrieved message. Clearly Stormtrooper technicians are just as bad at shooting inanimate objects to have not managed to destroy the panel in time.
The Child has a high midochlorian count, something that would be of use to the former leader of the Empire if he weren’t really dead. Dark Horse Comics did a great arc about The Emperor’s return from his near death experience in Return of the Jedi.
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It’d be interesting to see Palpatine’s resurrection play out in a live action Star Wars setting. If someone did it they’d definitely need to show and explain how that would come about. Gideon’s failed clone experiments are a good first step.
Both of the escape and chase sequences were fun. It’s always fun seeing Mando utilize his jetpack for strategic advantages. The Razorcrest/TIE Fighter dogfight was well staged as well. I’m officially calling for Weathers to direct more Mandalorian episodes or the spinoff series.
Capt. Carson Teva came by to follow-up on the imperial base destruction. I love the idea of Rebel X-Wing pilots seeing what Mando has done in various areas on the Outer Rim a la Trigun the Bounty Hunter. We also learn that Cara was from Alderaan so she has no ties to anyone anymore.
Spinoff setups can be eye-rolling or a minor inconvenience to sit through. That wasn’t the case with The Siege, which only reinforced the notion that expanding Mando’s section of the Star Wars sandbox would be a great idea.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney+
