Want to hear more from the actors and creators of your favorite shows and films? Subscribe to The Cinema Spot on YouTube for all of our upcoming interviews!
Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
The seventh episode of The Mandalorian, titled “Chapter 7: The Reckoning,” was released earlier today, December 18, as The Rise of Skywalker will release this Friday, December 20. This episode was directed by Deborah Chow, director of episode three, and Jon Favreau was back in the writer’s chair. As per usual, spoilers to follow.
This episode was wild. As viewers can guess from the title, this episode was most definitely a reckoning for the Mando. The episode opens, once again in space with the Mandalorian intercepting a message from Greef Karga, essentially saying if he comes back to Nevarro and helps him kill The Client he will let him have Baby Yoda and all is forgiven but there is more than it seems with that deal. Since Mando knows he almost killed Greef, he does a little recruiting beforehand.
He recruits Cara Dune, who isn’t interested at first but after he tells her they will be killing an Imperial officer, she’s all in. Next he goes after Kuiil and it turns out after Mando left with Baby Yoda in “The Child,” Kuiil got to looking around the battlefield where Baby Yoda was “rescued” and found IG-11 and he rebuilt and reprogrammed the droid. Once again, Mando’s trust comes into play. He doesn’t trust droids at all and after talking it over with Kuiil, they come to an agreement and he also brings along three blurrgs.
On the way to Nevarro, Mando and Cara arm wrestle and Baby Yoda thinks Cara is trying to hurt him so Baby Yoda starts to Force choke her, Vader style. So maybe, while cute and adorable, he could turn out evil in the end, but who knows? After all, Yoda taught viewers a Force user cannot actually use their gifts until training, no one can just instinctively use the Force. This episode also revealed Kuiil, through indentured servitude, worked for the Empire and he heard rumors of things like the Force but he never explicitly says he heard rumors of the Force.
Upon their arrival, they’re greeted by Greef and a trio of bounty hunters. They make camp during the night and are attacked by Mynocks. They kill two blurrgs, one of the bounty hunters and poison Karga. The group is unable to save him but Baby Yoda uses the Force to heal him, something never before seen on screen. This gives Karga a change of heart. Originally the plan was to kill Mando and deliver Baby Yoda so the Imperials would leave the town but his healing by Baby Yoda gave him a change of heart. So the new plan is for Kuiil to take The Child to the ship and protect him there and Cara has “captured” Mando and is there for payment with Greef. This is where things go wrong.
They chat with The Client for a bit about how great the Empire made the galaxy, typical, and after getting a call from Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon, they get ambushed. A squad of Death Troopers fires into the building, killing The Client and trapping the trio. Moff Gideon flies into scene in a TIE and essentially says he’s the brains behind the whole operation and will stop at nothing to get Baby Yoda. During this shootout, Mando contacts Kuiil on the communicator and tells him to push harder and to bail because they’re trapped, bad idea. A couple Scout Troopers intercepted the call and chase after him. They kill him and take Baby Yoda for the Empire. Now for the tricky part, Kuiil died off screen. Right before the camera shows him dead, viewers can see the ship opening up and you see it lower the doors to the ground, now remember IG-11? It didn’t leave the ship. Is it possible the droid could have snapped and killed Kuiil for the Empire even though Kuiil promised it was safe now. We’ll just have to wait and see as the episode goes to black after we see Kuiil dead on the ground.
The season one finale of The Mandalorian, its eighth episode, will release next Friday, December 27. So stay tuned with us at The Cinema Spot for our review of the season finale. Also, in the “Extras” tab of The Mandalorian on Disney+ is a sneak peak of The Rise of Skywalker so be sure and check out that if you wish.
What are your thoughts on this wild episode? Do you think IG-11 turned or do you really think those two Scout Troopers killed him? How do you think the season will wrap up? Let us know in the comments and keep it right here for more Star Wars related content!
Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
