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Season Two’s finale ‘The Rescue’ felt more like a series finale and there might be some reasons for that that we will get to later. A blast from the past started the episode as Slave 1 is attacking an Imperial ship carrying Dr. Pershing, the cloning scientist from Season One. After a swift boarding, the Imperial pilots have a brief standoff with Mando and his gang, threatening to kill the doctor and taunting Cara Dune about her homeworld’s destruction before being blasted in the face … ouch.
You know a series means business when they remix a darker version of their theme as they did here. The music is always great but hearing a more pumped down-to-business version really got the old blood pumping. A surprise came early as Bo-Katan and her sidekick, Sasha Banks appearing again, are brought into the fold to take down Gideon, Mando offering Gideon’s ship and the Darksaber as payment.
Of course as with any team up there has to be a misunderstanding and fight as Boba Fett and Banks come to blows. I was very happy Bo-Katan brought up his clone lineage and how she’s heard his voice thousands of times, referring of course to all of the clone troopers that are his blood. Also a cute yet still effective way to bring Banks’ wrestling career in as she lays the smackdown quite literally on Fett before the inevitable putting aside of bad beef and teaming up.
One thing that stayed true from the last few episodes is the moments of weak writing or lazy plotting. While over all previously and again here they are outweighed by all the great stuff in the show, the fact that the entire plan to raid Gideon’s ship comes from the Doctor who offers up information without being coaxed in the slightest.
The plan itself is also … lets say flawed. Faking a chase with the Imperial cruiser and Slave 1, they draw out TIE Fighters and eventually crash land the cruiser on the ship’s launching platform. But from there they come out blasting and immediately give away they are an enemy force. This got us to the action fast but as far as plans go it was thin.
As always the action was superb. The brief dogfight was thrilling and the action on the ‘ground’ spectacular! Seeing Mandalorians using all the tools of the trade along with Fennec and Dune, some amazing takedowns of stormtroopers. Cara’s gun jamming at one point and then leading to her using it as a club instead for a bit, great action that tracks with her character and reflects her brutal personality.
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Soon Gideon orders his Dark Troopers activated and here is where a few more complaints come in. Mainly here the CG is eh, not the best. The Troopers have that too shiny too perfect look that just screams animated. Yes yes, I know this is a series for television but it’s also the great House of Mouse behind it. They have the best and brightest when it comes to this stuff, they shouldn’t be looking like Cylons from Battlestar Galactica circa 2004. Also, after Mando’s short but thrilling fight (those punches to the face, yikes!) with one trooper, he ejects them into space. Now while they do return later, and yes they explain where they are stored is energy and cooling, blah blah blah. But would you really put your super secret weapons in a room with an airlock that can be activated by any Joe Schmo? I don’t think so! Lazy writing there fellas!
Of course as the rest of the gang take the bridge and don’t find Gideon, it was easy to guess he would be waiting for Mando along with little Grogu. The subsequent talk and fake out offering Mando to take his child and go almost fooled me, I have to admit. But no, of course Gideon and Mando end up in a duel, spear versus Darksaber. How convenient the spear he got is the one material strong enough to fight the saber. I loved this battle, my only complaint was how brief it was. You felt the passion and anger coming from both men and the action had good choreography without feeling over the top.
It’s after beating him and bringing him to the bridge that another twist is revealed as the Darksaber supposedly has an Arthurian legend to it and whoever possesses it is the rightful ruler of Mandalore, and as Bo-Katan tells him it must be won in combat and cannot be given. I was sure this was leading to them fighting it out to end the season but instead a swarm of Darktroopers arrive and things look dire for the group … until that familiar X-Wing arrived and every Star Wars fan realized there was a presence we hadn’t felt in a long time …
Watching this robed Jedi make his way to them via security cameras and just demolish every trooper was amazing, everything a fanboy has wanted since Return of the Jedi rolled its credits. Even with the robe and distinctive green lightsaber I couldn’t believe it until he finally arrived at the bridge and revealed yes … it was Luke.
Now don’t get me wrong, I loved this whole sequence. But can we talk about that de-aging/uncanny valley of a face on him? I’ve seen some amazing deep fakes and when standing still Luke does look like his younger self. But the lip movements, the weird cold stares, it was all a bit off. I was kind of hoping for the fancasting of Sebastian Stan as a young Luke, leading to a series spinoff, but this was still a nice way to go too. I am dying to know how they brought this together as it sounded like they stitched existing dialogue together to fit the scene, much like with Carrie Fisher in the last film.
Now during Luke’s approach, Gideon takes one last shot at killing Grogu, and Mando throws himself in the line of fire until Cara is able to knock out Gideon and stop his sudden suicide attempt, leaving him alive to come back in another season/series. Once Luke arrives, R2D2 in tow, is where I started thinking maybe this is the end of this particular story as Mando tells Grogu to go off and be trained and then once again removes his helmet, this time at the child’s behest. A touching goodbye and then a sudden cut to credits, this time without the normal illustrations and a much more subdued and almost sad version of the theme to send us out on.
Then a post-credits scene of Boba Fett and Fennec returning to Jabba’s palace and finding a bloated Bib Fortuna in charge. Some more cute nods here as a slave girl from the special editions and the infamous ‘Maclunkey’ phrase are tossed in for good measure. Then Boba executes Fortuna and takes the throne, cutting to the title card Book of Boba Fett coming December 2021.
Now while this could be a completely separate series it could also be the tease for season three of The Mandalorian. Perhaps our hero and child are done and the series will become more anthology like? Next season Boba Fett, and the following Bo-Katan retakes Mandalore? No way to know now but however the future goes this was, in the end, a fantastic finale.
Sloppy in moments? Yes. Questionable CG? Absolutely. But yet again the good far outweighed the bad and this series has become what fans have wanted, an expanded look at this universe that doesn’t center around the Skywalker family. Speaking of which, if this means Kylo Ren killed Grogu when he annihilated Luke’s training academy, oh we gonna riot people! With the announcement of ten more projects in the pipeline, almost all of which I’m excited for, so much more than any of the recent films. TV seems to be the place for this kind of storytelling in today’s age.
What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below!
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