The Mandalorian Spoiler Recap Chapter 22: Guns For Hire & Chapter 23: The Spies
A two-in-one recap in the lead-up to the finale? That’s what happens when Star Wars Celebration arrives right in the middle of a season of The Mandalorian. I had a bit of a funny experience with these two episodes, as Chapter 22: Guns for Hire came out on the day I went to Disneyland Paris (meaning I skipped it entirely, and Candace watched it while the rest of us went on Tower of Terror). I was then lucky enough to watch Chapter 23: The Spies at an advance screening on the first night of Celebration, nearly a week before it was released on Disney+. I wouldn’t circle back to Chapter 22 until I made it back home.
But no matter now. I’ve seen them both (in order this time) and it’s time to dive in ahead of the finale next week, so let’s get to it!
Guns for Hire opens on Bo-Katan’s former crew - namely Axe and Koska - coming upon a Quarren ship while on a job. The task, specifically, is to return a Mon Calamari prince to his people and to deliver him from the clutches of the Quarren. Only problem is, he is there willingly, as he and the captain of the ship have run away in order to be together. But because Star Wars is tragedy and hates romance, the two are forced to part ways, with the prince forced to leave his love behind.
I can’t believe the only Star Wars couple to ever get a happy ending were the frog couple from last season. This is getting a touch out of hand.
Meanwhile, in the actual plot, Bo and Din arrive on Plazir-15 to catch up with Axe, Koska and the rest of the crew, but instead are taken to the planet’s rulers, Captain Bombardier and his wife, the Duchess, aka Jack Black and Lizzo, the only thing my brain would actually call them when they were on screen. The Captain tells them that he is a product of the New Republic Amnesty Program, the same thing Dr. Pershing was put through, but instead of having his mind flayed, he gets to live on the Outer Rim in relative splendor and also be married to Lizzo. Some men truly have all the luck. And the duchess isn’t so unlucky herself.
Yes the presence of two such well-known celebrities was a tad distracting - albeit not jarring because I had been spoiled and knew it was coming - but they’re also just so much fun and make for such an endearing couple.
Before Din and Bo are allowed to travel into the part of Plazir-15 where the Mandalorian mercenaries are residing, they are first sent on a quest by Lizzo and Jack Black to determine what is causing the droids on the planet to malfunction. In a very I-Robot twist, the droids are engaging in small acts of rebellion and destruction, to the distress of a populace that is used to having the mundane taken care of for them. So much so that they voted to allow the droids to remain active in spite of the danger.
The bulk of the episode follows Din and Bo around as they try to get to the root of the problem, and more than anything, it feels like a lost Clone Wars episode, with the city focus, the standalone plot, and the unique-for-this-series visuals. The episode did also flirt with some kind of commentary on the way droids are treated in the galaxy far, far away, showing them very much as second class citizens whose own personal spaces - like a droid-only cantina - aren’t safe from organic beings when droids are suspected of a crime. Even the solution in the end winds up showcasing this, with security officer Commissioner Helgaite (played by Christopher Lloyd) being responsible for the droid sabotage, using them as the fallguys (fall-droids) in his scheme. First of all, I don’t know why no one suspected a man who’s name literally sounds like “hell-gate”. More importantly, this late in the season, I wish this occurrence had any impact on the story whatsoever. I suppose it does in the grander scheme of things, with Helgaite outing himself as a separatist, and us knowing that trouble is a-brewing in corners of the outer rim that don’t agree with the New Republic. But beyond that…
The episode ends with Bo and Din meeting up with the Mandalorian mercenaries, and Bo assuming leadership of them once again. While Axe was initially resistant, he and the other Mandalorians give in once Din gives Bo the Darksaber, claiming that because she defeated the spider thing that had him captive in Chapter 18, that she is the rightful owner. While that sounds more like something he is saying for her benefit than anything else, the story works well enough that she is happy to take the saber from him at last.
I will admit, while I did expect the Darksaber to eventually end up back in Bo’s possession, I kind of imagined the transfer would be a little more climactic. It was a cool moment when she seized it off the floor and weilded it a hell of a lot better than Din did, but if so much of her refusal to take it was her own belief that she hadn’t earned it, I’m not sure how the transitive property logic is really meant to help. But whatever, we’re almost at the end of the season, which brings us to The Spies.
The episode opens with the reveal that Elia Kane is still working for Moff Gideon. Raise your hand if you’re shocked.
No one? Alright moving on.
She reports to Gideon that the two Mandalorian factions have now joined forces, which is concerning enough for Gideon to go speak to the not-at-all-suspiciously-named “Shadow Council” of Imperial remnants to strategize their next move.
While this is all taking place in the first 10 minutes of the episode, it was also by far the most interesting part for me. There’s the ongoing motif of the Empire thriving in the shadows, a Grand Admiral Thrawn namedrop, and most exciting - an appearance by Brendol Hux, the father of one General Armitage “Hugs” Hux. His little exchange with Gideon was especially illuminating as it is revealed that Hux is particularly interested in the idea of cloning and Dr. Pershing’s work, and more to the point that Gideon denies having had anything to do with cloning at all. Of all the plot points introduced in the back half of the season, this is the one I am keenest to see pay off. Which naturally means we don’t revisit this again this week.
Instead, the focus shifts to Nevarro, where the two groups of Mandalorians finally meet, and it goes about as well as you would expect a reunion of estranged cousins to go. The Armorer is all for it and they settle down together despite tensions, to have a feast. Also Grogu is given a hollowed-out IG-11 (now called IG-12) to use as a little vehicle with built in “yes” and “no” buttons, and in that moment Greef Karga became every uncle who has it in for the parents by giving their toddler a noisy toy.
Bo proposes a mission to Mandalore to seek out the Great Forge, the first step in finally reclaiming their homeworld, and every named character we’ve met thus far agrees to go on the trip.
On Mandalore, they meet a trio of Mandalorians who have been living off the land since the Purge, and the group volunteers to take the new arrivals to the Great Forge. Despite Axe and Pax throwing down on the deck of the Mandalorian’s little sailing barge like a pair of siblings playing Monopoly or Mario Kart, once they arrive at the Forge the group realize they have more in common than they realized.
This newfound commonality comes in handy as they are quickly set upon by Imperials, and eventually Moff Gideon wearing beskar alloy armor. Pax goes down in a blaze of glory as the others escape, however Din is captured by Gideon and taken away.
The title of the episode, The Spies, leads to the question of who exactly these spies are. It’s clear Gideon has someone on the inside, or else he wouldn’t have known where to find them. The Armorer leaves the group behind on Mandalore to take the injured back to the fleet, and the shots of her doing so linger just a touch too long for that to be anything other than suspicious. I suppose Hux could be a spy…that would be funny. It’s like poetry and all that (for legal reasons this is a joke).
What do you think? Is Din going to die? Who is the spy? Will we see any familiar faces in the finale? Where is Dr. Pershing? Let us know on Twitter!
The Mandalorian airs new episodes every Wednesday.
