#The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 6 Review: The Tragedy

Short but sweet, but weird, but cool, but Boba, but whaaaaa???? What the hell just happened? 

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 6 feels weird. But … I mean, … it’s cool, right? To have Boba Fett back in the mix, like, really in the mix?

But does it feel too weird? He’s a dude — an older dude — who talks and behaves like a frickin’ human being, for cry-yi! 

Should he have been kept stoically in his silent but deadly armor — in our Star Wars fantasies — allowing the less-is-more technique used in the original trilogy to keep us guessing forever what his personal life was like?

I’m rather torn, I must admit. On the one hand, it’s great to know that Boba has Mando’s — I mean Din’s — back, with all his badassery and fighting skill. (Though it’s funny he shot the stormtrooper ship he wasn’t aiming at.)

The armor was given to my father, Jango, by your forebears.
Boba

And on the other hand: is it me, or does he seem a little goofy?

I almost felt like Grampa Morty was playing dress-up for his grandson’s sixth birthday party, about to jump into the bouncy house fully equipped with a booster jet pack and laser-emitting helmet. 

As for story building, “The Tragedy” wasn’t all that fascinating of a narrative. It was mainly just exciting to have such Star Wars legendary lore incorporated.

In The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 5: “The Jedi,” we finally met Ahsoka, which was pretty damned cool, and we learned Grogu’s name, which was just silly (sounds like a big bad in a Transformers story, or an adversary of Godzilla’s).

I suppose this episode, then, is a continuation of meshing the un-meshable.

But that’s also what’s so cool about The Mandalorian.

It touches on things and takes risks that Star Wars die-hards might consider untouchable, sort of like The Last Jedi — the most successful and most ballsy of the third Star Wars film trilogy.

And it might piss people off. And that can mean, “Hey, at least it did something, made somebody feel something.”

I know, I keep going back and forth on this one. So my conclusion is: it must be a monumental episode if it’s making me oscillate between “quite impressed” and “why would they do that?”

Let’s dig more into other aspects of the episode, though.

That “seeing stone” looks like it’s in the middle of Stonehenge. Mayhaps we can also then credit Jedis everywhere for the formation of the crop circles that used to mesmerize us here on planet Earth.

The stormtrooper battle was a shit-ton of fun. 

Many troopers go down — even with their Mary Poppins style collection of assault weapons that seem to appear when needed magically.

But hey, why do stormtroopers so often sound like Beavis and Butthead when they dialogue with each other? “Flank them, you idiot!” I fully expect a “heh-heh” to follow.

Boba’s weapon is wild. Like a scythe but with a buzzed round plate at the tip and some protruding fingerlike protrusion; those of you with dirty minds out there might be saying, “Wasn’t a finger it reminded me of!” Ha! Um…. heh heh.

Boba’s revelation that “The Empire is back” shocks his world. It doesn’t shock ours, though. We already knew it. But the moment could have been a tad more dramatic; as it stands, it’s semi anti-climactic.

Boba: They’re back.

Fennec: Who?

Boba: The Empire. They’re back.

Fennec’s response is, “That can’t be. The Outer Rim is under the jurisdiction of the New Republic.” Transitional sequences from Return of the Jedi to The Force Awakens now start slapping us in the face.

But it also begins to beg the question: if Boba Fett survived Return of the Jedi, what happens to him before the timeline of The Force Awakens to keep him from appearing in the last trilogy? 

Well, that’s the question, and a foreboding feeling now washes over us, much like the feeling we get while watching Kim in Better Call Saul, fully knowing she doesn’t exist in the Breaking Bad timeline.

Got any guesses what might become of our bounty hunter with the most-est?

Oh yeah, and Fennec Shand is back. That was surprising — mostly because I completely forgot who she was. I had to look up that she first appeared in The Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 5, “The Gunslinger.”

If you remember, I don’t miss.
Fennec

But I also have a sometimes serious case of movie and TV amnesia, especially from season to season or sequel to sequel.

But she did a decent job of kicking some trooper ass.

Of course, I was thrilled to once again see Cara Dune — albeit briefly — at the end. Maybe this new Migs Mayfield character will invigorate the series — and us — when he likely debuts in the follow-up.

So Cara is now a marshal for the New Republic, after all. I thought that might not last very long for her.

But considering she’s about to spring Migs — who sounds like a psycho — from prison … well, we can presume she may have to relieve herself of the title soon enough.

Din: Cara Dune, Marshal of the New Republic. I heard rumors you might have gone legit.

Cara: I wouldn’t go that far.

And hell, that would be fun to experience with her.

And now Moff Gideon has actually got Grogu! Watching Grogu use the Force to play lifesize head-bashing twister with some stormtroopers will embed our memories for a while to come.

But does Moff think he’s going to train Grogu with his stolen dark saber to use the Force for evil?

I don’t know about you all, but I don’t see that going very well for him. 

Yet, he is informing Dr. Pershing that he has retrieved their “donor.” So … part-time dark Jedi training, part-time medical experimentation must be the plan! 

OK, fellow padawans, alert us of your thoughts by clicking the “SHOW COMMENTS” button below and typing away.

We want to know what your guesses are for how Boba might meet his demise (again) later, or if he might, I don’t know, retire?

And what exactly does Moff have in store for Grogu?

Let us know what you think!

Kerr Lordygan is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.