«The Mandalorian», Season 2: «Chapter 12: The Siege»

First off: this discussion of the episode includes spoilers! So watch «The Mandalorian – Chapter 12: The Siege» before you read on.

Three out of eight chapters of «The Mandalorian» are through. And Din Djarin's (Pedro Pascal) mission remains the same: he must return the Child, «Baby Yoda», to his own kind – the Jedi. But where to find the Jedi? Djarin found that out on the estuary moon, Trask. The source of this information: Mandalorian heiress to the throne, Bo-Katan Kryze. Djarin's new destination: the forest planet Corvus.

Djarin, the Mando, doesn’t get far in the Razor Crest, though. It’s still too damaged after the fight with New Republic X-Wing pilots. Mando searches for help on Nevarro. He gets it from two friends and the previously captured Mythrol. And then they uncover a plot that threatens the entire galaxy.

These are the episode's best WTF moments and Easter eggs.

A reunion with old friends... and enemies

We’ve caught on to the formula by now. On his quest through the galaxy, the Mandalorian meets old friends and enemies. «Ah, that's the guy from that episode in season one, who did that thing together with the desert whatchamacallits back on planet Whatsit.» There’s always something along those lines. The galaxy is quite small, it seems.

The series should seriously never stop doing this. It’s great.

I know, I know – I can already hear the critics. «Total lack of ideas!» and «Can they not do something new for a change!?» they cry out. But I like how «The Mandalorian» references itself. Or as I put it, the way it develops and expands its own mythology. There’s no question: «The Mandalorian» is set in the «Star Wars» universe. Stormtroopers here, Din Djarin's Mandalorian helmet there... and Baby Yoda, of all things.

But for «The Mandalorian» to actually work on its own, it needs a certain amount of self-reference. The characters we get to know should be important and exciting enough to bring back in later episodes. It should feel familiar to us viewers – like returning home after a trip. And it also really doesn't have to be all about the Skywalker family all the time.

So, I'm glad to see Mando's ex-rebel friend Carasynthia Dune and ex-merc contractor Greef Karga – played by Carl Weathers, who also directed the episode – again.

And, of course, there's also Mythrol, Mando’s very first capture in Season 1, Chapter 1: «The Mandalorian». That’s the guy Mando nabbed on the ice planet Maldo Kreis, then froze in carbonite and traded in for a couple Calamari Flan from Greef Karga. The very same Flan, by the way, that Mando used to pay the Quarren back on Trask, after they promised to take him to a Mandalorian clan in Chapter 11: «The Heiress»… That’s not quite what ended up happening. Lessons learned: never trust a Quarren.

Like I said, I love it.

Baby Yoda goes to school – legendary!

No idea what the scene is actually supposed to be. Or what it contributes to the story. All I know is Baby Yoda goes to school for one episode and it’s one of the greatest things that «Star Wars» has ever produced. At least he's not exterminating frog people. That seems to have upset the Internet.

By the way, «The Mandalorian» also goes on to totally casually give us the best thing since blue milk: blue Luxemburgerli.

Dank farrik!?

Why do I immediately think of «dank memes»? In which case, what’s a «farrik» and why is it dank? Corny humour aside, it seems to actually be a swearword. Something along the lines of «damn it». Because in the galaxy far, far away, we don't say things like «fuck», «shit», or «fudge nuggets». We say «dank farrik».

Why do I immediately think of «dank memes»?

I decided to bring this up because we’ve heard the expression in all four chapters so far, and I just can't get over how crackbrained it sounds.

May the «dank farrik» be with you all!

The old, abandoned shipyard that really isn’t

The mission of the week: one last remnant of the empire is causing trouble. Namely, an old imperial base outside the city, where Greef and Marshal Carasynthia now maintain law and order. The base itself has supposedly existed since the beginning of the Empire. And to this day, it hasn’t managed to be stamped out entirely. A real thorn in Carasynthia and Greef’s sides.

But the real danger is supposedly not the small emergency team that’s still operating the base. It’s the weapons and vehicles that are still stored there and could fall into the hands of looters. If they were to stock up the black market with those goods, chaos and violence would be bound to reign in Navarro once again.

As it turns out, the base is actually a laboratory. We see – probably lifeless – aliens floating around in bacta tanks. Genetic experiments seem to have been the first order of business at some point. Maybe they still are? There’s a three-day-old archive recording featuring Pershing, the imperial scientist from «Chapter 3: The Sin».

In it, he recounts failed attempts ending in «catastrophic failure»; something about blood being given to test subjects but being rejected after 14 days, and a lack of replacement blood. Apparently, only this one donor's blood had a sufficiently high M-count– probably referring to midi-chlorians. Pershing is talking about the Child.

Let’s speculate. Are we witnessing the early beginnings of the Emperor's cloning attempts here? After all, he did create Supreme Leader Snoke, who, in turn, is responsible for the First Order that rose from the ashes of the dictatorial Galactic Empire.

So, it really doesn't sound that far-fetched, especially in the context of what we get to hear from the X-wig pilot Carson Teva at the end of the episode.

X-wing pilots and genetically engineered stormtroopers

The last two scenes. Carson tries to win Carasynthia, the ex-rebel, over to the New Republic. She refuses for the time being. Carson is sticking to his guns, though. He’s convinced something bad is happening out here in the Outer Rim, the outer regions of the galaxy. In the Core Worlds, they may not believe in such fantasies. But he, Carson, senses that dark times are coming.

Change of scene. An Imperial cruiser floats through the shot, like in «Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope» in 1977. An Imperial officer talks to one of the mechanics who fixed the Razor Crest via hologram. The ship has successfully been equipped with a tracking device. The officer seems satisfied and promises the mechanic will be well-rewarded in the «new era».

There we have it again. A «new era». I’ll be «dank farrik’ed» if she's not talking about the First Order here, especially in light of Carson's speech. I mean, all we know of the First Order is that it was formed after the devastating defeat in the Battle of Jakku from the remnants of the Galactic Empire in the Unknown Regions. It remained hidden and far outside the New Republic's sphere of influence until the day the First Order was strong enough to plunge the galaxy into a new war.

And then there's one last scene with Moff Gideon. He stands there, admiring... well, you can't really see what Moff is standing in front of, admiring. Probably genetically engineered stormtroopers. Maybe fortified with the Child’s blood. I’m not entirely sure how that’s supposed to help the stormtroopers. In any case, Gideon, is looking forward to pursuing the Razor Crest.

I wonder... Might we see Ahsoka Tano vs. genetically modified stormtroopers in the next episode?

Bottom line: first a little «meh», then «ooooh»

New week, new episode, a happy Luca once more. Okay, Carl Weathers' «Chapter 12: The Seige» isn’t quite on the previous chapter’s high level. Especially not its beginning.

I had actually been hoping for Ahsoka Tano's big performance. Instead, I got the – admittedly cute – scene where Mando and Baby Yoda try to repair their almost broken ship. An attempt closely followed by the conclusion that it won’t work and they’ll have to land somewhere and get help.

«Yup, filler episode, ahoy,» I mumbled to myself right then.

The filler episode feels quite long and quite filling indeed. Mando meets his friends, explains that the ship has to be repaired, and Greef is like, «Sure thang, but it’ll take a while, so you can help me with a problem of my own, in the meantime.» It’s the typical «The Mandalorian» formula.

Things get interesting when the troop realises the Imperial base is actually not a mere base, but a laboratory. My first thought is of Supreme Leader Snoke. The First Order. Or perhaps even the Emperor himself? Did he need Baby Yoda's blood to save his battered body? Suddenly, it's no longer about local affairs à la «Chapter 9: The Marshal», but about the whole galaxy.

And just like that, all signs of a filler episode disappear.

What follows is an absolutely ingeniously staged chase scene with TIE fighter pilots and stormtroopers that actually hit their target every now and again. Carl Weathers certainly doesn’t hold back there. He’s happy to have stormtroopers sometimes thunder brutally between tanks and rocks or get blown to pieces in a laser explosion. Cool. «Star Wars» has always had a penchant for a bit of brutality in between. I don't want Disney to tiptoe around out of fear of offending my sensibilities. And it certainly doesn’t.

Not in this episode.

What did you think of this episode? Are there any more Easter eggs I've missed? Let me know in the comments! See you next Friday for the «Chapter 13» episode discussion. And I better finally get a good look at Ahsoka Tano.