The Mandalorian review: “Chapter 16: The Rescue”

The big finale of The Mandalorian’s second season is here, and it really FEELS like a finale, complete with thrilling action sequences and huge surprises.

RECAP

The mission to rescue Baby Yoda from Moff Gideon is on! To start, Mando (Pedro Pascal), Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), Fennec Shand (Ming-na Wen) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) kidnap Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi), the scientist who was experimenting on little Grogu, and take him aboard the Slave I. Mando enlists the help of Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Koska (Sasha Banks) on his mission to rescue his kid; in return, they seek to kill Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and take his Darksaber and light cruiser.

With Dr. Pershing’s help, Mando’s A-Team plots their attack on Moff Gideon’s vessel and his garrison of droid Imperial Dark Troopers. Using Dr. Pershing’s captured Imperial shuttlecraft, the group pretends to be under attack by the Slave I and makes an emergency landing on the cruiser. Mando splits off to collect Grogu as the rest of the company battles stormtroopers.

After dispatching a tough Dark Trooper with the Beskar spear he got from Ahsoka Tano, Mando ejects the rest of the droids into space. Bo-Katan and the others fight their way to the bridge and look for Moff Gideon. But Gideon is in Grogu’s cell, holding his Darksaber over the child when Mando reaches them. A duel ensues. Mando defeats Gideon and takes him to Bo-Katan, but she cannot take the Darksaber unless she wins it in battle.

The Dark Troopers return from their brief spacewalk and threaten our heroes, but a mysterious Jedi arrives to lightsaber them into spare parts. The Jedi is a young Luke Skywalker (Max Lloyd Jones, with Mark Hamill’s face digitally inserted over his own), and he has arrived to take Grogu and train him. After removing his helmet for a tearful goodbye, Mando watches Luke and R2-D2 depart with the child.

REVIEW

Clocking in at 46 minutes in length (the third longest installment of the season), “The Rescue” is a powerful season finale. A cavalcade of familiar characters appear, including Bo-Katan Kryze (with that gorgeous Mandalorian helmet), Koska Reeves, Dr. Pershing, Moff Gideon, an RA-7 Protocol droid, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2.

The episode has the feel of one of the original Star Wars movies. Our heroes board Dr. Pershing’s shuttle, harkening back to the boarding of Princess Leia’s spacecraft in the opening sequence of Star Wars: A New Hope. We then find ourselves in a frontier Cantina (minus Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes of Tatooine). We also get a scene that harkens back to Darth Vader’s strangulation of Captain Antilles and defenders readying as the enemy breaches a door.

We knew “The Rescue” would be packed with action, and we’re soon immersed in a space dogfight (the TIE-fighter launching sequence was really cool) and the usual mowing down of hapless stormtroopers. The Mando/Gideon duel, with the Darksaber vs. Beskar spear, is a blast.

The appearance of Luke Skywalker is perfect, from his ethereal destruction of the Dark Troopers to his adoption of Grogu. The story has verged on the mythic in the last half of season 2, and has now arrived at a breathtaking and satisfying peak. In many ways, “The Rescue” feels like a finale for both season 1 and season 2 of The Mandalorian: Mando has apparently completed his quest to get Grogu into the care of a Jedi and unmasked himself; the villain Moff Gideon lies captured and disarmed, and the best of the Empire’s remnants are defeated.

“The Rescue” runs on well-choreographed action sequences and a blast of Star Wars lore, but it also remembers to throw in some cheesy humor and to tug on our heartstrings. It’s pure Star Wars magic, and a wonderful finale.

EPISODE GRADE: A+

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