Wow, what a big infodump at the end of an otherwise nothing episode.

I stayed up late last night to watch the episode and my brain is still processing what I saw.

First off, this episode was mostly predictable, which isn't to say it's not good, just that at some point in time, we'd see Greef, Cara and Din take on the remnants of the Empire at some point but man, was it awesome! I was slightly apprehensive about a Carl Weather directed episode but he delivered big time, as those action sequences were among the best in all of Star Wars. It was nice to see competent Tie Fighter pilots and for me, it harkened back to the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope, in that the Imperial Tie Fighters were just relentless.

Now, on to the HUGE revelations in this series. First off, we witness an Imperial Cloning facility! That was a shocker, considering that the Republic used "secret" cloners on Kamino in the prequels and we'd never seen an Imperial cloning facility in the films. The very first tube looked exactly like Snoke and his musical motif played briefly under that scene. It wasn't exact but it also wasn't subtle, either. That in itself might put to rest that the idea of XII-IX being discarded, which is another subject altogether but still a very important and likely lively discussion for another time.

Secondly, here we go again with Midiclorians "M. Count". It certainly looked like a few of those objects in those tanks could be what eventually becomes Supreme Leader Snoke but they're having difficulty with these clones handling the high Midichlorian count, which led to their failure. Dr. Pershing indicates they need more blood from "The Donor", which I initally took to be someone other than Baby Yoda but that may have been a misinterpretation.

After seeing those suits, the first thing that came to mind was the old EU "Dark Troopers", which changed over the years to become a Biological/Mechanical Hybrid and it "appears" as if they're trying to create Dark Force Clones for those suits, which could lead to an epic showdown between elite Mandalorian and Imperial forces.

Anyway, I need to watch it a few more times because as Keg said, there's a LOT to unpack. But in short, WOW!!!!

One last note: It certainly appeared in this episode that they're setting up Cara Dune for a spinoff in which she joins the New Republic as some sort of warrior/leader.

Oh yeah, and I still believe that Moff Gideon's armor is a tribute to Darth Vader.

But I didn't get 'clone' out of what they were doing. I thought they were infusing adult candidates with the Child's blood, and that they had all failed after about "a fortnight". Rather than clone cannisters, I thought they were storing the failed experiments for future study. Or executing those tests in a bacta tank.

Whatever the case is, I think Gideon is trying to give (or already has given) himself force powers. They clearly were trying to invoke Vader's helmet in the shot where the Dark Trooper armor was in the foreground.

I don’t know if they’re clones or just what sort of genetic engineering but I definitely took it as they needed more blood from Baby Yoda. That’s what they put the tracker on.

Initially I thought Carl Weathers betrayed him, glad he didn’t. It’s interesting they went the “turned the place around approach. They’ve done it with CobbVance and Cara Dune. Not what I expected but I like it. Nice to see a positive message without Jar Jar-ing it to bad.

The action scenes, especially with the Razor Crest taking on the Ties was really ****ing good. They dropped coin where it needed dropped. I’m impressed.

Tracker was a nice plot device. Although just sabotaging the thing would have been easier, it’s a clean device to move the plot forward once they find Asoka.

Biker scouts going down the side of a ****ing hill AND RUNNING INTO EACH OTHER.

Baby Yoda doing exactly what I would have done in school if I had the force.

BABY YODA PUKING AFTER MANDO FLEXES AIR SUPERIORITY NUTS

STORMTROOPERS DROPPING OFF THE SIDE OF AN IMPERIAL BASE LIKE MANDO WAS PLAYING DARK FORCES II LMAO LMAO LMAO

The reactor controls being on the edge of a GIANT CHASM with NO GUARD RAIL is, like, only the third or fourth time, at least, that that's happened in Star Wars. LMAO

The Imperials have a real talent for shitty base design.

I also laughed out ****ing loud when the fishman's speeder got crushed. And again with Baby Yoda did exactly what he wasn't supposed to do - almost a callback to "THAT ONE GOES THERE, THIS ONE GOES HERE...RIGHT?"

There's a lot of slapstick in this show that is redefining how funny you can be in Star Wars without ruining it. Lucas got it wrong with Jar Jar. Favreau has gotten it right with the humor in this.

Moff Gideon seems to be obsessed with Darth Vader. There was a lot of shit in the EU about cults being formed around Darth Vader after his death - shitty young adult novels about someone finding his glove or hand or something, stuff in the pre-sequel trilogy Aftermath novels about someone recovering his lightsaber.

And then there's the Thrawn novels. The Noghri in the Thrawn novels revered Vader so much they referred to Leia as "Lady Vader." So there's a lot of shit here that I just love - I hope they expand on this at some point with Moff Gideon - who, by the way, in extremely limited screen time is already more interesting than anything Jar Jar Abrams came up with.

The troopers he seems to have created an obvious nod to the Dark Forces video game - the Dark Troopers are like, basically, Iron Man suits for stormtroopers. So it's not shocking that Favreau has gone this direction given his Marvel background.

But I really, really like it. Because Mando is now becoming super powerful, with his shiny armor and his ship all repaired and **** it I'll just go everywhere on my jetpack attitude.

So now they need something to cut him down to size a bit, hopefully.

https://i.imgur.com/HxcZKvO.jpg

the Fish Guy points out how there is no guard rail around the super important computer console that means life or death for the good guys (YET AGAIN), and how the Biker Troopers bumble**** around and kill each other going down the mountain. I love that both Filoni and Favreau are super fans making this series together.

the Biker Scout scene that touched me so, in all the right fanboy places, was simultaneously how ****ing cool it was that BIKER SCOUTS WERE GOING DOWN THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN and ALSO HAD A HILARIOUS EXPLOSION and somehow the coolness of it all was not affected by the slapstick.

Carl Weathers In Star Wars blasting the last one off the roof of the transport was pretty badass/funny too.

the scientist and Dark Troopers in the closing scene were straight out of the game

The initial (mark 0?) Dark Troopers were Clone cyborgs, but every model after that were advanced battledroids. Nothing organic about then at all.

The model Gideon was reviewing looked like the last model from the game, mark 3 I think they were. Fully droid.

Which is pretty perfect as an opponent for Din Djarin...

They were droids, but they could be worn as an exosuit.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Phase_III_dark_trooper

I like the idea of an exo-suit much better, because it's a better foil for Mando and his suit vs the bad guy's suit - plus fighting a bunch of droids doesn't seem like a worthy opponent for him.

I like the idea of him getting beaten by a bunch of dudes in Dark Trooper armor, and then going back to someone (Boba Fett maybe) for some upgrades that help him win the rematch

Having Ahsoka carve up and dismember droids (dark troopers) on the screen lets Disney keep this a more family-friendly show. Some of that violence has been implied off-screen, like the aperture door in the first episode, but NOBODY wants to see Ahsoka go full badass without seeing the awesome carnage she can wreak. At this point in the universe, I would have to say that it is likely her lightsaber skills are matched by no living entity.

Agreeing with somebody above, I think these dark troopers are going to knock Mando down a peg or two, which would be nice to see for an arc this season, and Ahsoka is going to come in a change his entire worldview on what is possible.

We're going to get voice overs from Frank Oz and Nark Hamill soon, and Ezra is going to make an appearance

This was definitely a great episode but it felt to me as if this episode occurred as an introduction to an Ahsoka Tano/Grand Admiral Thrawn series. It didn't really feel like an episode of The Mandalorian per se. It felt like Star Wars.

I thought Rosario Dawson looked the part but she didn't move or sound like Ahsoka to me at all. She also seemed rather "stiff" to me in the role but hopefully, it was just the shock of seeing a new actor portray Ahsoka.

Grand Admiral Thrawn's mention is super interesting because clearly, Ahsoka (and maybe Sabine?) are still search for Ezra and Thrawn five years after their disappearance.

I'm pretty freakin' stoked that Filoni & Favreau are bringing back key elements of the discarded EU that were so much fun for us readers.

I also think this could be a setup for Ahsoka to appear in the Rogue One prequel series, especially since she was Fulcrum.

I think it's going to be a long, long wait until Season 3...

I loved the Beskar spear - the fact it can deflect lightsabers makes it even more valuable.

The sound of Beskar on lightsaber - AMAZING.

Rosario nailed Ahsoka, and Michael Biehn, as ****ing old as he looks now, was a lovely addition. Too bad he had to die.

Michael Biehn sounded like he's had a stroke.

Is Luke going to communicate with Baby Yoda?

Is Luke going to PICK UP Baby Yoda?