The Mandalorian recap: Mando makes a terrible mistake
Last episode, the Mandalorian’s shocking asset not only established itself as the most adorable thing in the galaxy near and far, far away, it also proved to be incredibly useful — even saving the bounty hunter’s life. After all that, Mando isn’t really just going to hand Baby Yoda (a.k.a. the Child) over to The Client, is he? Unfortunately, it appears that is exactly what he’s planning to do.
Having stirred from his Force-induced extended nap, Baby Yoda is awake and ready to play. While Mando receives a hologram message from Greef Carga informing him to go directly to the antsy Client upon his return, the asset in question is playing with the circular head from one of the levers on the Razor Crest’s dashboard. But Mando is in no mood to play games, snatching the makeshift toy away and depositing the asset back in the egg as the ship hurtles towards The Client’s planet.
With the asset in tow, Mando arrives at The Client’s secret hideout, fulfilling his duties but betraying Baby Yoda — who, once again, saved his life in the previous episode — and the entire internet. As they gain entry, the Child appears to sense the looming danger and looks to Mando for guidance, seemingly to no avail. The Client and Dr. Pershing are thrilled to see the asset and the latter starts performing scans on the disgruntled 50-year-old baby. Meanwhile, Mando demands to know how many fobs were given to other bounty hunters. The Client admits he was doing whatever it took to ensure the mission was completed, regardless of who was able to do so and shows the Mandalorian his payment: the promised camtono of Beskar bricks.
As Pershing leads Baby Yoda away, the little asset whines towards the bounty hunter, who hesitates slightly before allowing it to happen. Perturbed, Mando inquires about the child’s fate. The Client instead coldly comments on how uncharacteristic it is for a bounty hunter to make such inquiries, especially after receiving commission and payment. He further points out that this very question goes against guild protocol.
After a final vague threat from The Client, Mando departs with the payment, headed for the Mandalorian settlement hidden in the depths of the city. However, this time, his arrival — with an entire camtono of Beskar bricks — does not go unnoticed. He asks the armorer to forge him new armor, with the rest, once more, going towards the foundlings. As several Mandalorians approach Mando, one connects the markings on the Beskar bricks to an Imperial smelter and its links to the Great Purge. The two nearly come to blows as the Mandalorian accuses Mando of dining with — and accepting dirty money from — the same people who forced them underground.
After quelling the fight, the armorer, once more, inquires about a signet for Mando. While she initially suggests a Mudhorn — after the beast who destroyed his armor — Mando refuses, as he was helped by an enemy (Baby Yoda), albeit one who didn’t know it was his enemy. In lieu of a signet, she adds whistling birds to his armor. We don’t know what whistling birds are just yet, but they’ll definitely come up again. As she forges, Mando has more flashbacks from the droid attack in his youth. This time, it’s implied his parents were killed just after hiding him in a small storage space in a shallow storm cellar. The fragmented memory reveals a droid found his hiding spot, though we still don’t know what happened after.
With his new armor, Mando meets a jovial Greef at the tavern. However, Mando is met with a cold reception from the other bounty hunters. Greef reveals that everyone has the Baby Yoda fob, continuing to boast about Mando’s success — and subtly revealing his cut of the deal. While Greef suggests he take some time off after this massive undertaking, Mando is adamant about the next job, preferring one as far away as possible. As he leaves the tavern, Mando asks about the fate of Baby Yoda and expresses concern about the presence of the Imperial officers in their city.
Back in the Razor Crest and ready to embark on his next mission, Mando spies the lever head Baby Yoda was playing with. This bounty hunter is definitely rethinking some life choices right now! Morals getting in the way of his amoral bounty hunting lifestyle, he disembarks to retrieve his former asset.
Sleuthing outside the Imperial hideaway, Mando spots the egg bassinet and the child’s tiny robes in the dumpster. Despite being unable to see his face, we can feel the anger, regret, and devastation rushing over him. He moves to higher ground, staking out the hideout with a thermal spyglass and listening device and learning The Client and Pershing are up to no good… obviously. Baby Yoda is still alive, but not for long if the Client has his way.
Even though he caused this situation by handing Baby Yoda over to the bad guys, Mando goes full Liam Neeson in Taken. He returns to the hideout and sets off a diversion that buys him time to blow up a back wall to the lair. Upon gaining entrance, he kills every stormtrooper in his wake until he finds Pershing running tests on the child. While Pershing cowers, Mando steals Baby Yoda and continues to battle stormtroopers as he searches for an exit. Wildly outnumbered, this gives Mando the opportunity to demonstrate some of his stellar weapons — including Chekhov’s whistling birds, which are essentially tiny missiles. Having activated them while surrounded by stormtroopers, Mando is able to escape with Baby Yoda.
However, over at the tavern, fobs have begun beeping and Greef Carga knows exactly what this means — and it’s not good for Mando. As the bounty hunter attempts to make his way back to the Razor Crest with Baby Yoda, he’s soon surrounded by the entire guild. Greef, at the head, demands Mando put the asset in the adjacent speeder if he wants to live, adding that he’s Mando’s only hope. But the bounty hunter isn’t buying any of Greef’s “only hope” nonsense and seeks refuge on the speeder as a gunfight ensues.
Mando successfully obliterates several of the attacking bounty hunters, but when Greef takes out the droid driving the speedster, they start closing in and Mando’s gadgets falter. As things begin to look very bad for our titular hero, Baby Yoda adorably coos at him and all is immediately well. Just kidding, a group of Mandalorians — including the one Mando clashed with earlier — arrive on jetpacks, holding off the bounty hunter guild so Mando and the child can safely flee.
Greef, meanwhile, sneaks away, confronting Mando at gunpoint on the boarding ramp of the Razor Crest. The guild leader laments that he didn’t want it to come to this, citing Mando’s broken code. But the bounty hunter’s acts quickly, pushing a button that emits an orange mist into the Razor Crest, obscuring Greef’s visibility long enough to shoot him off the boarding ramp and take off in the ship.
Don’t worry, this isn’t the last of Carl Weathers. The Beskar bricks in his chest pocket saved Greef Carga from certain death. But it’s safe to say he’s not thrilled with his formerly prized bounty hunter.
The Mandalorian jetpacker briefly catches up with the Razor Crest and salutes his brethren, indicating their mission complete. In the ship, Baby Yoda reaches up, once more, for the circular lever head and because he’s grown substantially as a guardian over the last 30 minutes, Mando hands it over as the ship takes off into the atmosphere.
Related content:
