The Mandalorian – Season 2, Episode 4 Recap, “Chapter 12: The Siege”

Appa’s back baby! Look, I know there was a lot that happened in this week’s episode, but seeing Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Captain Carson Teva will never get old. That first time? That was a cameo. Showing up again means that he’s 100% a part of canon and no longer just an obscure piece of Star Wars trivia.

So let’s talk about those reveals.

Most of the action in this episode takes place during a raid on what was supposed to be an abandoned Imperial base on Nevarro. Only it was neither abandoned, nor a base. It turns out that our big bad Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) was using the facility as some sort of lab for clones? Or maybe even to grow a kind of super soldier? Maybe.

There were promising results for an entire fortnight, but sadly the body rejected the blood. I highly doubt we’ll find a donor with a higher M-count though.

Dr. Pershing

When we saw the holo-recording of Omid Abtahi’s Dr. Pershing (who we last encountered in “Chapter 3: The Sin”) talk about needing blood with a high Midi-chlorian count and requiring “access to the donor,” my first thought was that Moff Gideon was working to restore the empty, broken husk of Emperor Palpatine. Those twisted looking creatures they come across in those vats really look like the Snoke clones we saw on Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker.

But then, at the end of the episode, when we finally see Moff Gideon in the flesh, he seems to be standing in a room that’s lined with black-suited troopers. Is he building a new kind of Death Trooper? Is this how Snoke is born? Is he trying to make force strong clones for Palpatine’s consciousness to live in?

Whatever’s going on, this is probably the most significant development we’ve seen with regards to how The Mandalorian connects to the greater Star Wars universe.

Admittedly, I was a little disappointed when the episode opened with Mando deciding to make a pitstop on Nevarro for repairs. Yes, it was the logical thing to do given the brroken-down state of the Razor Crest, but I was really looking forward to seeing an in the flesh Ahsoka Tano. That said, it was nice to check in on Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers). Now Marshal Cara Dune and Magistrate Greef Karga.

Since we last saw them in the Season 1 finale, Cara and Greef have cleaned up Nevarro and restored some semblance of law and order. They’re respectable citizens now and there even seems to be some optimism that the formerly mutinous frontier planet could be a trade anchor for the entire sector.

The biggest takeaway from Nevarro, however, was from the interaction at the end of the episode between Cara and Captain Teva. Here, Favreau plants the narrative seeds of the New Republic’s benign neglect. Which is something that comes into play with regards to their eventual downfall.

One glaring question from The Force Awakens was how The First Order could amass such a massive fighting force, AND BUILD A STARKILLER BASE, with no one noticing. Well, apparently, it was because no one was paying attention.

There’s something going on out here. They don’t believe it on the Core Worlds, but it’s true. These aren’t isolated incidents. They need to be stopped before it’s too late. We can’t do it without local support.

Captain Carson Teva

The surviving Imperial army are up to no good on Outer Rim worlds like Nevarro, and while that’s starting to worry some members of the New Republic like Captain Teva, it’s clear from his tone that not everyone is taking these concerns seriously.

Now let’s talk about that action.

If there’s one thing that The Mandalorian has given us over the last three weeks, it’s some truly thrilling action. What’s more, all of them have been different, and none of them have been formulaic.

The first episode doubled down on the idea of the space western. In the second, Mando was a sci-fi taxi service à la Korben Dallas. And the last episode was essentially a swashbuckling pirate adventure. They’ve borrowed the tropes of those genres and used them to deliver some truly distinct sequences. From a showdown with a dragon, to a truly terrifying encounter with some ice spiders, this is Star Wars at its most visually inventive.

And this episode was no different. Cara Dune’s brawl that opens the episode has some great fight choreography. That chase through the lava flats was extraordinary. And seeing the Razor Crest back in action, dogfighting those TIE Fighters, was a great hero moment.

The best action movies use all the elements of the genre as a way to progress narrative and plot. Think Die Hard and John Wick. Where every set piece and sequence isn’t just a cheap parlour trick to excite audiences, but also carefully crafted to grow character and move the story along.

This season of The Mandalorian is a masterclass on how to do that.

The episode ends on board an Imperial starship where an officer informs Moff Gideon that a tracking beacon has been successfully placed on the Razor Crest. Uh-oh!

Calamari Flans

• “Marshal” Cara Dune is a nice callback to the first episode of the season.
• I don’t know what a Trexler Marauder is, but I’d like one in LEGO, stat!
• When the junior office tells the mechanic that he will be rewarded in the “new era,” I assume she’s referring to The First Order.
• In the novelisation of The Rise of Skywalker, it was implied that Emperor Palpatine was having a hard time growing clones that were strong enough in the Force to house is consciousness. I wonder how much of what Moff Gideon is up to has to do with that.
• Midi-chlorians are a thing. There’s no escaping them. You win Mr. Lucas. You win.
• I love that Mythrol, Mando’s blue-gilled bounty from the very first episode, is now Greef’s accountant.
• Baby Yoda is still gorging himself on food he’s stealing from other people. When he throws up a little after Mando takes him on a roller coaster ride in the Razor Crest was a moment of perfect comic timing.
• Dave Filoni is apparently directing the next episode which feels like the most fitting way to introduce Ahsoka Tano into the live action Star Wars universe.

The Mandalorian, Season 2, is now streaming on Disney+.