Okay, let me start this review by saying that I overlooked to write my review for Episode 7 of The Mandalorian and the last episode of the HBO Watchmen TV series. So I figured out that I'll do a review of both 7 and 8 at the same time given that The Mandalorian Season 1 has just ended on Disney+.
I'll probably do a review of the last Watchmen episode sometime soon, I hope.
Right, on to Episode 7 of The Mandalorian first.
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Episode 7 is all about Moff Gideon, the mysterious loyalist to the (remnants) of the Empire who seemed to have a handful of Stormtroopers left with him. Death Troopers are also part of his entourage so I can safely say that they didn't disband when Director Krennic met his demise on Scarif many years prior.
And did you guys see how that TIE Fighter folded its wings to land? I wonder if this is how the TIE Fighters are supposed to land anyway given that we've never actually seen them landing on solid ground before in any of the movies.
The Client finally ordered the Mando to bring the 'asset' over to him and supposedly it has a role in The Rise of Skywalker (seriously I do not know when it'll be safe to talk about the film already) so I was looking forward to both Episodes 7 and 8 to see any clues that may lead up to the film. Again, it's great to see the original Stormies all weathered up like Sandtroopers in the series. It gives me that great sense of pride knowing that the Empire is actually well alive albeit remnants of it scattered all across the galaxy.
Greef Carga finally proved his worth to the Mando when he went all soft and ratted out the two henchmen who tagged along with him who had the intentions to dispose off the Mando. Great to see Cara Dune back in the fold too and I take it that she'll be playing a major role in the upcoming season. I had high hopes for Kuill in this episode and was expecting him to carry over to Season 2......
....but he ended up as the first casualty from the good guys camp when he unfortunately failed to protect The Child from the two Scout Troopers. So bye-bye Nick Nolte from the series. I like the Ugnaught character so I was kinda sad to him go. I have spoken. Episode 7 ended in a cliffhanger but we all knew that The Child was abducted and our heroes were trapped in that cantina after The Client was disposed off by Moff Gideon at the end of the episode which sets us up for.......
......Episode 8!
The episode started out pretty hilarious and it kinda stirred the fanbase especially the b***hurt fans who doesn't want any kind of humour whatsoever in Star Wars. The franchise had evolved ever since Disney took over and those who dissed all things Star Wars post-Disney takeover can watch the original trilogy again and again to their hearts' content.
Anyway, back to that Scout Trooper scene.
I thought it was a great homage to Quentin Tarantino with all the talky bits between the two troopers. This marked the first time ever we've ever heard any meaningful yet playful banter between two troopers of the Empire on-screen. And what about that terrible aiming by the two troopers, a cool tribute to the lore that Stormtoopers cannot hit their target. Some people hated the scene but I absolutely love it. Any true Star Wars fan would.
It was pretty cool to see IG-11 kicking into his 'nanny-bot' mode and kicked the Imperial butts when he swooped in to save The Child from the Scout Troopers and later literally most of Moff Gideon's troops to save our heroes from doom. Pretty heartwarming too to see our Mando all sad to see IG-11 making that sacrifice to save everybody when he himself doesn't fancy droids to begin with. Will IG-11 be back in Season 2? Unlikely. Will I want IG-11 to be back in Season 2? Yes!
There was another huge nod to the original trilogy in this episode when the e-Web repeating blaster we've first seen in The Empire Strikes Back was used by the Imperials to blast our heroes out from their hiding place.
Yet another flashback was shown in this episode and of course heaps of images showing Mandalorians of yore made its way onto the screen for our viewing pleasure.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the episode came in the form of the unmasked Mando, whose name was earlier revealed by Moff Gideon as Din Djarin, who finally revealed his face to IG-11 when the droid treated him for his injuries.
The most shocking image in the episode came in the form of Moff Gideon who wielded a 'Darksaber' to free himself from the wreckage of his crashed TIE Fighter who we saw earlier being chased in mid-air by our Mando. This was also the episode in which The Mando finally received his jet-pack from the Mando-lady boss so we get to actually see him flying in the air.
The end of Episode 8 saw our Mando travelling into outer space with The Child trying to locate the latter's homeworld. Will we ever see Cara Dune and Greef Carga again in Season 2 I wonder? Like many, I was quite shocked to see that Season 2 is coming when we were made to understand that the 8 episodes were all we're gonna get from Disney. Can't complain there, bring it on!
August 2020 is just too far away. This isn't the way. *sigh*
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