A Return to Nevarro Reveals A Dark Conspiracy

The Mandalorian returns to Nevarro, reconnects with old friends, and learns that Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) is still alive. Chapter Twelve, “The Siege”, has the Razor Crest needing further repair en route to the rendezvous with Ahsoka Tano. Mando (Pedro Pascal) decides to stop by Nevarro and get his ship properly fixed. Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) have cleared out the troublemakers, except for one big problem. The Empire has a base operating on the other side of the planet. They recruit Mando to help destroy it, but find a deeper conspiracy concerning Baby Yoda still exists.

“The Siege” begins with the Razor Crest sputtering along. Mando has Baby Yoda in a crawl space tring to replace two wires. Baby Yoda gurgles as he can’t figure out the difference between red and blue wires. He shocks himself and shortcircuits the ship. Mando and the child sip tea while thinking of another possibility. Mando asks, “How would you like to go back to Nevarro?”

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On Nevarro, Aqualish bandits raid the abandoned underground covert for supplies. They’re about to eat the Armorer’s pet when Cara Dune shows up. Now the marshall, she kills them all and rescues the mink-like critter. The Razor Crest lands with a thud on the lava planet. Mando is met by Greef Karga and Cara Dune. Karga orders his technician to fix the ship, “I want this as good as new.” He cradles a delighted Baby Yoda.

The group walks through a bustling marketplace. They come to the bar that was destroyed in their escape from Moff Gideon. It has been rebuilt as a school. A protocol droid teaches children. Greef Karga assures Mando that Baby Yoda can be left here safely. They need to talk business. Mando is reluctant, but the child will be fine. Baby Yoda sits at a desk. He hungrily eyes the macaroon cookies of a fellow student. The boy refuses to share. Baby Yoda uses the force to take them and munches away.

Mando gets another surprise at Greef Karga’s office. The blue-skinned and gilled Mythrol (Horatio Sanz), who Mando captured in the pilot, is now Greef Karga’s accountant. He’s working off his debt over three hundred and fifty years. Cara Dune pulls up a holo map of the planet. An old Imperial base operates on the other side of Nevarro. Greef Karga wants them off the planet. It’s the only way for them to be truly free.

The crew drives Mythrol’s speeder to the base through a winding canyon. The nervous Mythrol is unhappy with being forced along. They have trouble accessing the base at the lower door. Karga knocks off thirty years from Mythrol’s debt for helping weld. Mando jetpacks to the landing platform. A stormtrooper comes tumbling down. The others get into the elevator and ascend to meet Mando.

Mando comments the base isn’t empty. Mythrol marvels at a Marauder troop transport in the shuttle bay, “You know how much we could get on the black market?” Greef Karga has no time for profiteering. He wants to blow the reactor and get out quickly. The group reaches the control room. Mando disables the security cameras, and then finds the heat shaft. Karga grabs the code cylinder.

They avoid stormtroopers on the way to the heat shaft. Mythrol uses the code cylinder to “slice” the entrance. They enter a bubbling volcano tube. Karga forces Mythrol to disable the reactor shield. An alarm blares as the lava starts to rise. They have ten minutes to escape.

Mando, Greef Karga, Cara Dune, and Mythrol encounter two Imperial technicians trying to destroy a control panel. They shoot them, but discover a hideous secret. Deformed cloned bodies float in tubes around them. This is no military operation. It is a lab. Cara Dune orders Mythrol to hack into the computer and find out what’s going here.

A holo of Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi) appears, “The body rejected the blood. I doubt we’ll find a donor with a higher M-count.” He recommends they end the experiments, “The volunteer will meet the same fate if they continue transfusions. They have exhausted their initial supply of blood. The child is small. I was only able to harvest a limited amount without killing him. If the experiments are to continue, I would again require access to the donor…Moff Gideon.”

“This must be an old transmission. Moff Gideon is dead,” Mando states. Mythrol hacks the recording time, “No, this transmission is three days old.” A group of stormtroopers ambush them. They kill them all, but Mando “needs to get the kid.” Cara Dune tells him to jetpack back to the town. They encounter heavy resistance.

Mando runs back to the heat shaft. He flies out of the lava tube as it starts to bubble over. The others make it to the landing platform. They are pinned down by heavy fire. Cara Dune races to the Marauder. She drives the armored transport to Greef Karga and Mythrol. They leap into the vehicle. The platform door closes. She turns around and drives it off the landing platform.

The Marauder lands on top of Mythrol’s speeder. They race into the canyon with stormtroopers on speeders in pursuit. Greef Karga man’s the turret. He shoots one, while the Marauder crushes another. The remaining trooper walks on top. He’s about to throw a grenade when Karga shoots him with the cannon. In the distance, the base explodes.

Four TIE fighters swoop down on the Marauder. Cara Dune takes evasive action, but they are outgunned. Karga shoots the canyon walls to rain down debris. He takes out a fighter. They are about to be blown to bits when the newly repaired Razor Crest arrives. Mando destroys a fighter, then soars after another. Baby Yoda gurgles with glee while eating cookies. Mando shoots the third fighter. He cuts his engines and plummets towards the last pursuer. Baby Yoda throws up as Mando takes out the last TIE.

Greef Karga congratulates Mando on “spectacular flying.” Mando can’t land, he wants to leave before Moff Gideon sends reinforcements. Back at Karga’s office, New Republic x-wings have landed for a debriefing. Captain Carson Teva asks how long after the explosion did the Razor Crest leave. Greef Karga replies they are mistaken, that ship was never here. Outside the office, the captain asks Cara Dune to join the New Republic. She admits to losing everything on Alderaan. He knows something’s going on the Outer Rim. He’s sorry for her loss. He leaves her with an insignia of the New Republic.

In space, an Imperial officer receives a holo message aboard Moff Gideon’s ship. One of Greef Karga’s technicians placed a tracking device on the Razor Crest. She walks past stormtroopers to a secure cargo bay. She updates Moff Gideon that “he still has the asset.” “We will be ready,” Moff Gideon exclaims as the shot pans out. He’s surrounded by a platoon of dark troopers in some kind of stasis.

“The Siege” was loaded with important developments. First, “M-count” is certainly a reference to Midichlorians, the microscopic creatures that enable use of the force. The cloning tubes at the base looked eerily similar to Emperor Palpatine’s laboratory on the Sith world of Exegol. Could this be the source of his reanimation or beginning of Snoke? The plot thickens as Moff Gideon can now track the Razor Crest. We will see if he crashes the meeting with Ahsoka Tano. The Mandalorian returns next week on Disney+.

Topics: The Mandalorian, Disney Plus, Streaming

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