Was the planet Hoth or no? I guess I missed it?

Bo-Katan!

Titus Welliver!

Ahsoka name-drop!

We get a reason for the helmet thing!

Very short and Katee seemed kind of weird and stilted, but there's the motion forward with the plot I wanted. Kinda got whiplash they dropped so much at once.

Feel much better about this ep than the one a week ago.

Chapter 11 was the best episode by far this season but now I have even more questions.

If Bo-Katan knows the whereabouts of Ahsoka Tano, does that mean that she found Ezra?

Also, Sasha Banks character is Mandalorian Koska Reeves, not Sabine Wren, so I'm holding out hope that Filoni actually hired Tia Sircar for the role.

I think we'll either only get a glimpse of Ahsoka next week, or no Ahsoka at all. Two reasons:

1) If I remember correctly, episode 4 is the one directed by Carl Weathers. So while it's possible he's directing an episode he's not acting in, my guess is that we see Greef and Cara Dune next week, which may mean a detour away from the trip to find Ahsoka.

2) Also if I remember correctly, episode 5 is written and directed by Dave Filoni. Which all but shouts "this is the ahsoka tano episode".

I liked The Heiress more the second time than I did the first time, and I really liked it the first time. After I got home from work, I spent a couple hours going back through Mandalore-centric episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels, and now upon further review I would say that Katee Sackhoff did a pretty solid job bringing an animated character into an accurate, consistent live-action existence.

I think the larger 'take back Mandalore' storyline she (re-)introduces is too large for The Mandalorian (the series). So I would expect in a few weeks we're going to get news of a spin-off with her, in addition to already rumored Ahsoka Tano series. The earlier rumor mentioned Bo-Katan and Cara Dune teaming up, but it's hard to gauge that since Cara hasn't appeared yet this year. In any case, this idea of her reuniting all these disperse Mandalorian coverts into a coherent force to retake Mandalore seems like something big to tackle, and pretty far removed from The Mandalorian's more intimate mission with The Child.

Speaking of Ahsoka, will we be given any sort of resolution with regards to her and Sabine Wren's search for Ezra? What about Thrawn? And what kind of unexpected surprises can they spring on us with Ahsoka? It's been about ten years (in universe...) since we last saw her, so all kinds of crazy shit could have happened. Even random non-Jedi approved stuff like significant other(s). Children.

Will we even see Sabine Wren?

How is Boba Fett going to fit back into all this? And Cobb Vanth, because I doubt we've seen the last of him, either.

Seeing a handful of Mandalorians mowing down a bunch of Storm Troopers was just great. Had some Vader Rogue One vibes. Starting to like the running joke of the ship just being a beat up piece of shit barely holding together. Lots of awesome name drops and potential for storyline. Man... I might rewatch that tonight...

Totally blindsided by the Katee Sackhoff appearance. Never realized she voiced the same character in Rebels, either.

Great episode.

Seriously, I about lost it when she took her helmet off an said "I'm Bo-Katan". That was a serious nerd-gasm for me, something I really haven't experienced with Disney Star Wars to date.

Then, I almost lost it again when she later said "Take the Founding to the city of Calodan on the forest planet of Corvus. There you will find Ahsoka Tano. Tell her you were sent by Bo-Katan."

****ing awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder if we'll find out the fate of Sabine, Ezra and Grand Admiral Thrawn?

What if Thrawn escaped and it's later revealed that Moff Gideon is actually working for Thrawn? What if Gideon's mission is to capture Baby Yoda, deliver him to Thrawn, who plans to use his Force powers to resurrect the Empire?

There's just so many awesome possibilities!

I thought it was interesting how he killed the pilots before attempting crash the ship. Implying that not all imperials are loyal to the death.

I didn't find that to be surprising at all.

The clones were created and programmed to defend the Republic and destroy the Jedi. They had no other mission.

The First Order stormtroopers were taken from their parents as children and "programmed" to serve the First Order with their lives - they knew no other way of life.

The stormtroopers in the OT joined The Imperial Academy, not knowing that they were serving an evil Sith Lord. Luke's best friend joined, Luke had planned to join and Han Solo served for 3 years in the Imperial army but none of them dedicated their lives to the Empire. Joining was a way to escape their miserable existences.

Plus, we saw the reaction of the Imperial pilots once Welliver's Captain ordered the ship to ascend. They weren't onboard with that decision so he killed them.

No way baby yoda is eating the eggs because they are delicious.
When he got near them, the eggs moved towards him. They have toys coming out for Christmas of the eggs and Baby yoda. Disney ain’t making a toy out of Baby yoda’s dinner.

I thought Sackoff did a nice job. The leaders were very cold, hold on while I sacrifice my entire family kind of shit in the cartoons. She worked. The action was good.

"Children of the Watch are a cult of religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society. Their goal was to reestablish the ancient way."

So will Mando continue this way? Literally? Or break from his cult backgrounds?

He softened a lot after she explained it. And he worked with them again.

I watched a dork video that suggested that when the razor crest jumped to light speed and that piece fell off, it might represent his armor around his zeal cracking some.

I’d forgotten Bo Katan was a part of the deathwatch crew for a bit. The dork videos postulate that that’s who saved Mando was the deathwatch crew.

Pure speculation but I’d guess he’s going to continue to be a loaner but friendly with Bo Katan and probably friendly with his zealot group too. As well as cara dune etc.

One nice parallel the dork videos pointed out was that when baby yoda got ate he closed his egg, so it’s Karmic for him eating the frog eggs. LOL

Sackhoff's performance was certainly a departure from the roles she's had in the past, where she typically plays an edgy, slightly unhinged subordinate character with a rebellious streak (at least in the two long running shows I watched her in, BG and Longmire). Now she's playing a leader, and her character is smoother and more confident. It was kind of weird, but I thought she did a great job. She's one of my favorite actresses, and I'm thrilled that she's in this.

It's why The Marshal was such a key episode. We start with Din threatening to take Boba Fett's armor back over, literally, Cobb Vanth's dead body. Then by the end Din all but apologizes for taking the armor back and says he hopes they work together again (which, I assume, they will). And then we see Boba Fett, whose motivations are currently unclear, but the expectation is conflict between the embodiment of 'what is a Mandalorian?' and Din Djarin. That likely leads to character growth for both of them.

The second episode shows Din's ongoing transformation into a paternal figure for The Child, and further includes a short reminder about Mandalorian reputation by the frog lady, when she rewires Zero.

And then there's the Heiress. She's introduced in an scene that parallels Cobb Vanth's appearance, removing her helmet and immediately having her right to the armor questioned. But, unlike Vanth, she IS a Mandalorian. She's also a former follower of Pre Vizsla and Deathwatch, so she has direct insight into the group that rescued and indoctrinated Din Djarin. And again, as with Cobb Vanth, she and her fellow Night Owls prove their mettle, and we end with what I think is a grudging but genuine respect for them from Din, as well as an invitation to join them in their struggle to retake Mandalore.

I can only see two ways this goes, and that's Din retreating even further into the Watch mantra, or Din becoming a different kind of Mandalorian. And I think that's what this season is about, moreso even than returning The Child to 'his people.'. Who at this point might well be Mandalorians anyway, rather than Jedi, or other Force users. But that's another, maybe not unrelated, discussion.

That's how I see it, at least. And I expect to see more of it in upcoming episodes.

Din has the same exact realization that Luke Skywalker had in The Empire Strikes Back: "Who am I? Is my entire life a lie?" Luke spent his entire life "looking away" to the stars and wanting to know more about his "Freighter Pilot" of a father and when he finds the answer, he's confused about his path forward.

Same with Din: He thought he was following the Mandalorian "Way", only to find out that his people were Extremists and on the wrong side of history. Now, Din is off to seek council from the Jedi in Ahsoka, much like Luke and Obi Wan, although she's technically no longer a Jedi.

One thing that seems out place from a logical perspective is that Din states that he knows nothing about the Jedi, which is kind of consistent with Han Solo in the OT, yet Din says to the X Wing pilots in Chapter 2, "May The Force Be With You".

How is it that he knows about The Force but not the Jedi? I can understand not knowing about The Sith, as there were only two at any time in a galaxy of trillions, but there were 10,000 or more Jedi before the end of The Clone Wars, along with Holonet reports on the Republic's war with the Separatists.

What am I missing?

PS - I thought it was interesting in Chapter 2 that the New Republic X Wing pilots were only slightly less authoritarian than Imperial pilots and commanders in the OT, which I thought was a nice display of duality: Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

The rumor is that Ahsoka sacrifices herself to save the Child in episode 5. Which we already know is written and directed by Dave Filoni.

There have been other rumors, including a fight in said episode between Gideon and Ahsoka that was said to be produced to be as big as any lightsaber duel in any of the films.

I just can't believe they'd bring her to live action just to kill her off. But if there's anything that would hit the viewers harder than Kuiil, that's definitely it. Still, with rumors of an Ahsoka series, I just don't know if I believe it.

agree with these posts. I think this seasons story arc is about his journey to find who he really is or wants to be.... just like Luke

As previously mentioned, I've been Spoiler-Free for Season 2, so I don't know anything at this point, either way.

That said, I would think that Disney has learned their lesson of killing off Fan Favorites with the fan reaction, not to mention the Box Office reaction, to the sequels killing off Han, Luke & Leia.

It's also difficult to imagine Dave Filoni agreeing to killing off his most special creation. If that happens, I think they'll lose even more fans, which is counter-intuitive to their new model in which streaming is the primary focus and at this point in time, their primary source of revenue.

But, Disney has been anything but thoughtful regarding their Star Wars fan base so I suppose everything is on the table.

They have killed her off before...

Kind of.

I'm still operating under the belief that the World Between Worlds was a plot device that was introduced in order to change the outcome of all Post-ROTJ movies, kind of like a "Nuclear Option", so they can reset the entire Star Wars Galaxy if their properties (i.e., the sequel trilogy) aren't well-received by the public.