Well, hot roasted Porg on a stick, Deborah Chow just directed the best episode of The Mandalorian by a large margin. I've been pretty lukewarm on Jon Favreau's Star Wars series, stuck somewhere between boring, rib-nudging fan service and a devotion to Baby Yoda so fanatical I'm legally not allowed to write Frank Oz letters that start with "Dear Dad" anymore. It's been a trip! But "The Reckoning" was the first chapter that felt like an actual episode of television, not an enjoyable side-quest from a janky first-person shooter, complete with stakes, team chemistry, and an ending that finally pushed this narrative into hyperdrive.

It's not perfect, of course, because the whole thing hinges on The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) being a Rancor-sized dumbass. Mando, who has spent three straight episodes exclusively being betrayed by scoundrels, accepts a call for help from noted traitorous scoundrel Greef Karga (Carl Weathers). Dude's name is literally Greef. It's like lending cash to a guy named Sorrow Bakstabbian. (An absolutely A+ Star Wars name that Disney can have for $6 million and/or a new season of Gargoyles.)

Either way, Karga wants The Client (Werner Herzog) and his posse of former Imperial Stormtroopers off Navarro, so he hatches a three-pronged plan. 1) Mando uses Baby Yoda as bait, 2) Mando kills The Client, and 3) Mando can eff off to wherever with his beautiful green son, his name cleared for good. Sensing shenanigans, Mando brings back-up in the form of a three-foot-tall metalsmith (Nick Nolte), a killer robot who has been de-programmed from killing (Taika Waititi), and a badass rebel shocktrooper (Gina Carano) who 100% would've gotten shot right in the back if Karga didn't have a change of heart. In the end, nobody's ruse works. The sudden, dramatic arrival of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and his wonderfully flashy magician's cape brings blaster-bolt chaos to the proceedings; Mando and Cara Dune are trapped, Kuiil is seemingly dead, and Baby Yoda gets scooped up like a fumbled football right into the hands of the enemy.

You probably have a few questions. I know I have a few questions. Let's get into it.

(Quick note: There are very light Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker spoilers in the last entry of this page. I'll put another warning right before it, but if you don't even wanna risk it, fly outta' here ASAP.)

How Many Times *Per Episode* of 'The Mandalorian' Do You Say This Phrase Word-for-Word?

I can't personally say for certain, but if you set the over/under around 8 I just do not feel confident taking the under.

Wait, Who Is Moff Gideon?

We touched briefly on this dude two weeks ago because I'm relatively sure he's the mysterious cape-wearing man at the end of episode 5—my condolences to all Boba Truthers—but "The Reckoning" marks the official first appearance (via hologram) of Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon. First things first, "Moff" is absolutely one of those classic Star Wars things where I'm sure if George Lucas knew we'd still be talking about this damn galaxy 42 years later he probably would've put a little more effort into something less funny than "Moff". (The #1 example being, of course, the fact that all-powerful Emperor Palpatine is basically one slip of the tongue away from being named "Steve".)

Moffs (lol) were governors of the Empire, appointed to look over entire Sectors of the galaxy. Above them were (lol) Grand Moffs, and then one more level up was Emperor Palpatine himself running things willy-willy with his lightning hands. Oh, and then Darth Vader was kind of a like a free-floating high-priest/hit-man hybrid who occasionally choked Bob from accounting to death for insubordination.

As you can imagine, things are pretty rough for the ol' Moffs at the moment; these high-ranking officials went from Sith-approved powerhouses to total outcasts after the Rebellion toppled the Empire and installed the New Republic. It's the most interesting question asked in The Mandalorian: What happens immediately after a rebellion is successful? Moff Gideon lost his support system, but that's one baller-looking ship he's got there, and a whole battalion of Stormtroopers to go along with it. Full disclosure, Werner Herzog could calmly explain to me the exact date and manner of my untimely death and I'd nod along like a school-child, but I found a speech he makes in this episode to be the best summation of The Mandalorian's guiding theme across all seven chapters so far:

"Compare Imperial rule to what is happening now. Look outside. Is the world more peaceful since the revolution? I see nothing but death and chaos.”

Like all great villains, The Client isn't technically wrong—whole lotta' death and chaos out there!—he's simply conveniently leaving out the part where the Empire was just a neater, more structured form of death and chaos.

 

So Is Baby Yoda NOT a Clone?

This was a huge episode for the "Yoda Fucks" fandom, which I believe is made up of me and one other guy who will not stop DM'ing me extremely graphic fan art. (The talent is there but my god, the choices.) So up until now, clues and context have pointed to The Child being a clone of whatever species Yoda is, given that 1) It's pretty unlikely that arguably the most famous Jedi in history broke his oath 50 years ago to conceive a child, no matter how much of snack Yaddle was looking like that day, and 2) Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahl) was studying the little green guy while rocking the patch of a Kaminoan, noted cloners responsible for the whole dang Clone Army formerly used by the Republic.

However, Kuiil, in his infinite wisdom, threw a wrench into that idea this week. “I don’t think it was engineered," the Ugnaught says about Baby Yoda. "I’ve worked in the gene farms. This one looks…evolved. Too ugly.”

First of all, how dare you. Second of all, this episode took great pains to emphasize the fact that not all is what it seems in regard to Baby Yoda. “You may think you have some idea of what you are in possession of. But you do not," Moff Gideon tells Mando. Pretty straightforward! But this week, Baby Yoda's past almost paled in comparison to his present, which opened up a whole ton of new questions. Such as!

Is Baby Yoda...Evil?

Listen, just because something is pocket-sized and adorable doesn't mean it won't choke you with its mind powers. We all have to learn this lesson. It's called growing up. Just ask Cara Dune, who was on the receiving end of a mean Force-choke from Baby Yoda, who thought he was protecting Mando.

That is...worrisome. Nobody in Star Wars using the Force for benevolent reasons is out here closing off windpipes with their brains. That's pretty exclusively a Sith move. It's a classic Sith move. Anakin Skywalker did it to his wife roughly four hours after devoting himself to the Dark Side to protect his wife. After that, it was like, 40% of Darth Vader's whole "thing". I feel like the Death Star custodial staff had a whole branch strictly for mopping up blue-faced corpses.

So yeah, not a super chill look for Baby Yoda, breaking out the Force-choke. But! This was an episode filled with Force-ful surprises. After a horrific attack by Navarro's local poisonous pterodactyl population—the worst—Greef Karga is left fatally wounded. That is, until B.Y. steps in and heals his wounds with The Force. Force-healing was pretty prevalent in the Star Wars Expanded Universe until Disney branded those stories "Legends" and banished them to the alternate universe in which Captain Phasma mattered at all. In canon, this would be the very first time we've seen someone utilize the Force this way.

So you've got Baby Yoda showing expert abilities on both the Dark and Light side before he can even form full sentences. If it's one thing the Force is super into, it's balance. What does it mean that this mysterious tyke is smack-dab in the middle?

'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Spoilers To Follow. I Am Serious. Get Outta' Here If You Want to Know Nothing About 'The Rise of Skywalker'

Without even getting into specifics, the ability to Force-heal plays a major part in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Which makes the entirety of The Mandalorian more interesting. Everything. The weird pacing of the season, the decision to space out 35-minute-episodes week to week, the choice to debut "The Reckoning" on the Wednesday before The Rise of Skywalker. We've known for months that the Marvel shows debuting on Disney+ will interconnect with the big-screen MCU films and, eventually, if ya wanna' understand one you have to consume the other. This appears to be the beginnings of a similar experiment with Star Wars, done subtly. If you watch The Mandalorian on Wednesday night and see Baby Yoda pull off a Force-heal, your brain accepts the possibility on Friday night, sitting in the theater for The Rise of Skywalker.

It's not a direct connection. Sorry to anyone who raced down here to see if Baby Yoda shows up in The Rise of Skywalker. Tragically, no. The only presence Baby Yoda has in The Rise of Skywalker is that brief throwaway line that confirms he Luke Skywalker's illegitimate son. Sorry, that's a joke. Or is it? No, no it is.

Or is it?