Topic: The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7

Second to last episode of the season. Some attendees at Star Wars Celebration Europe this last weekend got to see this episode early. Without sharing spoilers (for the most part), the early bird consensus seems strong – like best episode of the season strong.

Rick Famuyiwa is confirmed to direct. Rumored to be 50 minutes and 40 seconds.

Lately the show has been dropping 10 minutes early, so 11:50pm Pacific instead of the usual 12am Pacific.

Share your thoughts below before/while/after it airs.

UPDATE

* Update: early report on the timing (50 minutes and 40 seconds) was correct for the recap plus show and credits; clocks in 53 minutes if including the long international credits
* Moff Gideon is back
* Speaking with other high ranking Imperials, Moff name checks Thrawn
* On Navarro, the Mandalorian come back; we see that the privateers (Axe Woves, etc.) in their repurposed light cruiser have painted a giant Mandalorian symbol (the one Boba Fett made famous, on his shoulder armor) in red paint on the bottom of their ship
* Mandalorian privateers join up with the other Mandalorians, as implied in the prior episode
* With the two groups who haven't met before, The Armorer "chimes in" with her tools and invites the newcomers to make camp and join them in a feast
* IG-11 is rebuilt by the Anzellans, with a spot in his chest to control him with two joysticks; Grogu ends up fitting in there
* Greef calls him IG-12 now
* IG-12 has buttons that Grogu can press which assist in speaking, e.g. "No," "Yes"
* At the camp/feast, Bo-Katan suggests they all fly to Mandalore and send down a small recon party to check out the Great Forge; she needs volunteers and, after Din/Grogu start by volunteering, others from both sides say they'll go
* After surveying the surface for a little bit, three new Mandalorians show up, who know Bo-Katan; they're pirate-like
* After "sailing" for a little bit, Axe Woves and Paz Viszla start a fight after a game they're playing goes south; IG-12/Grogu intervenes to stop them
* After some more sailing, a "sea monster" shows up on the rocky surface and they have to "abandon ship;" in some convenient cracks in the surface, they all move underground
* They're conveniently right at the Great Forge
* Imperials with jetpacks show up to fight them
* New all-black Dark Trooper with a crown-like helmet ... it's Moff Gideon in disguise; "Mandalore will live on in me," he says
* Moff thanks the Mandalorians for all gathering in one spot, but their time has come
* Bo-Katan uses the dark saber to get outta that situation
* Paz Viszla seems to sacrifice himself for the rest of them; ends up fighting three red guards, who overcome him
* Episode written by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni
* No Boba Fett in the episode

Great episode, excellent intro with the imperials like Captain Pellaeon and Commandant Hux (Brendol Hux, the father of the loser from the sequels, unfortunately the Mandalorian reminds us that this is all leading to the sequel trilogy) namedrop of Thrawn is always great, seems like they're trying to distance him from the first order (hope they don't water down Thrawn like in Rebels) one thing I don't understand was no mention or sight of Rae Sloane? kind of odd for this situation. The visuals for the Light Cruiser were great, especially with the Mythosaur emblem on the bottom, reminds me of Thrawns ship the Chimaera. The IG-12 Mech was lame, but I knew it was coming from previous leaks. The Mandalorian fleet is very nice, I love how it includes the Komr'yk Gauntlets and the Fang Fighters (the smallest ones) + the Gozantis. The Mandalorian Captain and his Pirate crew were kind of cool (His helmet kind of looked like Jangos?) Also Skinny Pete Mandalorian lol liked their sail ship reminded me of Jabba's sail barge. The Imperial Troopers looked real cool, can't wait for the TVC/TBS figures to come out (hopefully sooner rather than later as they leaked previously too) Gideons whole getup looked a little odd, but again that was something leaked already so. Din djarin captured once again this season, perhaps Boba could rescue him. Paz Vizslas heroic sacrifice, was definitely foreshadowed and (leaked once again though it was still very powerful) The Praetorian guards looked fine? They also leaked preciously so they're really nothing new to me. The title implies multiple spies so who else besides Elia Kane? Perhaps the armorer? She has the same type of maul style horns as Gideon. Overall we really really need Boba to show up next episode (also Fenn Rau and perhaps Sabine) I only give Boba a 50% chance of arrival so hopefully Brendan Wayne and Rick Famuyiwa don't let us down. Anyways this episode was significantly higher in quality than the previous "guest appearance" episode. I'd rate it  a 4.5/5, next episode really needs Boba back (an updated look would be cool, I don't expect them to use the same suit as the one from BoBF.

That has got to be the most heartbreaking and traumatic episode, I have ever watched.

I am suffering from anxiety and the knowledge that I have to wait until next week to see if Din and the rest of the Mandalorians are ok.

Not to mention, the fear I have that the Armourer maybe not as she seems. Coupled with the fact that even though she made Grogu his Rondel, is it possible that she added something bad to it, that she can activate and hurt him.

How the kriff are they going to get out of this and if it leaves us on a major cliffhanger, I am going to swear and curse them to hoth and back.

Really enjoyed this episode. The land ship was such a cool thing to bring in.
As much as I want him to, I get the feeling we won’t be seeing our boy Boba this season though.

Some nice moments, didn't think it was anything special. Grogu made me chuckle, I did like the Mythosaur painted on the cruiser. This series and the two before it suffer from the same problem, they spend too much time showing people travelling, what was the point of that "sailing ship"? The creature that burst out of the ground, what was that ? Why is everyone such a poor shot,why didn't anyone fire their rockets? why didn't Bo-Katan use the darksaber straight away to get to Din?

One average episode doesn't make a season. I too have completely lost faith in Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.

Overall, really liked this episode! But man, that cliffhanger... Made me sad. I'm glad the run time was what it was, because I don't think they could have crammed all of that into anything shorter.
As for Boba... at this point I have a feeling we won't be seeing our boy after all, but I'm still going to be hopeful that he will surprise us and come through. I think it'd be cool if he helped get Din back, and perhaps get some more light shed on the Fett heritage. All we have to go by is what was said in "The Tragedy" last season.

I personally found it to be a good episode. Doesn't make up for the few filler episodes, but it was definitely a welcomed change of pace. Didn't expect the loss of Paz, or Din being captured, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Hopefully, it's the catalyst for an amazing season finale. If they don't make the sacrifice worthy, then it'll just be a sour note on the already mediocre season.

With this season, and what they did with book of boba fett, it has me less than enthusiastic for the Ahsoka show.

I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed night time Coruscant better than daytime.  It has a much more Blade Runner feel to it.  Neat to see an Arakyd Viper Probe Droid in live action again, but really surprised they can move about freely on Coruscant without being noticed.  The meeting ofmthe Warlords was really fun.  Immediately recognized the troopers guarding the hallway leading into the Comms center as Imperial Supercommandos.  Other than the helmets, these guys armor suits looked even more like McQuarrie's prototype drawings of Boba Fett when he was supposed to originally be an Imperial Super Trooper from Mandalore, than Gar Saxon's Imperial Supercommandos outfits on Star Wars: Rebels.  The whole time I was watching the hologram of the old guy with the mustache, I kept telling my wife he looks just like Captain Palleon.  When they confirmed it, it was like *chef's kiss*.  They name dropped him in the end of Star Wars: Rebels, but it was pretty awesome to finally see him made canon.  He had to be one of my favorite Imperial Remnant characters from the Star Wars novels and comics, prior to Disney's "Great Purge" of all that came before.  Another interesting name drop of Commandant "Hux."  Obviously, he's supposed to be the father of Hux from the sequel trilogy, that helps set up the First Order.  "Project Necromancer" was interesting.  Most likely a hint of the project to clone Snoke and the Emperor later on.  The underground base made me wonder if Gideon's base was hidden on Mandalore and it would explain where all the fighters and bombers came from that took out Bo Katan's castle on her home planet in the Mandalore system.

The large mythosaur painted on the bottom of Gideon's former Imp cruiser was an extremely nice touch.  It harkened back to the Expanded Universe novels, where the Republic painted large Rebel logo's on captured Imperial Star Destroyers.  It was so cool to also finally see some Fang Fighters mixed in with the Mandalorian Fleet.  It would've been pretty cool to have Fenn Rau show up in the mix, but I guess that'd be too much to hope for.  Maybe, he'll show up in Ashoka's series?  Grogu operating IG-12 like a remote control droid was actually pretty funny.  And, like any kid tries to keep away stuff from his parents taking it away.  The Nevarro reptavian on the cooking fire was funny.  Guess they tried their luck with the Mandalorians and got the wrong side of a blaster.  It was just weird seeing only half of them eating, while the others could only stand and watch because of their weird belief of not removing their helmets in public.  I've still not heard a really good legitimate reason why they do this.  It was unheard of in any other previous Mandalorian stories or lore before this show.  So, it just doesn't make sense to me.

It was interesting seeing there were still other survivors on the surface.  Because of the title of the episode, I kept waiting for them to betray everyone.  Glad they didn't.  Watching Vizsla and Woves playing that chess-like game reminded me of the Mandalorian season 1 "end credits art-work" of the Mando's sitting around playing the same game.  I really enjoyed seeing Bo Katan's group kicking the crap out of the Imperial Supercommandos, when they found what was left of the Forge.  If they had brought more troops down with them, they most likely could've overwhelmed them.  Also, nice to see they finally gave the Armorer her own jetpack.  Moff Gideon's new Mandalorian inspired Dark Trooper armor was unexpected.  It even had a Mandalorian ka'rta beskar (iron heart) on it.  Guess it makes sense, if he was one of the last Imperial Governor's of Mandalore.  Makes me wonder if he was originally Mandalorian, like Gar Saxon, and just ended up working for the Empire?  I was surprised they captured Djarin.  I was half-expecting Grogu to use the Force to rescue his dad.  But, having Paz Vizsla pop in there and take out all those Supercommandos was something to see.  When the Praetorians showed up, you knew he was in trouble.  Again, I was expecting the rest of the group to go back through one of the holes in the ceiling and circle back to help him.  It was actually kind of sad to see him fall, but what a way to go out.  They definitely let him go out like a Mandalorian Warrior.

This has to be my favorite episode, so far.  The whole episode stuck to the story, progressed the storyline along, and even had some lighthearted elements in it.  It actually felt like one of the more pretty balanced episodes this season and the pacing was really good.  Going to have to give this one a 5/5 stars.