‘The Mandalorian’ Recap – ‘Chapter 12: The Siege’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Chapter 12 of ‘The Mandalorian’.
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When one thinks of the Star Wars Universe and everything it has to offer, we tend to think of grandiose adventures, incredible battles on land or in space and of course, we also ponder upon a grand struggle between good and evil. Because good people pushing to save this galaxy, far, far away from the twisted and power hungry monsters that populate it, is a genuine fundamental to this epic and sweeping saga and oddly enough, that is something that has been missing from The Mandalorian as well. Because for the most part, Din Djarin has been nothing more than a galactic gunslinger in this tale, one that spends his time saving the day on the various planets that he visits as part a long and winding journey to bring The Child home.

But while it has been a lot of fun traversing the galaxy with Din and his tiny clan of one green dude, at long last this story is finally delving into the realm of good vs. evil, as evidenced by this week’s phenomenal episode. For ‘Chapter 12: The Siege’ gave new purpose and life to Din’s quest to keep The Child safe. But not before misdirecting the audience. For early on, this particular tale felt akin to a standard episode of the series, since Din and The Child made a quick stop on Nevarro for repairs and shortly after touching down and coming to learn exactly how well Cara Dune and Greef Karga stayed true to their world about turning this world around, Din’s old friends asked him to help out with quite the important mission.

One that involved blowing up the Imperial Base that Moff Gideon used to launch his assault upon them at the end of season one. Which led to a thrilling rest of the episode as this trio and their new buddy Mythrol, tore through that base and discovered its secrets before destroying it in an epic manner. And really what made this segment of the story so thrilling, is the sheer fact that it was filled to the brim with incredible action sequences, including an epic air combat sequence that outright took our collective breath away. But what matters more, is that Moff Gideon came back into the fold in this tale and was quick to react when he learned that Din was back on Nevarro, by having his spies plant a tracker in the Razor Crest so that he could finally chase down The Child, and that, combined with the discoveries in the lab, are what gave life to a grand good vs. evil motif.

Because it turns out, that Moff Gideon wants The Child because of its Midichlorian count and he plans to use its blood to create some kind of super weapon. What kind exactly, we will get to in just a moment, because first we need to point out… that this is one evil and twisted plan. One that would undoubtedly end with a tortured Child as Gideon draws its blood on a repeat basis to create more of whatever he’s creating, and that means it will indeed be up to Din and all of the forces of good to keep this sweet little baby, and the galaxy, safe from the madness of Moff Gideon. But as to what he’s creating exactly, well that is of note as well. For the creatures that were in Bacta tanks at the base, looked oddly like Snoke clones, leaving one to wonder if this plan, regardless of whether it fails or not, is the genesis of Emperor Palpatine’s machinations for the return of the Sith in The Rise of Skywalker, or if this is part of another revamped Extended Universe surprise. 

For the rows of soldiers Gideon was overlooking at the end of this tale, resembled Dark Troopers from Kyle Katarn’s video game adventures from back in the day, and those Force sensitive creations could be going into that armor. Either way it should be interesting to see if Gideon’s plans are related to the EU or TROS or both for that matter. But while we wait for all to be revealed, we can revel in one kick-ass tale. Because this episode was just a lot of fun through and through and it was nice to enjoy a good old fashioned Star Wars adventure that focused on explosions and epic sequences and everything in between. Simply because those are some of the many reasons that we love this franchise and really in the end, this was perhaps the most satisfying episode of this series to date. Mainly because, at long last, it set up an endgame for Din's journey and that likely means this story is going to ramp up in intensity, as we close in on an epic final showdown between Moff Gideon and Din Djarin. Until next time.

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