Title: The Pirate
Director: Peter Ramsey
Runtime: 42 minutes
We are on the other side of the midway point. What secrets and schemes are lurking in Din’s future? I really enjoyed this episode, probably the best one of the season. This is another episode that feels like it takes more cues from Andor as it does, indeed, progress a sinister plot for Din and his covert.
A reminder that there will be no more spoiler warnings since we are now counting down to the season finale.
A Lasat to be Excited For
Before discussing where this is taking the story, let’s talk about some of the cameos and newcomers. We should probably begin with the elephant in the room. In this case, I guess it’s the Lasat in the room.
Initially, I thought it was a different Lasat, placed there to allude to Zeb’s live-action appearance in a future series. But there are not many Lasat left and the voice definitely sounds like Zeb. While the credits at the end of the episode do not list Steve Blum, IMDB does. Therefore we got our first live-action appearance of a Rebels character. The first of many. Ahsoka is excluded as she is originally from The Clone Wars.
Tim Meadows is a fun surprise. He comes from an era of Saturday Night Live that was actually entertaining. I’m happy to welcome him into the Star Wars family! Although, when I saw him, I immediately thought of Kylo Ren’s line from The Force Awakens: “Look how old you’ve become”.
The Rumors Are True
Now let’s discuss the sinister plot unfolding. We know poor Penn Pershing was a pawn in an evil game. Obviously, the rumor of Moff Gideon escaping en route to his tribunal hearing is true. Although we kind of assumed that based on “clone” Elia Kane’s appearance and involvement in Dr. Pershing’s fate.
Moff Gideon is continuing the cloning research and experimentation that will lead to the creation of the Palpatine strand casts. We know two of these strand casts will be Snoke and Dathan (Rey’s father). The question is, who has the tactical knowledge to extract Moff Gideon from his transfer? This has to be Thrawn. Palpatine is not in a condition to be able to pull all the strings.
Mark my words, Chapter 24 will have our first glimpse of live-action Thrawn which will lead directly into the Ahsoka series.
I also expect to see an Ahsoka trailer at next weekend’s Star Wars Celebration in London.
What did you think of The Mandalorian Chapter 21?
