Episode 7: The Spies

Last week’s episode was not as action-packed as other episodes. The most important part of last week’s episode was Din Djarin returning the Darksaber to its rightful owner, Bo-Katan Kryze. At the end of the episode, all of the Mandalorians reunite and agree to take back Mandalore together. 

Episode 7 mainly focuses on the Mandalorians taking back Mandalore and Moff Gideon’s return. The episode starts off back on Coruscant, where Elia Kane talks to a hologram of Moff Gideon using a probe droid. The scene transitions to Moff Gideon walking into a room with holograms of the Shadow Council. The Shadow Council is full of the biggest villains in the galaxy that come together to discuss projects for the future. 

Din Djarin and Bo-Katan bring aboard the Mandalorians from the previous episode to unite with other followers of the Mandalorian creed. When the Mandalorians land on Mandalore, while making their way to the underground city forge, they come across a barge full of other Mandalorians who survived the purge on Mandalore. The Mandalorians take the long lost survivors along with them underground to retake their home planet.

Toward the end of the episode, the Mandalorians encounter Moff Gideon and his squadron of troops, who trap the Mandalorians in their facility. Before Moff Gideon makes his attack he mentions to the Mandalorians that this would be the end of the purge destroying all Mandalorians.

Three main points of this episode:

Moff Gideon’s return

Moff Gideon has returned to take back the heir of the empire while Grand Admiral Thrawn is supposedly missing in action, but is clearly alive after his appearance in the recent “Ahsoka” trailer. 

The link between Moff Gideon’s escape episode to now is quite clear based on the Beskar alloy fragments being detected because he is applying Beskar armor to the new imperial trooper suits. 

In the episode, Moff Gideon plans to get rid of the Mandalorians once and for all, but the episode ends with him trapping some of the Mandalorians in a room. Gideon declared that he would bomb the remaining Mandalorian fleets that were still orbiting around the planet. Since there could be no communication with the fleets, Bo-Katan would have to use the Darksaber to cut a hole in the wall to escape and warn the fleet. 

Rise of the New Empire

The rise of the New Empire is the aftermath of the Galactic Empire that Moff Gideon is trying to rebuild after Palpatine’s death. Gideon has updated technology like new stormtrooper suits using Beskar armor.

Gideon has also experimented with cloning while being a part of the empire in “The Mandalorian.” Last season, he used Grogu’s blood to transfuse his blood into Dark Troopers, and now he could be cloning Snoke or Emperor Palpatine.

At the end of the episode, when Moff Gideon reveals himself to the Mandalorians, he has created a new suit for himself built fully of Beskar armor. 

At the end of the episode, Praetorian Guards appear taking down Paz Viszla. In “The Last Jedi” these Praetorian Guards made their first appearance during the First Order era. The new technology for troopers like Praetorian Guards raises the question of whether this new empire is slowly becoming the First Order. 

Battle on Mandalore

On their home planet of Mandalore, the Mandalorians plan to take back the forge. When they return to the part of the city underground, they are surrounded by Moff Gideon’s flying Imperial troopers. Moff Gideon’s plan was to lead the Mandalorians into a room to trap them. Moff Gideon’s plan was successful when he was able to surround Din Djarin with his troopers and hold them hostage. 

While capturing Din Djarin and keeping the other Mandalorians trapped, Moff Gideon mentions how he is building new technology for the empire that will have more lethal skills than before, especially with the trooper designs using Beskar armor. Gideon will create a new army based off of strong factions such as Jedi’s ancient skills, cloning, and Mandalorians. 

Bo-Katan finally uses her Darksaber to cut a hole in the wall behind them to escape and inform the other Mandalorians about the attack Moff Gideon had just called in. While the Mandalorians escape, Paz Vizsla loses his life while protecting the rest of the Mandalorians so they can escape. Remaining Super Imperial troopers were sent in to stop Paz. Paz was still standing until he was wiped out by Praetorian Guards. 

Things to think about for next week’s finale:

• Will Din Djarin be rescued by Mandalorians?
• How will the rest of the season play out with Moff Gideon trying to end the forge of the Mandalorian race?
• Will Bo-Katan defeat Moff Gideon?